Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110

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We have Mail: communication is the key

writes John Laws of the Australian Cleaning Contractors' Alliance, on a subject of interest to contractors all over the globe:

"Last month I went to Fremantle, in the land of giants (WA), and spoke at the Ausclean Trade Show on the subject of 'Costing an Hour's Labour and its Relationship to Subcontracting.'

When I finished the talk I was amazed by the number of questions asked by both contractors and customers who were completely unaware that an hour's labour consisted of more than just the actual wages. So many people out there see that wages of AUS$22.17 per hour become something like AUS$35.00 when charged out and think the contractor is making AUS$13.00 out of each hour (for each employee)!

When you actually explain how the costs come about they are much more inclined to accept the rates we need to charge and when you point out this same situation applies to their own employees they are quite taken aback. I wonder, sometimes, how so many of these people are able to keep running a profitable business...

My suggestion is that you spend a reasonable amount of your time explaining to your customers the real cost of an hour's labour and to that end I suggest you show them a copy of our recommended Hourly Rate Schedule which is available on our Members Lounge page of the ACCA website. The more we can educate our clients, the better the chance we will have of obtaining fair and reasonable rates for our work."

T: 02 9712 1566
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W: www.cleaningcontractors.com.au

25th April 2013