# Price the Clean-Out From the Dumpsters

Source: https://ivankamenken.com/price-by-dumpsters · Last updated 28 October 2026

In a clean-out, the number of skips (dumpsters) drives the cost, so it should set the price before the job starts. Ivanka Menken works this through with the Price-Cash-Confidence Chain inside Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, a 6-month 1:1 programme at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST. You are standing in a full house with a notebook, the quote has to go out tonight, and you do not know how many skips it will take. You write a price band by skip count, $4,000 to $8,000 in the example.

## The quote goes out before the skips are counted

- You quote a lump sum and find out on day two that you need another skip.
- You price by the hour, then absorb the extra trips yourself.
- Two similar jobs come out at very different prices with no reason you can explain.

**THE CLIENT AND THE MOMENT:** The founder of a property clearance business runs two trucks and a crew of four. Quotes come from memory, and most jobs are won. Then the margin disappears into an extra skip and a second trip, and the busiest months are the ones that leave the least behind. The founder came for help when a full month of work left less cash than a quiet one.

### THE QUOTE, AS IT GOES OUT TONIGHT

- Price: a lump sum, from memory
- Skips needed: a guess
- Cost of each skip: not on the quote
- Extra trip or extra day: paid by the business
- Margin on the job: found out afterwards

## A buffer on every quote

The obvious fix was to add a buffer to every quote. On some jobs it covered the extra skip. On others it made the price look arbitrary, and the customer pushed back or went elsewhere. The buffer was a guess on top of a guess, so it could not be explained, and it could not be defended.

## The skip count was known, a day too late

Ivanka noticed the founder always knew the skip count within a day of finishing a job. The knowledge was there. It just never reached the quote, because the quote had already gone out the night of the walk-through.

## The price came after the work

The price was being set after the work instead of from the thing that drives the cost. So the same job could be quoted at either end of the band, with nothing behind the difference.
The skip count is the most predictable number in a clean-out. It should set the price before the walk-through ends, not be discovered on day two.

> When the skips set the cost, they should set the price.

**The cost of staying stuck:** Keep quoting a lump sum and every extra skip, trip and day comes out of the margin. The busiest months thin it the most, because that is when the guesses are made fastest.

## The tool: Price-Cash-Confidence Chain

The Price-Cash-Confidence Chain starts where the money starts: the price. For a clean-out, Ivanka builds the price from the cost driver out: the skip count, what each skip costs, then what has to sit on top for the risk and the business.

It is the chain at the centre of Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, worked for one kind of job. It turns a finished job into a written band, so the next walk-through ends with a skip count and a price from the band.

It replaces the lump sum quoted from memory, the hourly rate that leaves the extra trips with you, and the buffer nobody can explain.

### What goes on the page

1. The skip count: how many, and what size, counted at the walk-through
2. The cost of each skip: hire, tipping and the trip to empty it
3. The labour around it: crew hours and days per skip
4. What sits on top: the risk of one more skip, and what is left for the business
5. The band: in the example, $4,000 to $8,000 by skip count

It sits inside Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring with the monthly Money-and-Clarity Scorecard, which shows gross margin per job. The pricing is worked through together and checked with your own adviser. No separate checkout.

## Rebuild one finished job from the skips

In the example session, Ivanka takes one completed job and rebuilds its price from the skips: how many, what size, what each cost, what labour sat around them, and what was left for the business. She asks where the last three quotes went wrong, and which number the founder would have needed to see on the walk-through. The founder writes the band. Before the next session, the next quote goes out from it.

### The questions

- How many skips did the last job take, and what size?
- What did each skip cost, with the trip to empty it?
- What labour sat around each one?
- Where did the last three quotes go wrong?
- Which number would you have needed on the walk-through?

### THE FOUR-STEP LOOP

1. The one thing: One finished job, and the quote it started from.
2. The numbers: The skip count, the cost of each, the labour and what was left.
3. The story: Why a higher quote feels like it will lose the job.
4. The commitment: The written band by skip count, used on the next quote.

Before the next session, the founder counts the skips on the next walk-through, quotes from the band the same evening, and records how many skips the job actually took.

## Every quote starts from a skip count

By month 6, the walk-through ends with a number the price comes from.

**NOW**

- Quotes are lump sums from memory.
- Extra skips and trips come out of the margin.
- A buffer is added and cannot be explained.
- Margin per job is found out afterwards.

**BY MONTH 6**

- Every clean-out quote starts from a skip count and a written band.
- One new job has been quoted at the top of the band, with no discount.
- The extra skip is priced in, not paid by the business.
- The scorecard shows gross margin per job.

The programme is the container: 12 fortnightly 60-minute sessions, a monthly scorecard, and reviews at month 3 and month 6.

## The next walk-through is a pricing decision

Ivanka Menken built Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring for founders of $500K to $3M businesses that are growing while cash tightens. She reads the numbers with you, asks the hard question, and holds you to the decision you write down.
If your price depends on a job you have not finished yet, the decision in front of you is which number drives the cost. Write the band from it before the next quote goes out.

> During our sessions Ivanka isn’t just talking theory. She is sharing her own lived experiences.
>
> Business owner

## Who fits, and who does not

### It fits

- You run a $500K to $3M job-based business, such as clearance or removals.
- One cost, like skips, trucks or trips, drives most of each job.
- Your quotes are lump sums and the margin moves job to job.
- You will quote from a written band at the next walk-through.

### It does not fit

- You want accounting or financial advice.
- You want someone to price your jobs for you.
- You want a done-for-you fix.
- Every job you do costs the same.

### Investment

**AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, 6 months.** It is part of Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, a 6-month 1:1 programme at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, not sold separately.

Included:

- 12 fortnightly 60-minute sessions
- The monthly Money-and-Clarity Scorecard
- Reviews at month 3 and month 6
- The Price-Cash-Confidence Chain for each price decision

Three founding places in total, shared across all 1:1 mentoring, are available at AUD $1,000/month ex GST, in return for honest monthly feedback and a testimonial, which can be anonymous.

- [Join Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, AUD $1,500/mo, 6 months](https://buy.stripe.com/eVq4gzdKgekN6pcbIcdQQ0t?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=price-by-dumpsters)
- [Book a 20-minute intro call](https://theartofservice.zohobookings.com.au/?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=price-by-dumpsters#/15606000001356030)
- [See the Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring programme](https://ivankamenken.com/cash-tight-growing-founder)

## Questions about Price-Cash-Confidence Chain

### Why price by dumpsters rather than hours?

Because the skips (dumpsters) drive the cost, and they can be counted at the walk-through. Hours move with the crew and the day; the skip count is the most predictable number in the job. Ivanka Menken builds the band from it with you inside Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.

### What if the job needs more dumpsters than quoted?

The band already carries the risk of one more skip, and the quote says which skip count it assumes. If the job goes past it, the price moves with it, in writing. Ivanka Menken helps you write that line in Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, a 1:1 programme that runs 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.

### Does this work on smaller clean-outs?

Yes. A small job with one skip sits at the bottom of the band, and the same chain applies: count the skips, cost them, add what sits on top. Ivanka Menken works it through with you for your own jobs inside Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.

### Will a fixed band scare customers off?

A band with a reason behind it is easier to accept than a lump sum with none. You can show the customer the skip count the price assumes. Ivanka Menken rehearses that conversation with you in Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, and you check the pricing with your own adviser. The programme runs 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.


## Count the skips before the quote goes out

If your quotes are lump sums and the extra skip keeps coming out of your margin, start with Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring. The Price-Cash-Confidence Chain is inside it, and the 20-minute intro call is where you can see whether it fits.

- [Join Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, AUD $1,500/mo, 6 months](https://buy.stripe.com/eVq4gzdKgekN6pcbIcdQQ0t?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=price-by-dumpsters)
- [Book a 20-minute intro call](https://theartofservice.zohobookings.com.au/?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=price-by-dumpsters#/15606000001356030)
- [See the Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring programme](https://ivankamenken.com/cash-tight-growing-founder)
- [The full Price-Cash-Confidence Chain](https://ivankamenken.com/cash-tight-growing-founder)
- [The Gross Margin Floor](https://ivankamenken.com/gross-margin-floor)
- [Set a floor price before the next quote](https://ivankamenken.com/book-fair-floor-price)
- [The money and clarity scorecard](https://ivankamenken.com/scorecard)

- Every way to work with Ivanka: https://ivankamenken.com/work-with-ivanka