Shrek

  • Posts: 3931
Re: Is Quarterly becoming the new Bi-monthly?
« Reply #20 on: February 25, 2018, 04:10:26 pm »
I now offer all new customers 3 frequencies-
Once a month is £x
Once every 2 months is £x + 50%
Once every 3 months is £x + 100%

Iv had quite a few take me up on 2 months recently

Mick Kent

  • Posts: 1380
Re: Is Quarterly becoming the new Bi-monthly?
« Reply #21 on: February 25, 2018, 04:59:45 pm »
Im not worried. Lol. I just think its interesting how the market is moving.

The market isn't moving! Its window cleaners offering all different frequencies thats making it happen! If you opt to only offer regular 4 weekly work and your average price is what you say it is at £28 a clean then you only need 10  jobs a day! Thats just 200 jobs per month to maintain and service. Why make things more complicated? You want 2 vans out! Thats just 400 customers for your business complete.(infact 400 4weekly customers at £28 is  134k a year which would smash through your 80k target you have set)
I only have 2 domestic rounds now but both are all 4 weekly £10 fronts. I wont say how much my rounds bring in but believe me im happy with it.
4 weekly regular work i find All runs itself straight forward  and hassle free where windows are always kept clean so no or next to no complaints, i wouldn't want to offer customers 3 monthly cleans, the amount of bird poo, birds flying into the glass, dust, dirt, spiders, slug trails to name a few would make the windows much more dirty throughout the year than clean?? It only takes a canvasser to knock on the customers door when they are filthy to talk them into a better service and frequency. I have done it many times.



robbo333

  • Posts: 2407
Re: Is Quarterly becoming the new Bi-monthly?
« Reply #22 on: February 25, 2018, 05:36:39 pm »
Thanks Mick for bringing some simplicity and perspective to it all.
Not all timescales and methods of cleaning, suit all window cleaners and it's nice to have some different viewpoints.
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NWH

  • Posts: 16952
Re: Is Quarterly becoming the new Bi-monthly?
« Reply #23 on: February 25, 2018, 07:02:52 pm »
I don’t give them the option unless it’s very give or money per clean,I will do 1/4 lys but not on standard houses they have to fit in round my working routine. It’s no different to leave me today please IMO or it’s on there terms,like I say if it’s worth while I’ll fit in.

capn sparkle

  • Posts: 567
Re: Is Quarterly becoming the new Bi-monthly?
« Reply #24 on: February 25, 2018, 10:07:34 pm »
Just had a new website enquiry today. So many people are opting now for quarterly window cleaning!

Its a bit of a two edge one really, because whilst quarterly window cleans command a higher price over bimonthly, it going to take a 3rd longer to fully book up the schedual.

Its interesting.

Most of my walk up's seem to ask for 6 weekly now (instead of monthly)
Maybe monthly is dead or dying out with the advent of WFP

I only do 2 monthly so it's that frequency or nowt, but I'm full and giving work away.

Like you say Mark interesting conundrum. 

dazmond

  • Posts: 23573
Re: Is Quarterly becoming the new Bi-monthly?
« Reply #25 on: February 26, 2018, 12:16:33 am »
most of my work is 4 weekly/8 weekly with a few 6 weekly/12 weeklys and one church job every 26 weeks! ;D

i dont care what frequency as long as it fits into my schedule with minimal disruption and the price is right....
price higher/work harder!

Spruce

  • Posts: 8361
Re: Is Quarterly becoming the new Bi-monthly? New
« Reply #26 on: February 26, 2018, 08:24:34 am »
12 years ago we bought a biggish trad round on one housing estate. All were 2 weekly cleans. We have no 2 weekly cleans any longer. So in this way wfp has moved the market.

We did them wfp (mainly dormer houses) and we started to get, "leave it this time, they are still clean."  We moved them onto 4 weekly and had a price increase. We lost a large portion of the round as they wouldn't accept the increase - 3 bedroom house from £4.50 to £6.50. (They apparently mutineered against the previous cleaners and through mass cancellations were able to blackmail them into keeping the original price.  So we concentrated looking for other work. Slowly most came back to us over the next year and we got a lot of new customers on the same estate. )
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Walter Mitty

  • Posts: 1314
Re: Is Quarterly becoming the new Bi-monthly?
« Reply #27 on: February 26, 2018, 08:36:06 am »
When I first started I offered a choice of 1 or 2 monthly.
I carried on offering that until my round became overfull when I changed to 6 weekly.  The few two-monthly customers I had were okay with that, and the monthlies seemed to not even notice.  It was 6-weekly or nothing for quite a while.
Then I started to get requests for less frequent work.  At first, I would only do this for the much larger jobs, but made sure that I charged well for them.  I ended up turning away a fair bit of smaller work that wanted 12-weekly cleans.
In the end I relented, but started charging 50% more for them.  This eventually settled down to charging 1/3 more, rounded up to the next pound.  That's pretty much where I am today, but I had a couple of larger 6-weekly  jobs that reduced frequency, but only tacked a fiver on because I really wanted to keep them (they would still have been excellent prices with no increase).
I do make it clear to everyone that 6-weekly may occasionally take a couple of months through a harsh mid-winter or if I'm on holiday or sick, and similar to the less frequent customers but say maybe around four months.  So long as the frequencies are a multiple of each other, it means there's no need to drive around all over the place.

Missing Link

  • Posts: 41864
Re: Is Quarterly becoming the new Bi-monthly?
« Reply #28 on: February 26, 2018, 08:40:37 am »
I've a few quarterly accounts.  They're all very well priced and they're not like new cleans every time.  They're all large accounts that are easy to do too and the customers are good, even though they pushed for quarterly.

I don't think I'd take on a quarterly job if all those variables weren't in my favour.
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lee_dewing

  • Posts: 3118
Re: Is Quarterly becoming the new Bi-monthly?
« Reply #29 on: February 26, 2018, 09:32:52 am »
Trouble is people with the biggest houses and pay packets tend to be the shrewdest(mean😁).

They won't pay more than say £30 a month for windows cleaning, where I am.

I do have a few bimonthly cleans because it suits me.

But I tend to find they are the ones that muck about and try to re schedule, which results in me pushing the ejector seat button.

Did take on a 3 monthly job once against my better judgment, all day in and out.

 Only took 3 cleans for goal posts to start moving 😁

2 further cleans and i dumped.

Customer was quite shocked from her voice message 😁

Think Mick Kent hits the nail on the head 👍
Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.     - Aristotle