Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Danny Riley on March 14, 2011, 02:22:34 pm
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HI there,
This might have been asked a million times, but how much do you charge for cleaning windows? I've never done this before and want to get started making up a round as I've asked a few people in the locality and they don't even have a window cleaner. is this odd?
Do you charge by window pane or by house size or what? Any information appreciated.
Also, how do you clean the windows with lead on them?
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It's easy to price a building once you've been doing it for a while as you " get a feel " for how long it should take you and price it accordingly.
At first however it's not so simple. The simple rule of £1 per window is a reasonable starting point; but you must also take in to account the area you live in. For example, in Plymouth we have prices that we can charge but in London these same prices would be laughed at as far too low. Likewise, if we tried to charge the prices being paid to the London lads we'd have no work!!
Personally I'd stick to the £1 per window and see how it goes; if you pick up plenty of work fine, if potential customers gasp when you tell them the price lower it a little 'til you start to pick up work regularly.
Or, ask a window cleaner for a price to clean your house; that way you'll have some idea on the local prices and can match them.
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I've just started out in recently still building, not much yet but it will take a few months so don't get dis hearted about not really much work(if this gets the case) I charge £1.50 per window and it averages out about £10-£15 a house for a standard semi detach house.
Also you must be starting out as a trad?
Hope this helps :)
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Hey, thanks for the replies. I don't know what a trad is, could you explain that bit please?
I didn't realise you could charge so much. Somebody who actually does have a window cleaner nearby said they get charged £5 per fortnight for an 8 window house. that's comes to about 60p per pane.
Also when I am about to go canvassing should I just hit every door on a street, knock and ask and then post a flyer and move on? if they say they have a cleaner already I think it's best to just leave it yeah?
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trad is with a squeege and ladder,
also what part of the country are you .
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In Bolton,
Don't have any equipment, so if you could recommend what is needed straight away to get started then that'd be great.
Put it this way; all that I have is ambition, and a guy I work with. We're both ready to put all our efforts into this and also advertise as lawn mowers, (and anything else to do with property improvement)
We have a big dream of going into buy to let properties, but right now we are determined to make the window cleaning idea come to life.
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i count the windows then add a pound or two. This morning i did a first clean two 1st floor windows plus one ground floor bay and one normal ground floor window plus door was £10 and the regular 6 weekly clean for the 4 windows and door will be £7 plus in the next month or so i will be able to access the back as well for £13 will take about 10-15 mins to do the whole house ;D ;D ;D
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You'll get plenty of advise on here from lads saying you should charge this or that but you can't charge much more than the local average or you'll leave yourself open to undercutting; and to be honest why would someone pay you £15 when they can get it done equally well for £10.
You have to understand what the local pricing is like or you'll stand no chance of competing with the established window cleaners.
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Hi
danny mlscontractcleaner is right you need to find out what people charge in your area, maybe change the post title to " price help in bolton and sourrounding areas "
erithw
people will always pay more for a great service ;) ;)
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bolton is notoriously low on prices for window cleaning.also be careful as their are "patch" systems operating in a lot of these types of areas! ;D ;D ;D
i would sack your mate off for starters.also no lawn mowing!!!
my advice would be to get some work experience with a local window cleaner and work for him a few days a week and see how you like it.can you even clean a window to an acceptable standard in a good time frame?
then leaflet an area and go back 3 days later canvassing.do this again after a few more months has passed.
seriously not a good idea to go into window cleaning with a friend!concentrate on building work on your own and never employ him either!!
these kind of things tend to go pear shaped after a while!
regards
dazmond
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Hi Danny
Welcome first of all.
When I started I knew nothing about WC. What I did is listed below:
Used all the window cleaning forums and scowered them for info and advice. It will take a while but well worth it. Also the more you learn from them and the more you learn on the job will make you an even better WC and also pass on that knowledge to other WC's who start out.
Went out for the day with another window cleaner, took me a while to find one but I did and what helped was he was out of the area that I was going to start gaining customers.
If I saw a WC in the street either watch them and they work or even go and talk to them.
If you go down the WTP route I was always now buy a unit that can be used by two operatives through the day as if you buy small and your company gets more successful you will only have to buy the equipment all over again. A complete waste of money!
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READ THIS THREAD ... loads of cracking advice in there ( some from me too ;D ) - is a thread about new guys starting out, so you will see highs & lows... well worth a read.
http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=84375.0 (http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=84375.0)
Pound a window sounds about right... you do get a feel for it when you have been doing it a while.
You have a choice of traditional (ladders) or water fed pole or even both - depends on your budget.
When i started out i read forums for pretty much 3 days straight with very little sleep. Any questions i had, i wrote down as i was going
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Some bloke called Ian Giles posted this on pricing. I reckon it just about covers what you need to know.
Don't charge by the hour!!
Break down windows into a unit cost.
Then it is just a case of walking around a job, counting up the windows, breaking them down into what you consider to be a unit and multiply by whatever you have allowed as your unit cost.
It makes pricing far more accurate and takes out a large element of 'guess-timation' from the equation.
If you are fairly new to the game then you need to know what the average time it takes for an experienced window cleaner to clean your average window.
In basic terms, an average casement window, about 45" tall and about the same in width, with 3 panes of glass, one narrow opening light above a single fixed pane, and a longer opening pane to the one side will take approx 90 seconds to clean, including any detailing thats needed.
And that is to a good standard including the sills wiped down properly.
Oh, the above is for trad window cleaning, but generally, even if WFP, it is best to price up as for trad.
AS Simon said, to begin with you will be miles slower than someone experienced, but these are the people you are pricing against, so you need to be competitive...
AS your skills and speed increase then so do your earnings.
What you charge per window (or unit) is up to you, and is also to a degree governed by your location in the country.
My own unit charge is £1.00, and my rate - per - minute - worked is also £1.00
This does not mean earnings of £60 an hour...not by any stretch of the imagination...there is a world of difference between the rate - per - minute - worked and what you eventually earn per hour.
The rate per minute is the time taken when you are actually at the windows cleaning them, no allowance for talking to customers, setting up or putting away or driving between jobs, or time off because of the weather/holidays/sickness/breakdowns and so on.
I'm WFP so my time per window is more like 30 seconds rather than 90 seconds and an average semi will take me around 10 minutes to actually 'clean'...but there is no way I will average 6 semi's an hour!!!!
Mr average on a good day will ...er...average about 3 0r 4 an hour over a full days work, oh, and for most an average days work will rarely be more than 6 hours before he (or she) is heading off home. That isn't to say many don't work considerably longer hours, we often work much longer ourselves (6am starts and 5pm finishes).
Something else to ALWAYS remember is that your hourly turnover rate (perceived not actual!!) is not your wage! it is your business income/turnover from which you take your wage....
Have a minimum charge and over and above that, price per unit and NOT per hour.
Ian
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You'll get plenty of advise on here from lads saying you should charge this or that but you can't charge much more than the local average or you'll leave yourself open to undercutting; and to be honest why would someone pay you £15 when they can get it done equally well for £10.
You have to understand what the local pricing is like or you'll stand no chance of competing with the established window cleaners.
Thats not always true, i charge on average 25% to 50% more than the locals, and i still pick up work, yes i do get undercut from time to time, but the extra money im making from my relatively high prices makes it worth it.
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I probably would ditch the mowing for a start. Too much equipment to carry around, you can't make as much as on the windows and it's basically just a pain in the bum.
We've done it for 4 years so am speaking from experience. We are in the process of ditching a lot of the garden customers to concentrate on windows ;D
PS agree with not charging by the hour either - that's the mistake we made with gardens....