Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: JackieW on December 09, 2011, 08:43:33 pm
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Hi,
Hope I explain this so it is understandable.
I have recently had four domestic customers that want to change to 'every other month' instead of monthly.
I said '' that's fine but I charge 50% more for the clean''.
So a £10 a month customer (£20 over two months for two cleans) is now
a £15 every other month (£15 over two months).
The windows are dirtier and take longer but it won't take me 50 % longer to do them.
Two have said ''oh alright then'' , but have yet to have them done under the new system and had to pay the extra amount so we'll see.
One said ''no I'll leave it''
One argued with me and threatened to cancel but has opted to stay at £10 a month.
Net result,
Previously on £40 a month for all four customers.
Their request would have dropped my work load to 2 customers one month and the other two customers the next and income would be £20 a month .
Now it is going to be work load dropped to two customers one month and two customers the next (one monthly and one e.o.m) and income would be £17.50.
So losing the one customer has made a difference.
I still feel that I do not want to charge the same amount for a customer if they change the visits from 12 a year to 6 a year.
How do others feel about this?
Cheers
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I am flexible with this kind of thing. Most of my domestics are on a six weely cycle, so it may sometimes be seven weeks before they get done but none of them seem to mind. I priced higher for the six weeks instead of monthly or four weekly from the outset.
In your case, you just have to do what you think is right. Certainly charge more for every other month and you may lose the odd one. Just replace with new customers and it will all work it's way out.
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hey,
we charge 2/3rd the price for 8 weekly clients. you'll lose some, but if you charge the same rate you end up loosing even more money anyhow. also, as you found, by charging them more for the 8 weekly it makes the custoemr think... some would rather have them done more often for less so stick with 4 weekly, some are fine about paying the extra. i just tell them it takes longer for me to clean, which it does.
R
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Between 25-33% depending on price
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I charge 50% more for 12-weekly versus 6-weekly.
40% take 6-weekly, 60% take 12-weekly, so it's obviously popular with customers.
Pros:
I'm getting 50% more cash for probably about 10% more work
I can fit more cash into a day
Anyone who books 12-weekly is very unlikely to be a messer
Cons:
It takes longer to build a full round
Some prices can look a bit, er, ambitious: it takes balls to ask for £24 for a semi-detached house with 6 windows and 2 doors.
Vin
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Hi,
Hope I explain this so it is understandable.
I have recently had four domestic customers that want to change to 'every other month' instead of monthly.
I said '' that's fine but I charge 50% more for the clean''.
So a £10 a month customer (£20 over two months for two cleans) is now
a £15 every other month (£15 over two months).
The windows are dirtier and take longer but it won't take me 50 % longer to do them.
Two have said ''oh alright then'' , but have yet to have them done under the new system and had to pay the extra amount so we'll see.
One said ''no I'll leave it''
One argued with me and threatened to cancel but has opted to stay at £10 a month.
Net result,
Previously on £40 a month for all four customers.
Their request would have dropped my work load to 2 customers one month and the other two customers the next and income would be £20 a month .
Now it is going to be work load dropped to two customers one month and two customers the next (one monthly and one e.o.m) and income would be £17.50.
So losing the one customer has made a difference.
I still feel that I do not want to charge the same amount for a customer if they change the visits from 12 a year to 6 a year.
How do others feel about this?
Cheers
Welcome to the forum JackieW - I reckon you've got it about right.
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If customers ask to switch to bi monthly, rather than monthly, we usually add 20%.
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I charge 50% more for 12-weekly versus 6-weekly.
40% take 6-weekly, 60% take 12-weekly, so it's obviously popular with customers.
Pros:
I'm getting 50% more cash for probably about 10% more work
I can fit more cash into a day
Anyone who books 12-weekly is very unlikely to be a messer
Cons:
It takes longer to build a full round
Some prices can look a bit, er, ambitious: it takes balls to ask for £24 for a semi-detached house with 6 windows and 2 doors.
Vin
I recently changed my round over to this cycle and its going well :)
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i usually agree to them going the extra distance and then they often haggle a tad at the price increase of which i only bung on a few quid. later that night i strike em off my round list , i believe they will phone at some later date but iv a full and growing round of which theyre no part of and let them go find another sucker .
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i work on a 28 day cycle not mthly
so i always aim for 13 cleans a yr
most ov my custys just leave me 2 it
a couple av a moan
i never txt em or ring em
if they r my custy
they get done as im cleaning ;)
if i like em as a custy i tend to charge the same
if i think they r trying mess me around or be funny
i might not even do em
iv plently ov work
so regardless ;)
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A. There is a world wide economic collapse,ppl are facing hard times
B We are so lucky to have this job,we aint really affected to a very large degree
C It dont take any longer to clean a bi monthly
D A bi monthly is far less likely to cancel
E Work still pours in for us shiners
F Shall we moan some more???
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We don't charge any extra for doing a clean 8 weekly instead of four; it takes absolutely no longer; and if they can't really afford to part with a tenner they wont want to be parting with £15.
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i dont charge any extra, they just dont come a priority clean, when i am around, if running out of water, i do my bread and butter jobs first
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When i started up the window cleaning business again about two years back, my strategy was to seek bi monthly customers as a preffered type of customer.
Why? It basicly means i am making more money for the same workload throughout the day.
For example my min monthly price per house is around £16. I clean approx 19 houses per day which is around 300 quid.
My bi monthly average at around £25, doing the same jobs, same round, 19 houses is an increase on the days takings of £175. The only disadvantage is you need to get double the customers to be able to do the same the following month, it takes ages to build but as i have discovered once you get there, its well worth doing as you really start to make some decent money.
The wildcard is doing quarterly cleans, thats when you start hitting some major £ per day.
I have about 90 customers all on quarterly cleans, trust me when i say this when i clean them i easily clear 500 per day, as average prices on quarterlys are 30-60 quid.
Im not saying this to brag, or to get attention that i earn this i earn that ect, you can all do whet i am doing, work smarter by increasing you profits.
...
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but what do you do if your market place wont allow to charge £16 per house, as a lot of wc near me charge £4-£6, the house at the bottom of my road 3 sets of patio doors, 3 doors, 6 triple pane windows and something like 5 other windows, the wc charges £7, all the wc where i am that have tried charging decent prices only last a few months, before they realise they aint making money and leave
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but what do you do if your market place wont allow to charge £16 per house, as a lot of wc near me charge £4-£6, the house at the bottom of my road 3 sets of patio doors, 3 doors, 6 triple pane windows and something like 5 other windows, the wc charges £7, all the wc where i am that have tried charging decent prices only last a few months, before they realise they aint making money and leave
Yeah well i live here in surrey, and pretty much all of my work is in affluent areas.
However the principle is the same, you can increase your takings significantly.
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I lost one yesterday,been doing them over a year and had been previously complemented that i did a better job than the previous lot,£7.50 every 6 weeks and she wanted every other.12 weeks ago i said very politely,yes-no problem and then at the end of that day went back(she wasn`t in) and left a quote form saying £7.50-6 weekly,£10.00 -12 weekly.Heard nothing but she arrived home as i finished cleaning yesterday and said begrudgingly, "I`ll pay you this time but i don`t see why it should be extra and my husband(he is freshly self-employed,computer repairs)cannot see why it should be extra.When she realised i wasn`t budging after i had very courteously explained the price differential, she then said,"I`ve seen some other lads about, i`m going to ask them so i`m cancelling".
It`s a small detached, leaded windows,in a cul-de-sac of 4 house in a village where i have £600 all 6 weekly,i do the others in this cul-de-sac,£10.50,£12.00 and £20.00.
Now one argument says the house was and is worth doing at £7.50 even at 12 weekly as it took 14 mins,the van is in one place for all 4 and the next house is 6 steps to the left.However another point of view and the one i`m going with,bearing in mind that she is a talkative type,is that a 33%-50% increase in price for extended frequency of cleans is non-negotiable and not applying this "rule" sets in place a cancer potentially seeking to halve your annual income.
With regret,my professional "veil" dropped at the end of the "conversation" with her and i very loudly said and with these exact words,"Listen,this particular low-life window cleaner will not be instructed by you or anybody else to work harder and longer for the same amount just because you are skint". I`m actually a little bit ashamed about that.
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I lost one yesterday,been doing them over a year and had been previously complemented that i did a better job than the previous lot,£7.50 every 6 weeks and she wanted every other.12 weeks ago i said very politely,yes-no problem and then at the end of that day went back(she wasn`t in) and left a quote form saying £7.50-6 weekly,£10.00 -12 weekly.Heard nothing but she arrived home as i finished cleaning yesterday and said begrudgingly, "I`ll pay you this time but i don`t see why it should be extra and my husband(he is freshly self-employed,computer repairs)cannot see why it should be extra.When she realised i wasn`t budging after i had very courteously explained the price differential, she then said,"I`ve seen some other lads about, i`m going to ask them so i`m cancelling".
It`s a small detached, leaded windows,in a cul-de-sac of 4 house in a village where i have £600 all 6 weekly,i do the others in this cul-de-sac,£10.50,£12.00 and £20.00.
Now one argument says the house was and is worth doing at £7.50 even at 12 weekly as it took 14 mins,the van is in one place for all 4 and the next house is 6 steps to the left.However another point of view and the one i`m going with,bearing in mind that she is a talkative type,is that a 33%-50% increase in price for extended frequency of cleans is non-negotiable and not applying this "rule" sets in place a cancer potentially seeking to halve your annual income.
With regret,my professional "veil" dropped at the end of the "conversation" with her and i very loudly said and with these exact words,"Listen,this particular low-life window cleaner will not be instructed by you or anybody else to work harder and longer for the same amount just because you are skint". I`m actually a little bit ashamed about that.
I totally agree with this.
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I lost one yesterday,been doing them over a year and had been previously complemented that i did a better job than the previous lot,£7.50 every 6 weeks and she wanted every other.12 weeks ago i said very politely,yes-no problem and then at the end of that day went back(she wasn`t in) and left a quote form saying £7.50-6 weekly,£10.00 -12 weekly.Heard nothing but she arrived home as i finished cleaning yesterday and said begrudgingly, "I`ll pay you this time but i don`t see why it should be extra and my husband(he is freshly self-employed,computer repairs)cannot see why it should be extra.When she realised i wasn`t budging after i had very courteously explained the price differential, she then said,"I`ve seen some other lads about, i`m going to ask them so i`m cancelling".
It`s a small detached, leaded windows,in a cul-de-sac of 4 house in a village where i have £600 all 6 weekly,i do the others in this cul-de-sac,£10.50,£12.00 and £20.00.
Now one argument says the house was and is worth doing at £7.50 even at 12 weekly as it took 14 mins,the van is in one place for all 4 and the next house is 6 steps to the left.However another point of view and the one i`m going with,bearing in mind that she is a talkative type,is that a 33%-50% increase in price for extended frequency of cleans is non-negotiable and not applying this "rule" sets in place a cancer potentially seeking to halve your annual income.
With regret,my professional "veil" dropped at the end of the "conversation" with her and i very loudly said and with these exact words,"Listen,this particular low-life window cleaner will not be instructed by you or anybody else to work harder and longer for the same amount just because you are skint". I`m actually a little bit ashamed about that.
Bravo! Well said that man! Especially that bit in red.
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we normally quote 10% more, but if good price anyway we don't even charge that. going to start charging more tho people the 10 percent rule tho to discourage them. or maybe even 15%.
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i dont charge extra if a customer asks to miss a month or go 8 weekly , although i dont advertise it !
new customers with this request are priced accordingly .
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If a customer asks to halve the frequency I usually accept without fuss. For the past few years I have been pricing my work up as if they were one-offs anyway.
It really doesnt takeany longer WFP from 1 to 2 months, maybe for trad but not for WFP.
I advertise the fact that customers can choose their frequency even choose a one-off. They pay for it as all my new customers do.
I think in this economy having more customers at a longer frequency is important to spread £'s. Dont forget with more customers you have more chance to up sell.
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Weekly, fortnightly, 3 weekly, 28 day, monthly or bi monthly - same charge no matter what.
Your cleaning windows does it really make much difference, no matter what the frequency is.
Darren
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25% extra for 8 as opposed to 4 wkly and % 50 increase for 12 wkly anything else is a %100 increase as a 1 off clean
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Any new customers for me - I quote a fair price, regardless of 4 or 8 wkly.
Any of my regulars ask to skip or go bi-monthly, I let them - I'd rather keep good customers sweet than lose them altogether to newbies :) on the flip side - one of my customers a couple of months ago asked me if I'd knock a bit off if she went from 8wk to 4 wk - I dropped it by £2 and she bit my hand off
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Any new customers for me - I quote a fair price, regardless of 4 or 8 wkly.
Any of my regulars ask to skip or go bi-monthly, I let them - I'd rather keep good customers sweet than lose them altogether to newbies :) on the flip side - one of my customers a couple of months ago asked me if I'd knock a bit off if she went from 8wk to 4 wk - I dropped it by £2 and she bit my hand off
I`d be wary of calling "not this time" customers and those recently opting for every other cleans as "regulars",all your customers are potential messers and these types have just taken a good leap in that direction. You`ll be sick when these types eventually cancel or you feel it neccessary to dump them and yet you`d been mollycoddling them all the way along by not pricing extra.
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Any new customers for me - I quote a fair price, regardless of 4 or 8 wkly.
Any of my regulars ask to skip or go bi-monthly, I let them - I'd rather keep good customers sweet than lose them altogether to newbies :) on the flip side - one of my customers a couple of months ago asked me if I'd knock a bit off if she went from 8wk to 4 wk - I dropped it by £2 and she bit my hand off
I`d be wary of calling "not this time" customers and those recently opting for every other cleans as "regulars",all your customers are potential messers and these types have just taken a good leap in that direction. You`ll be sick when these types eventually cancel or you feel it neccessary to dump them and yet you`d been mollycoddling them all the way along by not pricing extra.
Regular customers as in - I've had them now for about 18 months or so - when the odd one asks to miss for whatever reason, why not?? I'm pretty confident they ain't messers by now - and even if they do, so what?? It's not the end of the world - im talking about 3 or 4 not an entire round
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I know what you mean and to be right there can`t be a hard and fast rule but asking for that bit extra for an "every other" etc. is not a bad habit to get into and when you see how easy people accept it then you see those that don`t as unreasonable,plus you can always capitulate and keep the price the same if pushed.
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most of my domestic work is calendar monthly so every other month gets a slight increase in price.they do take slightly longer IMO.a bit more rinsing and scrubbing is required.also i really dont like having 2 monthlies in with very compact monthly work without a bit added on.
all new work away from my cheap very compact estate stuff automatically gets a 8 weekly clean frequency at much better prices as a matter of course.9 times out of 10 the new customers takes it so im earning more for my time spent cleaning.
8 weekly seems to be the norm for bigger domestics for me now.monthly for smaller cheaper ones.