Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Dave66 on March 09, 2012, 10:17:13 pm
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there's been a few guys around where we work leafleting (get your windows done for £2.50)
i mean come on thats just silly, anyway quite a few of our custards have shown us the cards and just laughed it off but one guy who i thought was sound canceled for them!!
how long you reckon it will stay at that price? a few months? bearing in mind these are £7-£10 houses
damm summer brigade ::)
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don't know I was collecting tonight and lost two, first time in a very long time I have lost work. and the reason was price and I have been pretty safe with my pricing on these jobs, I honestly never thought I would be undercut on this estate, and trust me I am cheaper than most on here, but as CIU rules go I picked up a ten pound house to replace today :o
win some lose some I suppose, I don't tend to worry about it
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iv lost a few last few weeks but due to death or house sold may pick the new owners up tho,but still picked a few up aswell so not to worry,made a mistake turning a house down today as didnt want drive a mile out my way for 1 semi but then thought i should try take these on a bi monthly at higher price to make it worth it,stupid me :-\ il speak to my custy to tell her friend il give her a price next time i see her, bit off topic like but thought i tell you anyway ;D
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over last few months iv picked up jobs from Polish lads who have stopped coming. that reassuring to hear they cant hack it.
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best thing is when the custy says "can you do mine again?" they've disapeared???
erm NO ;D
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best thing is when the custy says "can you do mine again?" they've disapeared???
erm NO ;D
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Exactly. Very satisfying
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best thing is when the custy says "can you do mine again?" they've disapeared???
erm NO ;D
Well, except for reliable customers my prices have gone up and double that price as it's a first clean ... ;)
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no chance, they can whistle
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Just tell the custy to knock £2.50 off your price and let the summer beer money brigade do the job ;D ;D ;D
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In 11 years windows cleaning I've never once lost any domestic job to someone doing it cheaper and my prices are not already cheap.
Commercial work, yes, but not domestic stuff.
I've given quotes and been turned down because the person didn't want to pay that much but that's different.
My view is that if you do a good enough job with attention to detail, you'll always have work at a good price.
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If you are living rent free on housing benefit, all your bills paid for by social, kids getting free school dinners etc. Maximum child benefit. Don't pay stamp or tax then £2.50 doesn't look so bad.
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over last few months iv picked up jobs from Polish lads who have stopped coming. that reassuring to hear they cant hack it.
They have earned their bundle and gone home with it more like
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A few years ago we lost a customer whom we had been doing for years before they canned us. A letter came with the Chq saying they were canceling window cleaning.
We thought it was odd so we rang them up to see why, in case its something we did.
Well the wife said that they had been knocked and the new guys were cheaper so it would save them money, £20 bungalow, the husband thought they would try these new guys. Fair enough. Its their house so they can have whoever they like cleaning them.
A good few months later we get a call from said customer asking if we could add them back in as the "new" cleaner wasnt very good, broke the top of the gate climbing over and then decided after breaking gate if they werent in he would do fronts and still charge full price £18 i think.
We do them again now and they cant be nice enough about us :-) I think they have learnt their lesson!
Andy
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Where is this happening ??
Even if you were on benefits or whatever and only had a quarter of a brain you wouldn't quote £2.50 to do clean house windows.
You sure it isnt a misprint and should be £12.50 ?
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I would say anyone doing windows at the beginning of March is part of "the summer brigade"
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ive had large parts of my round canvassed over the last few weeks.ive not lost any but the guy has picked up all the jobs ive dropped because of bad payers/messers etc!! ;D ;D ;D ;D
in fact some customers have the "how dare they canvass my round mentality"i can believe some of my older women customers chasing them down the road hitting them with their handbags!!
ive been cleaning some of these customers windows for 17 years!!
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the average house front clean in my area is £2.50 - £3 per front clean this is all they will pay custom is better than no custom, £3 for 5-10 minutes work. i think there will be a lot of customers changing over this summer when the sun brings out the newbies, ive been cleaning for 20 years, had different jobs but always returned to window cleaning. only you know what you earn. not even your mrs.
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lol customers have shown me similar leaflets, funnily enough i have still got these customers :- )
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most customers will stay loyal if you are decent, i lost two in same street, 1st in 20 years cleaning. 3 months later asked me if i would do them again, hummed and arred . if i didnt do them it gives someone else an oppening to be seen in area, still got them. if it happened again never take back.
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I would make a leaflet saying " We repair and clean £ 2.50 mess ups for £ 10.50." call before its to late. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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But on a slightly different note, a lot of customers are really feeling the pinch now. I have had at least three cancel recently that I am absolutely positive are for financial reasons. They all have their own businesses if thats significant.
I was talking to another yesterday, she has a beauty business and she said she has never known it so quiet. She told me she has had to stop the gardener so I wouldn't be suprised if she was giving me a warning by telling me.
Recession has a two way effect. Lots more newbies knocking who are maybe a bit desperate for the cash. They are not going to be too fussy. Plus a lot more customers who might be tempted by a lower price.
Eventually prices will be driven down by it, its simple economics. Plus I have never had so many customers who are selling up and moving. Downsizing as they like to call it but its mostly based on money. They all seem to move to cheaper areas and why not?
Let me put a suggestion to you. Sell your place, buy a nice place in Krakow Poland, its really beautiful there, right near the Austrian borders. You can get a good place for £40K. Easy Jet £36 each way. These Poles aren't so dumb.