Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: jim bean on March 31, 2012, 08:33:14 am
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Just curious, when I first started I couldn't stand leaded windows thought they were a right pain and immediately started charging around 1.5x for all leaded houses.
However as time has gone on I have started to realise that they aren't so bad and the real bad windows are the little 3" x 6".
I've got a pub that I clean 2 weekly and it has 6 double doors, three upstairs normal windows( big one and then a small one on top of the medium one) and then it has 10 windows that have these little crappy windows with all flaring paint. Each frame has 32 windows in, first week of month I blade them with a little blade and second visit i scrim them all. Over 300 individual windows good job I don't charge per window as some do! I'd be charging around 5p a window at my price!
I asked my uncle what his price would be on it and he said £40, it's a 4 star restaurant that charges 10 quid for burger and chips. When I told him my price of a measly £16 he about choked.
Thing is I can't afford to lose it at £32 a month, and isnt bad considering i can do em in an hour n 15mins! Least I know I won't get undercut !
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for an hour and 15mins you should be looking at min of £40 per visit.
Are you new to this job? Try aim for £30 mark per hour on future jobs.
When i first started i was to cheap and have learned the hard way.
steve
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my least favourite job is anything to do with paperwork ie filling in safety forms, tax forms etc i hate it with a vengeance when i left school early all i wanted was to do a physical manual job but in todays society even a small business involves quite a bit of paperwork
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Been doing it about a year, around 2 months on my own now. My dads had this job since mid 2000s, can't exactly put the price straight up to £40 can I lol. Deffo putting it up to £18 next visit and £40 for a hour an a bit? I don't know why people give advice like that i cant see many windys on £40/h or even £30. I'm happy earning just over £10 an hour doing around 25 hours p/ wk. If I was on £40 a hour id be earning £52k a year doing 25 hours window cleaning. If that was the case everyone would be doing it, fair enough u might have some jobs where u touch £40/h, I've got some at £20, but for that to be standard pricing seems crazy to me. Maybe I am too cheap but till I've got 40 hr/wk work that's where my price will stay, then I can start fiddling with them replacing for better paid work etc etc
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Where in the midlands are you and is this your main income because you are woefully cheap.
Do you try to work on a £1. a window when you quote and did I read your dad and uncle are windies
Art
I have just read some of your back posts, forgive me for asking about your dad.
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i use £30 per hour as an aim. some jobs are over this and some under it. you can earn £10 per hour on tesco night shift but this is a business with overheads so £30 per hour isn`t what you take home. most on this forum will use £30per hour as a rough aim. i didn`t realise this untill i came to this forum and i was bringing in £15per hour. i went wfp and upp¬d prices got new work.
i agree you cant up prices quickly, it takes time. ive been at it 12 years and didn`t put my prices up for the first 8years, big mistake and now putting prices up aggresivly so i could start to call this a business
Dont make the same misake, you can do a lot better and achive more
steve
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thing is jim none of us work 40 hours a week "on the glass" more like 6 of 7 hours a day.we dont get paid holiday/sick pay.when the weather is really bad,again we dont get paid for downtime.then theres tax,insurances,expenses of running a van/car,accountants fees,equipment costs.albeit if your trad you wont have too spend much on equipment year on year.
seriously if i was only making £16 for 75 mins of work on a posh restaurant id of dumped it by now as i can make better money on cheap compact 3 bed semis.dont forget you have to drive to your next job so thats another 5-10 mins eaten into that price you ve charged for the job.
min price per hour worked is £25-£30 for me.although i have some work where im making £50-£60 an hour "on the glass" time but not hour after hour,day after day.
at the end of the year when all expenses and tax are taken off its not as much as you think!!im still doing well,in fact better than ever after years in this game but to be quite frank jim you will make next to nothing and just about scrape by with the prices your charging for the job.
best wishes
dazmond
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My dad was yes I have his round as sadly he passed last year. My uncle is also a windy too yes although he's retiring soon and so I should land straight in on his round. In Leicestershire mate, do all villages around Coalville. All of prices
Were already set I ain't changed any, my work what I have picked up is priced slightly better I'm trying to gain enough work for a full week 4 weeks of the month, 40 hrs a wk 10 quid a hr is 400/wk whats too cheap about that? As I've said I'm still building the round to where I want it to be. All my work is local and compact I do quite a lot in each village. £10 a hr is the lowest figure, on average I eArn around 13-14 an hour, once I've established myself and people know I'm good and reliable I'll put prices up. I'm not on a mega money making scheme I'm happy with what I get ATM I'm still a young lad got plenty of time left yet ;)
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My dad was yes I have his round as sadly he passed last year. My uncle is also a windy too yes although he's retiring soon and so I should land straight in on his round. In Leicestershire mate, do all villages around Coalville. All of prices
Were already set I ain't changed any, my work what I have picked up is priced slightly better I'm trying to gain enough work for a full week 4 weeks of the month, 40 hrs a wk 10 quid a hr is 400/wk whats too cheap about that? As I've said I'm still building the round to where I want it to be. All my work is local and compact I do quite a lot in each village. £10 a hr is the lowest figure, on average I eArn around 13-14 an hour, once I've established myself and people know I'm good and reliable I'll put prices up. I'm not on a mega money making scheme I'm happy with what I get ATM I'm still a young lad got plenty of time left yet ;)
No worries,
I responded to the thread cos of "your worst job" yours being how low one paid.
It your business, run it and charge what you see as fit for you, but please dont be defensive when people try to help you out.
Good luck.
Art