Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: d s windowcleaning on October 23, 2012, 08:37:41 pm
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Ibought some work 3 months ago all underpriced but it was cheap to buy , come the 3rd clean id made my money back and extra , the customers are getting used to me now .
How many cleans would you do before a price increase after buying work ?
how many customers would you expect to lose ?
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hi DS how badly under priced are they m8t?
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id try and double or tripple my money if they aint too badly underpriced or test the water on 10 customers (the worst ones maybe and see what % are ok with it)
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hi DS how badly under priced are they m8t?
work was well underpriced on most , but i was more or less given the work .
I now need to increase the price , im not really bothered if i lose any as ive had my money back and extra , just now want to bring it into line with all my other work .
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I was given 40 jobs free of charge some years ago, all of them was underpriced by 50% or more, I increased all of the prices straightaway, I lost 20 customers straightaway and most of the rest over the next couple of years, I now do just 3.
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I bought some earlier this year and increased it the day I took over. Didn't loose any so I suppose I wasn't bold enough with the increase. But it was very underpriced only dare increase it so much. Most of them expected it from a new window cleaner anyway. I only paid x1 for it and hope for another increase in a year. ;D
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I was given 40 jobs free of charge some years ago, all of them was underpriced by 50% or more, I increased all of the prices straightaway, I lost 20 customers straightaway and most of the rest over the next couple of years, I now do just 3.
haha wow :)
well thats a good statistic!,
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so ds depends on how badly they are under priced ! , if they were that under priced that means they are only customers cos it was cheap!
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I'd double it and tell em if they dont like it then find some other mug, who needs badly priced jobs anyway, leave those for the beer n fAg brigade they'll soon ave em
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Bought some work when I was green.....
They had connies, some were 10 or 12 4 bed det with the conny..
Did two cleans to recover my money, whacked em all up, lost a few but ones who stayed I stick up a quid every year.
Quite a few I lost were due to the fact they were so low, when you try to double the price they think you're ripping em off.
As an example, two bed terrace front and back, was £6.... Increased to £9, cancelled.
Another, conny,full panels x 12 plus 4 bed small house, was £12....... Increased day one £2 for window above conny, then increased to £20 after 2 months.....she stayed....now it's £23.00
But it's a hard slog, when you have similar house types you get £30 a clean for....
In retrospect, ,check each job before buying work, in daylight!
I was given a drive round tour of the round,but funnily enough connys never mentioned.....
Lesson learnt
Mr B
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Some good feed back here , so it seems if buying under priced work best thing to do is look at the jobs and decide there and then if you fancy cleaning it long term at those prices if not then meeting all the customers and upping them "Gary's selling up unfortunately I can't clean your house for £6 it's going to be £10" sort of way may be the best way to go from clean one
Oh don't forget you can try subbing the work out or the employing route as its under priced customers will not be fussy that's the only advantage !
Hope it goes well for ja anyway!
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I bought some under priced work a few years back from a cleaner I know.
But I told him not to tell them that it was changing hands.
Most were 3 bed semis priced at £6-7 easy access no texting or calling
I waited until they were about two weeks late then one evening I knocked all the doors and explained that .......... had passed your details on to me because he was no longer cleaning in your area, he wanted to pass them on to someone he trusted, so here I am would you like a quote
Cust - yes please we were all wondering where he was cus he's never late
Me- ok (have a look round ) it will be £ 10
Cust- oh. .......... only charged us £6
Me- I know, that's a lot to do with why he's not working round here anymore
Cust - ok then I did think I t was strange he hadn't put the price up in 6 years
Most of conversations went something like that and I got about 90% of all customers at a price that I was happy with
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I bought some under priced work a few years back from a cleaner I know.
But I told him not to tell them that it was changing hands.
Most were 3 bed semis priced at £6-7 easy access no texting or calling
I waited until they were about two weeks late then one evening I knocked all the doors and explained that .......... had passed your details on to me because he was no longer cleaning in your area, he wanted to pass them on to someone he trusted, so here I am would you like a quote
Cust - yes please we were all wondering where he was cus he's never late
Me- ok (have a look round ) it will be £ 10
Cust- oh. .......... only charged us £6
Me- I know, that's a lot to do with why he's not working round here anymore
Cust - ok then I did think I t was strange he hadn't put the price up in 6 years
Most of conversations went something like that and I got about 90% of all customers at a price that I was happy with
Very well planed Scott that's the way m8 , did you part with your money already? If you did that's a brave move!
By the way iPhones rock! Sitting on customers drive having a 5 min break ;)
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I'd double it and tell em if they dont like it then find some other mug, who needs badly priced jobs anyway, leave those for the beer n f*g brigade they'll soon ave em
the reason i bought the work was i allready do a lot in the area and wanted to make a full days work rather than just 3 1/2 days which i was there for , as i say i got the work cheap even if it was badly priced if i can get them to the prices i have in mind it will be well worth it .
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so ds depends on how badly they are under priced ! , if they were that under priced that means they are only customers cos it was cheap!
most need to go up by £5 some a bit more but from the next clean i will be telling them of price increase .
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you have to put the prices up striaght away when buying underpriced work. I recently got given 34 customers and had to put them all up £3 and i only lost 1. i have mde the mistake before of not putting them up straight away and lost loads when they do go up.
the way I see it is im there new window cleaner with my set prices, i either tell them to there face or if not in i give them a small note explaining that i have taken on the round and have to increase the price as verey under the average for my round.
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What % are they under priced a fiver I would live with If it was say £15 house should be £20 ? But if they are under a tenner and you plan on upping to over £10 £12 I would expect cancelations would you mind a possible 30 to 50% cancelation ?
I guess that's what you need to work out but every case Is different you might keep em All you just don't know
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I bought some under priced work a few years back from a cleaner I know.
But I told him not to tell them that it was changing hands.
Most were 3 bed semis priced at £6-7 easy access no texting or calling
I waited until they were about two weeks late then one evening I knocked all the doors and explained that .......... had passed your details on to me because he was no longer cleaning in your area, he wanted to pass them on to someone he trusted, so here I am would you like a quote
Cust - yes please we were all wondering where he was cus he's never late
Me- ok (have a look round ) it will be £ 10
Cust- oh. .......... only charged us £6
Me- I know, that's a lot to do with why he's not working round here anymore
Cust - ok then I did think I t was strange he hadn't put the price up in 6 years
Most of conversations went something like that and I got about 90% of all customers at a price that I was happy with
Very well planed Scott that's the way m8 , did you part with your money already? If you did that's a brave move!
By the way iPhones rock! Sitting on customers drive having a 5 min break ;)
Yes I had already paid for work but got it at 1.5 or 2 x value
I thought I would take a chance by doing it a bit differently after I heard and read about people taking on underpriced work then losing customers when putting prices up or having to put them up steadily over years
How did you know I'm on iPhone ?
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Well done he who dares wins ! I didn't was speaking for my self ! Just got one I've been loyal to simple phones for ages gota say these things are useful!
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Put the prices up today most by £5 a few by £3 and a few by £7 , not one as cancelled due to this increase , there was a few not in but if these go along with the increase the under priced round i bought will have been a good buy .
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That sounds like a result
If they haven't flinched at the price increase then hopefully you've gained some good customers