Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: windows_chepstow on February 07, 2006, 05:52:54 pm
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I've just typed an essay; then deleted it as it was probably too long and boring, but here's something I'd like to share.
In essence, one of my customers live in a ground floor maisonette which has four windows and a door.
I charge 'em £4.50.
They also have a house; 200 miles from here in deepest darkest Wales.
Their other window cleaner charges £1.00 to clean the front of the property (no access to the rear) for four sash windows and a door.
He does most of the street and has been window cleaning for years and is around my age (36 - even though I know I don't look it).
How can anyone make a living charging £1.00 for half-a-house?
They said they've offered him more; my customer said that £1.00 is barely a loaf of bread; but he stated £1.00 is his price.
There was no animosity shown towards me; these are nice customers; and they showed me a photograph of their house out of interest.
£1.00 is pretty mad-pricing though.
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i wouldnt get me ladder off 4 a quid :o
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i wouldnt get me ladder off 4 a quid :o
Maybe he does forty 'fronts' a day? £40?
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lmao mayb but charge five and do 8 n get £40 :o lot less work ;) lol
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i wouldnt get me ladder off 4 a quid :o
I wouldn't put me ladder on 4 a quid ;D
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obvioulsy claiming incapacity benefit cos he is too ill to work OR Unemployment Benefit because there are no local jobs available!
You lot need to get up to speed with things in the real world! LOL ;)
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my thoughs exactly. must be on her majesty pay role.
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my thoughs exactly. must be on her majesty pay role.
I was sort of expecting to hear that you lot have similar pricing window cleaners in your area; or that Western(ish) Wales is poverty ridden.
Okay, I may be a bit naive here; but even if he was on 'the fiddle', why can't he charge normal prices?
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Don't forget that in some parts of Wales everything is cheap.
Blaenavon is the cheapest place in Britain to buy a house.
You can get a 2-bed terrace for £20,000.
Beer is £1.50.
Car's are hundreds, not thousands...etc. :o
A quid is a lot there.
It's all relative.
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Don't forget that in some parts of Wales everything is cheap.
Blaenavon is the cheapest place in Britain to buy a house.
You can get a 2-bed terrace for £20,000.
Beer is £1.50.
I've been to Baenavon. The 'Big Pit' and the 'Steel Works'.
It looks really nice there!
I just wish I knew the window cleaner in question so I could show him this site.
I'm sure he'd get a shock.
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My cheapest job is £2.00
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My cheapest job is £2.00
Spy glass in front door? ;D
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Our cheapest job is also £2.00 and money for time taken, it is the most profitable.
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At least he'll gever get under cut !
Tosh ..... just for a laugh, next time you see this customer, suggest she tell's her other window cleaner next time she see's him that she's found someone cheaper.
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I think i no why he does charge 1 pound for cleaning the window, by any chance is the lady a super modle and has a fear of clothing??? if not the persone your talking about is completely insane.
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Our cheapest job is also £2.00 and money for time taken, it is the most profitable.
That's true with a lot of people I expect.
I did 3 old folks bungalows today for £3 each.
All three took me about 12 mins and one gave me an extra quid.
So with collecting that's £10 for 15 mins...not bad. :D
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a friend of mine in Liverpool who runs a pretty successful bulding company tells me the standard price for any ladder CLIMB in the building industry is £40...the cost of the work is added!!
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a friend of mine in Liverpool who runs a pretty successful bulding company tells me the standard price for any ladder CLIMB in the building industry is £40...the cost of the work is added!!
Better get yourself a ladder Steve! ;D
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a friend of mine in Liverpool who runs a pretty successful bulding company tells me the standard price for any ladder CLIMB in the building industry is £40...the cost of the work is added!!
Better get yourself a ladder Steve! ;D
But he`s not a builder, :-\ ;),Gaz
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There's a local window cleaner around here he's been doing it for years (part time (ex fireman) charges around £3.50 - £4.00 for a three bed detached, he's just gone over to WFP and has retired from the fire service He's now wondering how's he going to cope as window cleaning is his only form of income,
When I sugested that he up's his prices he claimes that they won't pay £8 - £10 for the same property (even though I,m doing houses next to his at that price)
Having said that its only since I've been on this forum that I,ve jacked my prices up and feel more confident about priceing Right and not what I think the punter wants to pay..
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Don't forget that in some parts of Wales everything is cheap.
Blaenavon is the cheapest place in Britain to buy a house.
You can get a 2-bed terrace for £20,000.
Beer is £1.50.
I've been to Baenavon. The 'Big Pit' and the 'Steel Works'.
It looks really nice there!
I just wish I knew the window cleaner in question so I could show him this site.
I'm sure he'd get a shock.
I clean windows in Blaenavon! Lovely place :)
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My own cheapest account is £1.50, the next is £2.00 :-\
These are for little shop fronts of course, but with the £1.50 one I really resent it, if I put it up a penny he'd probably moan about it :-X
I do the one next door for £2.50, this is a single large pane of plate glass and a medium pane in the door.
The cheaper one is the same size but there are 3 bars that convert the one pane into 3 panes.
Ok, its still only a minute or so to do, in fact it takes longer to collect the bloody money than it does to earn it :-\
So I only collect it once a month, I even hate taking the time to write out the invoice for £1.50 :P
But £1.00 for a house front :o :o
By comparrison; I do 2 front only's in our local town, they are next door to each other, 1 ground floor window, 1 first floor and one 2nd floor window and I charge each customer a fiver.
Even in the poorest part of the UK £1.00 is riduculously cheap.
If he was a Dole cheat I'd shop him.
If he's on the up and up I'd send him to the local library to view this forum on the internet (at those rates he'd never be able to afford a computer of his own!)
When I started over 20 years ago I did a couple of old-dink-bungalows, charged them about £2.50 each (quite possibly the 3 that Squeaks is still doing now, are they the ones up at Mynndbach Rog?)
Still, maybe this guy is honest and a taxpayer (except he probably doesnt earn enough to pay tax :P) enjoys his work and is content to get by on £30 or £40 a day.
Who knows eh?.....
Ian
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yet another retired fireman
beats another J W ;D
GAZA
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yet another retired fireman
beats another J W ;D
GAZA
Did the fireman get done for assult?
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why is almost everyone knocking the welshman, i can see your point but if hes happy thats fair enough! I would rather have a pint with him than someone whose charging £20 for a house front.
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yet another retired fireman
beats another J W ;D
GAZA
whats wrong with firemen and jws
if they do a good job
gary
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yet another retired fireman
beats another J W ;D
GAZA
whats wrong with firemen
There's nothing wrong with JWs, but firemen (or firefighters if you want to be PC) really get my goat.
The retained firemen are good lads, but the 'professional service' are just a bunch of money-grabbing numpties who've jumped on the back of the USA 9/11 disaster (where large numbers of firefighters died and were held in high esteem).
As opposed to ours who went on strike and left the British public at the mercy of the army and it's anchient Green Goddesses that had a top speed of 15 mph; and that was when the squaddies could find the fire in the first place.
A little tip. If your house ever catches fire during a fire strike; just pour some petrol onto the flames and get it over with.
I ended up jacking 17 years of the army after getting severley mucked about by Fire Brigade’s Union leader Andy Gilchrist.
They tried to claim that it was a dangerous job; but window cleaning is statistically (probably) more dangerous, and the armed forces is definately dodgier.
I'm sure firemen spend most of their day 'play-stationing'
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yet another retired fireman
beats another J W ;D
GAZA
whats wrong with firemen
There's nothing wrong with JWs, but firemen (or firefighters if you want to be PC) really get my goat.
The retained firemen are good lads, but the 'professional service' are just a bunch of money-grabbing numpties who've jumped on the back of the USA 9/11 disaster (where large numbers of firefighters died and were held in high esteem).
As opposed to ours who went on strike and left the British public at the mercy of the army and it's anchient Green Goddesses that had a top speed of 15 mph; and that was when the squaddies could find the fire in the first place.
A little tip. If your house ever catches fire during a fire strike; just pour some petrol onto the flames and get it over with.
I ended up jacking 17 years of the army after getting severley mucked about by Fire Brigade’s Union leader Andy Gilchrist.
They tried to claim that it was a dangerous job; but window cleaning is statistically (probably) more dangerous, and the armed forces is definately dodgier.
I'm sure firemen spend most of their day 'play-stationing'
i stand corrected
gary
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I'm not keen on civil servants either.
Being one is just a license to skive.
A friend of mine from school is clerical staff for the Foriegn Office. She's worked all over the world.
You should hear some of her stories; the parties paid for by the tax-payer. The 'jollies' they have and hotels they stay in.
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My friend John lived in a house that I would price at £10-12, (some would charge him £15 ) His cleaner has been coming for years regular as clock work and still charges £4. The price has never gone up.
I've seen him and he seems a normal enough bloke, how can he not be aware of what other WCs are charging?
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why is almost everyone knocking the welshman, i can see your point but if hes happy thats fair enough! I would rather have a pint with him than someone whose charging £20 for a house front.
I agree. He may be naive, but probably a more honest chap than some around here with £££s in their eyes.
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yet another retired fireman
beats another J W ;D
GAZA
whats wrong with firemen
There's nothing wrong with JWs, but firemen (or firefighters if you want to be PC) really get my goat.
I once knew a JW who was also a fireman :-) . I'm wondering how he would be stereotyped :-)