Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Shane sharples on October 09, 2015, 09:56:06 pm
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Was asked to do someone's gutters, she said they'd just moved in and didn't know wether they'd been done b4, so went round and got my kit out (sky vac + camera ) did the inspection and the gutters were clear. Told her they were clean and don't need doing - good for her as its free - bad for me as I don't earn anything. Any ways she then asked me to quote her windows monthly and she agreed so I gained a customer 👍
With the majority of people not having a clue what's in their gutters - what would you have done?
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Fair play to you for being honest as honesty goes a long way in my book. ;)
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we don't offer an inspection service, just clear them.
If you check them before cleaning, offer an inspection service at £20 then if need clearing that comes off the clearing price.
I have looked in gutters for oap's and if empty let them know for no charge.
Darran
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It's not the norm to see totally clear guttering to be honest but I would always be honest and show them the vid as well to prove if they needed doing or not.
You can also get partially/blocked downspout bends that are sometimes not visible using a camera too so you could offer a water test to make sure they are free flowing and charge accordingly if they want it doing for their peace of mind.
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ide have done as u did no charge and b honist it takes seconds to check like alan said honisty is the best way :)
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we don't offer an inspection service, just clear them.
If you check them before cleaning, offer an inspection service at £20 then if need clearing that comes off the clearing price.
I have looked in gutters for oap's and if empty let them know for no charge.
Darran
I found it always best on quotes to do a quick gutter cam survey to see what I'm letting myself in for before pricing the job up but each to their own I guess.
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I was hoping you guys would say something like that, be honest, don't wanna end up on rogue traders. Could've easily said yeah they need doing that's £50, but I wouldn't be able to live with myself :)
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we don't offer an inspection service, just clear them.
If you check them before cleaning, offer an inspection service at £20 then if need clearing that comes off the clearing price.
I have looked in gutters for oap's and if empty let them know for no charge.
Darran
yeah quiet right Darren,there's no way I would have done an inspection with a camera for free. I would have said if you think there clear but you want me to check there will be a fee
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Pretty much find that gutters are gutters, don't need a camera to see how bad they are, the weeds and grass growing over the edge tell you that.
Then price up accordingly
Darran
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Honesty is the best policy and all that ;)
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Yeah but your going round there and checking there gutters for free,I paid nearly a 1k for a Pratt in a suit to tell me that house I was going to buy was sound,not bad for an hour or so followed by a piece of paper telling me so lol
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Honesty is the best policy and all that ;)
Is that your Mrs in your profile picture? ;)
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Yeah but your going round there and checking there gutters for free,I paid nearly a 1k for a Pratt in a suit to tell me that house I was going to buy was sound,not bad for an hour or so followed by a piece of paper telling me so lol
That's true, surveyors are the worst. They kick the corner of your house and have a quick look in the loft and hand the bill over! From now on when asked to clean gutters out we should say we will survey them hahaha
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Honesty is the best policy and all that ;)
Is that your Mrs in your profile picture? ;)
Yeah lol! Thought I'd add a bit of glamour to ciu hahaha :)
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Pretty much find that gutters are gutters, don't need a camera to see how bad they are, the weeds and grass growing over the edge tell you that.
Then price up accordingly
Darran
Only if it was that simple as I've done jobs that even the smallest vac crevice tool would not fit in the gap so had to bend the guttering to get the sods out by hand or take the guttering apart...Bloody roofers ;D
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More often than not they will be surprised if you don't want something for sticking the camera round,you are providing a service by doing that it's called a survey the only difference is your not writing it down and posting it to them m8
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Don't understand some of the replies on this one, the guy inspected the gutters and decided not to charge for doing it
but even if he had it would not have been dishonest.
I think he made the right choice as he didn't make it clear that an inspection without a clean would cost x amount, be careful
handing out freebies as others in the area might expect the same and take the hump if not treated to the same.
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You should be doing gutter cam surveys for your own benefit and the spinoff it's a quick way to fault find issues to show potential customer for example why there gutters are overflowing as not all issues are obvious from the ground. Not only that you can quote higher and get away with it including covering you time and to top it off it's a very powerful passive sales tool too especially on shared gutter runs. There is method in my madness honest ;D
Most would either give a price over the phone or just stand looking up having no idea what to expect and give a price there and then. Ask youself If you where the customer who would you go with?
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Don't understand some of the replies on this one, the guy inspected the gutters and decided not to charge for doing it
but even if he had it would not have been dishonest.
I think he made the right choice as he didn't make it clear that an inspection without a clean would cost x amount, be careful
handing out freebies as others in the area might expect the same and take the hump if not treated to the same.
I think some people where just saying if you went round the whole house having a look its going to take time so they would charge for that rather than sayin yeah there rammed full of moss that's £60 then doing nothing lol
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You can do a gutter cam survey and quote in less than 10 mins and that's booking in the job too or if you have time on your hands do it there and then, No probs ;D
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You can do gutter cam survey and quote in less than 10 mins and that's booking in the job too or if you have time on your hands do it there and then ;D
That ten mins could cover the £6 front next door though... Lol
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You can do gutter cam survey and quote in less than 10 mins and that's booking in the job too or if you have time on your hands do it there and then ;D
That ten mins could cover the £6 front next door though... Lol
Or wins you a very well paid job instead as well as next door when the customer show them pics their shared guttering needs doing too 8)
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Perhaps I should have kept my little gutter clearing trade secret to myself but it's out of the bag now so enjoy ;D
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You can do gutter cam survey and quote in less than 10 mins and that's booking in the job too or if you have time on your hands do it there and then ;D
That ten mins could cover the £6 front next door though... Lol
Or wins you a very well paid job instead as well as next door when the customer show them pics their shared guttering needs doing too 8)
No your missing the point lol. If the gutters don't need cleaning your not getting a well paid job are you, yet you did the ten minute check and then again next door If they come out, so there's 20mins for nothing lol. I'd usually say your gutters are fine, I will just charge you £5 for my time and for giving you peace of mind ;) haha
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And it's no secret lol... That cat was let out the bag a while ago haha
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If the gutters don't need clearing which may I add is very rare then if you are good at what you do you simply upsell other services instead like the op did. Being honest goes a long way and all that ;D
Oh by the way you can see quite a long way with a camera on a stick you know so next door you don't have to survey if all the guttering is shared :-*
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Wow u guys stay up late lol I can understand knocking the inspection fee off the gutter clearing but if they are clear , then I'd take it on the chin . When you get builders/plumbers out etc , to give you a quote for a job , that could take 10 mins of their time but they don't charge you - luckily it was a couple of minutes from my house so was ok , but if I had to drive 10 minutes or more then I would probably tell them on the phone there is an inspection charge
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Wow u guys stay up late lol I can understand knocking the inspection fee off the gutter clearing but if they are clear , then I'd take it on the chin . When you get builders/plumbers out etc , to give you a quote for a job , that could take 10 mins of their time but they don't charge you - luckily it was a couple of minutes from my house so was ok , but if I had to drive 10 minutes or more then I would probably tell them on the phone there is an inspection charge
Indeed as doing a quick gutter cam inspection whilst on a quote is really no different to say going to price up a fsg, cladding, conservatory or even a window clean then simply asking when was the last time the guttering & downspouts were checked/cleared. Do you want me to check them for you?
As mcdonald would say do you want fries with that. ::)roll
Some get up very early too
Posted by: Shrek
« on: Today at 05:03:50 am » ;D
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Lmao 2 young kids and 1's teething ;D
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Lmao 2 young kids and 1's teething ;D
Bless em ;D
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The old saying goes "anything you do for nothing is worth nothing" The customer will never rate it anything of worth" And expect it free next time.
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It's a diffrent story when it's a potential customer just moved in wanting a quote and don't know if they need doing or not surely?
Maybe they did know the house guttering was empty and it was just a test of the persons honesty? ;D
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I believe honesty goes a long way in this game. I don't charge if the gutters are clear, and if they're not I give a fair appraisal of what's up there, and then show them after the job is done.
To me checking takes a few seconds, so I'm happy to give those few seconds to the customer, most of whom in my experience appreciate that. If anyone charges for checking, that's up to them. I choose not to. The way I look at it is that it's similar to giving a quote for cleaning the windows.
John
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I believe honesty goes a long way in this game. I don't charge if the gutters are clear, and if they're not I give a fair appraisal of what's up there, and then show them after the job is done.
To me checking takes a few seconds, so I'm happy to give those few seconds to the customer, most of whom in my experience appreciate that. If anyone charges for checking, that's up to them. I choose not to. The way I look at it is that it's similar to giving a quote for cleaning the windows.
John
Thank god for that as I thought I was the only one for a min that did not charge to have a quick looksee ;D
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Was asked to do someone's gutters, she said they'd just moved in and didn't know wether they'd been done b4, so went round and got my kit out (sky vac + camera ) did the inspection and the gutters were clear. Told her they were clean and don't need doing - good for her as its free - bad for me as I don't earn anything. Any ways she then asked me to quote her windows monthly and she agreed so I gained a customer 👍
With the majority of people not having a clue what's in their gutters - what would you have done?
Same as you, you've gained their trust, not ripped them off and will earn regularly from them by cleaning their windows and maybe they recommend you sometime, should make you feel good about yourself.
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Was asked to do someone's gutters, she said they'd just moved in and didn't know wether they'd been done b4, so went round and got my kit out (sky vac + camera ) did the inspection and the gutters were clear. Told her they were clean and don't need doing - good for her as its free - bad for me as I don't earn anything. Any ways she then asked me to quote her windows monthly and she agreed so I gained a customer 👍
With the majority of people not having a clue what's in their gutters - what would you have done?
Same as you, you've gained their trust, not ripped them off and will earn regularly from them by cleaning their windows and maybe they recommend you sometime, should make you feel good about yourself.
+1
John
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Awesome, I think the general feel from everyone is the same thing then . Glad I did what I did now , cheers guys ;D
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we don't offer an inspection service, just clear them.
If you check them before cleaning, offer an inspection service at £20 then if need clearing that comes off the clearing price.
I have looked in gutters for oap's and if empty let them know for no charge.
Darran
I agree, charging a fairly small inspection fee is reasonable.
The bit I really want to know though is, how many OAPs did you find in the gutters?
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if its a drive away i charge £10 to get up the ladders and check them out, i tell them this will be taken off the price if they need doing.
i dot get free fuel to go driving around town.
if its only a small area to be cleaned ill only charge for the time to do that.
REMEMBER,
you risk your life climbing at height, some prices seem high to them but you are also charging for this dangerous type of work at height.
they wouldnt want to go up there.
i cleaned an Asian womans down pipes, x2 yesterday. i told her £10 each downspout, taken off and cleaned out as they were full of muddy moss, i showed her them both, when i done the work she started to say £20 is too much.
i told her a roofer would be charging about £50.
she got me down to £12.
shes a good paying window cleaning customer so i said OK.
DONT PRICE TOO CHEAP BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT THERE LONG, its the type of job involved.
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if its a drive away i charge £10 to get up the ladders and check them out, i tell them this will be taken off the price if they need doing.
i dot get free fuel to go driving around town.
if its only a small area to be cleaned ill only charge for the time to do that.
REMEMBER,
you risk your life climbing at height, some prices seem high to them but you are also charging for this dangerous type of work at height.
they wouldnt want to go up there.
i cleaned an Asian womans down pipes, x2 yesterday. i told her £10 each downspout, taken off and cleaned out as they were full of muddy moss, i showed her them both, when i done the work she started to say £20 is too much.
i told her a roofer would be charging about £50.
she got me down to £12.
shes a good paying window cleaning customer so i said OK.
DONT PRICE TOO CHEAP BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT THERE LONG, its the type of job involved.
Why do you do the same job as a roiofer would do for less than half the price? And then knock 40% off of that?
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if its a drive away i charge £10 to get up the ladders and check them out, i tell them this will be taken off the price if they need doing.
i dot get free fuel to go driving around town.
if its only a small area to be cleaned ill only charge for the time to do that.
REMEMBER,
you risk your life climbing at height, some prices seem high to them but you are also charging for this dangerous type of work at height.
they wouldnt want to go up there.
i cleaned an Asian womans down pipes, x2 yesterday. i told her £10 each downspout, taken off and cleaned out as they were full of muddy moss, i showed her them both, when i done the work she started to say £20 is too much.
i told her a roofer would be charging about £50.
she got me down to £12.
shes a good paying window cleaning customer so i said OK.
DONT PRICE TOO CHEAP BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT THERE LONG, its the type of job involved.
More fool you from dropping from 20 to 12 squid. Who the fook do they think they are when they agree on a price then say after the job is done no I'm not paying that. Sounds like a real good paying customer that one.
You should have said it was 35 squid to unblock each downspout bend so 70 squid for the two take it or leave it attitude
Also you can probably gather I detest ppl like that and would have binned her if it was me.
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If the gutters don't need clearing which may I add is very rare then if you are good at what you do you simply upsell other services instead like the op did. Being honest goes a long way and all that ;D
Oh by the way you can see quite a long way with a camera on a stick you know so next door you don't have to survey if all the guttering is shared :-*
Either way your providing a service mate. How much would it cost a customer to buy a gutter camera and a pole? Or a set of ladders even? Obviously you get yours for free if you don't charge to use them ;)
I guess your the type of guy who does a £10 Window clean and then the customer says can you do the Insides and you do it for free because it only takes 10mins? Lol
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Lol no way! I'd charge an extra £2 to do inside !! Lmao
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if its a drive away i charge £10 to get up the ladders and check them out, i tell them this will be taken off the price if they need doing.
i dot get free fuel to go driving around town.
if its only a small area to be cleaned ill only charge for the time to do that.
REMEMBER,
you risk your life climbing at height, some prices seem high to them but you are also charging for this dangerous type of work at height.
they wouldnt want to go up there.
i cleaned an Asian womans down pipes, x2 yesterday. i told her £10 each downspout, taken off and cleaned out as they were full of muddy moss, i showed her them both, when i done the work she started to say £20 is too much.
i told her a roofer would be charging about £50.
she got me down to £12.
shes a good paying window cleaning customer so i said OK.
DONT PRICE TOO CHEAP BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT THERE LONG, its the type of job involved.
I don't use ladders , just me sky vac and camera ;D
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If the gutters don't need clearing which may I add is very rare then if you are good at what you do you simply upsell other services instead like the op did. Being honest goes a long way and all that ;D
Oh by the way you can see quite a long way with a camera on a stick you know so next door you don't have to survey if all the guttering is shared :-*
Either way your providing a service mate. How much would it cost a customer to buy a gutter camera and a pole? Or a set of ladders even? Obviously you get yours for free if you don't charge to use them ;)
I guess your the type of guy who does a £10 Window clean and then the customer says can you do the Insides and you do it for free because it only takes 10mins? Lol
It's seems to me you don't have a clue about sales & marketing in gaining high value work by providing an added value service to customers.
For example an average pair of semis to clear the guttering is worth in the region of 200 if not more if guttering is on 3 sides which normally should take less than 2 hours to do.
Any numpty can sell on price alone but it takes balls to charge a good wack using the right kit and get away with it. ;D
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What area do you live in mr crapinion ?
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The posh part ;D
Anyway it don't really matter where you live as there will always be people willing to pay more knowing they will get the job done properly and more importantly done safely.
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Recently I had one of my customers (an elderly, disabled, very sweet old dear) ask me to check one of her gutters as water had been pouring down from it when it rained. She had been quoted 200 euro to repair it! She's no fool so obviously declined the offer! I put the ladders up to have a look, found the bracket just needed clipping back in place and duly did so. No charge and a very grateful customer.
What I can't ever get my head around is why do some guys try to rip people off and price themselves out of work this way? If they get the job once they won't get it again once the victim realizes they've been conned. I lost nothing as I was there to clean the windows anyway!
John
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Recently I had one of my customers (an elderly, disabled, very sweet old dear) ask me to check one of her gutters as water had been pouring down from it when it rained. She had been quoted 200 euro to repair it! She's no fool so obviously declined the offer! I put the ladders up to have a look, found the bracket just needed clipping back in place and duly did so. No charge and a very grateful customer.
What I can't ever get my head around is why do some guys try to rip people off and price themselves out of work this way? If they get the job once they won't get it again once the victim realizes they've been conned. I lost nothing as I was there to clean the windows anyway!
John
It's nice to do a good deed once in a while for sure however some can take the mick if you are not careful as they are not daft as you say ;D
Did you do a water test afterwards as it may still leak from the joint all the same if the guttering is not seated in the joint properly and/or the rubber seal is perished or got tile grit between the two?
Most common reason for guttering coming apart is known in the trade as gutter creep. If this is the case you have to physically move the guttering along so it fits back into the joint properly ideally up to the stop lug or line.
The jobs you think are going to be simple are generally the ones the most pain in the arse then it becomes a real pain if you have to start replacing parts too.
For example I charged xxx amount to clear the guttering and downspouts on one property then additional labour of 35 per joint x 2 plus parts. Then water tested the lot again afterward so to make sure the customer could see and was happy the guttering & downspouts were free flowing without any leaks before I left.
If you’re going to do the job properly then you should charge accordingly in my book and it's not a case of ripping people off as they can decide for themselves if they want the work done or not.
Under valuing services and selling on price alone is what most cleaners seem to do a lot.
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Recently I had one of my customers (an elderly, disabled, very sweet old dear) ask me to check one of her gutters as water had been pouring down from it when it rained. She had been quoted 200 euro to repair it! She's no fool so obviously declined the offer! I put the ladders up to have a look, found the bracket just needed clipping back in place and duly did so. No charge and a very grateful customer.
What I can't ever get my head around is why do some guys try to rip people off and price themselves out of work this way? If they get the job once they won't get it again once the victim realizes they've been conned. I lost nothing as I was there to clean the windows anyway!
John
It's nice to do a good deed once in a while for sure however some can take the mick if you are not careful as they are not daft as you say ;D
Did you do a water test afterwards as it may still leak from the joint all the same if the guttering is not seated in the joint properly and/or the rubber seal is perished or got tile grit between the two?
Most common reason for guttering coming apart is known in the trade as gutter creep. If this is the case you have to physically move the guttering along so it fits back into the joint properly ideally up to the stop lug or line.
The jobs you think are going to be simple are generally the ones the most pain in the arse then it becomes a real pain if you have to start replacing parts too.
For example I charged xxx amount to clear the guttering and downspouts on one property then additional labour of 35 per joint x 2 plus parts. Then water tested the lot again afterward so to make sure the customer could see and was happy the guttering & downspouts were free flowing without any leaks before I left.
If you’re going to do the job properly then you should charge accordingly in my book and it's not a case of ripping people off as they can decide for themselves if they want the work done or not.
Under valuing services and selling on price alone is what most cleaners seem to do a lot.
You say under valuing services then bang on about doing stuff for free lol. Same as the average know it all/nothing. You say you would charge £200 for 2 hours work but say I'm a con man charging a £5 note for a ten minute check to give a customer peace of mind lol? Should change your name from crapinion to contradiction hahaha
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If you want my honest opinion I don't care what you think ;D
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Joey here is a typical example why a gopro type camera on a stick has its advantages over trying to see into awkward guttering as ladders would not be a viable option. No I did not charge for the gutter cam survey either as it only took seconds to do whilst there on the quote but still charged 65 to clear just the back guttering out there and then using a guttervac that took less than half an hour to do including setting up, clearing, doing a water test and packing away.
Customer was delighted with the work too which was the main thing.
Like I said before no I would not charge just take a look even if they did not need doing as forms part of the quotation process and the customer could also see for themselves from the vid/pics if the guttering/downspouts needs clearing/fixing or not.
If others want to charge to take a look then that's up to them be it by ladders if it's a viable option or by using a gutter camera but I've found no real need to.
Regarding methods and kit to be able to gain high value work be it window cleaning, gutter clearing etc then it helps if you invest in right kit for the job especially if you want to tackle the awkward ones.
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Joey here is a typical example why a gopro type camera on a stick has its advantages over trying to see into awkward guttering as ladders would not be a viable option. No I did not charge for the gutter cam survey either as it only took seconds to do whilst there on the quote but still charged 65 to clear just the back guttering out there and then using a guttervac that took less than half an hour to do including setting up, clearing, doing a water test and packing away.
Customer was delighted with the work too which was the main thing.
Like I said before no I would not charge just take a look even if they did not need doing as forms part of the quotation process and the customer could also see for themselves from the vid/pics if the guttering/downspouts needs clearing/fixing or not.
If others want to charge to take a look then that's up to them be it by ladders if it's a viable option or by using a gutter camera but I've found no real need to.
Regarding methods and kit to be able to gain high value work be it window cleaning, gutter clearing etc then it helps if you invest in right kit for the job especially if you want to tackle the awkward ones.
Yeah I do see your point mate, if it helps you get high value jobs then it's worth it, but for example your cleaning a large detached house, next door come out and say can you check my gutters please they might need cleaning... You don't do their Windows and have no connection to them, you stop work, get camera/ladders/whatever kit needed out to have a look, you have to check a hard to reach bit above a big conservatory, there's a big flat roof at the back you have to climb on to even see the top guttering, you spend 20 mins doing all this including kit out/in van and talking to them... And the gutters are empty. No high value job... I do £25 - £35 an hour average on the Windows so the time took has cost me a third of an hours pay so roughly £10..... I'd then say your gutters are clear, good news you have saved £100, it will just be £10 for my inspection and your peace of mind, don't hesitate to ask again next year. See my point?
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Joey I get where you are coming from but you don't need to use ladders to take a looksee as you can see into the most award gutters from the ground when you carry the right poles to use and it don't take long at all to wiz around unlike using ladders.
Like I said before it's up to the individual if you charge or not if all the guttering & downspouts are clear but from experience that is very rare.
You will often get walkups interested in a quote whilst there and end up doing quite a few jobs in the street which is a lot more profitable than window cleaning so is a good add on service to offer.
I'm assuming by your posts you just do trad and focus on window cleaning and the occasional easy gutter jobs?