Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: sunshine windows on February 17, 2016, 09:51:40 am
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To those that have a mixture of both, do you earn more per hour on your commercial work and if not why not? It's harder graft after all.
I've recently been getting quite a few commercial quotes and have priced them in line with what I would earn on good domestic runs. Needless to say I don't get accepted very often.
Is there a lot of competition in the commercial sector and has this affected the pricing.
Just thinking out loud while it's chucking it down ;D
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I'm 80/20 commercial /domestic.
Earn more on my commercial, probably around 60% more per hour. This is heavily weighted by one big contract though, take that out of the equation and it'd be more but only by around 20%.
The main benefit of having more commercial work, for me anyway, is having work that needs to be done before 8am (in and early riser) and also having work that can be dropped on whatever the weather.
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Wow, that's a big difference in favour of commercial deeege!
Did you set out to target commercial with a view that you could charge more?
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I earn double to triple my normal hourly rate on commercial. Its easier, faster and more open. Give me a block of flats or offices anyday rather than a dog poope infested back garden.
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I'm 70/30 in favour of residential
I have about 12 or 13 regular commercials, some big some small.
I reckon my commercial earns me 30 or 40% more
Prices have been squeezed on commercial but I just won't drop below a certain level of pricing, I'd rather knock work back than work for what some of the nationals are charging
I'm a sole trader, who subcontracts now and again
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Commercial is cut throat 1 day you turn up and it's happy days next thing you open your emails and someone has told them they'll do it for peanuts,slow and steady wins the race so I would say some and some but I just think about commercial as being a bonus not bread and butter.
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I reckon those earning way more on commercial need to up their domestic prices.
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Commercial is cut throat 1 day you turn up and it's happy days next thing you open your emails and someone has told them they'll do it for peanuts,slow and steady wins the race so I would say some and some but I just think about commercial as being a bonus not bread and butter.
Totally agree
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I reckon those earning way more on commercial need to up their domestic prices.
Everthing is relative
I price any job based on what I want to earn per hour
If I don't like it, let don't do it
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The larger type commercial/residential jobs can be very lucrative. It’s just a case of picking the ones that are most profitable and getting shot of ones that are not.
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I am 70/30% commercial- domestic.
I earn more on commercial and to be honest I just prefer commercial window cleaning more.
I would much rather be doing one or two big jobs a day than loads of little ones.
Don't be fooled while most of the time commercial will pay more there are a lot of people out there doing jobs for next to nothing just to keep the job or say they do a bit of commercial.
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I reckon those earning way more on commercial need to up their domestic prices.
Certainly not in my case. I'm the most expensive in my area (that I know of), very rarely am i not the most expensive.
Difference is that all domestic customers have neighbours and know what is the going rate.
Commercial accounts are usually stand alone jobs and have no idea what the going rate is and are generally happier to pay more for a quality service.
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I reckon those earning way more on commercial need to up their domestic prices.
Certainly not in my case. I'm the most expensive in my area (that I know of), very rarely am i not the most expensive.
Difference is that all domestic customers have neighbours and know what is the going rate.
Commercial accounts are usually stand alone jobs and have no idea what the going rate is and are generally happier to pay more for a quality service.
My neighbours don't talk to me.
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My domestic jobs on the whole are very well paid, which I think is part of the problem with me not gaining a lot of commercial.
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Iv stopped worrying about how much the neighbours know about other windys prices, my customers choose me ( one of the most expensive I know of) because I do a good job . The £5 & £7.50 they used to pay the chavs has now become £10 & £15 for me to do it and they're delighted with the job I do ;D
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Here's me saying I rarely get commercial and I've just had one accepted from a quote yesterday. ;D
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Over 99% domestic. Very hard to get our domestic hourly rate on commercial work - bit for some flats once and the competitor was 25% of our bid. Not 25% lower, 25% of our price. Madness.
Vin
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Over 99% domestic. Very hard to get our domestic hourly rate on commercial work - bit for some flats once and the competitor was 25% of our bid. Not 25% lower, 25% of our price. Madness.
I never chase commercial for this very reason. I normally get told we're too expensive. If it falls in my lap though I'll take it.
I think you'd struggle to hit the hourly rate on small commercials that you can achieve on high paid domestic jobs. Larger commercial jobs is a different matter though.
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I had a good run with commercial last year but they literally drop you to save a tenner.
I lost a chain of car show rooms, massive offices, storage buildings, shops and even a few public houses (high end)
One job was £285 a month. I had to beat £140.
It took me 5 hours to clean, the new company gets it done is 2 hours. One man. The windows look dreadful.
However i did get a job from a national. £90 for 2 hours. So made me :)
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The one I just picked up used to be cleaned by a national. No idea what happened to them, but will be interested to find out next week when I clean it.
Another reason why I don't target commercial, all your eggs in one basket so to speak.
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Hi Mick, didn't really want to get into figures but just gauge which type of work you prefer because of earning potential. Are you based near London, because if you are, I'd expect you to do better domestic days than your quoted figures on your commercial days.
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By strange coincidence I've just had an email from one of my best priced commercials wanting me to confirm price and frequency as it's that time of year they check their budget - probably lose that one.
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Hi Mick, didn't really want to get into figures but just gauge which type of work you prefer because of earning potential. Are you based near London, because if you are, I'd expect you to do better domestic days than your quoted figures on your commercial days.
No prob.. I deleted it, didnt want to come accross like a Vinny or a Pryor look at me type.
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I used to realy love Domestic untill i got a taste of commercial and now i hate domestic and only target commercial work as you cant realy beat it.
Today started with a 2 weekly nursery in the morning at 6.30am which was £50 which took 15mins, a monthly office at £90 then a junior School for £300 which took 2 of us just over 2 hours then a secondary school at £700 which took untill 4.30 as caretaker went home and will spend a few hours finishing off the insides tomorrow.
So £1050 for a commercial days take between 2 guys working 10 hours. You cant get that on domestic.
Tommorow im doing retail which adds upto £230, first job at 6.30 and an office 3 story building which is £120 and finishing off school but priced for that today. So £350 for a days take for 1 guy(me) doing 10 hours from start to finish. again hard to get on domestic.
Friday im in Southampton so leaving at 5.30 doing a student accommodation building thats £160 then a Menzies office at £120 followed by a big industrial unit at £180 so £460 for 1 guy although will prob be a late 1 home, still Cant get that on domestic.
Weekend 3 of us doing a big clean in london that totals £1500 for 2 long days.
I didnt earn anywhere near what i do no when i was doing domestic. Its easy twice as much earning potential with the right commercial work. Only downside is i travel all over the place and work long days, however i enjoy it so i accept the traveling and late finishes.
Thats a hell of a statement saying it can't be done on domestics Mick,do you know that for a fact. If you have 1 job for 100 is it not possible to have a book full of em then.
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Hi Mick, didn't really want to get into figures but just gauge which type of work you prefer because of earning potential. Are you based near London, because if you are, I'd expect you to do better domestic days than your quoted figures on your commercial days.
No prob.. I deleted it, didnt want to come accross like a Vinny or a Pryor look at me type.
When are you next going to post pictures of your car? ;)
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I used to realy love Domestic untill i got a taste of commercial and now i hate domestic and only target commercial work as you cant realy beat it.
Today started with a 2 weekly nursery in the morning at 6.30am which was £50 which took 15mins, a monthly office at £90 then a junior School for £300 which took 2 of us just over 2 hours then a secondary school at £700 which took untill 4.30 as caretaker went home and will spend a few hours finishing off the insides tomorrow.
So £1050 for a commercial days take between 2 guys working 10 hours. You cant get that on domestic.
Tommorow im doing retail which adds upto £230, first job at 6.30 and an office 3 story building which is £120 and finishing off school but priced for that today. So £350 for a days take for 1 guy(me) doing 10 hours from start to finish. again hard to get on domestic.
Friday im in Southampton so leaving at 5.30 doing a student accommodation building thats £160 then a Menzies office at £120 followed by a big industrial unit at £180 so £460 for 1 guy although will prob be a late 1 home, still Cant get that on domestic.
Weekend 3 of us doing a big clean in london that totals £1500 for 2 long days.
I didnt earn anywhere near what i do no when i was doing domestic. Its easy twice as much earning potential with the right commercial work. Only downside is i travel all over the place and work long days, however i enjoy it so i accept the traveling and late finishes.
Thats a hell of a statement saying it can't be done on domestics Mick,do you know that for a fact. If you have 1 job for 100 is it not possible to have a book full of em then.
Oh yes you can get that. One man on a 6 hour day is easily £400.
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I used to realy love Domestic untill i got a taste of commercial and now i hate domestic and only target commercial work as you cant realy beat it.
Today started with a 2 weekly nursery in the morning at 6.30am which was £50 which took 15mins, a monthly office at £90 then a junior School for £300 which took 2 of us just over 2 hours then a secondary school at £700 which took untill 4.30 as caretaker went home and will spend a few hours finishing off the insides tomorrow.
So £1050 for a commercial days take between 2 guys working 10 hours. You cant get that on domestic.
Tommorow im doing retail which adds upto £230, first job at 6.30 and an office 3 story building which is £120 and finishing off school but priced for that today. So £350 for a days take for 1 guy(me) doing 10 hours from start to finish. again hard to get on domestic.
Friday im in Southampton so leaving at 5.30 doing a student accommodation building thats £160 then a Menzies office at £120 followed by a big industrial unit at £180 so £460 for 1 guy although will prob be a late 1 home, still Cant get that on domestic.
Weekend 3 of us doing a big clean in london that totals £1500 for 2 long days.
I didnt earn anywhere near what i do no when i was doing domestic. Its easy twice as much earning potential with the right commercial work. Only downside is i travel all over the place and work long days, however i enjoy it so i accept the traveling and late finishes.
Thats a hell of a statement saying it can't be done on domestics Mick,do you know that for a fact. If you have 1 job for 100 is it not possible to have a book full of em then.
It cant be done daily day in day out is what i meant.. Weather playing a big part of the problem.
If you can do it then fair play, i couldnt.
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Hi Mick, didn't really want to get into figures but just gauge which type of work you prefer because of earning potential. Are you based near London, because if you are, I'd expect you to do better domestic days than your quoted figures on your commercial days.
No prob.. I deleted it, didnt want to come accross like a Vinny or a Pryor look at me type.
When are you next going to post pictures of your car? ;)
That was on a show your car thread!
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I had some great domestic days, all my work was rows of £10 fronts.. I just prefere commercial and find it more profitable in the long run. I still have cream domestic work but even that isnt as good as a lot of my com work.
Only my view from myself on the subject.
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No prob.. I deleted it, didnt want to come accross like a Vinny or a Pryor look at me type.
Doesn't bother me in the slightest Mick.
Where do you try to pitch yourself when quoting a commercial job then? Hoping to get somewhere between £50-60 per hour?
Surely a big run of fronts at £10 a pop you could be hitting in excess of that easily
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It depends on the job really, I can't compare to domestics as don't do any.
I have some commercial work that's day to day work that's not the best priced but I have others work that's priced a lot higher commercial is a lot more competitive IMO
One of jobs are by far the highest paying
I know a few lads that do really well on domestics tho, even on terraced house at £5 fronts, some of these lads are running 100 plus houses a day on 2 weekly rotas so nothing at all to turn your nose up at.
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I view commercial as a bonus - I don't go chasing it, but I'll quote if I'm asked to.
You can't beat a well priced domestic business... Regular, repeat work.
Andy ;)
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I used to realy love Domestic untill i got a taste of commercial and now i hate domestic and only target commercial work as you cant realy beat it.
Today started with a 2 weekly nursery in the morning at 6.30am which was £50 which took 15mins, a monthly office at £90 then a junior School for £300 which took 2 of us just over 2 hours then a secondary school at £700 which took untill 4.30 as caretaker went home and will spend a few hours finishing off the insides tomorrow.
So £1050 for a commercial days take between 2 guys working 10 hours. You cant get that on domestic.
Tommorow im doing retail which adds upto £230, first job at 6.30 and an office 3 story building which is £120 and finishing off school but priced for that today. So £350 for a days take for 1 guy(me) doing 10 hours from start to finish. again hard to get on domestic.
Friday im in Southampton so leaving at 5.30 doing a student accommodation building thats £160 then a Menzies office at £120 followed by a big industrial unit at £180 so £460 for 1 guy although will prob be a late 1 home, still Cant get that on domestic.
Weekend 3 of us doing a big clean in london that totals £1500 for 2 long days.
I didnt earn anywhere near what i do no when i was doing domestic. Its easy twice as much earning potential with the right commercial work. Only downside is i travel all over the place and work long days, however i enjoy it so i accept the traveling and late finishes.
£350 for 10 hours isn't that great to be honest...
And £1500 for 6 mans days over a weekend isn't very good at all?
Andy
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350 for 10 hours isn't that great to be honest...
And £1500 for 6 mans days over a weekend isn't very good at all?
Never mind the earnings per hour. There's no way I'd want to be working 10 hour days or working weekends for any amount of ££££
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No you can't work on them domestics when it's pouring with rain no I accept that.
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No you can't work on them domestics when it's pouring with rain no I accept that.
yes you can!i cleaned 12 houses in the pouring rain today!and nearly all customers paid me there and then plus 2 brews made for me. ;)
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we do both, but heavily weighted in favour of domestic Windows, I've always priced commercial cleans at the same price as domestic then added 50% - double if 1 off or yearly clean.
Commercial ranges from 3 year contract ( hospital ) right down to local hair dressers - the larger stuff is great in respect it's a big lump in at one go.
I set a rate which as a biz we need to hit regardless of what the windows are, and the guys thankfully always exceed that rate.
I am most surprised at your posts Mick
Darran
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Hi Darren.
How do you mean
What has surprised you?
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cleaning glass be it domestic or commercial it dosen't matter as long as you get a price your happy with.
Going of Mick Kents post over the next 5 days he would have done £3360 minus paying his lad s(which are workers and not partners) so in my books his on a fair amount and Mick does this type of work week in week out.
Are most domestic only small business i.e sole traders + part timers doing 100k a year ?
If you are fair play and I'm not saying it's not impossible but I don't know many domestic shiners doing 2.5 k a week ,week in week out.
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That your domestic work was far less than your quoted commercial stuff, taking into account the long days and the travelling does it really work out better ?
Darran
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It sounds like your quoted commercial work is achieving just over £30ph per man? Surely you can do more than 3x £10 fronts in an hour
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And that's not taking my into account the unsociable working hours
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Commercial is cut throat 1 day you turn up and it's happy days next thing you open your emails and someone has told them they'll do it for peanuts,slow and steady wins the race so I would say some and some but I just think about commercial as being a bonus not bread and butter.
This .....
Ive had upto £1000 per month of commercial now down to under a couple of hundred a month. Just through nationals taking over and people changing contracts to save money.
The few ive got now look like they might leave in next few months as a company I subbed for (who was a friend ) have been bought out and I have a feeling they will shop around for sub contractors...
If you want to be commercial only then you have to gear up that way , otherwise price it to be well paid for your time and never put all your eggs in one basket . 90% of the jobs I find only last a few years , if not you' re probably not charging as much as the other guys, or lucky.
I don't even wanna get started on waiting for invoices ...
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i think its good to have a both domistic is more relible i have so jobs that ive had for 8 years but domistec is less money commercial is beta money but cut throat and if u lose a job its £100+ were if u lose a domistic its usly £30 or less so swings and roundabouts
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Domestic or commercial there will always be people that want to save money.
It's not always down to money with commercial some will pay very well for a quality service .
I've had some of more jobs canvassed and approached as well as going out for tender and still kept them even when other companies have othered to beat my price by 10%.
Sometimes it's the contractors them selfs who are pushing the pric down.
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Well im doing better than ever so must be doing something right..
I posted my next few days work to show that nomatter what the weather or curcumstances i can still go out and get some decent dough, admitidly these are not my best days but id say they are pretty average. I used to hit £60-80ph glass time on domestics(glass time) not per hour every hour of my working day which is what makes a big difference.
On commercial i sometimes hit well over £100ph glass time but thats glass time, take off traveling etc then yes it drops to £30-60 on an average 10 hours.
I actualy built up my commercial days to warrant 10 hour days and all has gone to plan for me nicely.
Those who think they can hit £400/500 a day every day on there own doing domestics are in a dream world!!
On paper it looks easy and talking about it sounds easy... doing it day in day out is another story!!.
I can safely say i hit over 6k a month sometimes over 10k after paying staff etc then i have ontop what subbys earn me so i am doing fine and am in a much better position than when i was just domestic.
I still have a lot of domestic which are my best runs of fronts and a few london mansions which are great earning days.
Im happy and can provide for my family and to me thats all that matters.
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All ways done commercial work, I think the trick is to get in with managing agent's they can provide lots of high paid work, £100 per hour , but you can get dropped for no good reason which can hert until it's replaced. I can't imagine many domestic windows cleaners on that rate.
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Do you not get fed up of working long 10 hour shifts though Mick.
Fair enough the money sounds good but I'd rather be doing shorter days on domestic.
Here's how my week has panned out so far:
Monday - couldn't be arsed, as me and the wife had a late evening on Valentine's. Did 4 jobs round the corner from my mums, then spent the day there. Just over an hours work done.
Tuesday - did the other 9 jobs near my mums and was drawn in again by tea and cake. Around 3 hours work done.
Wednesday - bloody horrible, cold and wet day. Didn't leave home till 9am, started just after 10am after being sat in the van for an hour. Plodded on through the crap weather for around 5 hours getting all my jobs done, 9 in total.
Today - lovely weather (amazing the difference a day can make to your motivation). 8 jobs done between 8.30am-12.15pm. About a 40 minute round trip included in that.
Not working tomorrow.
£819 done in around 13 hours work. This is where I struggle to see the benefits of taking on large commercial contracts that could drop you like a fly.
If I wanted I could fill my days with hourly rates like these, but I'm happy keeping my round very comfortable and building the other guys up to increase my income steadily.
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I've done sweet fanny adam in the last two weeks what with coming down with man flu and can't get rid of a chest infection so I’m spending most of my time in bed. Looking on the bright side I could quite easily get use to doing bugger all ;D
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From what I could gather the n our little road trip Alan, you do next to bugger all most days ;D
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Do you not get fed up of working long 10 hour shifts though Mick.
Fair enough the money sounds good but I'd rather be doing shorter days on domestic.
Here's how my week has panned out so far:
Monday - couldn't be arsed, as me and the wife had a late evening on Valentine's. Did 4 jobs round the corner from my mums, then spent the day there. Just over an hours work done.
Tuesday - did the other 9 jobs near my mums and was drawn in again by tea and cake. Around 3 hours work done.
Wednesday - bloody horrible, cold and wet day. Didn't leave home till 9am, started just after 10am after being sat in the van for an hour. Plodded on through the crap weather for around 5 hours getting all my jobs done, 9 in total.
Today - lovely weather (amazing the difference a day can make to your motivation). 8 jobs done between 8.30am-12.15pm. About a 40 minute round trip included in that.
Not working tomorrow.
£819 done in around 13 hours work. This is where I struggle to see the benefits of taking on large commercial contracts that could drop you like a fly.
If I wanted I could fill my days with hourly rates like these, but I'm happy keeping my round very comfortable and building the other guys up to increase my income steadily.
Like i said im happy and am doing realy well and am enjoying it.. I too used to just do domestics and was happy doing that.. I just fancied a change and a different challenge.
If my commercial goes tits up which i doubt as i have my fingers in so many pies with different contacts and clients but if it did id simply build another couple of 600 customer 4 weekly £10 front rounds up again and employ.
Nothing is hard in our game even if there are twits that make out its something its not with all the business talk making out its the ultimate in business to have that will make them millions... ::)roll ::)roll ::)roll when the only reason they are doing it is because like me they cant do anything else that works as havnt the knowledge or qualifications to do so!! its simply just an easy thing to do.
Anyway fair play to you 13 hours work for £819 on domestics. What area is that??
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You get good commercial if your willing to give whoever concerned a good drink on a regular basis in my experience,the only time my heart skips a beat is when I get told oh he's not here anymore here is the new manager. To be perfectly honest if the person concerned doesn't like you your brown bread,I've spoken to people who have given me jobs and I say what was the problem to which there answer almost always is I didn't like the other bloke just something about him I didn't like.
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Do you not get fed up of working long 10 hour shifts though Mick.
Fair enough the money sounds good but I'd rather be doing shorter days on domestic.
Here's how my week has panned out so far:
Monday - couldn't be arsed, as me and the wife had a late evening on Valentine's. Did 4 jobs round the corner from my mums, then spent the day there. Just over an hours work done.
Tuesday - did the other 9 jobs near my mums and was drawn in again by tea and cake. Around 3 hours work done.
Wednesday - bloody horrible, cold and wet day. Didn't leave home till 9am, started just after 10am after being sat in the van for an hour. Plodded on through the crap weather for around 5 hours getting all my jobs done, 9 in total.
Today - lovely weather (amazing the difference a day can make to your motivation). 8 jobs done between 8.30am-12.15pm. About a 40 minute round trip included in that.
Not working tomorrow.
£819 done in around 13 hours work. This is where I struggle to see the benefits of taking on large commercial contracts that could drop you like a fly.
If I wanted I could fill my days with hourly rates like these, but I'm happy keeping my round very comfortable and building the other guys up to increase my income steadily.
blimey thats a good hourly rate for 13 hours!(around £63 an hour) "on the glass" time.i do hit £60 an hour on some work but its only a couple of hours here and there(commercial jobs).are you based down south?
ive got a half day to do tomorrow so ill have done around 28 hours this week(on the glass time) £1140 so around an average of £40 an hour.this doesnt include admin,filling tank,collecting etc but im happy with that.mainly domestic regular window cleaning with a few smallish commercial jobs thrown in.
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You get good commercial if your willing to give whoever concerned a good drink on a regular basis in my experience,the only time my heart skips a beat is when I get told oh he's not here anymore here is the new manager. To be perfectly honest if the person concerned doesn't like you your brown bread,I've spoken to people who have given me jobs and I say what was the problem to which there answer almost always is I didn't like the other bloke just something about him I didn't like.
Everyone's on the take. ;D ;D
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From what I could gather the n our little road trip Alan, you do next to bugger all most days ;D
That's true ;D
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You get good commercial if your willing to give whoever concerned a good drink on a regular basis in my experience,the only time my heart skips a beat is when I get told oh he's not here anymore here is the new manager. To be perfectly honest if the person concerned doesn't like you your brown bread,I've spoken to people who have given me jobs and I say what was the problem to which there answer almost always is I didn't like the other bloke just something about him I didn't like.
Everyone's on the take. ;D ;D
Hello m8 you stick to putting pics up of little gutter cleans eh what do you reckon.
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You get good commercial if your willing to give whoever concerned a good drink on a regular basis in my experience,the only time my heart skips a beat is when I get told oh he's not here anymore here is the new manager. To be perfectly honest if the person concerned doesn't like you your brown bread,I've spoken to people who have given me jobs and I say what was the problem to which there answer almost always is I didn't like the other bloke just something about him I didn't like.
Everyone's on the take. ;D ;D
Hello m8 you stick to putting pics up of little gutter cleans eh what do you reckon.
Nah, someone'll nick 'em. Thieves & murderers everywhere.
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Nah don't you worry pal you'll be ok with them little jobs youve got it boxed off there haven't you.
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i price up my commercial well,but then get told i am to dear ;) ;) ;) ;)
then the person who ask then come on here spouting off what he does a hour ;) ;)
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i price up my commercial well,but then get told i am to dear ;) ;) ;) ;)
then the person who ask then come on here spouting off what he does a hour ;) ;)/quote]
;D ;D ;D @ Frankie
I offered you a fair £60 for an hours work you cheeky bugger ;D ;D ;D
Not my fault i'm getting £180 for it ;)
Offers still there ;D ;D ;D
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I had a commercial job on 13 sites, which took 3 of us one full week a month to complete and paid £4200 for the week.
Did it for 4 years then one month I got an email giving me 2 months notice, when I enquired as to why they said they had found someone 45% cheaper. Slap in the chops but make hay while the sunshines.
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Richard, as a small company you'd certainly struggle if you lost a few jobs like that. Another reason why I don't chase commercials like this, as I feel you'd need to put everything you had into acquiring lots of this type of job, employ and potentially fire as and when the contracts expire.
My biggest annual commercial value is just over £5k and I'm quite happy that I have nothing else any where near. Next is around £2.5k and they're currently on the verge of going (company I sub from are not getting paid).
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Where's this Sunshine?
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If you look closely, you can see me doing the Morecombe and Wise skip into the sunset ;D
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If I wanted I could fill my days with hourly rates like these, but I'm happy keeping my round very comfortable and building the other guys up to increase my income steadily.
;D ;D
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I've recently been getting quite a few commercial quotes and have priced them in line with what I would earn on good domestic runs. Needless to say I don't get accepted very often.
I can never make head nor tail of commercial pricing. Like you i've been knocked back loads of times. Interestingly though, at the same time i've got work i've had for a few years where my hourly rate is more than my domestic work, and comparable with anything posted here, yet i was 50% cheaper than the previous contractors.
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. Where's this Sunshine?
If I told you ..................................... Well you know the rest ;D
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I can never make head nor tail of commercial pricing. Like you i've been knocked back loads of times. Interestingly though, at the same time i've got work i've had for a few years where my hourly rate is more than my domestic work, and comparable with anything posted here, yet i was 50% cheaper than the previous contractors.
I remember earning £400 from a subby job nearly 10 years ago which I had to pay a sub subcontractor £40 for an hours work. This was before my time working wfp, but it got me thinking of the potential earnings, as previously I had only done domestic jobs between £5-£30 a pop.
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Where's this Sunshine?
Is it Ashdown House?
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It is, been cleaning it since its refurb in 2012. Gorgeous place to work
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It is, been cleaning it since its refurb in 2012. Gorgeous place to work
Have you met the "owner"?
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Met the Mrs, but not the tenant ;D
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Just sent my quote off. Wasn't sure if it was Berks or Oxfordshire. No matter - just ordered a longer ladder too.
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I've recently been getting quite a few commercial quotes and have priced them in line with what I would earn on good domestic runs. Needless to say I don't get accepted very often.
I can never make head nor tail of commercial pricing. Like you i've been knocked back loads of times. Interestingly though, at the same time i've got work i've had for a few years where my hourly rate is more than my domestic work, and comparable with anything posted here, yet i was 50% cheaper than the previous contractors.
That highlights that for commercial, the secret is the same as for all work. Bid at a price that suits you, not the customer. If they don't want you at the rate you want to earn, it wouldn't be worth doing anyway. Some will accept it and it'll make the work worth doing.
Vin
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That highlights that for commercial, the secret is the same as for all work. Bid at a price that suits you, not the customer. If they don't want you at the rate you want to earn, it wouldn't be worth doing anyway. Some will accept it and it'll make the work worth doing.
It's the only way you will build a lucrative round you're happy to service, as opposed to having a round full of 'grudge' cleans.
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That highlights that for commercial, the secret is the same as for all work. Bid at a price that suits you, not the customer. If they don't want you at the rate you want to earn, it wouldn't be worth doing anyway. Some will accept it and it'll make the work worth doing.
It's the only way you will build a lucrative round you're happy to service, as opposed to having a round full of 'grudge' cleans.
Someone on here once quoted someone from memory (and I'm now doing the same so it's twice mangled). It went something like: "any job you think about with dread isn't worth doing".
Vin
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100% agree with that Vin.
I don't increase my prices anywhere near often enough, so by the time an increase is due, they can be bumped up by anything up to 25%.
I went through my whole round late last year and made increases where I felt necessary. Lost 1 customer who is now back on board.
I think this reflects on the quality of service we provide as we're far from cheap. I was happy (ish) with the round as it was but now it's great
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100% agree with that Vin.
I don't increase my prices anywhere near often enough, so by the time an increase is due, they can be bumped up by anything up to 25%.
I went through my whole round late last year and made increases where I felt necessary. Lost 1 customer who is now back on board.
I think this reflects on the quality of service we provide as we're far from cheap. I was happy (ish) with the round as it was but now it's great
Thats good mate. It makes a big difference. I've set out the beginning of this year refining our work, dumping messers straight away, any new quotes that seem a pain I just say we can't do.
How do you find servicing your work whilst building up others work?
We've got a few good commercial jobs and large houses, and I know we're not cheap but as you say its the service they buy in to. And it makes a massive difference to cash flow. I'm on Aworka at the moment and looking back to Jan and Feb 2014 to Jan and Feb this year we will have done an extra £10,300 in that two month period. This is due in part to commercial but also tightening up the domestic work. I haven't gone looking for any commercial work its trickled in nicely over the past 2 years.
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Thats good mate. It makes a big difference. I've set out the beginning of this year refining our work, dumping messers straight away, any new quotes that seem a pain I just say we can't do.
How do you find servicing your work whilst building up others work?
We've got a few good commercial jobs and large houses, and I know we're not cheap but as you say its the service they buy in to. And it makes a massive difference to cash flow. I'm on Aworka at the moment and looking back to Jan and Feb 2014 to Jan and Feb this year we will have done an extra £10,300 in that two month period. This is due in part to commercial but also tightening up the domestic work. I haven't gone looking for any commercial work its trickled in nicely over the past 2 years.
Nice increase in revenue Tom!
I'm not chasing work at all at the minute, as it's coming in quite nicely. We're getting anywhere between 10-30 new enquiries a week.
Now all 3 franchisees are up to speed with work and pricing, I just pass the details of potential customers onto them and let them deal with it.
I'm still building my round too but in non competitive areas to the others. They work more locally to where they live to kinimise travel, whereas I'm happy doing work in the sticks. Once I have enough work again I'll start another one off.