Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: duncan h on October 19, 2016, 08:55:45 pm
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Got 2 new customers other week. One old lass and her daughter. When I quoted the old lass she moaned that her old clean was only £5, I quoted £6. 3 windows.
Anyway. I got her daughters round the corner also.
The old lass said she had to be in to clean them. FINE. Didn't realise she was never in. Managed to get her at 8pm and said she would be in today.
Off I went today to do her windows. It had dirty vents, so gave top frame a good old rinse, before a good first clean scrub. Off I went to do daughters.
Did daughters. Semi with cony on. Noticed dining table in cony, so made extra care knowing they would be looking out all the time.
All done. Off to next village a few miles away. Phone rang. Old lass saying her window was still dirty WTF. Then a text from daughter saying she just got in, house was ok but cony was dirty. NO WAY.
So I turn around and went back. First daughters. " ok whats wrong" she took me to look at cony . " well there was dirt looking from the inside....there!" a tiny bit had washed onto the glass. You know. Old cobweb.
Then she points to a tiny bit on the sill. I told her no matter what I did, you will always get something falling from under the window no matter what I did.
By this time I was going to tell her F off. Then she said " you have cold also" I then looked down at her boobs and all my anger vanished lmao. She thanked me for coming back and went in.
Off to old bats. They are still dirty "WHERE" the stuff she pointed out wouldn't even come off with my nail. Ended up scrubbing the window with a dish washing pad. Some marks looked like they had been welded on. How a 70 year old could see such small marks is beyond me.
I told her, no matter how much I went over the glass they wouldn't have come off. Then she pointed a tiny bit on the sill front. You know, the fart flush with the wall. I said I wasn't knackering my brush getting tiny marks off.
She also stated she didn't want her door doing. When I finished the first time and knocked for the money. I was wiping the door with my cloth. She opened door and went mad.
I said I didn't want my door getting wet.
Don't think these will last long :)
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Classic ;D Good luck with those two ::)roll
To be honest I would not have bothered going back and dumped them both on the phone.
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Welcome to my world :D :D :D
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I can't stand OCD types as they do my nut in. Only time I will put up with those sorts now if they are just one off jobs worth a lot of dosh.
Now wonder why they where looking for a new window cleaner as I'm betting they have been through a few in there time
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I've a customer who considers himself a regular.
At every 3 to 4 months , I consider him otherwise.
I've tried to drop him because of his OCD tendencies several times by not answering or responding to his calls but inevitably I end up calling and cleaning again for him. Funnily enough when I'm finished, he shuts the £@*k up now and just pays me. We got there in the end :D
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Got 2 new customers other week. One old lass and her daughter. When I quoted the old lass she moaned that her old clean was only £5, I quoted £6. 3 windows. (TIME TO WALK AWAY!)
Anyway. I got her daughters round the corner also.
The old lass said she had to be in to clean them. (REALLY, REALLY TIME TO WALK AWAY!) FINE. Didn't realise she was never in. Managed to get her at 8pm and said she would be in today.
Off I went today to do her windows. It had dirty vents, so gave top frame a good old rinse, before a good first clean scrub. Off I went to do daughters.
Did daughters. Semi with cony on. Noticed dining table in cony, so made extra care knowing they would be looking out all the time.
All done. Off to next village a few miles away. Phone rang. Old lass saying her window was still dirty WTF. Then a text from daughter saying she just got in, house was ok but cony was dirty. NO WAY.
So I turn around and went back. First daughters. " ok whats wrong" she took me to look at cony . " well there was dirt looking from the inside....there!" a tiny bit had washed onto the glass. You know. Old cobweb.
Then she points to a tiny bit on the sill. I told her no matter what I did, you will always get something falling from under the window no matter what I did.
By this time I was going to tell her F off. Then she said " you have cold also" I then looked down at her boobs and all my anger vanished lmao. She thanked me for coming back and went in.
Off to old bats. They are still dirty "WHERE" the stuff she pointed out wouldn't even come off with my nail. Ended up scrubbing the window with a dish washing pad. Some marks looked like they had been welded on. How a 70 year old could see such small marks is beyond me.
I told her, no matter how much I went over the glass they wouldn't have come off. Then she pointed a tiny bit on the sill front. You know, the fart flush (Huh?????????) ;D with the wall. I said I wasn't knackering my brush getting tiny marks off.
She also stated she didn't want her door doing. When I finished the first time and knocked for the money. I was wiping the door with my cloth. She opened door and went mad. (REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY REALLY ... )
I said I didn't want my door getting wet.
Don't think these will last long :)
My thoughts above inserted in red. ;D
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Some of my best customers started of this way, now i get a cuppa every time.
However, i have many who i dropped like a tonne of weight for being absurd like that as well. Sometimes i have given them the benefit of the doubt and see what they are like on the second clean. To see if they are drop worthy or not.
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Got 2 new customers other week. One old lass and her daughter. When I quoted the old lass she moaned that her old clean was only £5, I quoted £6. 3 windows.
Anyway. I got her daughters round the corner also.
The old lass said she had to be in to clean them. FINE. Didn't realise she was never in. Managed to get her at 8pm and said she would be in today.
Off I went today to do her windows. It had dirty vents, so gave top frame a good old rinse, before a good first clean scrub. Off I went to do daughters.
Did daughters. Semi with cony on. Noticed dining table in cony, so made extra care knowing they would be looking out all the time.
All done. Off to next village a few miles away. Phone rang. Old lass saying her window was still dirty WTF. Then a text from daughter saying she just got in, house was ok but cony was dirty. NO WAY.
So I turn around and went back. First daughters. " ok whats wrong" she took me to look at cony . " well there was dirt looking from the inside....there!" a tiny bit had washed onto the glass. You know. Old cobweb.
Then she points to a tiny bit on the sill. I told her no matter what I did, you will always get something falling from under the window no matter what I did.
By this time I was going to tell her F off. Then she said " you have cold also" I then looked down at her boobs and all my anger vanished lmao. She thanked me for coming back and went in.
Off to old bats. They are still dirty "WHERE" the stuff she pointed out wouldn't even come off with my nail. Ended up scrubbing the window with a dish washing pad. Some marks looked like they had been welded on. How a 70 year old could see such small marks is beyond me.
I told her, no matter how much I went over the glass they wouldn't have come off. Then she pointed a tiny bit on the sill front. You know, the fart flush with the wall. I said I wasn't knackering my brush getting tiny marks off.
She also stated she didn't want her door doing. When I finished the first time and knocked for the money. I was wiping the door with my cloth. She opened door and went mad.
I said I didn't want my door getting wet.
Don't think these will last long :)
All that bother with the mother for JUST 6 SQUID. :o :o you should increase your minimum charge to avoid these
time wasters.
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8pm to get £6. Desperate.
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8pm to get £6. Desperate.
What a phone call lmao.
I plan my next days work at that time. Send texts out for gates unlocking etc
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I can smell messers a mile off and I always trust my gut instinct. However, occasionally I like to give them the benefit of the doubt (after all they could be decent and i've got it wrong?). And you know what, nine times out of ten, they turn out to be messers!
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I can smell messers a mile off and I always trust my gut instinct. However, occasionally I like to give them the benefit of the doubt (after all they could be decent and i've got it wrong?). And you know what, nine times out of ten, they turn out to be messers!
I don't mean to be picky here, that bit in red...doesn't that mean you can't smell them a mile off?
If you can smell them a mile off then why do you give them the benefit of the doubt..?
If they then subsequently mess you around, surely that means you can't smell them a mile off, or do you just like people messing you around?
Just saying like
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£10 minimum charge.
No ones helping the game with these low quotes.
After paying for a Van, Insurance, Machine and poles before your petrol and your own worth how can anyone legitimate clean a house for £6
I know I couldn't I'm not fast enough after making sure I got the glass frames ledges, doors and garages.... £6???
I can see the water fed Pole game going down hill eventually - customers will want it all for next to nothing like what happened to the trad game.
:'(
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You wouldn't have a business up North mate. £6 for less than 5mins work. Cant see many people wanting to pay £10.
I even had an argument with an interfering neighbour, because I charged this 80 year old £7 while she paid £5. She called me some bad names. Saying I was robbing her and it was disgusting. Told her were to go
Even if you have to drive a few streets away between jobs, you can earn over £50 hour. Cant grumble at that
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You wouldn't have a business up North mate. £6 for less than 5mins work. Cant see many people wanting to pay £10.
I even had an argument with an interfering neighbour, because I charged this 80 year old £7 while she paid £5. She called me some bad names. Saying I was robbing her and it was disgusting. Told her were to go
Even if you have to drive a few streets away between jobs, you can earn over £50 hour. Cant grumble at that
Erm I'm up north and I charge at least £10 , so speak for yourself and Dave f :D
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Im south yorkshire.
Priced up a front clean at £7, for 5mins work for a new client and she got me to clean her neighbours front windows as well. Since i didnt speak to this neighbour i also left a card and message if she wasnt happy in anyway she could call/txt to cancel (since she didnt ask me herself to clean them). Didnt hear anything within 4wks so cleaned them again. Later in week i knocked for collecting payment n introduced myself and again asked directly if she wanted me to continue. She said no as she considered me too expensive as her mum (who lives in a poor area) only pays £4.50 for entire house windows to be cleaned and he will do her house for £5.
(The muppet!!)
These idiots are driving down the prices!! A little like the above comments of "you cant expect to charge £6 for 5min work" simple answer is YES you BL@#DY WEll CAN!!!
I have had cowboys come into this area over last 15yrs offering stupid prices. Thankfully my clients and others identify that if they pay peanuts they are gonna get monkeys work and the likes of these ones are after beer money or working on side etc. SO accepting you have to charge ridiculous low prices to get work is infact stopping you from getting good work.
Or another way of looking at it. If you as a client wanted some building work etc doing. You get your quotes in, do you go straight for cheapest?? You may ignore the silly high prices and if any sense stay away from silly low prices and normally go midway. Do you honestly expect to get a good job done for silly prices??? I doubt it, thats why when i and others get enquiries from word of mouth and we give what we consider a reasonable price for the work we do. The client is happy to pay because they know (and rightly so) that they should expect a quality service. Which they certainly didnt get from people under charging for their work or else they wouldnt come knocking on my door or others ;D
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Im south yorkshire.
Priced up a front clean at £7, for 5mins work for a new client and she got me to clean her neighbours front windows as well. Since i didnt speak to this neighbour i also left a card and message if she wasnt happy in anyway she could call/txt to cancel (since she didnt ask me herself to clean them). Didnt hear anything within 4wks so cleaned them again. Later in week i knocked for collecting payment n introduced myself and again asked directly if she wanted me to continue. She said no as she considered me too expensive as her mum (who lives in a poor area) only pays £4.50 for entire house windows to be cleaned and he will do her house for £5.
(The muppet!!)
These idiots are driving down the prices!! A little like the above comments of "you cant expect to charge £6 for 5min work" simple answer is YES you BL@#DY WEll CAN!!!
I have had cowboys come into this area over last 15yrs offering stupid prices. Thankfully my clients and others identify that if they pay peanuts they are gonna get monkeys work and the likes of these ones are after beer money or working on side etc. SO accepting you have to charge ridiculous low prices to get work is infact stopping you from getting good work.
Or another way of looking at it. If you as a client wanted some building work etc doing. You get your quotes in, do you go straight for cheapest?? You may ignore the silly high prices and if any sense stay away from silly low prices and normally go midway. Do you honestly expect to get a good job done for silly prices??? I doubt it, thats why when i and others get enquiries from word of mouth and we give what we consider a reasonable price for the work we do. The client is happy to pay because they know (and rightly so) that they should expect a quality service. Which they certainly didnt get from people under charging for their work or else they wouldnt come knocking on my door or others ;D
You've come on, it wasn't that long ago that you where charging £15 for a four bed with conservatory, strange how this
forum effects certain people.
Sorry mate but taking 5mins to do a job and then going off on one about quality just doesn't add up.
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Talking of five minutes and a little off topic, I was down one of my roads today and was finishing up on the back lower windows of a all round.
I went to put the ladders on the van roof and these water fed Pole "cowboys" had parked across the road.
By the time I had finished the two lower rear windows they had cleaned an all round and started the front of another all round!
I thought to myself bloody hell! They can't be doing that right. So with that being said I proceeded to watch them.. well it looked like zorro was cleaning the windows with a brush ;D the rinse was non existent and I just couldn't get my head around that people are paying them for that... maybe they charge £6?
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Sean K, dont get hung up on the time aspect of my post! It was in response to a previous post about charging for what some would feel is a quick job. How long does it take to clean front of an house, especially when it is a maintenance clean every 4wks? Your effectively cleaning clean windows, or atleast i am (wouldnt like to be cleaning on coastal fronts).
Your like my ickle 6yr son, that when i say ill be there in a minute, he starts counting to 60 for a literal minute. You (hopefully) and me know that the minute is in reference to a quick/short time, not a literal minute. Or else we would all be shot for not taking "the minute" for this or that!
So taking 5min for front of an house, (actually i cant be arsed and never timed myself on it) is in reference to a short period of time. Again in reference to a previous post of how hou cant charge "£6 never mind £10 for a quick job"
What should i do, purposely go really slow so people think they get their moneys worth? Or work to the protential of why i invested in wfp in the first place.
As you seem to recall my many previous posts on many categories, point to one where ive ever mentioned that i dont do quality or where ive said ive lost a customer down to quality.........
If you feel you should charhe a lower amount on only doing half an house because it doesnt take you that long to do, then go a head.
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Sean K, dont get hung up on the time aspect of my post! It was in response to a previous post about charging for what some would feel is a quick job. How long does it take to clean front of an house, especially when it is a maintenance clean every 4wks? Your effectively cleaning clean windows, or atleast i am (wouldnt like to be cleaning on coastal fronts).
Your like my ickle 6yr son, that when i say ill be there in a minute, he starts counting to 60 for a literal minute. You (hopefully) and me know that the minute is in reference to a quick/short time, not a literal minute. Or else we would all be shot for not taking "the minute" for this or that!
So taking 5min for front of an house, (actually i cant be arsed and never timed myself on it) is in reference to a short period of time. Again in reference to a previous post of how hou cant charge "£6 never mind £10 for a quick job"
What should i do, purposely go really slow so people think they get their moneys worth? Or work to the protential of why i invested in wfp in the first place.
As you seem to recall my many previous posts on many categories, point to one where ive ever mentioned that i dont do quality or where ive said ive lost a customer down to quality.........
If you feel you should charhe a lower amount on only doing half an house because it doesnt take you that long to do, then go a head.
Nathan he charged £6 for three windows and is now responsible for the ruination of window cleaning prices, lol. I know fine
well it took you longer than 5mins to do that £7 property and like most of us you keep your work by keeping your quality at a
reasonable level.
My point is its almost impossible to talk about a job on here unless its valued at £200 or more for a couple of hours work, even the op was quick to point out that the £6 was for three windows only, unfortunately he underestimated the amount needed
to keep himself from ridicule. lol.
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£10 minimum charge.
No ones helping the game with these low quotes.
After paying for a Van, Insurance, Machine and poles before your petrol and your own worth how can anyone legitimate clean a house for £6
I know I couldn't I'm not fast enough after making sure I got the glass frames ledges, doors and garages.... £6???
I can see the water fed Pole game going down hill eventually - customers will want it all for next to nothing like what happened to the trad game.
:'(
I had a round in Cambridgeshire, when I used to come and see my mate in West Yorkshire I was staggered at how low the prices were compared with daarn saaarf.
Now I'm in West Yorkshire I can see why. Headnobs cleaning 3 and 4 bedders for £6 and windies with ladders on cars everywhere!
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yorkshiremen are(traditionally) known for being tight.(ahem!careful with their money!)just like the scottish.....and look at the prices in scotland for window cleaning. ::)roll
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Also in Yorkshire.
I totally get why some cleaners decide to drop there prices to compete. I have an average clean price of £12 which although would be low to some around here it's probably in the top end of the market. Loads of guys doing 3 bed semis for 6 quid. It does make it very hard to get work. I find I only get 20-30% of quotes and have been tempted to drop prices to build quicker and would so so if I was desperate.
BUT the problem is not when you start at lower prices, I think that's fine starting out with lower prices to get a round together. The problem is sticking with the lower prices for years and years like a lot do and never progressing. By all means get in at the low end of the market but once full you should be doing marketting campaigns to pick up better work dropping lower priced work as you go.
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yorkshiremen are(traditionally) known for being tight.(ahem!careful with their money!)just like the scottish.....and look at the prices in scotland for window cleaning. ::)roll
Its all down to history, you get a massive employer go under and every man and his dog grabs a bucket and ladder,
suddenly it becomes a customers market which very rarely recovers even after all the jobs are replaced.
Window cleaning is the same countrywide, customers will pay what they need to pay can afford to pay or do without,
the ones who get pleasure in making our lives easier at their own expense are few and far between.
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Also in Yorkshire.
I totally get why some cleaners decide to drop there prices to compete. I have an average clean price of £12 which although would be low to some around here it's probably in the top end of the market. Loads of guys doing 3 bed semis for 6 quid. It does make it very hard to get work. I find I only get 20-30% of quotes and have been tempted to drop prices to build quicker and would so so if I was desperate.
BUT the problem is not when you start at lower prices, I think that's fine starting out with lower prices to get a round together. The problem is sticking with the lower prices for years and years like a lot do and never progressing. By all means get in at the low end of the market but once full you should be doing marketting campaigns to pick up better work dropping lower priced work as you go.
Its not so much the price but what you do for it, if your charging a lower price than the next guy and putting in the same
effort then your a mug.
But if there are customers who only want a quick rub of the glass at a cheaper price then there's money in that also.
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yorkshiremen are(traditionally) known for being tight.(ahem!careful with their money!)just like the scottish.....and look at the prices in scotland for window cleaning. ::)roll
What's wrong with our prices?
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I think pricing is irrelevant when dealing with OCD types as it doesn’t matter how much or little you charge some will always be a pain in the arse. I'm betting everyone has one or two jobs they dread doing ;D
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I think pricing is irrelevant when dealing with OCD types as it doesn’t matter how much or little you charge some will always be a pain in the arse. I'm betting everyone has one or two jobs they dread doing ;D
There's OCD and there are just people who love to complain, I have a couple of OCD types that even though I take more time and care on them I love doing because the praise I get give me a nice boost and leaves me struggling to get my head back though the side gate.
Wouldn't want a full round of them but it certainly beats the I didn't even know you had done them response you get from
some of the less fussy customers.
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Get rid and make your life simpler
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Some cheaper jobs are much better payers than the more expensive ones , it's a PITA texting them saying please will you transfer the money. And you can see they've read it but don't respond for another few days.... oh sorry I forgot 😩
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I don't think phones with excellent macro functions on the cameras help.
Had one a couple of months back text me some pictures of so called dirty ledges. Looked terrible so went straight round to remedy the situation thinking how did I miss that. Couldn't find the problem at first as she hadn't said which ledge it was. When I found it I was gobsmacked. The bits were so tiny she must have gone out with a magnifying glass. Of coarse the macro feature on her phone made it look terrible because she must have taken the picture from about 2 inches away. The following day there would have been more dust on the ledge from the wind than the tiny bit she was complaining about.
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Got 2 new customers other week. One old lass and her daughter. When I quoted the old lass she moaned that her old clean was only £5, I quoted £6. 3 windows.
Anyway. I got her daughters round the corner also.
The old lass said she had to be in to clean them. FINE. Didn't realise she was never in. Managed to get her at 8pm and said she would be in today.
Off I went today to do her windows. It had dirty vents, so gave top frame a good old rinse, before a good first clean scrub. Off I went to do daughters.
Did daughters. Semi with cony on. Noticed dining table in cony, so made extra care knowing they would be looking out all the time.
All done. Off to next village a few miles away. Phone rang. Old lass saying her window was still dirty WTF. Then a text from daughter saying she just got in, house was ok but cony was dirty. NO WAY.
So I turn around and went back. First daughters. " ok whats wrong" she took me to look at cony . " well there was dirt looking from the inside....there!" a tiny bit had washed onto the glass. You know. Old cobweb.
Then she points to a tiny bit on the sill. I told her no matter what I did, you will always get something falling from under the window no matter what I did.
By this time I was going to tell her F off. Then she said " you have cold also" I then looked down at her boobs and all my anger vanished lmao. She thanked me for coming back and went in.
Off to old bats. They are still dirty "WHERE" the stuff she pointed out wouldn't even come off with my nail. Ended up scrubbing the window with a dish washing pad. Some marks looked like they had been welded on. How a 70 year old could see such small marks is beyond me.
I told her, no matter how much I went over the glass they wouldn't have come off. Then she pointed a tiny bit on the sill front. You know, the fart flush with the wall. I said I wasn't knackering my brush getting tiny marks off.
She also stated she didn't want her door doing. When I finished the first time and knocked for the money. I was wiping the door with my cloth. She opened door and went mad.
I said I didn't want my door getting wet.
Don't think these will last long :)
Did you get a photo on your phone?