Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Klean07 on April 07, 2017, 06:27:13 pm
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Had a couple of my customers tell me about this new guy that's offering any house for just a fiver! But as I pointed it out to them that he probably won't last long at those prices!! However if any of my customers decided to go with him then that's up to them but when he lets them down or doesn't do work properly they needn't bother calling me!
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Any house with an outside tap 😂😂
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Can I have his details, he can do half my round!
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Had a couple of my customers tell me about this new guy that's offering any house for just a fiver! But as I pointed it out to them that he probably won't last long at those prices!! However if any of my customers decided to go with him then that's up to them but when he lets them down or doesn't do work properly they needn't bother calling me!
You sound a bit bitter bud. Just what until they get all get a leaflet pushed through their letter box offering free clean from a well known franchise then by the sounds of it that will really p you off. lol
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Had some guys canvas for me. They went out of my area (another tale) he phoned me up asking how much for a 5 bed with a cony. I said about £25 without looking. £1 a window/ door and £5 for cony as a guide. She said this guys doing them at £5 WFP. I said walk away from that estate.
How can they be arsed grafting for £5. Yes it only takes 15 mins but after fuel, van etc, it shard work
My thought is charge £20 and do less work for more money
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There aint no way around it, ye always gets what ye pays for!
It'll be a fivers worth of work, most people judge what theyre getting by what theyre paying. Anyone stupid enough to go down that route will soon realise.
He may start at £5 per house, but 6 months down the line he'll be ped off to high heaven that he's not earning £x like us window cleaners with standards, his "standards" will fall even further as he tries to scramble around to make any decent money.
It just wont work, the market has already set the price, any drastic deviation will arise suspicion from anyone with half a brain cell.
You wouldnt by a £10k motor for £2k without wandering WTF!
Just sit back and watch him fail miserably.
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Where are you's based?
Most houses in glasgows estates are 5-10
That's wat most charge , still a good amout traditional around too.
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Where are you's based?
Most houses in glasgows estates are 5-10
That's wat most charge , still a good amout traditional around too.
That must be bloody hard going at those sort of prices. But still there seems to be plenty cheap cleaners down south too. Made me laugh when a walk up asked for a price to clear her house guttering opposite to where I was working. I quoted £85 then she said "don't worry as the last chap only charged £20 last time. I will get him back to do it again." My reply was best you do. lol
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Tell them to ask Mr. Fiver for him to produce his insurance certificate :P
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They don't last; trust me.
We had a grafter around here a few years back. We nick-named him 'Mr 50% guy' because he offered cleans for 50% cheaper than his normal (cheap) going rate for the first four months.
A member here asked me about him too since his granny lives in this area and he wanted to know if he was safe.
Surprisingly he made it through the first winter and I saw him around until the autumn and I've not seen him for a few years now.
I think he'd had a good crack at building up a business, he obviously was a grafter, he'd leafleted 'everywhere', but packed it in, in the end.
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I have always found it best to concentrate on doing your best job for a fair price, and let everyone else get on with their own business.
John
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I have always found it best to concentrate on doing your best job for a fair price, and let everyone else get on with their own business.
John
What some potential custards may think is a fair price some may think it's expensive. Likewise others may think it's too cheap so you can't bloody win. lol
Now I just go in with what I think is a high price every time now and bugger me if some don't say that seems very reasonable still. Then you walk back to the van thinking oh bugger maybe I could have asked for more.
Pricing jobs so to turnover a good/healthy net profit has got to be the hardest part of any service based business surely?
After all any numpty can sell on price alone but those sorts tend to last not very long.
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Yes, more often than not I get the response that my prices are very reasonable.
I don't actually think to myself that I have underpriced and wish I had charged more. I am happy with what I charge and earn, my customers say they are, and so long as I can deliver and maintain a good standard of work and reliable service, then everyone's a winner and it's harder for others to compete.
I had one customer tell me a while ago that another guy was knocking doors and charging a lot less than I was, but I knew I had nothing to worry about because at the prices he was charging he wouldn't survive, and since I started up here in Ireland I have never knowingly lost any customers to an undercutter.
I very rarely bump into other window cleaners doing residentials as they all seem to be falling over themselves doing shops (although I have a weekly morning's worth of those too and am still picking up new ones occasionally).
I would just say that we can name our price and potential customers will all have their own views as to their reasonableness due to their own economic circumstances or the value they put on window cleaning.
John
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Tell them to ask Mr. Fiver for him to produce his insurance certificate :P
|He does not need to produce an insurance certificate it`s not required by law. Its one of those things we buy that's not needed.
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Reading through this very forum shows me that window cleaner employers pay between £8 to £10 PH, and expect £30 to £40 worth of work PH cleaned by the employee. Now i'm not the sharpest tool in the box, but come on... is anyone really suprised by this ?
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Yes, more often than not I get the response that my prices are very reasonable.
I don't actually think to myself that I have underpriced and wish I had charged more. I am happy with what I charge and earn, my customers say they are, and so long as I can deliver and maintain a good standard of work and reliable service, then everyone's a winner and it's harder for others to compete.
I had one customer tell me a while ago that another guy was knocking doors and charging a lot less than I was, but I knew I had nothing to worry about because at the prices he was charging he wouldn't survive, and since I started up here in Ireland I have never knowingly lost any customers to an undercutter.
I very rarely bump into other window cleaners doing residentials as they all seem to be falling over themselves doing shops (although I have a weekly morning's worth of those too and am still picking up new ones occasionally).
I would just say that we can name our price and potential customers will all have their own views as to their reasonableness due to their own economic circumstances or the value they put on window cleaning.
John
brilliant post.i couldnt have put it better myself! :)
i agree absolutely.theres no need to be greedy.price WHAT YOU THINK IS A FAIR PRICE for both you and the customer.
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Reading through this very forum shows me that window cleaner employers pay between £8 to £10 PH, and expect £30 to £40 worth of work PH cleaned by the employee. Now i'm not the sharpest tool in the box, but come on... is anyone really suprised by this ?
Yes.
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Reading through this very forum shows me that window cleaner employers pay between £8 to £10 PH, and expect £30 to £40 worth of work PH cleaned by the employee. Now i'm not the sharpest tool in the box, but come on... is anyone really suprised by this ?
Yes.
Look at any employed job out there and see how much the employees make and then see how much the employer makes.
I clean windows for a chap who employs workers in a 3rd world climate to produce his products. He pays pitance and makes a fortune even with shipping costs. This is the difference of being employed and self employed.
So mamy would argue that there prices are fair for their work and effort put in and not being greedy at all. I consider myself being fair when i give my prices and the same price structure exists throughout my extensive round. Hence why some prices are being adjusted on recent work ive taken over (after 2yrs of cleaning them) as i cannot justify why im cleaning smaller houses for same price as the bigger ones.
But i think its smurfs post that said, what one person considers a fair price another may consider it too cheap or too high.
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Daughter lives in Norton on Teesside. It a new housing estate. Her house has a third bedroom in the attic. Windie knocks on the door this weekend to offer a window cleaning service. He can't reach the top windows with his trad pole but can reach the 2 first floor windows.
Quote for fronts only as access to the back is through the locked garage. 2 first floor windows, 1 downstairs kitchen window (faces the road), 1 downstairs toilet window and glass on the front door; £2.
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£2 lol yeah well you can't even begin to think he's doing it for a living can you,I know quiet a few trad workers in my area I talk to from time to time and I know roughly what they do money wise a day they also openly tell me not really knowing what work you can do WFP. The fact is there are still dozens and dozens of mainly traditional window cleaners working as self employed but are barley earning a living,there's very few WCs that view this job with potential they see it as an easy life that's part time with little hassle.My point is some of the prices mentioned would not sustain a business, it would top up the wife's income and give a bit of cash in hand but if there's nothing left over after expenses i.e. household as well as business costs it's not a business it's living hand to mouth.
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Reading through this very forum shows me that window cleaner employers pay between £8 to £10 PH, and expect £30 to £40 worth of work PH cleaned by the employee. Now i'm not the sharpest tool in the box, but come on... is anyone really suprised by this ?
Yes.
Look at any employed job out there and see how much the employees make and then see how much the employer makes.
I clean windows for a chap who employs workers in a 3rd world climate to produce his products. He pays pitance and makes a fortune even with shipping costs. This is the difference of being employed and self employed.
So mamy would argue that there prices are fair for their work and effort put in and not being greedy at all. I consider myself being fair when i give my prices and the same price structure exists throughout my extensive round. Hence why some prices are being adjusted on recent work ive taken over (after 2yrs of cleaning them) as i cannot justify why im cleaning smaller houses for same price as the bigger ones.
But i think its smurfs post that said, what one person considers a fair price another may consider it too cheap or too high.
That comment that says look at how much the employee earns and how much the employer earns so reminds me of people I've had with me over the years,that's all they were concerned about. Is it just this industry or is it any other that attracts this attitude,all they were ever bothered about was what I was earning not themselves.
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Reading through this very forum shows me that window cleaner employers pay between £8 to £10 PH, and expect £30 to £40 worth of work PH cleaned by the employee. Now i'm not the sharpest tool in the box, but come on... is anyone really suprised by this ?
Yes.
Look at any employed job out there and see how much the employees make and then see how much the employer makes.
I clean windows for a chap who employs workers in a 3rd world climate to produce his products. He pays pitance and makes a fortune even with shipping costs. This is the difference of being employed and self employed.
So mamy would argue that there prices are fair for their work and effort put in and not being greedy at all. I consider myself being fair when i give my prices and the same price structure exists throughout my extensive round. Hence why some prices are being adjusted on recent work ive taken over (after 2yrs of cleaning them) as i cannot justify why im cleaning smaller houses for same price as the bigger ones.
But i think its smurfs post that said, what one person considers a fair price another may consider it too cheap or too high.
That comment that says look at how much the employee earns and how much the employer earns so reminds me of people I've had with me over the years,that's all they were concerned about. Is it just this industry or is it any other that attracts this attitude,all they were ever bothered about was what I was earning not themselves.
How often have we seen the comments of a future newbie wanting to be a window cleaner because he wants to be his own boss and is tired of making his employer rich? This attitude is everywhere. Why should I work for a living, and if I have to, why shouldn't I earn the most for doing the least possible? Why should I contribute to someone else's income?
Why should I do the physical graft when the boss just sits in the comfort of his office doing nothing. They so often fail to see the bigger picture.
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Daughter lives in Norton on Teesside. It a new housing estate. Her house has a third bedroom in the attic. Windie knocks on the door this weekend to offer a window cleaning service. He can't reach the top windows with his trad pole but can reach the 2 first floor windows.
Quote for fronts only as access to the back is through the locked garage. 2 first floor windows, 1 downstairs kitchen window (faces the road), 1 downstairs toilet window and glass on the front door; £2.
Go have a gander at the section on here "Window Cleaning rounds for sale"........ look at some of the average prices. ;D
Anyway i'm not wasting my breath, there's loads of them charging a fiver, not new kids on the block either, just flogging themselves to death !!! I'm just pointing out what i see.
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£2 lol yeah well you can't even begin to think he's doing it for a living can you,I know quiet a few trad workers in my area I talk to from time to time and I know roughly what they do money wise a day they also openly tell me not really knowing what work you can do WFP. The fact is there are still dozens and dozens of mainly traditional window cleaners working as self employed but are barley earning a living,there's very few WCs that view this job with potential they see it as an easy life that's part time with little hassle.My point is some of the prices mentioned would not sustain a business, it would top up the wife's income and give a bit of cash in hand but if there's nothing left over after expenses i.e. household as well as business costs it's not a business it's living hand to mouth.
Apparently he is a well known window cleaner in the local area. Son in law was a windie for about 7 years. Told him he already has a window cleaner who does all the windows front and back for less than £2. ;D
We have a window cleaning business in our area that also employees trad cleaners. They charge £2.50 for fronts and £5 for back and fronts of a 3 bed semi. A gang of 3, one does the tops; the other the bottoms and the 3rd brays on the door to be paid or write out the windows cleaned tickets. The upstairs guy runs to the next house with his ladder still extended to save time.
They were dumped by one of their customers who later took us on. I happened to be cleaning that house when they arrived in the street. We used to do that house. He stopped us; I think he felt we were too expensive. How much do you charge for cleaning that house?
£10.00 was my reply.
I thought he was going to trip over his own jaw.
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Reading through this very forum shows me that window cleaner employers pay between £8 to £10 PH, and expect £30 to £40 worth of work PH cleaned by the employee. Now i'm not the sharpest tool in the box, but come on... is anyone really suprised by this ?
Yes.
Look at any employed job out there and see how much the employees make and then see how much the employer makes.
I clean windows for a chap who employs workers in a 3rd world climate to produce his products. He pays pitance and makes a fortune even with shipping costs. This is the difference of being employed and self employed.
So mamy would argue that there prices are fair for their work and effort put in and not being greedy at all. I consider myself being fair when i give my prices and the same price structure exists throughout my extensive round. Hence why some prices are being adjusted on recent work ive taken over (after 2yrs of cleaning them) as i cannot justify why im cleaning smaller houses for same price as the bigger ones.
But i think its smurfs post that said, what one person considers a fair price another may consider it too cheap or too high.
That comment that says look at how much the employee earns and how much the employer earns so reminds me of people I've had with me over the years,that's all they were concerned about. Is it just this industry or is it any other that attracts this attitude,all they were ever bothered about was what I was earning not themselves.
I think its prevalent in any simple service based industry. There also an equal attitude from employers, and thats why you'll see lots of ..... "how can i franchise out" questions here. As the employers obviously want to cut costs down. One things for sure, i'd sooner clean windows for £5 a pop, than be employed cleaning them for £8/£10 PH, after all you can always put your prices up. Getting a pay rise from an employer is always a task !!! ;D But not many like competition, in any form.
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Reading through this very forum shows me that window cleaner employers pay between £8 to £10 PH, and expect £30 to £40 worth of work PH cleaned by the employee. Now i'm not the sharpest tool in the box, but come on... is anyone really suprised by this ?
Yes.
Why, in what way ?
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Reading through this very forum shows me that window cleaner employers pay between £8 to £10 PH, and expect £30 to £40 worth of work PH cleaned by the employee. Now i'm not the sharpest tool in the box, but come on... is anyone really suprised by this ?
Yes.
Look at any employed job out there and see how much the employees make and then see how much the employer makes.
I clean windows for a chap who employs workers in a 3rd world climate to produce his products. He pays pitance and makes a fortune even with shipping costs. This is the difference of being employed and self employed.
So mamy would argue that there prices are fair for their work and effort put in and not being greedy at all. I consider myself being fair when i give my prices and the same price structure exists throughout my extensive round. Hence why some prices are being adjusted on recent work ive taken over (after 2yrs of cleaning them) as i cannot justify why im cleaning smaller houses for same price as the bigger ones.
But i think its smurfs post that said, what one person considers a fair price another may consider it too cheap or too high.
That comment that says look at how much the employee earns and how much the employer earns so reminds me of people I've had with me over the years,that's all they were concerned about. Is it just this industry or is it any other that attracts this attitude,all they were ever bothered about was what I was earning not themselves.
I think its prevalent in any simple service based industry. There also an equal attitude from employers, and thats why you'll see lots of ..... "how can i franchise out" questions here. As the employers obviously want to cut costs down. One things for sure, i'd sooner clean windows for £5 a pop, than be employed cleaning them for £8/£10 PH, after all you can always put your prices up. Getting a pay rise from an employer is always a task !!! ;D But not many like competition, in any form.
£10 per hour + holiday pay + sick pay + expenses + the non paid extra work involved when working for yourself (canvassing pricing, traveling, sorting tax returns and so on) you wouldn't be much better off if any being self employed and knocking semi's out at £5 a
pop.
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£10 per hour + holiday pay + sick pay + expenses + the non paid extra work involved when working for yourself (canvassing pricing, traveling, sorting tax returns and so on) you wouldn't be much better off if any being self employed and knocking semi's out at £5 a
pop.
Yeah i get the point you make. However the package you describe above, i've only really seen attributed to commercial cleaners. I've never come across Domestic cleaners on such terms. Infact, this might show better what i've come across, its from here.......but its also my personal experience too.
(http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/1491862295_Selection_999(083).jpg)
Someone done the math for me.......
(http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/1491862319_Selection_999(085).jpg)
Realistically, we know £5 a house is no good. But there sems to be no problem paying subbys or employees FAR less. Infact i've never come across a business model with such a high mark up, have you ? There's loads more examples in that section too..... someone is making money off them, and selling the work when they want at them prices.... and employing too.
Like i say, the danger is if the £5 guy, is any good , knows what he's doing and ups his prices..... of course we all started off charging £20 a house so we can't comprehend where they are coming from. :P
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A friend of mine used to work for a guy for thirty quid a day I'm going back over 10 years ago he did a another job shift work three on three off so he did the windows on his days off . People used to say to him why don't you set up on your own his answer to that was can't be arsed to chase after money do books I go out do my job get paid at end off day with no headache about running a window cleaning buisness I leave that to the guy that owns the cleaning buisness.
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I think it all boils down to paying enough to keep your staff, so they don't go alone. And motivating them to have a positive impact on the business.
I will be looking to take on my 1st employee soon. I'm looking at incentives.. £10 an hour flat rate plus commission on work completed for the day.
So say they work for 5 hours, that's £50.. now if they complete all the work set out for the day they will get a 25% commission on the successful work. The work has to be completed to a high standard and have no complaints within 24 hours to qualify.
But that's not all I shall expect my employee to grow the business. So on new customer sign ups they will get.
100% commission on the 1st clean, and subsequent ownership commission of 50% for the next 3 cleans. After this they will go down to an ownership commission of 30% for the full period of their employment on any customers they sign up.
This way it motivates the individual to have a positive impact on the business and grow it where he can have his own team under him.
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If you employe dont you now have to pay into their pension scheme as well??
I dont think i will ever employ as its a trust issue for me. Trusting them not to ruin my good reputation and second not to steal new customers for themselves etc etc.
Dont get me wrong ive trained up two friends and helped them get set up but they are good friends and if anyone enquires of a cleaner in each others areas we simply pass them on to each other.
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If you employe dont you now have to pay into their pension scheme as well??
I dont think i will ever employ as its a trust issue for me. Trusting them not to ruin my good reputation and second not to steal new customers for themselves etc etc.
Dont get me wrong ive trained up two friends and helped them get set up but they are good friends and if anyone enquires of a cleaner in each others areas we simply pass them on to each other.
You have to offer it. That's all.
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He will be gone by end of summer.
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If he put his prices up he could sit about on here all day with no work talking about prices.
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I just lost one....
Custy I have had for 7 years...£16 for house and conservatory nice job until she had this massive glass veranda roof put in A few months ago...I get a text "we've just had a glass roof put in can you give it a quick wipe over?" I get there and it would take nearly as long to do the roof as the house woukd take so I say another £10 she paid first couple of times but I knew she wasn't happy paying the extra...Just had a text saying we don't want the windows doing any more as hubby wasn't happy so he has found someone to do house...conny...and veranda roof for £16...
There's loyalty for you :D
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Daughter lives in Norton on Teesside. It a new housing estate. Her house has a third bedroom in the attic. Windie knocks on the door this weekend to offer a window cleaning service. He can't reach the top windows with his trad pole but can reach the 2 first floor windows.
Quote for fronts only as access to the back is through the locked garage. 2 first floor windows, 1 downstairs kitchen window (faces the road), 1 downstairs toilet window and glass on the front door; £2.
Aye, its grim up north and sound even grimmer up there lol. I had a new neighbour move in opposite me last week, she noticed my van in the drive and said, you could have done our windows but we have just taken another cleaner on. I said oh its ok i would be more than double his price anyway (saw who it was Mr £4.50)
For the life of me i cant understand why these guys still exist in northern citys and probably elsewhere as well but can they not see other cleaners charging 2-3-4 times what they do and not have a lightbulb moment?
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Theres a chap who works in proximity to my rounds, we often have chats etc throughout the many years. He openly admits he keeps his prices low so his customers dont go else where. We dont see eye to eye on this point as i tell him what i charge and he knows how long ive been working these areas. He doesnt see why introducing online payment options etc is a good idea either. Lol it doesnt trigger the light bulb that yes if you do a good job you can increase your prices.
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£4.50 If he does four houses an hour that's £18 an hour ×6 hours a day thats £108 a day five days a week £540 plus dole lol thats still alot off money to someone like him thats over £2000 a month £24000 a year
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4 houses an hour ???
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Daughter lives in Norton on Teesside. It a new housing estate. Her house has a third bedroom in the attic. Windie knocks on the door this weekend to offer a window cleaning service. He can't reach the top windows with his trad pole but can reach the 2 first floor windows.
Quote for fronts only as access to the back is through the locked garage. 2 first floor windows, 1 downstairs kitchen window (faces the road), 1 downstairs toilet window and glass on the front door; £2.
Aye, its grim up north and sound even grimmer up there lol. I had a new neighbour move in opposite me last week, she noticed my van in the drive and said, you could have done our windows but we have just taken another cleaner on. I said oh its ok i would be more than double his price anyway (saw who it was Mr £4.50)
For the life of me i cant understand why these guys still exist in northern citys and probably elsewhere as well but can they not see other cleaners charging 2-3-4 times what they do and not have a lightbulb moment?
+1
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Do you mean four houses an hour is good or crap because the way I look at it would be 4.50 would be for a small house with about six windows two doors easly achieved. But I was using it as an example
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I think it really depends on your demographic location.
Down here in Surrey my min charge is 22 leptons and that's actually a competitive price. Some round my area are charging 45 leptons.
Average pricing for me is around the 35 mark for a three bed semi. Around 50 for bigger detached places and nudging 80-100 for my larger properties.
But then again it's all relative.
My council tax is just under £180 a month rent down here for a 3 bed semi is approaching 2.5k a month and over 500k to buy.
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Omg😨
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I think it really depends on your demographic location.
Down here in Surrey my min charge is 22 leptons and that's actually a competitive price. Some round my area are charging 45 leptons.
Average pricing for me is around the 35 mark for a three bed semi. Around 50 for bigger detached places and nudging 80-100 for my larger properties.
But then again it's all relative.
My council tax is just under £180 a month rent down here for a 3 bed semi is approaching 2.5k a month and over 500k to buy.
Exactly so charging 5-10 for a house is impossible to make a living on but like you say it's all relative,same where I am most
Of them expect to pay more coz it costs more to live down here.