Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: iain R Jones on July 27, 2017, 12:10:47 am
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How do you go about pricing a job?
I have a 3 bed semi with 2 large windows at the front plus a smaller bedroom
Round the back bathroom, kitchen conservatory but unable to get to the bedroom due to the conservatory
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Pricing has many factors .... there is is no substitute to actually getting on the glass and working with different houses i.e location, first cleans, access, your speed, quality, technique, your financial situation, etc, etc ....The list is endless.
Do you clean windows now and with what method? that would be a very good starting point for others here to help you.
In the mean time the best suggestion would be for you read the wealth of information already here on this forum... if you type 'pricing' in the search box at the top of this screen there are 91 pages on this forum that will really help.
Cheers Dave and good luck.
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There arnt many windows the pole cant reach!
Sounds like £15 in north wales, prices vary in regions!
How often is it cleaned?? Longer frequency costs more also, so 4 weekly could cost £12-£15 and 8 weekly could cost £15-£18 as a rough guide.
One off could cost £30-£45.
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Upload some pictures and lm sure youll get some quotes!
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I just kind of look at it and say a price. Can't say I really count windows. I Must just base it on similar work I have not sure of the formula though.
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How do you go about pricing a job?
I have a 3 bed semi with 2 large windows at the front plus a smaller bedroom
Round the back bathroom, kitchen conservatory but unable to get to the bedroom due to the conservatory
the truth is price what you deem fair for the job.you can do what you like as its your business.
i usually price on time(how long the jobs going to take me)and what i want for an hours work.sometimes i price per window.depends on location,size of property,how near it is to other work,awkward windows?access/parking issues etc,etc.
i guess your starting trad then?(you can reach most windows above conny roofs with wfp)
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Getting your pricing right is the hardest part of this job, the problem with asking this question on a forum is you will get a
nationwide answer that will leave you none the wiser.
Find out what the other shiners are charging in your targeted area and most importantly find out what they are actually offering
for the price, a price for a quick wipe of the glass wont cover a guy cleaning the glass frames sills and so on.
Don't try to win work by undercutting as it attracts the wrong type of customer.
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Youve got some great advice here Ian, i would take it all on board and see how you go.
Its right we all started somewhere and it doesnt matter too much at this stage because as your experience and quality grows, so will your prices. When i first started my prices were lowish, especially with how they compare to now. However saying that, you dont want to get into a habbit of pricing low just to get a job, because no offense, you wont hack it and probably wont last a year. Because your slaving away for pitance and not making a wage. But be realistic and fair and as you start to grow you will know for yourself what aspects to take into consideration when pricing.
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Pricing has many factors .... there is is no substitute to actually getting on the glass and working with different houses i.e location, first cleans, access, your speed, quality, technique, your financial situation, etc, etc ....The list is endless.
Do you clean windows now and with what method? that would be a very good starting point for others here to help you.
In the mean time the best suggestion would be for you read the wealth of information already here on this forum... if you type 'pricing' in the search box at the top of this screen there are 91 pages on this forum that will really help.
Cheers Dave and good luck.
I did try to start about 4 maybe 5 years ago and unfortunately didn't take off maybe because I didn't try hard enough maybe started the wrong time, autumn time I did have a fairly good customer base but not good enough.
I was using traditional method.
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There arnt many windows the pole cant reach!
Sounds like £15 in north wales, prices vary in regions!
How often is it cleaned?? Longer frequency costs more also, so 4 weekly could cost £12-£15 and 8 weekly could cost £15-£18 as a rough guide.
One off could cost £30-£45.
I'm in the Somerset area not north Wales
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First I would suggest.... Work out what you need to earn to live.... current outgoings could be the make or break for anyone starting.... Do you have a slush fund to tide you over whilst you build?
Be wary though, there is a world of difference between working for enough to live and earning enough to live ;)
Building a well priced and established round with good payers is not an easy task, granted the work itself is not exactly rocket science but getting to a stage where you can meet all your financial commitments without the hassles of constant late paying customers is 'nirvana' we all strive for.
Obviously I and others here do not know your individual situation (nor need to ;) perhaps if you do not have a slush-fund you could start Saturdays then go part-time... who knows what options may or may not suit... perhaps you could buy/rent a round.
If you do go down the wfp route... as with all things there are budget cars and then there are supercars the same can be said for wfp equipment.... you can make it as simple/complex >>> cheap/expensive as you want or failing that get yours ladders out and go trad as you have previously.... again all upto you.... But the best advice I have seen here is.... find out what your local market is paying.... I can tell you what is right where I am but thats going to be naff all use to you.
Again good luck starting.... Remember the game is simple.... Get 1 job, get another, get another...so on and so forth...clean them and then repeat.
Find 1 job at a time and don't accept rejection too personally....
tip...when you go out looking for work....obviously dress smart, never admit you are just starting and carry yourself like you have been in the game for years.... no-one knows what you are...act confident, be fair, polite and courteous..... a rejection is another step to success.... its a numbers game, once you are established.... work will find you... honestly it will - Yeah I thought this was complete and utter pooh when someone told me when I started.
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There arnt many windows the pole cant reach!
Sounds like £15 in north wales, prices vary in regions!
How often is it cleaned?? Longer frequency costs more also, so 4 weekly could cost £12-£15 and 8 weekly could cost £15-£18 as a rough guide.
One off could cost £30-£45.
I'm in the Somerset area not north Wales
No lan, lm in north wales. I was giving you a guide as you asked.
I did say it varies in regions.
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First I would suggest.... Work out what you need to earn to live.... current outgoings could be the make or break for anyone starting.... Do you have a slush fund to tide you over whilst you build?
Be wary though, there is a world of difference between working for enough to live and earning enough to live ;)
Building a well priced and established round with good payers is not an easy task, granted the work itself is not exactly rocket science but getting to a stage where you can meet all your financial commitments without the hassles of constant late paying customers is 'nirvana' we all strive for.
Obviously I and others here do not know your individual situation (nor need to ;) perhaps if you do not have a slush-fund you could start Saturdays then go part-time... who knows what options may or may not suit... perhaps you could buy/rent a round.
If you do go down the wfp route... as with all things there are budget cars and then there are supercars the same can be said for wfp equipment.... you can make it as simple/complex >>> cheap/expensive as you want or failing that get yours ladders out and go trad as you have previously.... again all upto you.... But the best advice I have seen here is.... find out what your local market is paying.... I can tell you what is right where I am but thats going to be naff all use to you.
Again good luck starting.... Remember the game is simple.... Get 1 job, get another, get another...so on and so forth...clean them and then repeat.
Find 1 job at a time and don't accept rejection too personally....
tip...when you go out looking for work....obviously dress smart, never admit you are just starting and carry yourself like you have been in the game for years.... no-one knows what you are...act confident, be fair, polite and courteous..... a rejection is another step to success.... its a numbers game, once you are established.... work will find you... honestly it will - Yeah I thought this was complete and utter pooh when someone told me when I started.
excellent post dave.post of the week for me this! :)
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First I would suggest.... Work out what you need to earn to live.... current outgoings could be the make or break for anyone starting.... Do you have a slush fund to tide you over whilst you build?
Be wary though, there is a world of difference between working for enough to live and earning enough to live ;)
Building a well priced and established round with good payers is not an easy task, granted the work itself is not exactly rocket science but getting to a stage where you can meet all your financial commitments without the hassles of constant late paying customers is 'nirvana' we all strive for.
Obviously I and others here do not know your individual situation (nor need to ;) perhaps if you do not have a slush-fund you could start Saturdays then go part-time... who knows what options may or may not suit... perhaps you could buy/rent a round.
If you do go down the wfp route... as with all things there are budget cars and then there are supercars the same can be said for wfp equipment.... you can make it as simple/complex >>> cheap/expensive as you want or failing that get yours ladders out and go trad as you have previously.... again all upto you.... But the best advice I have seen here is.... find out what your local market is paying.... I can tell you what is right where I am but thats going to be naff all use to you.
Again good luck starting.... Remember the game is simple.... Get 1 job, get another, get another...so on and so forth...clean them and then repeat.
Find 1 job at a time and don't accept rejection too personally....
tip...when you go out looking for work....obviously dress smart, never admit you are just starting and carry yourself like you have been in the game for years.... no-one knows what you are...act confident, be fair, polite and courteous..... a rejection is another step to success.... its a numbers game, once you are established.... work will find you... honestly it will - Yeah I thought this was complete and utter pooh when someone told me when I started.
Wot he said ^^ Plus when canvassing tell 'em you're cleaning a 'few' others in the street would you like to be added to the round?
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Dont be overly put off if you only get one customer on this street and one customer that street.
I started many great rounds this way. Persevere and keep providing a great services for a fair price in your area. (I often find that people opt for middle ground.) When others see you as being regular n reliable they will approach you to clean theres. Especially if others suddenly stop or become irregular. (Ive lost track of how many other shiners have come n gone in the areas where i work. Even when they look flash with all the kit!!) So dont be discouraged, ive gone from only cleaning one house in a large cu de sac to cleaning virtually all of them. Being regular speaks volumes because you may not realise it but people wil be watching and let other neighbours be the guinea pigs first before they ask you
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I was cleaning a house for £14 yesterday when a guy on the opposite side came out.
Can you clean mine, my cleaner has gone awol.
First thing I said was how much was he charging?
£4.10
Really, can't get anywhere near that price sir, I would be about triple that
Point is two things. Firstly never clean someones windows for £4.10 but most importantly is don't take pricing advice from a forum bevause prices are dictated by your local competition. If you are working in an area with a few of these idiots you are going to have a struggle on to get top whack.
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I was cleaning a house for £14 yesterday when a guy on the opposite side came out.
Can you clean mine, my cleaner has gone awol.
First thing I said was how much was he charging?
£4.10
Really, can't get anywhere near that price sir, I would be about triple that
Point is two things. Firstly never clean someones windows for £4.10 but most importantly is don't take pricing advice from a forum bevause prices are dictated by your local competition. If you are working in an area with a few of these idiots you are going to have a struggle on to get top whack.
did you get the job?
i dont agree mate.
the old guy that had a hell of a lot of work in the areas i clean was charging peanuts.eg 4 bed house with large conny £8-50!ive been cleaning it for years now for £30.
ive picked up around 200 jobs at much better prices than he was charging(he still cant believe how much i get for some of them!).he was crap though.didnt touch frames,still trad,no add on services,different doleys with him every week.he had 4 lads working for him at one time.now hes 71 and still window cleaning albeit it part time.he s lost a lot of work and given some to his son.no bank transfers,text night before.all cash or cheque.old car with ladders held on by a bit of rope. ;D
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I was cleaning a house for £14 yesterday when a guy on the opposite side came out.
Can you clean mine, my cleaner has gone awol.
First thing I said was how much was he charging?
£4.10
Really, can't get anywhere near that price sir, I would be about triple that
Point is two things. Firstly never clean someones windows for £4.10 but most importantly is don't take pricing advice from a forum bevause prices are dictated by your local competition. If you are working in an area with a few of these idiots you are going to have a struggle on to get top whack.
did you get the job?
i dont agree mate.
the old guy that had a hell of a lot of work in the areas i clean was charging peanuts.eg 4 bed house with large conny £8-50!ive been cleaning it for years now for £30.
ive picked up around 200 jobs at much better prices than he was charging(he still cant believe how much i get for some of them!).he was crap though.didnt touch frames,still trad,no add on services,different doleys with him every week.he had 4 lads working for him at one time.now hes 71 and still window cleaning albeit it part time.he s lost a lot of work and given some to his son.no bank transfers,text night before.all cash or cheque.old car with ladders held on by a bit of rope. ;D
Every town will have its cheap quick rub over the glass shiner and if your fortunate him or shiners similar will be your only cheap competition, problems start when you have cheap guys doing a half decent job, put it this way Iv yet to meet a customer who's ambition is to make me wealthy.
The secrete is to get a price that will make you a nice living without having to bust your hump while at the same time not pushing
the customer to constantly question it or what they're getting for it.
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I was cleaning a house for £14 yesterday when a guy on the opposite side came out.
Can you clean mine, my cleaner has gone awol.
First thing I said was how much was he charging?
£4.10
Really, can't get anywhere near that price sir, I would be about triple that
Point is two things. Firstly never clean someones windows for £4.10 but most importantly is don't take pricing advice from a forum bevause prices are dictated by your local competition. If you are working in an area with a few of these idiots you are going to have a struggle on to get top whack.
did you get the job?
i dont agree mate.
the old guy that had a hell of a lot of work in the areas i clean was charging peanuts.eg 4 bed house with large conny £8-50!ive been cleaning it for years now for £30.
ive picked up around 200 jobs at much better prices than he was charging(he still cant believe how much i get for some of them!).he was crap though.didnt touch frames,still trad,no add on services,different doleys with him every week.he had 4 lads working for him at one time.now hes 71 and still window cleaning albeit it part time.he s lost a lot of work and given some to his son.no bank transfers,text night before.all cash or cheque.old car with ladders held on by a bit of rope. ;D
Every town will have its cheap quick rub over the glass shiner and if your fortunate him or shiners similar will be your only cheap competition, problems start when you have cheap guys doing a half decent job, put it this way Iv yet to meet a customer who's ambition is to make me wealthy.
The secrete is to get a price that will make you a nice living without having to bust your hump while at the same time not pushing
the customer to constantly question it or what they're getting for it.
i agree.i price fair for the job i do.not too high/not too low.
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I wouldn't price on what it costs you to live otherwise you'll price to low i price on what I want for the job not by the window or the hour,price a job by the hour and you could end up cleaning downton abbey for £50-£60 lol. With WFP you can clean as we know far far quicker and can't be compared to trad cleaning time wise,the thing is in some areas there's a lot of WFPolers driving down prices by cleaning 50-£60 houses for 25 now. They've gone from earning good money traditionally to average money and running like busy fools with the pole.
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I wouldn't price on what it costs you to live otherwise you'll price to low i price on what I want for the job not by the window or the hour,price a job by the hour and you could end up cleaning downton abbey for £50-£60 lol. With WFP you can clean as we know far far quicker and can't be compared to trad cleaning time wise,the thing is in some areas there's a lot of WFPolers driving down prices by cleaning 50-£60 houses for 25 now. They've gone from earning good money traditionally to average money and running like busy fools with the pole.
are they?how do you know?do you ask all the wfp window cleaners in these areas how much their charging?
im earning a lot more than when i was trad 7 years ago.this year i reckon itll be £22,000-£23,000 MORE a year compared to my trad earnings.happy days.
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Just gone my local hairdressers. I pay 12 quid for a bit of hair to be chopped off! All other hairdressers (of which there is 3 more in the area) all charge men £6.
Yet i pay double that and why?? Cause she is very good at what she does compared to the other cheap hairdressers.
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Nathan.... Yeah right she is :P
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Nathan.... Yeah right she is :P
Exactly, its nothing to do with getting a better blue rinse.
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I go to the barbers at the top of my street, 7 quid i think..becasuse he does the job and i dont need owt fancy
Further into town theres a barbers who charge 15quid, if i wanted anything special doing id probably go there because i would expect them to do a better job.
I dont know what that tells u about window cleaning other than some people will be happy with an ok job doing for cheap.
others will want a quality job doing and happy to pay more, its hard to cater for both.
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my local barbers charges £8 but i always give them a tenner.lots of "turkish style" barbers near me.spoilt for choice really.all of them are good and they do your eyebrows,ears and use cut throat razors for tidying up round the back and sides.takes them around 20 mins.well worth a tenner in my book.all of them are open 7 days a week too! ;D
they all charge £8 for a regular cut(theres 7 barber shops in a 2 mile area!)
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Just gone my local hairdressers. I pay 12 quid for a bit of hair to be chopped off! All other hairdressers (of which there is 3 more in the area) all charge men £6.
Yet i pay double that and why?? Cause she is very good at what she does compared to the other cheap hairdressers.
You get a bit of a 'rub' do you?
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You guys need to stop mincing with your hairdoo's and just get a set of trimmers and do it yourself.... What are you window cleaners or plasterers ? :P
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You guys need to stop mincing with your hairdoo's and just get a set of trimmers and do it yourself.... What are you window cleaners or plasterers ? :P
i would if i was as bald as you mate but some of us have still got a full head of hair! ;D
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A good price is a price that is better than what you'd get up the road doing your usual work,if your cleaning plastic facias or gutters and your getting the same your a fool.
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Nathan hit the nail on the head when it comes to pricing but for the wrong reason, he's believes he's getting a better haircut
because its twice the price, its like the branded and own braded products in the supermarkets, put the same product in a different
box with a cheaper price and it will taste inferior.
There will be people who will be looking a cheap clean and other who will pay a lot more because they believe in doing so they
will get something better, luckily most will just take it for granted that they are.
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I just love these pricing questions as if all window cleaner in all areas charge the same. The best way to price is to do your homework and find out what prices in your area are. AS this will be where you will be working after all. Get off your ass and knock on some doors and if they say they have a window cleaner. Tell them you are new to the game and if it`s no trouble would they share the price they pay as you don`t want to over charge, Thank you. This will after a few call give you a better idea what to charge. Asking on here will be of no use as every area is different with different prices.
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Nathan hit the nail on the head when it comes to pricing but for the wrong reason, he's believes he's getting a better haircut
because its twice the price, its like the branded and own braded products in the supermarkets, put the same product in a different
box with a cheaper price and it will taste inferior.
There will be people who will be looking a cheap clean and other who will pay a lot more because they believe in doing so they
will get something better, luckily most will just take it for granted that they are.
Not quite, not that gullable when it comes to coughing up cash. In say 30yrs (cant remember my first 10yrs of hair cuts but the photos are shocking looking back to late 70's and 80's 😂) of trying different hairdressers and paying a varied amount of prices, i know when im getting a good cut. Not too short, chunks missing, not cut straight etc etc the list goes on and on. Then 2yrs back i went to same place wife goes (forced to go cause I thought theres no way im paying double than 5 doors down) and no turning back since. A coffee whilst im waiting, a pleasant chat whilst being cut and a great job. Very impressed and no i dont mind paying for a better quality service and a better quality cut.
Also chaps, my hairdresser is a couple of yrs older than my oldest daughter so absolutely nothing in it!!
But if you or I qive a quality service plus extra then i believe you charge more for it.
My customers like the fact I text before calling. They like the varied payment options and obviously they like the service i do and so for the complete package they are happy to pay more than what joe blogs down the road offers.
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I just love these pricing questions as if all window cleaner in all areas charge the same. The best way to price is to do your homework and find out what prices in your area are. AS this will be where you will be working after all. Get off your ass and knock on some doors and if they say they have a window cleaner. Tell them you are new to the game and if it`s no trouble would they share the price they pay as you don`t want to over charge, Thank you. This will after a few call give you a better idea what to charge. Asking on here will be of no use as every area is different with different prices.
I disagree as prices vary so much. There is one window cleaner around here that charges £5 for a Victorian 3 bed semi. Within the bounds of reality you should decide what price you want to charge for the service and ignore what the competition charges. Besides it is very unusual for people to get competitive quotes for window cleaning.
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I found out the prices in my area when I started. Unfortunately for me , all the Windy's charge £2.50 front , £5-7 full house (semi) . £10 for large detached with conservatory in my area. So I started there and soon got peed off with it and now I'm at least double what they charge