Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: jeff68 on February 02, 2007, 07:46:35 pm
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Just finished one house,when the owner comes out with a flyer in hand."what do you think of this "he says.I look at it and read it and to my amazement on it says that to clean all the windows on his 3 bed semi with pure filtered water will cost £4.50 with no price increase for 3 years.Also to clean a conservatory and roof will cost just 2.20 and wash the car at same time for £2.00.
I charge £15.00 to do his house.£100 to clean his conservatory and I don't clean cars.I use traditional methods,i.e squeegee and scrim etc.He asked me what am I going to do about my prices,I said I ain't going to do nothing,if you want to use them to clean your windows etc then feel free.But I did warn him when they don't come back after a couple of months I will have filled his slot with another house.Haste to say he is thinking it over.
Why do people charge these stupidly low prices.I can't compete with them.I'm not greedy,just work hard and do a good job.I think my prices are fair for my area(south coast bournemouth).Has anyone eles had similar experiances as I would like to know if this is the face of window cleaning as we know it.
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i have come across window cleaners charging £4 for a 3 bed semi but these were trad guys. i cant see how people can work for this unless they sign on. But i do know wages have come to a stand still in this country. Im earning the same money as i was 5years ago although im in a different trade now. What im getting at is standard of living goes up wages stay the same. All this mass influx of people from cheaper countries aint helping im afraid. Theyll work for peanuts :-[
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You're right there mate.There seams to be alot of eastern europeans around my area.
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Possibly someone with a full time shift work type job. A fireman around here charges £7 for a 4 bed detached with leaded windows. Yes he uses WFP.
I would have trouble getting below £15 to justify this particular property.
How/why does he do it? Because it's just some extra beer token money.
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theres eastern europeans everywhere mate :o The goverment doctor the real figures to stop scare mongering :-X
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Sounds more to me like a large co. trying to corner the market, Was it a proffesional looking flyer or a quick bodge job
A large co, here in the US is offering the first year free to potential customers with no long term contract, the idea is to out last the local w/cs and when they go out of business start to make a serious profit then
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if he had a ionics system he could charge 30 quid
its the truth i tell ya, just ask John Peters ;)
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ITs just a printed flyer(two colours).only a mobile number ,no fixed line(alarm bells ringing there)
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I think my prices are fair for my area(south coast bournemouth).Has anyone eles had similar experiances as I would like to know if this is the face of window cleaning as we know it.
HELLOOOO I work in this area! have you seen my van http://img264.i.us/img264/4797/smartcleaningltdvanwrapea3.jpg
I have to agree, prices are all over the place here, we dont go for low pricing as it does no good to anyone - we just stick to are price (which isnt cheap) and if the customer goes eles where then its down to them - but they dont as we give a very good service
Andy
PS jeff68 do I know you!
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Hi Andy.NO I dont know you.I have only been down here 1 year.Yes I have seen your van(looks smart).
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Thats good to know my van gets seen 8) (can only be good for business) pleased to meet you Jeff ;)
Andy
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Poleman , Can I ask you where you got your van done up as it looks great and I am looking to have mine done.
Thanks Robbie _ clearshine
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i have come across window cleaners charging £4 for a 3 bed semi but these were trad guys. i cant see how people can work for this unless they sign on. But i do know wages have come to a stand still in this country. Im earning the same money as i was 5years ago although im in a different trade now. What im getting at is standard of living goes up wages stay the same. All this mass influx of people from cheaper countries aint helping im afraid. Theyll work for peanuts :-[
Hi, I took over an estate from a guy and they are priced at £4 for 3 bed semi's, and yeah they are too cheap and due a rise, but there are alot of them close together, and that & hard work helps me earn my money, I aim for a minimum of £15 hour, ,I recently passed some work on to other window cleaners, and they instantly put the prices up 50%, but they reckon they only earn £10 per hour, of course price is the biggest factor (mine need sorting out) but I was amazed at how those new guys expect to earn a 3rd less an hour than me, and with 50% price rise,
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Poleman , Can I ask you where you got your van done up as it looks great and I am looking to have mine done.
Thanks Robbie _ clearshine
Local company to me, its was about one and half thousand pounds - money well spent for 24 - 7 ad - we get a lot of work from this type of high brand advertising (paid for its self)
Andy
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Is that really £2.20 for conservatory and roof? Or £22.00? Or what?
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why the hell everyone can't have a min of £10 is beyond me ,we did this two years ago and now its £12 no-one bats an eyelid because they now that they are getting an expert job fact Edd
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I've had a minimum of £10 for a couple of years now but that was only for new work. Some of my very old work is pretty underpriced these days. I was working on an estate today where I have about 5 houses (4 underpriced from way back) when I met a fireman/part-time window cleaner I haven't seen for ages. He works the trad way ands I do WFP. We got chatiing and it got around to prices. I was doing a job for £8. It takes me about 12 minutes. He was charging £15 for pretty much the same type of house. Mind you, he only usually does about one and a half per hour. The funny thing was that the house he was doing was for an old customer of mine who ditched me when I was ill several years ago. I think I was doing it for £6 (trad) at the time.
Although I am happy with the prices I have been charging for work in very recent years, I still have a fair bit of work that either needs a massive increase or needs dropping/passing on.
After today's conversation I'm starting to think that, on part of my work anyway, that I'm a mug.
I'm going on a big push again in the next few weeks to sort these issues out.
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Yes it is 2.20 for a coservatory + ROOF.!!!What I might do is get them to do the jobs I quote £100 for and make 97.80 mark up profit.ha.ha.but i'm not like that,I just want to earn a good days wage(@100)and I will be happy.
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i tink this is a wind up noone nowhere can clean windows and a cons that cheap and pay even the most important expenses and of course how about tax?
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God knows why they do it.
Well actually, thats not true.
I know.
It is a bone idle attitude of not wanting to knock doors and rather post a leaflet. They realise that the only way a leaflet works is if they sell themselves. What they end up doing is whacking a price on and undercutting everyone.
Its up to them, if they want to do that. Personally I think it is madness. I would rather sign on than work for nowt.
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People get what they pay for.
I have seen some jobs that have been done at a low price
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why the hell everyone can't have a min of £10 is beyond me ,we did this two years ago and now its £12 no-one bats an eyelid because they now that they are getting an expert job fact Edd
so you can get away with charging £12 for a 3 bed semi when the going rate over here is £5, tell me how would I justify that to my customers?
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£12 is nothing, if you are getting £5 now how much were they 10 years ago £1? what about inflation higher fuel etc etc. Look at it this way, you have marks and sparks high price then you have lidle and netto etc, they all have customers but at different prices be like marks and present to the high end eg good setup pro appearance its that simple
simbo
as said £10 min aswell don't want' the job otherwise, i might not have hundreds of customers but price makes 200 odd equal to 400 crap
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a low price doesnt always mean a bad Job, as I said in my earlier post! i get £4 for those semi's I do, the other window cleaners on the estate charge more but only do a handful of houses on there, not just because they are more expensive, they have either upset the customers because, they dont do a brilliant job, they dont clean the frosted windows and often generally un friendly to the customers,
so those guys charge a £1 or so more but they do 2 houses and have to move onto another estate to do 2 or 3 there,so what they are gaining is lost because of having to move on, ok Im getting £4 but Im in the one place all day, dont get me wrong, my prices are going rise. a £10 minimum charge would be great, but i think i would lose all the jobs on that estate
scrimit
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a low price doesnt always mean a bad Job, as I said in my earlier post! i get £4 for those semi's I do, the other window cleaners on the estate charge more but only do a handful of houses on there, not just because they are more expensive, they have either upset the customers because, they dont do a brilliant job, they dont clean the frosted windows and often generally un friendly to the customers,
so those guys charge a £1 or so more but they do 2 houses and have to move onto another estate to do 2 or 3 there,so what they are gaining is lost because of having to move on, ok Im getting £4 but Im in the one place all day, dont get me wrong, my prices are going rise. a £10 minimum charge would be great, but i think i would lose all the jobs on that estate
scrimit
I shouldn't think there is time to be too friendly with the custies at those prices really. A smile and a thank you go a long way but small talk is out if the prices are low.
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When your charging £50 a house they'll still be somebody doing it for a tenner, thats life.
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I stick to a minimum of 10 pound unless its a small job
I had a lady ask me yesterday i told her 12 pound, she replied your expensive i said yes but im good and im not bad at window cleaning either ;D she said her other window cleaner only charged 10 but he packed up. Although it was only worth 10 i quoted her 12 as i am getting very packed out with work
you will always get the silly price brigade
Brett
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ive only just started but i dont mind doing a few houses in a row for £5.50 ( front only ) Then £4.50 for the back. Is this to low ??? ive got a few roads like this and it means that i dont have to move the van all day :)
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Possibly someone with a full time shift work type job. A fireman around here charges £7 for a 4 bed detached with leaded windows. Yes he uses WFP.
I would have trouble getting below £15 to justify this particular property.
How/why does he do it? Because it's just some extra beer token money.
No, because it's good money.
I doubt it takes more than 10-15 mins and he's getting £7.
He could do at least 4 and a bit an hour, that's £30.
£100+ morning?
Underpriced?
If you want double that you're just a rip off, sorry. ::)
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because i havent got much work at the moment, i always worry about customers saying im too expensive for the job i do, i try to do the best i can but ive only bin cleaning for a month or so. For more experience guys it may be different.
I would be happy with £100 for a mornings work.
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I get new custies saying i'm too pricey all time,I get fed up with justifying my prices.I even cut my minimum to £10.They say will I do it cheaper for cash and I say no,because cash or cheque or even paypal £10 the minimum I will do windows for.Anything less is just undervalueing myself.I live in Mudeford(dorset) and the place is full of wrinklees who want there windows cleaned for pennies even though the house they live in is worth a small fortune.
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you lot r mad £50 per hour ,our i will stay in bed
lol jerry
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£100 for a conservatory clean, what is it? Nobody round here would pay that!!!!
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give over im not on £50 a day :'( :'( :'( :'( ;D
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Possibly someone with a full time shift work type job. A fireman around here charges £7 for a 4 bed detached with leaded windows. Yes he uses WFP.
I would have trouble getting below £15 to justify this particular property.
How/why does he do it? Because it's just some extra beer token money.
No, because it's good money.
I doubt it takes more than 10-15 mins and he's getting £7.
He could do at least 4 and a bit an hour, that's £30.
£100+ morning?
Underpriced?
If you want double that you're just a rip off, sorry. ::)
Although prices can seem very high sometimes, guess how many of my customers wanted to pay me for doing nothing when I was too ill to work a few years ago. None (of course). Nor did I expect it. However, it taught me to charge well while I am well enough to work as the only person who is going to look after me is me. Mind you, I agree that £100+ in a morning is pretty good going.
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Squeaks seems to think that anyone earning over £150 a day is ripping off customers, but if the prices charged are reasonably competitive (ie, Rog charges £7-£7.50 for houses I charge £9 for) and you are doing work to a high standard and you are able to do £150 plus a day then just who is being ripped off?
I Know guys earning above £100 a shift, picking at some local warehouses, continental shifts, lots of time off, paid holidays and so on, I'm sure as hell worth at least what they are earning, but to make say...25 grand a year (thats only £500 per week) you've got to have a business turnover of at the very least 30k, and you have to cover your holidays, sick days, bad weather days and so on and so on, and if you want the equivalent of £500 per week then you are going to have to be doing at least £150 per day for your end of year figures to work out to 25k per year.
Window cleaners are one of the worst for thinking that what they have in their pocket at the end of the day equals their wage, it DOESN'T!
Someone who will clean a house for just a few quid, and a conseratory for just 2 quid are ridiculous, absolute no hopers, destined to go bust or live the life of a peasant, they are going to earn less in 40 hours than they'd get on benifit, and they still have to run a business on that too!
they will always be about, the influx of eastern europeans is going to cause problems though....hope to god the buggers don't decide to infest the area I live in :-\
Ian
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As usual you pick up my comment Ian. ::)
What I meant was that the bloke isn't charging stupidly low prices if he can do £20+ an hour.
The original post said he wanted £15 for a house this guy did for £7.
If that guy does this £7 in 15 mins or less he's not a cheapo.
Doubling his price is unneccesary and greedy.
Anyone around here who wanted double my prices would be looked at as John Wayne by me.
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No you are wrong.My original post was 4.50 for a house not 7.00.I do the house for 15.00.He has to do about 3 houses to get the money I do one house for.Yes it might only take him 45 mins but I'm on to my next one by then.So all i'm trying to say is he's got to work alot harder to get 15.00 than me..
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jeff68 i know what you meen,i live in southend and so customers who i give quoters to for say a 3 bed semi at 13- 15 pounds, say how much, my last w/c only charged £7,when you explain the time to do the job will be about 30-45 mins,again i get my last one only took 10-15 mins,begs the question....what sort of job did they do,i believe you should do the job as well as you would like it done on your own home
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Lots of guys start with the mindframe of doing a first class job, and being fare with our customers.
I include myself in this catagory.
I was wrong, I should have been doing a first class job, and been fare with myself.
We get no thanks whatsoever from our customers, for being cheaper than the other guy.
IF YOU WERE DOING THE JOB FOR NOTHING. THERE WOULD STILL BE SOME WHO WOULD FIND SOMETHING TO WINGE ABOUT. Dai
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jeff68 i know what you meen,i live in southend and so customers who i give quoters to for say a 3 bed semi at 13- 15 pounds, say how much, my last w/c only charged £7,when you explain the time to do the job will be about 30-45 mins,again i get my last one only took 10-15 mins,begs the question....what sort of job did they do,i believe you should do the job as well as you would like it done on your own home
when i used to clean houses it only took about 20 mins to do a 3 bed semi and i belive i did a good job ! and my costumers were happy with the quality of my work.
why does it take you 30 - 40 mins ?
i'm not criticizing you, and i'm sure your work is top notch, just seems a bit long.
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I get the old"my last window cleaner only charged x amount" to."Where is he now then and why are you asking me fore a quote?"I tell them.It goes very quiet from then on.They moan, but when you actually do the job and they come out and inspect your work is when they realise that there last window cleaner was a bag of s**te!!!!
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hi all
i would like to think that my customers have a choice when it comes to who they choose to clean there windows so wether you are charging 5-20 for a 3 bed semi its always up to the customer how much they will pay. i am not cheap in my area and in a average day i would do 250-300 on my own wfp when i did traditional about 110-130 max.
when there are two of us we do 400-480
when i give quotes i always say to the customer heres the price this is how we clean show them our insurnce and tell them to ring me if they want the job done most of them say yeas there and then and some will ring me back a couple days later to say go ahead. and this is even the case where people have said that i am double there previous cleaner.(but at the end of the day its always there choice)
we have loads of wcs around here (surrey) but most of the time customers main reason for choosing my services and keeping them is i am regular and do a good job.
so they are willing to pay me more , i am not saying anyone who is cheaper is not doing a good job.
so i think each to there own , but i think its not fair to say that i am ripping people off just beacause i earn a very good hourly rate.
shawn :)
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hay jeff, £10.00 min, £40 anhour,got the harbor pub £60 inside out, not bad 4 about 1 & 1/2hrs work all pole work , scrim and blade inside,,
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we do con roofs at about £20 up here that is expensive,
i have a few customers that i only make £10 per hour from,
but most of my new work is about £20 per hour & that is a fortune up here,
ive been doin this 15 yrs was to cheap to start with,
the mistake i made was no increases in price for ages, but now do them every 2 yrs,
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I had a nice compliment recently from a 'mature' window cleaner who took me to one side when I first started and briefed me on the dangers of being too cheap.
I passed some work onto him, a bunch of 8 quid semi's and he was shocked.
He was charging 4 or 5 quid for the same houses in the same street.
He's now put up his prices and he told me that, 'If you can do it, so can I'.
The thing is, these are big semis, seven ladder climbs each - big bedroom windows - and a gable end window too.
8 quid is far too cheap for these, which is why I passed them on.
This forum must've made a definate impact on UK window cleaning prices.
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This forum must've made a definate impact on UK window cleaning prices.
Your right there Tosh. I don't think anyone starts out with the intention of undercutting. When I started, I had no idea what to charge. I'm still paying for that with some long standing customers.
If this forum had been around then, I would have priced jobs a lot higher.
13 years ago, when I started back in window cleaning, I was charging 35p per window. Now they are paying 70p. If I had started out charging 50p I would now be earning a pound for every window cleaned.
I can often go a month without seeing another shiner, apart from the ones I drive past of course. I didn't know any window cleaners when I started, so there was no one to ask for advice. Unlike you, who know many other guys that post on here, I only know Geoffery Specht. I may bump into him every couple of months.
This forum Is the best thing that ever happened to window cleaning. Without it, I bet there would be at least 30% less WFP users. Dai
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yep its pritty much the same in liverpool quantity not quality mt new work i bought i am putting it up from 3.50 to 4.50 they look at me as if i just spat in ther grandmothers face then ped on ther cat, 25p a week seems a huge increase up here for some reason.