Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: ronaldo on February 23, 2007, 02:34:40 pm
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Got asked to go and quote a nursing home today, total of 80 windows 2 conservatories and 8 patio doors all easy to get at and access good alround.
Heres how i worked my quote out.
80 windows £1.30 each =£104
8 patio doors £1.50 each = £12.00
2 conservatories £12.50 each= £25.00
Total price £141,00
Estimated time with 2 men 3 hours max
Happy with this and feeling good about the quote i call back at the office to talk with the supervisor over the matter, only to to get laughed at, he tells me my price is £70 more than he is being charged at the moment.
I tryed to explain that his windows looked liked they had,nt been cleaned for years and he assured me they are done every 3 months without fail, so i just bid him good day.
So my question is to the forum did i VASTLY over quote for this one or not.
Thanks Ron.
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I would price
80windows - £40
8 patio doors - £10
2 conservatories - £? probably about £8 each. = £16
Total price - £66
Would take me on my own 2 hrs max wfp.
I know cuz I do one almost identical. It takes me just over an hour for £60
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Thanks Jm, when i say 80 windows thats frames i,m going on and there are 3 windows in each frame if you understand what i mean.
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ahh yes I see now - £1 a window (3 panes) then minimum. No I'd say at that then your quote was probably quite reasonable.
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Ronaldo,
Exactly the same thing happened to me last year (Cherry Tree Nursing Home - for the local lads).
I reckoned a fair price for the job was 80 quid, so I stuck a quote in for 60 quid.
It was an ideal job for us, since we pass it all the time and more than suitable for how Wor Lass and I work; therefore I thought a cheap quote would secure us a good job.
We didn't get it!
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Ronaldo i think your spot on mate I do one of a similar size and it takes about the same time too
And yes you guessed it its about the same money too
they also have insides done too for nearly double bubble
So I say spot on mate their loss , if it don't look good now then that's no testimonial to the current cleaner is it ?
Chris
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Tosh
Maybe they thought that your quote was a bit cheap and they were thinking you must cut corners to make a profit.
Paul
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Ron i know exactly what you mean, this keeps happening.
I charge a realistic price 60p a window or metre & 40p for insides upto max of quarterly & iam to dear regularly.
I PRICED A MASSIVE CONTRACT UP 2 YEARS A GO AT 40p & was told prices on some buildings equated to 25p & less. I put one in for 30p & got it, recently priced up more buildings & havent had a look in.
I dont do domestic, but recently set father-in-law up with a van, did some quotes with him £1 a window & got loads.
Just got ready to take on domestic & done knee going to be out for months, but i,ll get cards out still.
Gary
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Tosh
Maybe they thought thats a bit cheap he must cut corners to make a profit.
Paul
Paul,
I don't think so.
I've done a few other quotes for care homes; I didn't get them either. The last two care homes windows are still minging and it must be two-years since I quoted for them. They haven't been cleaned in years.
I think this is symptomatic of the 'care' our elderly folks get. They spend most of their day in these conservatory places, yet the owner won't even give 'em clean windows to look out of; or he'll make his Filipeno workers clean the bits that really need cleaning.
It's got little to do with 'caring' and more to do with business.
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I quoted for a care home last year, I was the last 1 to quote and the warden even showed me the other quotes. I quoted the lowest I could as it was an easy job and I came well within the lowest quote.
Still didnt get the job.
From what I know these care homes are giving out 3 year contracts so if you get it now then your ok for 3 years.
Steve
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I USED TO QUOTE FOR LOADS OF THEM DNT BOTHER NOW CAN MAKE AS MUCH DOIN domestic so why have the hassle. id also quote abt £75 for the care home u are pricing,i think 141 is expensive but that depends where u live,
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are you joking??? :o
for all that work you describe, i would want at the very,very minimum the price you quoted. :o
tony
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In my experience care homes are a waist of time in general as the owners don't care for their residents BUT do care a lot about their profits. I only clean 1 now for a decent price and don't wish to pick up any new ones. I use to have several but dropped them when I started re-pricing. Care/Nursing homes seem to change owners on a very regular basis.
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i do a couple of care/nursing homes for bupa,got a good price for doing them,they pay by bacs 2 weeks after the job is done,no problems whats so ever.
Malcolm
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i totaly understand withe u lot priced 330 schools an office blocks for tay side contracts an thought i put a realy good price in only to be told at the start of the week there that OCS won the contract an that i was 30 grand out the funny thing was that when i was going round pricing the buildings i talked to most of the care takers an they said that i was the only one that had been round to quote so i have wasted 6 days of solid pricing i am totally raging
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on your own 1 hour 15 min
£100 + vat
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Well I usually think in terms of about £1 a window and I count a two pane patio door as one window. If some of the work is more than one floor above ground I would probably think of those as £1.30 - £1.50. Mind you, on larger jobs I suppose there can be "economy of scale". Also there's no telling how big those conservatories are.
It's hard to be certain without being there and without any pictures but, assuming the conservatory roofs are not included and that the conservatories are of a pretty average size, I probably would have pitched the external window cleaning at somewhere around £110 for maintenance cleans. The first clean would have been a lot higher though. So would the price if they only wanted a very infrequent service.
It could well be that if I were to actually see the job, then I might be quoting a very different figure.
It may be that I'm still thinking too cheaply though. Either way, I still wouldn't have got the job and the guy(s) doing it for £71 either need their heads examined or they need to do a proper job on it.
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i hope i am not the only one but the £1.oo per window sucks
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on your own 1 hour 15 min
£100 + vat
This post sucks even more!
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the whole world sucks
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i hope i am not the only one but the £1.oo per window sucks
Why do you say that? It's not a hard and fast way of quoting - just a rule of thumb. You think I should pitch it higher then? I certainly won't be pitching any lower unless it's a very large job with "economy of scale" - and even then not necessarily so.
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shinner
one window £1.00
100 windows £100
i dont think so
jerry
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shinner
one window £1.00
100 windows £100
i dont think so
jerry
Too much? Too little?
See "economy of scale".
It might help if you express yourself more clearly before Billy Goat Gruff eats you up.
Yep. I think you must be trolling. I guessed around £110. You stated £100. Not so far apart really. If you're going to pick a hole in my quote you must also pick a hole in your own as they are pretty close.
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shiner
the £1.00 per window does not work ,when you first pull up at a jop and you look at the windows you already no wat you want from the job before you have even counted the £1.00 windows
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I,ve seen prices from £60.00 to £70.00 then £100.00 upwards if the windows are bog standard approx 1m sq my price would be £60.00 to £70.00.
This would take a 2 man team 11/4 to 1 1/2 hours max.
If they are georgian or sash this increases upto twice the value.
We do all commercial & in our area the midlands i am about middle for prices.
Somebody mentioned contracts above i,ve spent most of jan priceing contracts, 5 days on site visits then righting up quotes, one quote was 300 to 400 pages including our paperwork this was done for all.
To go after this work you have to work hard on priceing, but theres always somebody who will do them cheaper, maybe one of my competitors has read my priceing & knows theyve undercut us, but i wish them all luck.
1 in brum 99 properties. staffs 30+ properties, staffs 15 + properties & 1 with 10 properties. So good luck who gets them they know who they are maybe theyd let us know how they get on.
But if relevant companies get the work thats ok, but i know of companies in my area who price knowing that they will clean less 50% on every visit, i recently priced up one job & less than 10% had been cleaned, but how do you compete with that.
Think i,m getting sad stuck behind desk or what.
Gary
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shiner
the £1.00 per window does not work ,when you first pull up at a jop and you look at the windows you already no wat you want from the job before you have even counted the £1.00 windows
If you re-read my post you will see that I have used the terms "rule of thimb" and "economy of scale". Sometimes £1 a window (with a minimum charge) works well, sometimes it doesn't. However, whatever way you slice it, there was only £10 difference in our two guesstimates.
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We did two quotes recently, first for a Morrisons store, front windows inside and out £60, I was undercut by £35 !!
Second, factory with one end of the building totally glass on two floors, over 150 large panes around the rest of the building there were 52 single pane windows on ground and first floors. I quoted £200, they are currently getting it done for.........................wait for it.........................£28.00 !!!!!!!!!! Honestly, and the only reason they asked me to quote was were because they aren't happy with the current cleaners, but they thought our prices would be about the same, err, NO!!
Both jobs are being done by a large window cleaning company from Newcastle who run 30+ vans, how do they make any money at it?
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Nobody seems to have picked up the significance of the fact that the original post was concerning a quote made on a Nursing Home.
Nursing Homes are the worst possible customers to quote for. They charge a fortune but are fully intent on keeping it. You will never get a good price for cleaning a Nursing home. Just hope you never end up in some of them.
They just want a splash and dash outfit who pay their blokes cash in hand. If you are legit and do a good job you don't stand a chance.
We are going to see more threads like this in the future. thats my prediction for 2007
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Both jobs are being done by a large window cleaning company from Newcastle who run 30+ vans, how do they make any money at it?
i,ve seen companies like this operate, they will spend about 10 mins cleaning it then off. for 28 quid who,s going to complain?? so you see their logik now, 28 quid for 10 mins work. it's wrong i know but this is how it works i'm afraid. >:(
tony
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I posted a thread a couple of months ago about an outfit I saw working on an office block. Totally unprofessional in every way but they still get the work.
I repeat what I said before, we are going to hear more stories like this.