Clean It Up

UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Bazzy1999 on May 07, 2007, 08:23:25 pm

Title: Help With Price
Post by: Bazzy1999 on May 07, 2007, 08:23:25 pm
This will be my first builders clean so need a bit of help with price..
The frames are perfect and theres no cement on the glass just a bit of silicone.
Sorry about the small pics but thats all ive got and there is 2 more windows and a french door you cant see.
Price for inside and outside clean..

Bazz...
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: macmac on May 07, 2007, 08:39:46 pm
120 quid, you will have to look closely with ladders to make sure how good the glass realy is. in my experience with builders cleans the glass is always worse than you may think, most marks only show up once you clean the glass.
tony
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: jeff1 on May 07, 2007, 08:47:17 pm
Bazz
It might look easy from the ground, but like Tony said, its when you start to clean it, it becomes a b**ch of a Job.

Silicon as you may know is also a b**ch to get off, so I use silicon remover that I buy from screwfix.

My price for that Job is around the same price £130-£150
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Bazzy1999 on May 07, 2007, 08:49:11 pm
Tony i did look very close to the glass in and out and its not that bad, no paint, no cement and no plaster over the glass or frames just a bit of silicone here and there.
I will be doing it by ladders by the way coz i need to scrap the silicone off.
£120 sounds alot to me.

Bazz..
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Bazzy1999 on May 07, 2007, 08:50:35 pm
I found it easy to scrap off... i did try abit while i was there and it came off easy
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Chris Cottrell on May 07, 2007, 08:53:05 pm
Bazz to be honest £120 to me doesnt sound like enough at all they are without a doubt jobs from hell even when you think they are a good un
Dont go in cheap you may just regret it

Chris
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: jeff1 on May 07, 2007, 08:54:11 pm
Some times, it is easy, but if you get some thats not set perfect, it spreads acoss the window and becomes that b**ch I was telling you about.

It could take you the best part of the day to do that Job.
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Bazzy1999 on May 07, 2007, 09:02:25 pm
Jeff.. Most of the windows are clean its only on about 30% of them its got it on and then its only in the some corners of the glass.
They gave me the keys to the house to have a good look and i spent 30 mins having a good close look and i think i should get it done in around 3 hours in and out.

Bazz...
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Bazzy1999 on May 07, 2007, 09:26:24 pm
I should mention the builder who built this place has 3 to 4 on the go at any one time and said i will get all there builders cleans and he said he will leave my card in one of the kitchen draws for the new owners.
I know the builder coz i clean his own house every 4 weeks so thats how i got to get the job (if the price is right)  ;D

Bazz...
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: SherwoodCleaningSe on May 07, 2007, 09:40:38 pm
£70-75 not including the V lux windows, it'll take 60-90 mins.  But maybe I'm cheap

Simon
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Bazzy1999 on May 07, 2007, 09:44:55 pm
Simon.. Thats the price i was thinking about, but like you said maybe im to cheap..

Bazz...
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: jeff1 on May 07, 2007, 09:53:55 pm
Bazz
I hope they are as clean as you say, don't forget one of those back windows has eight paines of glass to clean? four out side and four inside, I had 20 of this type of window to do and charged them £150 and got it.
But it did take me most of the day.

Good luck and don't under price like I did on my first builders clean, I way, way under priced my first one.

Let us know how you got on.
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: tacky on May 07, 2007, 09:57:41 pm
good 1 to 2 hrs work 70 easy especaly if u have the other houses . dont rip ur self off .if they can buy these houses .they can afford u . u have bills to pay etc . but look out for the cowboys .theyll do this job for 25 to 30
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: NWH on May 07, 2007, 09:58:47 pm
£200 min first clean and from then on inside and outside £150 min.I don`t know where you live but i would easily get that in my area,no problem.
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: NWH on May 07, 2007, 10:00:26 pm
The first clean on that house would take you longer than 2 hours,paint lables etc.
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Pat Purcell on May 07, 2007, 10:10:33 pm
The glass wall is probably toughened glass so be careful where you put your scarper and how you use it
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: macmac on May 07, 2007, 10:41:26 pm
considering the circumstances then baz, providing you're confident on the state of the glass, you could say, charge your hourly rate + 25% just to make sure you get em perfect. :)
I see your point of going in with a silly price and risking not getting any further business from this guy. just be sensible & charge what you feel would be right, but bear in mind that any future builders clean may not be as easy as this one.


tony
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Cleaner Windows on May 07, 2007, 10:56:20 pm
£150 I reckon, to be safe.
Denis
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Mr. S on May 07, 2007, 11:34:41 pm
£175
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: GAZZA B on May 08, 2007, 12:43:12 am
Bazz,

Go with what you feel happy with yourself, you have had a good look and you will get more work with him in the end, I would go £89 it's up to you in the end. happy cleaning!

Gazza,
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: East coast window cleaning Services on May 08, 2007, 04:23:40 pm
Id say £130 i could get that done in 3 hours 2 men
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: East coast window cleaning Services on May 08, 2007, 04:25:34 pm
£200 min first clean and from then on inside and outside £150 min.I don`t know where you live but i would easily get that in my area,no problem.

lmao you must be loaded fella

No Builder in the worlds gonna pay that even if they were covered in concrete
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: NWH on May 08, 2007, 04:41:11 pm
It`s not just a case of soaping em up and blading it off is it,you could price that up as 3-4 houses cos in the end i`ll bet your gonna clean em 3-4 times to get em clean.Make sure your not just cleaning em up for the regular wc to earn the easy money,i would also want the job from then onwards otherwise i wouldn`t entertain the idea of cleaning them in he first place.
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Moderator David@stives on May 08, 2007, 05:30:23 pm
£120 is way too cheap.

Adecent price for a builders clean is £280 - £320 , just ask anybody who actually does them.

Dave
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: NWH on May 08, 2007, 05:43:31 pm
I got some stick at the price i said but if i`m honest i agree with you,if you have plenty of work why get involved with jobs like these, there a nightmare at the best of times so when they do come up from time to time and there taken on they have to be worth while.
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: gary evans on May 08, 2007, 06:29:55 pm
I,D SAY £120 to £150 we do a lot of build cleans commercial & houses, if it is as good as they say, approx house value is £25.00 to £30.00 so anything around £100.00 is what he,d be expecting, much above you,ll have no chance.

gary
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: NWH on May 08, 2007, 06:35:26 pm
By charging that amount builders would have you doing them allday long where i live.
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: xxmattyxx on May 08, 2007, 06:58:24 pm
£130.00 +
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Bazzy1999 on May 08, 2007, 07:03:21 pm
Just to let you all know there are no stickers or cement on the frames or the glass anywhere inside or outside just the odd window here and there with a blob of silicone in one corner and it scraps off very easy.
Anyway ive quoted £90 as i cant see it taking any longer than 2 1/2 to 3 hours, not heard back from him yet.

Bazz...
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Moderator David@stives on May 08, 2007, 07:29:55 pm
Listen Guys

A Professional price for a builders clean is approx £280 on a 3 bed -semi.

The prices most of you are quoting are way below the industry standard for this type of work.

Building firms expect to pay that sort of price.

Dave
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: gary evans on May 08, 2007, 07:37:01 pm
Dave are you quoting prices for windows or complete cleans i.e. all internal cleaning. The prices you state are the going rate for for whole house cleans i.e. build re-clean & sparkle if thats the price down there i think i,ll stay when i come down on hols in july

Gary.
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Moderator David@stives on May 08, 2007, 09:41:53 pm
Gary

I know of 1/2 a dozen guys who are charging those prices just on windows, theres a guy on here Julian or Justin who might comment as that is what he is concentrating on , maybe he will comment.

Dave
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Clive McDonald on May 08, 2007, 09:52:16 pm
What would a regular clean price be on it. I think I would quote £30. Am I wrong?
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Jason Atwell on May 08, 2007, 10:17:27 pm
Listen Guys

A Professional price for a builders clean is approx £280 on a 3 bed -semi.

The prices most of you are quoting are way below the industry standard for this type of work.

Building firms expect to pay that sort of price.

Dave

dave what exactly is 'A professional price'???????

as opposed to 'An unprofessional price'?????

Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: macmac on May 08, 2007, 11:38:22 pm
Listen Guys

A Professional price for a builders clean is approx £280 on a 3 bed -semi.

The prices most of you are quoting are way below the industry standard for this type of work.

Building firms expect to pay that sort of price.

Dave

Always makes me smile when i see the term "Industry Standard" bantered about.
Dave, can you explain how you come to know the "Industry Standard"?
Who regulates it?
Who does the statistics on it?
Who standardizes it?
What is their web address?
Are you realy just making it up :-[?



tony
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Moderator David@stives on May 09, 2007, 12:20:40 am
Sorry guys i will bow out of this one.

I just know what the average guy who concentrates on this type of work is earning, wether that makes them a pro in there field, i reckon so.

Before you try to belittle me, Do you concentrate on builders cleans or not ?

All i am trying to do is help.

Dave

Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: jeff1 on May 09, 2007, 12:29:43 am
Sorry guys i will bow out of this one.

I just know what the average guy who concentrates on this type of work is earning, wether that makes them a pro in there field, i reckon so.

Before you try to belittle me, Do you concentrate on builders cleans or not ?

All i am trying to do is help.

Dave


Your right with one thing Dave, if you concentrate on this type of work, then you will learn to ask for the much higher price.
When I did my very first, 'first clean'  I way way underpriced it, and learnt a very valuable lesson.

I never price for a  first clean anymore for less than a days pay, even if it were to take me a couple of hours, and one of the reasons for this, is the hard work involved, with most of them as they a really never straight forward as they seem.
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Pat Purcell on May 09, 2007, 02:13:57 am



Quote


I never price for a  first clean anymore for less than a days pay, even if it were to take me a couple of hours, and one of the reasons for this, is the hard work involved, with most of them as they a really never straight forward as they seem.
Quote
I couldn't agree more with the above statement, Theres nothing easy about builders cleans, its almost a trade unto itself

Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: gary evans on May 09, 2007, 06:22:35 am
Dave

My reply was not a belittling one, i feel others were to strong in there reponse when you was only trying to help another w/c.

Others will hopefully respond julian or  pdl as this there field mainly, but we do some work regular one site every week some twice per month, so small compared to some on here. But your facts on the work are right & it can be hard to earn the money. It is only an add on to our w/c like previously grounds maintenance / landscaping / highlevel cleans etc. All these weve done as an add on to increase turnover. But if you had enough turnover on just windows i know where i,d stay & it wold be much easier.

Gary
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: East coast window cleaning Services on May 09, 2007, 01:15:42 pm
Listen Guys

A Professional price for a builders clean is approx £280 on a 3 bed -semi.

The prices most of you are quoting are way below the industry standard for this type of work.

Building firms expect to pay that sort of price.

Dave

I Do Biulders cleans for laings homes and wimpey in North londons Herts Area if we quoted that they would send us packing. if your doing them for them prices you got any work?????????????  :D
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Moderator David@stives on May 09, 2007, 02:13:27 pm
P&R

How long does it take you to do a builders clean on a 3 bed semi ?
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: NWH on May 09, 2007, 02:24:54 pm
What would you include in your builders clean Dave ie,are we talking frames and glass cos if you are i think your price is pretty close.
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Jason Atwell on May 09, 2007, 04:47:39 pm
Sorry guys i will bow out of this one.

I just know what the average guy who concentrates on this type of work is earning, wether that makes them a pro in there field, i reckon so.

Before you try to belittle me, Do you concentrate on builders cleans or not ?

All i am trying to do is help.

Dave



So the average guy is on £280 per 3 bed semi, for a builders clean, we are talking windows and frames arent we, and not the entire house?

You said a professional price, and i still dont understand what this means? Are you saying if you do not only concentrate on the builders cleans, then you are not a pro, at the end of the day its still window cleaning, and everyones price will differ, but i think the only people being belittled is the person paying £280 for a three bed semi! (allegedly)
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: East coast window cleaning Services on May 09, 2007, 05:08:04 pm
P&R

How long does it take you to do a builders clean on a 3 bed semi ?

Even the worst one with concrete and needing de taping that would also include frames and glass, would take me Max 4 hours £130.
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: gary evans on May 09, 2007, 05:12:38 pm
I think this should be opened up to others who do more of this, for a complete clean i.e. windows int/ext & frames & rebates, all woodwork, kitchen & bathrooms, all light fittings etc only pays around £300 thats for all 3 cleans.

There is more money to be made doing windows regularly.

gary
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Moderator David@stives on May 09, 2007, 06:15:54 pm
This is the last i am going to say on this as some people just want to have a dig at my terminoligy etc, perhaps professional might have been the wrong word as it has clearly offended some people.

Dave
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Bazzy1999 on May 24, 2007, 09:28:57 pm
Just to let you all know i done the job today for £90........

Sod it never again  :'( took me all day..
There were loads of black paint speckles on every window which i didnt see when i was quoting.
So all you guys out there with your so called silly prices... your not so silly i should of listened so im putting it down to experience.  ::)

Bazz…
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Moderator David@stives on May 25, 2007, 08:53:33 am
Bazz

Did you get them ALL spotless, or did you leave the odd mark.

Dave
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Bazzy1999 on May 25, 2007, 07:59:20 pm
Dave i left them all spotless...

Bazz...
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: gary evans on May 25, 2007, 10:21:54 pm
Like i said previously you,d be a lot better off doing windows.

I can do a small 4 bed detached in 4 hours taking it to sparkle, but we have 3 cleans to achieve that, for handover.

It is not the best work & you dont always get a good price. But as add on to existing work, £90 extra on a quite or rainy day is a bonus.

Gary
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Bazzy1999 on May 28, 2007, 09:06:23 pm
Like i said previously you,d be a lot better off doing windows.

I can do a small 4 bed detached in 4 hours taking it to sparkle, but we have 3 cleans to achieve that, for handover.

It is not the best work & you dont always get a good price. But as add on to existing work, £90 extra on a quite or rainy day is a bonus.

Gary

Sorry Gary i missed your post...
That was my first and last builders clean im going to stick to just window cleaning (regular)

Bazz...


Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: gary evans on May 28, 2007, 09:12:25 pm
Bazz

I would to, they can be demoralizing, i,m looking to expand window side more. We are doing less build at the moment.

There,s a lot of work out there.

Gary
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Bazzy1999 on May 28, 2007, 09:23:17 pm
I was ok to start off with but half way through the day i felt like sodding off and leaving it but I carried on and finished the job.
I worked on my own and there was no one around for half a mile so it was a lonely hot day all by myself. :'(
Never again……

Bazz…
Title: Re: Help With Price
Post by: Ian_Giles on May 29, 2007, 06:13:06 am
I used to do an awful lot of builders cleans, and as we all know they are darned hard work.
Providing they are not georgian or leaded style windows, if you allow a minimum of 3 times the normal price you should be in the right area.
Rather than saying a particular price that is.
Every area varies in the sort of price you can charge, for some the average semi is £15.00 and above, for others it is more like £5.00.

For me, that house looks like a place I would charge somewhere around £20-£25.00 for.
So that would be somewhere around £50 for an inside and out clean.

Therefore my own price would be 3 times that for an initial clean - £150 or thereabouts.

There is also a skill all of its own to doing initial cleans, I'll warrant that although it took you all day, it would only have taken me around 3 hours tops.

Using the correct 4" razor scraper, such as the Unger stainless steel one for instance and having it clipped into a squeegee handle makes a huge difference to the time it takes to knife off a window, you can also use an extension pole too, easy to pop the squeegee handle onto a pole of course.

That house isn't your standard semi of course, one of those is only going to have  around 12 windows, so you should be able to initial clean one in a couple of hours easily, if you are doing a lot of them you will also be very adept at it, the speed you will do them in will be corrospondingly quicker and as a result your price will also be sharper and more competitive.

Time I got to work!

Ian