Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: williamx on September 22, 2007, 02:55:36 pm
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Would you charge less than another cleaner if you knew he was ripping his customers off by overcharging.
A lot of cleaners say that its not nice to target others cleaners work, but is it right that you know a cleaner is "mugging" his customers, because he know that nobody else will do them.
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If the customer approached me, i would give my price & leave it up the them.
Pricing is area dependent usually & is a complicated business. many aspects of a job determine the price. If you continuousley over-charge with your pricing then you have to bear in mind you are at greater risk from competition!
You are at greater risk of being undercut by not a monkey/bear money man but another proffesional w/c who offers just as good a service & who, himself is still earning a very good living. ;)
tony
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We charge £1 a window. If the customer is happy with that we go ahead and do thier windows. If they try to knock down the price quoting the current w/c prices, we just say "£1 a window take it or leave it!" 8)
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Tony, If I tell you some of my prices, will you undercut me? Please ;D ;D BTW got swivels sorted. Thanks for that. All ready to go on Monday. Sadly I've got a BBQ to go to soon. I'll have to drink beer and eat food ;) ;)
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if another wc is say charging 2x what i charge i dont think they are ripping off that customer .that is just what thier charge is
in the same way wc charge 5 a house round my area but my min is 10 does that make me a rip off .
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The customer has the option to say no, if they think its to expensive they will say no
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i was asked to quote a domestic , it was £10 a month 10 windows wow she said her last w/c charged £7 every 2 weeks ..... so yes i have charged less then the other w/c
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I would not allways beleive what a customer told me , if her last window cleaner charged x amount why has he stopped cleaning her windows
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I would not allways beleive what a customer told me , if her last window cleaner charged x amount why has he stopped cleaning her windows
exactly
i get this all the time, for example i say £20 they say "well my last cleaner charged £15" and my reply is..."where is he now?"
usually works, at the end of the day, theyve asked you, not you have taken over his round...
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my price is my price. i quoted 8 quid once for a little 2 bed town house. i think this is a good price as it takes no time to do. the customer said yes and asked me to knock at the neighbours.
she explained that they where being charged 15 quid, now thats far to much i had 6 in a row and it took me half an hour.
so does that make me an undercuting cowboy or someone who charges a fair price for a job who knows
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I make a point of not asking what the last cleaner charged,... if I get the job at my price, I'm a happy man,.. but I'd never drop my price to try and match the other guy.
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my price is my price. i quoted 8 quid once for a little 2 bed town house. i think this is a good price as it takes no time to do. the customer said yes and asked me to knock at the neighbours.
she explained that they where being charged 15 quid, now thats far to much i had 6 in a row and it took me half an hour.
so does that make me an undercuting cowboy or someone who charges a fair price for a job who knows
are you pricing for the job or what your happy with doing the job for???
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If I'm asked, I quote. If they like they bite. That way if it causes a problem with a previous w/cleaner and they come after me I just tell them to take it up with the custy as they must have had a reason for wanting to change. More often than not I've charged more anyway so they must have had a good reason to want to change.
I would never deliberately undercut someone else's prices just to get the work. Why bother when there's plenty of people out there who appreciate a good service for a decent price.
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I make a point of not asking what the last cleaner charged,... if I get the job at my price, I'm a happy man,.. but I'd never drop my price to try and match the other guy.
What would you do if you were tendering for a large contract say £50.000 per year, you knew that their previous cleaner was charging £10.50 per house and if you charged £10.00 you would get the contract.
Do you still quote £10.50 or more? and lose the contract or do you charge £10.00 and laugh all the way to the bank.
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Large contracts are different,... but even then I prefer not to know. What I don't know won't hurt me! ;D
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I went to quote a block of flats. I phoned there office with my price and they told me that there regular window cleaner had quoted £10 less than me , The job was for £125 , he had quoted £115 , if I had said that I would do it for £110 , they could of gone to the other window cleaner and told him what I had quoted hoping that he would quote lower again . So I told them I did not want to get into a price auction and to let the other window cleaner do it
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Tony, If I tell you some of my prices, will you undercut me? Please ;D ;D BTW got swivels sorted. Thanks for that. All ready to go on Monday. Sadly I've got a BBQ to go to soon. I'll have to drink beer and eat food ;) ;)
Absolutley not feenster, if asked to give a quote i would quote my price. I don't care what the last w/c charged, i know of many jobs i've quoted where the last w/c's been sacked & my price has been higher & many still take it. if they give it "the last bloke only charged xx amount" i stick with my price & it's up to them. Personaly, i can't think of a job where i've ever known the last w/c's charge & mine has been lower!
tony
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Why do you say he is ripping off customers just because he is more expensive than you? that is total nonsense, he dosn't force them to pay that price, they have obviously agreed to it and if they don't like it they can always say no.
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I went to quote a block of flats. I phoned there office with my price and they told me that there regular window cleaner had quoted £10 less than me , The job was for £125 , he had quoted £115 , if I had said that I would do it for £110 , they could of gone to the other window cleaner and told him what I had quoted hoping that he would quote lower again . So I told them I did not want to get into a price auction and to let the other window cleaner do it
Good on you John
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I know that some of these franchise outfits charge £35 to clean a 3 bed semi. If I saw one of their vans working in "my" area I would be round that house like a shot as soon as the van had gone. And I would not have any concience about stealing their customer.
Business is business, when you want van insurance you ring around and get a few quotes, same if you are looking for flights or getting some building work done. Why should window cleaning be any different?
If you genuinely believe you can do the job for less then its yours. What we all object to is the benefit fraudster who is just looking for beer money.
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Well said Vince, The supermarkets never boast about being the most expensive do they?
Say an Hotel was paying £250 for having their windows cleaned, you know that it can be done in a day. Do you undercut? If you have any business sense, of course you do. I would do the job for £200.
I owe no loyalty whatsoever to any other window cleaner, he is my competitor.
I will help anyone that needs my advice, But as Vince says, business is business.
We cry foul! if the supermarkets get together to fix prices, anti competition laws are quite strict.
Would I undercut a fellow cleaner? bloody right I would if I could make a good day's pay out of it. Far too much sentiment on here. Business is business and if you can't stand the heat, the kitchen's not the place for you. Dai