Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Captain Scarlet on October 13, 2007, 02:22:43 pm
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A cusomer phoned up the other day and we arranged to see the property, the woman was desperate to get a cleaner as this was a holiday home they were going to rent out. Anyway she broke the appointment and when my dad turned up to quote she was out, anyway he looked around the property and told me it would be around £110 ( builders clean ). I made another appointment for my dad to see her today at 1 o clock. She broke the appointment again but her husband was in. My dad told him the price and said it would £40 thereafter ( 20 easy windows ). Anyway the guy nearly dropped dead and said the previous cleaner where they lived charged £8 every week. My dad explained our running costs, insurance etc etc and explained that a window cleaner like that is uninsured and wouldnt be back the following year. My dad said that wfp is so good that it will only need cleaning every other month ( we clean loads of houses near his, and they take ages to get dirty ), but he wnated a weekly clean!!!!!! this guy is a doctor and even when my dad explained that £8 every week would work out more than £40 every other month he couldnt understand! anyway we are the only wc in his area so he will have to get his own ladders out!!!! Luke
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Anyway the guy nearly dropped dead and said the previous cleaner where they lived charged £8 every week.
What happened to their previous window cleaner then?
Andy
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they don't live where he cleans anymore so they dont have him! we are the only wc here s he has no luck in finding another! Luke
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Welcome to the world of commercial WC'in young Jedi :)
Weekly cleans like this one will always be competetive. Try shop work mate lol. 20 easy windows for £40 is far too expensive for commercial work especially weekly cleans. The previous guy was a bit on the cheap side though. I would say £12 to £15 every week for a job like that but only if it was very local to me.
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Welcome to the world of commercial WC'in young Jedi Smiley
Weekly cleans like this one will always be competetive. Try shop work mate lol. 20 easy windows for £40 is far too expensive for commercial work especially weekly cleans. The previous guy was a bit on the cheap side though. I would say £12 to £15 every week for a job like that but only if it was very local to me.
If work like this is that competitive (cheap) then it's not worth going for IMO.
Andy
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its a domestic job! and we always charge at least double the amount of winows to find the price on a domestic property sometimes triple ( depending on access, window size, where the job is etc etc ). What got on my dads nerves was they wasted our time so now we are going to be changing our leaflets to "from £2 per wondow" that way we will avoid time waster because they will be able to give their own estimate, Luke
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It is worth it Andy.
Think about it. I could probably do a place like that in 15 mins tops especially weekly. £12 x 4 is £48 per hour or even better 12 x £15 is £60 per hour mate. Like I said though it would have to be very local to me for obvious reasons. Another way to look at it is say 50 cleans at £12 is £600 a year. You have to look at the bigger picture mate :)
OMG Luke I was just about to post this and saw ur reply. Unless you live in cloud cuckoo land where ppl will just chuck money ur way you will price urself right out of the market and just coz the place is a holiday home doesn't make it a domestic job. It's a hiloday home for rent so it's a commercial job.
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Hi Luke
What you have to remember is,this guy is a doctor.
and Doctors do not get paid as good as us ;D ;D
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its a domestic job! and we always charge at least double the amount of winows to find the price on a domestic property sometimes triple ( depending on access, window size, where the job is etc etc ). What got on my dads nerves was they wasted our time so now we are going to be changing our leaflets to "from £2 per wondow" that way we will avoid time waster because they will be able to give their own estimate, Luke
I'd quote "per pane of glass" as windows can range from a single pane to 20 odd,.. and you'll either get custies not calling cause they thing you're expensive,.. or expecting you to clean massive 20 panel picture windows for £2 "cause it's only 1 window"!!!
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Anyway no need to worry people, our wc buisness is running very well!! My dad was annoyed because we very rarely loose a job like that especially with a doctor!!!!Luke
Nathanael, we live in a rural area so travelling to a job we wont get is very wasteful, we dont want to attract customers who cant afford us! Its also possible to say from £2 and show a picture on our leaflet of an average window
Brightclean, it isnt very local and we do all the stuff in his area every 2 months so we would be going out of our way to do it. He wouldnt believe even though we clean houses next to him, across the road that every 2 months is fine and would save him money instead of every week which we cant do anyway!
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its a domestic job! and we always charge at least double the amount of winows to find the price on a domestic property sometimes triple ( depending on access, window size, where the job is etc etc ). What got on my dads nerves was they wasted our time so now we are going to be changing our leaflets to "from £2 per wondow" that way we will avoid time waster because they will be able to give their own estimate, Luke
Luke if you put from £2 a window IMO you would be shooting yourself in the as= m8, put from 50p that could be a window 6inch by 6 inch, people that quote them self will payless not very often do they want to pay more but you do getthe odd one or two.
if you put £2 a window and that window had say 20 panes in it that is a very low price to charge, start with small amount and work up, whoever said about pricing yourself out of the market is right, I charge £10 for my own house and it has 15 windows I think
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we live in a rural area so travelling to a job we wont get is very wasteful, we dont want to attract customers who cant afford us! Its also possible to say from £2 and show a picture on our leaflet of an average window
Dont panick people, we havent done this yet, we are just thinking of it! We're not stupid we know our market very well, we even have a customer profile we aim at. We like customes who are prepared to pay that extra for a top notch service. We are the biggest wc comapny in our area ( there arent many!!! ) Luke
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its a domestic job! and we always charge at least double the amount of winows to find the price on a domestic property sometimes triple ( depending on access, window size, where the job is etc etc ). What got on my dads nerves was they wasted our time so now we are going to be changing our leaflets to "from £2 per wondow" that way we will avoid time waster because they will be able to give their own estimate, Luke
Bad idea my friend! Keep your price per window in your head and dont tell them unless speaking direct in person and you can sell it well.
DO NOT put it on your flyers as a selling point or any point, you WILL NOT get any business that way. You need to attract there attention not put there backs up straight away. Keep it real!
Your dad needs to learn to give a bit when negotiating otherwise its not negotiating its just being stubborn. Dont get me wrong im all for getting as much as you can get but you have to learn to give and take. You should have got that job but by making it a bit cheaper. You might be lucky and the doc might phone and say ok but i doubt it, what will prob happen is hell rather live with dirty windows than give in to your prices cos you probably annoyed him with your price and your attitude. Dont be surprised if someone else gets the job for the same price or even more expensive cos of finding someone further a field, but he wont want you!
But ive been known to be wrong believe it or not.
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Wish I'd never posted this now!!!! all information taken onboard! thanks for all your concerns and help, Luke
PLEASE NO MORE POST!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :'( :'( :'(
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Just 1 more Young jedi... u still have a lot to learn lol :)
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OH YES I DO!!! today I have learnt that I should never post on a forum again, although I probably will!!!!
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oh yeah
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Hi Luke you have asked me not to post so I wont- unless you want my opinion ?
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go ahead Jeff! it was just a suggestion of mine, not my dads, he is more intelligent than me so I will have to ask him his opinion!!!
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Quote - OH YES I DO!!! today I have learnt that I should never post on a forum again, although I probably will!!!!
Just keep asking questions :) but also expect answers you may not like.
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Thats true Jeff, it is my fault for putting it up, I cant expect anything else but a response!!!
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Luke...only you & your Dad truly know your businesses situation & your area & market. If you both dont want to commute to a weekly, too cheap clean, then dont. You have succeeded in building a good business.
Dont compromise yourselves if your earnings are good and your business name is solid.
Lizzy
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OH YES I DO!!! today I have learnt that I should never post on a forum again, although I probably will!!!!
you have a question ask ask it, you have to pick who you listen too on here, as some of the wallys on here dont want you to do well, they want you to earn what they do and stay the same as them as they have no outlook, there is no names mentioned on this so dont relpy saying la la laaar and getting on your high horse as will fall on deaf ears. I'm just stating a fact in life that some people dont like to see others do well, me myself I thrive on it it pushes me to do better for Family and myself ;D
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If you are the only window cleaners in your area charging £2 a window then I think it's time I relocate to your neck of the woods and start canvassing as I could make a killing where you are making £3000 a week. Seriously you try charging that where I live and you'd have no customers.
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If you are the only window cleaners in your area charging £2 a window then I think it's time I relocate to your neck of the woods and start canvassing as I could make a killing where you are making £3000 a week. Seriously you try charging that where I live and you'd have no customers.
where do you live Wayne Thomas?
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It is worth it Andy.
Think about it. I could probably do a place like that in 15 mins tops especially weekly. £12 x 4 is £48 per hour or even better 12 x £15 is £60 per hour mate. Like I said though it would have to be very local to me for obvious reasons. Another way to look at it is say 50 cleans at £12 is £600 a year. You have to look at the bigger picture mate Smiley
It wouldn't be worth it on my round as all of my customers are now every 8 weeks. It would wind me up having to do a weekly clean for so little money.
Andy
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It is worth it Andy.
Think about it. I could probably do a place like that in 15 mins tops especially weekly. £12 x 4 is £48 per hour or even better 12 x £15 is £60 per hour mate. Like I said though it would have to be very local to me for obvious reasons. Another way to look at it is say 50 cleans at £12 is £600 a year. You have to look at the bigger picture mate Smiley
It wouldn't be worth it on my round as all of my customers are now every 8 weeks. It would wind me up having to do a weekly clean for so little money.
Andy
why do you only do 8 weekly cleans????? I really need to know this as as of next week everyone is being done wfp
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I work on the South Coast of Devon.
I've got good prices for my commercial work and higher prices than trad window cleaners locally for residential work.
I manage to secure about one third of all new work I quote for, (I quote high) as my round is full so it's a case of drop cheaper work and replace with more expensive work. There are a lot of window cleaners where I work so there is a lot of competition hence I can't quote 'daft money' quotes as much as I'd like to. Half the quotes I'm asked to give I don't bother with now as I know I'm wasting my time because of the areas asked.
Despite suffering from arthritus I still manage to maintain my busy schedule most of the time and I am just as fast if not faster than most WFPolers in my area and use the lightest telescopic poles possible. Couldn't get on with the Supalight poles unfortunately!
I just feel jealous trying to fight the pain of arthritus everyday and reading how others can earn crazy money according to location. Oh well, it's a hard life for some, c'est la vie! Just hit a nerve today because I've been on a really bad flare up with my arthritus for the past 2 weeks and had to take 2 days off this week because the pain was unbearable.
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why do you only do 8 weekly cleans?Huh? I really need to know this as as of next week everyone is being done wfp
I did it to get away from the "not this month" brigade when I first started up... I just prefer it because I know that all my customers will want them doing every time I turn up.
Is took a long time to buld the round up like it, but its been worth it.
Andy