Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: danny mckim on November 09, 2007, 10:04:47 pm
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For a 3 bedroom semi we charge £4.50 per fortnight. Takes 10 mins. Most guys on here are charging at least double that every 6 weeks. Do you think its more because of the area or because it s 6 weekly and would they charge less if it was fortnightly?
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I do 6 wkly and I'd want what I charge for each visit .. it doesnt get cheaper the more you have it done , it just means I use 3x as much fuel to get there than normal
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For a 3 bedroom semi we charge £4.50 per fortnight. Takes 10 mins. Most guys on here are charging at least double that every 6 weeks. Do you think its more because of the area or because it s 6 weekly and would they charge less if it was fortnightly?
i charge 7/8 pound for a 3 bed semi and i would charge that if it was 2 weekly monthly or 2 monthly any longer i would increase it. when i did trad i would double the price if they wanted frames done. i dont think it differs with areas cos my area most wcs charge the same as you do. its down to you as a wc and a business man. you charge what you want and dont feel like your too expensive. But it also depends on your local competition. where i live window cleaners are crap and so irregular which i suppose i am grateful for cos they all come to me even though im double the price. its great for business.
So if any of you are thinking of moving up to anglesey ill blow up the bridge!
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For a 3 bedroom semi we charge £4.50 per fortnight. Takes 10 mins. Most guys on here are charging at least double that every 6 weeks. Do you think its more because of the area or because it s 6 weekly and would they charge less if it was fortnightly?
i charge 7/8 pound for a 3 bed semi and i would charge that if it was 2 weekly monthly or 2 monthly any longer i would increase it. when i did trad i would double the price if they wanted frames done. i dont think it differs with areas cos my area most wcs charge the same as you do. its down to you as a wc and a business man. you charge what you want and dont feel like your too expensive. But it also depends on your local competition. where i live window cleaners are crap and so irregular which i suppose i am grateful for cos they all come to me even though im double the price. its great for business.
So if any of you are thinking of moving up to anglesey ill blow up the bridge!
my business may be there in a couple of months, ;)
For a 3 bedroom semi we charge £4.50 per fortnight. Takes 10 mins. Most guys on here are charging at least double that every 6 weeks. Do you think its more because of the area or because it s 6 weekly and would they charge less if it was fortnightly?
We always price per job, if it is 4 weeks it is one price 8 goes up, any less often unless it is commercial work it would be a fixed one-off price, if they then become a reg at 3 months it may dip a little but only after the first 2 cleans.
you have to remember the longer you leave windows to get dirty the more dirt will be there which means an increase of time to clean, people that charge the same for longer periods of cleaning like to work harder for less money IMO and that is not smart busniess sence..
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For a 3 bedroom semi we charge £4.50 per fortnight. Takes 10 mins. Most guys on here are charging at least double that every 6 weeks. Do you think its more because of the area or because it s 6 weekly and would they charge less if it was fortnightly?
I can't speak for others but I've never done 2 weekly. I've done monthly but now do 6 weekly. I only go up to 12 weekly usually and even then I will only do that for £50+ jobs. My price doesn't start rising until it's less frequent than 12 weeks because I then take the view that it's a first clean each time. I've only ever done that for much larger jobs though.
I've got a minimum of £10 for new work but that may be regional. I see you're in Scotland so that possibly explains your rates as I understand W/Cing is generally cheaper up there.
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ive been asked by 2 on my estate to do them inbetween my 6 - 8 weekly turn around
i allmost drive past the houses on my way home, i explained if they are happy with me doing them on my way home inbetween cleans then thats ok, i explained it could be dark in the winter
they were both happy with that
still the same price though
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three bedsemi £4.50????????????????
£10 min charge
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Most of my work is 4 Weekly. I have a little three weekly work and a little eight weekly.
I recently had a lady move onto my round that had been paying £12 per week for a three bed semi. (£48 a month)
She was quite relieved when I told her that I work on a four week basis.
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Most of my work is 4 Weekly. I have a little three weekly work and a little eight weekly.
I recently had a lady move onto my round that had been paying £12 per week for a three bed semi. (£48 a month)
She was quite relieved when I told her that I work on a four week basis.
She had her windows cleaned weekly? What was her name...Hyacinth Bucket?
Blimey some people need to get a life.
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Hi,
Don't forget that a 3 bed semi can alter in size throughout the country, council 3 bed semis are a lot smaller then private also.
Perhaps someone could post a photo for a starting point for a 3 bed semi?
Kevin WINDOLENE.
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For me a 3 bed semi is:
3 bedroom windows
1 bathroom window
2 lounge windows or 1 bay
1 kitchen
1 back door
and perhaps a small downstairs bog window
20-25 mins work...£15
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I would originally say area, but in one area I work I could not charge the price that others were doing. My selling tool was the licence and insurance etc.. which worked a treat, people were then prepared to pay double.
How folk can run a business on low prices begs belief, just look at the price of petrol in the last few years. Price of food, house prices etc... and we still want to stick with prices that are 10 yrs out of date.
House like 3 bed det I would say £8.00 min.
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£4.50...madness
as said, i wouldnt do it cheaper cause they have it done more reguraly. certainly charge more for less regular. the price is my price and thats that. should be £10.
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I have to agree with you DAS. Apart from cheaper house prices...thus lower mortgages things outside of London cost roughly the same...ie:
20 ciggies = £5ish
Ltr petrol = £1ish
Gas, leccy, water, phone etc = national average
Groceries: A tin of baked beans in Asda Putney will cost the same as in Derby.
Council tax?....Dunno but here we pay £1200pa (Putney) and get our bins emptied weekly!
I don't think things away from the SE are cheaper...yes/no?
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Prices become established by what the window cleaners are prepared to accept not what the customers want to pay. At the end of the day the choice is with us but if you are the only one in town charging £10 when all the others are charging £4 you have a struggle but you will still get your £10.
I charge £12-14 for an average semi and I know of outfits that charge double that round here. Also there are people charging £4.
I picked up a new customer this week, detatched house but small windows who had been cleaned in the summer buy two guys with a WFP van mount system for £8. They cleaned her 3 times then vanished. ( no surprise there ). I got her for £14 but had to push the time back to 8 weeks.
If you go in at the higher price you will still get customers accepting your price but just not so many. Extending the time is a good sweetener.
Don't sell yourself too cheaply. A couple of years ago our central heating boiler packed up. A phone call to a heating engineer resulted in him calling round that day on his way home. It was only the thermocouple which he changed in about 10 minutes but he still charged us £90 for an emergency callout. To be honest we were glad to pay it. Its all about perception.
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Prices become established by what the window cleaners are prepared to accept not what the customers want to pay. At the end of the day the choice is with us but if you are the only one in town charging £10 when all the others are charging £4 you have a struggle but you will still get your £10.
I got her for £14 but had to push the time back to 8 weeks.
If you go in at the higher price you will still get customers accepting your price but just not so many. Extending the time is a good sweetener.
Don't sell yourself too cheaply. Its all about perception.
Good post Vince..... the perception in the customers mind is what counts above everything else.
However the customers perception of you your business and your service IS VERY STRONGLY INFLUENCED BY YOUR OWN PERCEPTION OF YOURSELF.
There are many ways in which you can positively increase customers perception of your business and its value. But if you dont value yourself and the service you offer you're on a hiding to nothihg and will never maximise the earnings potential of your business.
Mark
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I charge about the same prices as Danny and come from the same area to in one housing estate i do about 180 3 bed terraced houses i charge £4 a house do about 40-45 a day so iam still gauranteed over £700 a fortnight from the one estate people round here will not pay £8+ a fortnight for there windows to be cleaned.Another thing i dont do monthly just fortnightly and i fly round them at the end of the day its what you make at the end of the week that matters.
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How do find collecting Darren? Its a nightmare for me
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Collecting? Not for me! SAE through the letterbox, give a week or so for the cheque/cash to come through.
If it doesn't, phone and give 1 reminder. If it still doesn't arrive swallow the loss and move on.
I find 99% do send.
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baffles me why people clean windows every 2 weeks, I clean every 4 and 95% are near enough clean, I just maintain them to stay that way. from what I read some are doing twice as much work for the same if not less money.
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Danny collecting is the worst part of the job thats why i dont take on any more houses unless there local.All my customers are happy fortnightly even if i changed it to monthly they still wouldnt pay anything like £8 the way it is just now everybodys happy.
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It also depends what service you offer as well, I know window cleaners who just blade and do not detail so they fly around their work. So as a customer they would begrudge paying a high price for that service as they see the time that is spent.
Then there are ones that detail, wipe the sills and sometimes the frames. This takes time do that so charging a low rate would not be business like.
The thing is we have to ask why will people not pay that amount of money, I find they will if you sell yourself as a business you will get those prices in any area. They will pay for that if they know you are a reputable person and conduct yourself in the right way.
Try this method the next time you are asked to quote, for example 3 bed house you normally charge £4. Say to them you have a min price of £7.00 because you are a business and you spend £300 + on insurance, licenses etc.. before you even start. If they reply back that is way too expensive , just be polite and walk away. 8/10 I have experienced that they call you back as you walk down the path.
You will soon find that as long as you offer a good service they will stick with you and then in the long run you will have all these new customers which are good earners. Then you will soon realise that there is good money to be made out there.
There is a big fear factor that you cannot charge prices like that because you will be undercut by joe bloggs, fine , but why would you want to clean someones windows that does not recognise what a good service you provide. I wouldn't, I prefer customers that respect you as an individual and the good job you do, I pick my customers now, not them picking me.
Give it a go as others have done this and now are beginning to realise what is the point of working your pants of for so little money when you can earn the same at high prices and take life easier.
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Danny collecting is the worst part of the job thats why i dont take on any more houses unless there local.All my customers are happy fortnightly even if i changed it to monthly they still wouldnt pay anything like £8 the way it is just now everybodys happy.
Darren, when I started window cleaning every other that I new charged from £3 to £5 and I charged £8 that was 8 years ago. You have the mind set of this IMO, jusy gibe it a try charge £8 just a couple of times. Then again you have to offer a better service than the £4 windows cleaners something I have always done and always will, if you dont this is why it is only £4. Please dont take that as an insult was not meant that way ok. just as I said baffled to 2 week cleans for so little money, I know areas do have a little bit in the price structure, but times change, and I lived up north where window cleaners were charging £3 and got houses the same at £10 so I know it can be done.
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When we clean the windows we detail and wipe the sills dont touch the frames.We also do some big houses with wfp we use a trolley system some of them £25+ per month.On the housing estate iam talking about its all ex council but still a good estate i was born there so i no everybody maybe i could charge a bit more but with 2 of us doing it we do it in 2 and half days i pay my mate £60 a shift and i clear £600 for 2 and a half days work a fortnight still not to bad money also meant to say we get a lot of good tips maybe thats because we are to cheap who knows.
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Maybe the problem is when i first started on the newbuilds about 13 years ago the price was £3.00. Having now managed to get them to £4.50 i feel im doing ok. Now when we pick up new houses we are pricing them about £6/£7. Also as Darren says we now know most of these customers well and putting them up to £6 or £7 would be unfair. We dont have a minimum price we have a target for each day and as long as we beat that we are delighted.
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Im also from the same area as danny i think area has alot to do with it., when your prices are low and you have been doing them for a while its hard to get them up even a pound ,but if you have enough work you can afford to loose some custys if they are not happy with an increase if you are the only window cleaner in the estate then i would bump them up ,harder if someone else cleans in the estate you wfp yet danny?
An easy way to increase your hourly rate is to convert to wfp ,working on my own its incresed my earnings from £5 -10 per hour sometines more on large houses.
so you could be doing an exta £150 a week based on a 6 hr day 5 days a week
either fill the time you save with more work or enjoy the time saved doing something you enjoy.
I have been lucky to sell some work recently ( houses at 4,50 ) and replace with larger houses £15 - £60
i only collect 2 days a month as anyone not in sends a cheque.
I hated collecting too but as its only 2 days a month now its not so bad,
If i happened to do £4.50 houses id set up direct debit or just collect the two weeklys evey 4 weeks instead.
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Hows it going mate. Ive got a wfp system but prefer to use my backpack Too much hassle with all the hose, leaving the van open etc. The only thing annoying about the backpack is filling it. Do you do all your work wfp? I still do alot inc shops trad. I know i should change completely but as you know it takes a bit of time. Dont know if youve noticed but there seems to be windowcleaners appearing round about us all the time, Its a bit of a pain when they canvass your work and maybe pick up 1 or 2 that you dont do
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Yea im good , yea im doing all wfp tops and bottoms , started with the back pack but like you say filling was a pain so i got a 1000l tank lasts all day the hose can be a pain but easier than the back pack i find, suppose it depends on what everyones work is like weather a back pack is easier or tank is.
My brother is using the back pack and trad bottoms , hes getting on fine with it.