Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Alex Wingrove on May 24, 2008, 12:32:56 am
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Anyways, got a call on thursday, "we live so and so, can you come and give a quote."
now i knew the area so i knew it must be a large house, and it was, so i was pleased, when i met the bloke he showed me round told me what he wanted and then i went off counting,
So for the outside, i made it to be £80, i thought if it take me 2 hours i will be happy, i didnt want to rush it,
anyways, he wants the insides done every other time, so in total it would be £200,
but then i get a funny feeling he wants to roof of the large con done each time, so before i put my price in i take a note that it would be £60 each time, so total for outside with that is £140 every 6 weeks, i didnt think anything of it, i thought it was reasonable.
So i explain how much etc, and yes he wants to outside of the con done every time and the inside on the con and the whole house inside every other, so it total it comes to 140 + 210 = £350 a price that reflected the size of the house, and the difficulty of the work.
So he says, "ill tell you know, your way off, last bloke used to charge £85 for the whole lot, and he was here all day, etc etc just thought id let you know so you can alter your price,"
then he tells me he is in estimation and he can get a surveyor for that price, so i said, "thats my price"
this is the first job i felt like i overpriced it, but i hadn't. it was the most underpriced worst price house EVER, the price hadn't been changed in 9 years, one cleaned it for 5 years another 4 years, and they both vanished, i wonder why?
grrrr, oh year, NWH, tell me my prices are good
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How long would it take you to do the whole lot in/out?
Tony
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I wonder what line of business he is in whereby he imagines that a self-employed business owner can value himself at £85 a day including travelling expenses.
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Anyways, got a call on thursday, "we live so and so, can you come and give a quote."
now i knew the area so i knew it must be a large house, and it was, so i was pleased, when i met the bloke he showed me round told me what he wanted and then i went off counting,
So for the outside, i made it to be £80, i thought if it take me 2 hours i will be happy, i didnt want to rush it,
anyways, he wants the insides done every other time, so in total it would be £200,
but then i get a funny feeling he wants to roof of the large con done each time, so before i put my price in i take a note that it would be £60 each time, so total for outside with that is £140 every 6 weeks, i didnt think anything of it, i thought it was reasonable.
So i explain how much etc, and yes he wants to outside of the con done every time and the inside on the con and the whole house inside every other, so it total it comes to 140 + 210 = £350 a price that reflected the size of the house, and the difficulty of the work.
So he says, "ill tell you know, your way off, last bloke used to charge £85 for the whole lot, and he was here all day, etc etc just thought id let you know so you can alter your price,"
then he tells me he is in estimation and he can get a surveyor for that price, so i said, "thats my price"
this is the first job i felt like i overpriced it, but i hadn't. it was the most underpriced worst price house EVER, the price hadn't been changed in 9 years, one cleaned it for 5 years another 4 years, and they both vanished, i wonder why?
grrrr, oh year, NWH, tell me my prices are good
Alex stick to your price there`s a lot of toffee nose tossers out there mate i had 1 similar last week.
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Just before you walk away ask him where is he now then.
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i did stick to my price, and who knows
the thing is with this job, it involved, the inside of a con roof, every 3 months its not going to be that dirty i know, but they are still a pain, and it was still big,
i recon, it would be there 8 hours,
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i did stick to my price, and who knows
the thing is with this job, it involved, the inside of a con roof, every 3 months its not going to be that dirty i know, but they are still a pain, and it was still big,
i recon, it would be there 8 hours,
just quote what you earn an hour x 8 if they do not want it find another thjat does there are plenty out there, go in lower in time you will regret it, IMO stick with your prices they have 2 choices then.
Ian
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where was this house? sounds like miami beach!!
i know diffrent people charge diffrent prices but IMO that was very very exspencive!!
how do you get to £200 from £80 out side?? thats £120 for the insides???
£60 for a con roof :o large you say, was it the old crystal palace???
granted £85 for a days work is poor but £350 for a days work. thats not on now is it? not for a house. i could understand for an office block or hotel. but just because some one has a nice house dont mean there game to be done.
or am i doing it all wrong? should i charge the earth and get my self a rep as a rip off merchant?
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The problem is you priced the job by adding up all the bits and thats what it comes to. Fair enough, but would you pay a window cleaner £350 a day?
Once you get past a certain size of job the only way to price it is by hourly or daily rate.
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me would love to see pics has that price seems ridiculas, i do a hotel 4 storeys 160 odd rooms in side and out for that.
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Alex...
So the job will take around 8 hours for yourself to clean and you want £350?
Have you any pics so we can have a look and to be honest,thats a hugh quote you gave there to the person.
Tony.
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£350 is way ott,but then £85 is way underpriced, i wouldn't worry though as he obviously doesn't want to pay more than his last cleaner, just learn from the experience ;)
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£350 sounds a bit on the high side but not way over the top. There are times it may be possible to earn that in a day with the right work (from a number of properties) but I think I would give some thought that it's coming out of one single budget.
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Where are you? I'll do it quite happily for £150 ;D If i could get two jobs a week like that at £350 a day i would have a very short working week.
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I don't beleive it was possible for the last cleaner to do all that work, particularly the large con roof inside and out, without having full wfp kit and lots of other trad gizmos to get the job done.
The previous guy probably did the outsides, not the frames, and skipped the difficult access.
Obviously the customer is a very successful person with some quantity surveying etc background and succeeded in making you doubt your worth. In fact he was mistaken about a couple of things, including H&S ETC. However it never pays to get into an argument with a customer as you never win.
I probably wouldn't have got the job either, but I may have offered him £60 outsides only, no roof.(let him think you have the clear impression that he can't afford it)
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ok excessive maybe, but i dont know what i want to earn each hour, i know what i like to price per window etc etc and go from there,
i wasnt excessive on the outside, £1.50 for top windows, £1 for the lower ones and then adding it up from there,
remember its an old house they were a mixture of lead, old Georgian, old wood, bay windows and a gun room, and i didn't add a rich tax,
ok the roof could have been £40 every time, but i wasn't just going to wipe it over, i wanted it spotless, it is another peice of glass,
anyways insides where charge at time and a half, and there were a few extra windows to do inside and a few mirrors,
the best it was going to be was £300, and he wasn't going to pay that either.
also its going to be a pain fitting it around other stuff every other time getting another £210 worth of work to do,
baaa who cares, you win some you lose some, id be happy if i had got it
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The rich ones are often the worst, i don't think they want a mere windowcleaner earning proper money.
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not always, i priced one a few weeks ago, same structure, wanted inside, of all glass done, and secondary glazing, so i went round the outside counting, rounded it up, did what the price would be at time and half, and added some because didn't want to be caught out, and they where so happy with the price
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Alex, you sound like me!!!! when they dont accept the price....WHO CARES. There not the type of customer you want. You give a premium service and charge a premium price. I had something similar a few weeks back......I just said " thats my price, its not negotiable". Luke
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ok excessive maybe, but i dont know what i want to earn each hour, i know what i like to price per window etc etc and go from there,
i wasnt excessive on the outside, £1.50 for top windows, £1 for the lower ones and then adding it up from there,
remember its an old house they were a mixture of lead, old Georgian, old wood, bay windows and a gun room, and i didn't add a rich tax,
ok the roof could have been £40 every time, but i wasn't just going to wipe it over, i wanted it spotless, it is another peice of glass,
anyways insides where charge at time and a half, and there were a few extra windows to do inside and a few mirrors,
the best it was going to be was £300, and he wasn't going to pay that either.
also its going to be a pain fitting it around other stuff every other time getting another £210 worth of work to do,
baaa who cares, you win some you lose some, id be happy if i had got it
I know what you mean Alex. On some jobs it can be very difficult to know exactly where to pitch the price. In such situations I do a frame count AND I do a time estimate. On very large jobs sometimes pricing by frame count can make a mockery of the price. I did a new one yesterday - not as large as the one you mention.. Took me ages longer than expected as trhey were in a right state and all different types of windows. Next time the price will be a decent one as I've done the graft on the first clean. However, I am more prone to quoting higher these days as getting more work is less urgent than it was a few months ago.
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If your round is full then you can call the shots.
FWIW I price myself at £35/£40 ph on new stuff.
But... if someone wants my services for a full day (max 8 hrs inc breaks and lunch) I'd aim for £250 but might give myself up for £225.
£85 is a laff - £350 is adventurous - for me.
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Where ARE all these enormous houses everyone talks about... my largest account is £70... and that is the largest house I've seen around here....
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at £350 a day you want to think about getting yourself an agent
why?
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£350 a day for a full on commercial day - office block etc fine but £350 for a house is just taking the P. I price my self for non- commercial at £35 per hour. Most bark at that and I live in a good area. I have many "portfolio" customers and they give me masses of extras. Today I have been pressure washing one of my customers drives, It took 7.5 hours with their regular windows clean. (£60 a pop for windows) and I charged them £262.50 for the day. They fed me tea all day and some really nice sarnies for lunch. When I left I had had a good day, earned a bloody good wage, and done a excellent job without rushing, and best of all they were made up. This customer has given me over £1200 worth of extras this year alone. Most of my customers pay me a premium because I always do a excellent job. News travels and I have been referred many times all to customers with big houses.
At £350 I would not have got a look in. There is expensive and just plain greedy. £350 a day for domestic customers is Bad business. If you can get £350 a day you must be bloody good or a chancer thats all I can say! ;) mind you you didnt get it this time so I guess your the loser not the customer ;)
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I agree with your pricing Alex , 1 1/2 times for insides is spot on and £1 for downstairs and £1.50 for upstairs windows is also fine (if not a little low) - i am in the same area as you (SE) If the bloke had that many windows then that is how many windows he had. When someone has more windows than someone else why should your window price go down ...... ok there maybe a £4 front only merchant who may take it on and be killing himself for next to nothing but unfortunately that is what we are up against. Keep your prices and move on.
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i wanted sympathy form you lot, :'(
well it depends really, since going wfp ive got faster and i have earned more because of it, and my prices are still the same, so you cant blame me really for getting quick,
and they are not a loyal customer like some i have, and it didn't matter if i got the job, (but i feel weird i didnt get it) but if you think im craning my neck to do a con roof for 2 hours, and i should charge a normal day rate to do it, and lets be honest, my normal days i have got use to the work load, its not as hard,
and to go a do that job would be harder, it deserve to earn more
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You've got a point there, i advertise as window cleaning and conservatory cleaning and if i got enough windowcleaning work i would happily remove the conservatory cleaning logos as windows are sooo easy!
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:o I would never get that down here in SE Kent
My friend and I cleaned what I believe to be the Largest house around...
In and Out all day £350... £175 each OK it was 6yrs or so ago...but we were lucky to get that!
He only wanted to pay £100 each! :o
Times change, prices go up!
I just feel that if you charge too much, someone will undercut you! :(
Interest rates are on the increase... ask yourself what will go first...YOU or the TOYS
::) ::) ::)
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Heres my opinion
There will be many people charging an average price, there will be a few who will charge more than them and there will be one or two who will charge prices that will seem to be double or even treble the going average.
The person charging three times more than the average price may be no better in any of his dealings, he may not be a better cleaner, may not leave a better end product, he may be no more articulate and he may have no more etiquette than the average, there may be no other window cleaners capable or willing to clean at this level in his area
He may have a full book and putting in high prices because he isn't worried about not getting the work
He may be confident in his ability to offer a superior service
He may have that likeability factor
He may have charm and persuasion on his side
No one can specifically say what allows one person to charge much more than others, it may be one thing, it may be many things - I personally applaud people that don't run with the herd and people that aren't restrained by the going rate.
Whatever will be said on this post I believe that when you have some or all of the above you shine with confidence and that confidence is infectious and people want your service and your confidence allows you to charge your worth.
£350.00 for one days work is broken down to about £35.00 per hour - whats wrong with wanting to earn that.
Some of us may not have ever seen that income hour after hour - day in day out but it is out there and people are achieving it.
Window cleaning is a cash rich business and I read posts last week about window cleaners cleaning conservatories where the householder already had a window cleaner but did not want to clean the conservatory.
Not everyone wants the work and not everyone can clean well so with a conservatory costing anything from £2000.00 up to £20.000 and more - it is an extremely valuable extension of the property and if cleaning them is marketed properly then this should be the normal price to charge.
I applaud you for valuing your time and your service so highly - well done that man - I believe you are an example that others ought to try and emulate.
People will say I can't get that sort of pricing round here - that is easy - set yourself apart from the average window cleaner and market your service better than theirs, offer a better quality service and there is no reason why you cannot be making that sort of money.
Rob ;D
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Heres my opinion
£350.00 for one days work is broken down to about £35.00 per hour - whats wrong with wanting to earn that.
Rob ;D
Fine for a 10 hour working day, but dont forget your lunch and breaks and chats are on your time not the customers. 10 hours solid work, thats what I would charge but he's talking £43.75 for an 8 hour day.
Most people would tell you to take a walk...oh they did...I rest my case ;)
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Your missing the point - what I am saying is to elevate your business above the average and to offer services to a more eclusive client base then there is no reason why this cannot be achieved.
I did this in an area where the average window cleaner was charging £4.00 per house - so I think I know it can be achieved. It is all about the right approach and the other factors to back it up.
The people that always knock it are the ones that cannot get there or anywhere near the prices stated.
Rob ;D
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My business in almost 100% commercial, I clean windows most days rain or shine, I earn extremely good money. I have elevated my business and have some impressive contracts. However every trade has its price. And £350 a day for a one man band is excessive for domestic work as he found out by not getting the job.
£350 to make a day on several contracts is easily achievable, but on one job especially domestic ,people just wont wear it.
Its all about appearing to be competitive and offer good value. Maybe this is why I like commercial and not domestic?
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My business is now solely with Sainsburys PLC - nationally, I have sold my residential window cleaning for a staggering amount of money that has all been reinvested in our commercial work and I regularly charged handsomely on residential work.
If you want to go head to head I will win on stats - that is not the point and you are entitled to your opinion but it is wrong.
This level is not for everyone, because of this it is a niche market and therefore the price will be according
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My business is now solely with Sainsburys PLC - nationally, I have sold my residential window cleaning for a staggering amount of money that has all been reinvested in our commercial work and I regularly charged handsomely on residential work.
If you want to go head to head I will win on stats - that is not the point and you are entitled to your opinion but it is wrong.
This level is not for everyone, because of this it is a niche market and therefore the price will be according
Sainsburys soley... good luck they change their window cleaners like most change their underware... that makes huge business sense...LOL
But your not talking one man band are you ;) There is a massive difference ;)
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We don't clean windows - we clean the whole store - everything from the roof down to the drainage - some people are not interested in accepting good advice and admitting when they are wrong - I wish you well with your nose to the grind stone.
As far as security in the decisions I have made - rolling refurbishment programme - every five years - its like a boys club where everyone earns big but has to put a lot in. You don't try to muscle in it is by invite only.
I sleep well at night knowing that I have seized opportunities and developed my business above the average.
I don't want to detract from the post so good luck
Rob ;D
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Very nice...I have some impressive clients too... unfortunately at this stage I still have to graft on the little stuff. However I am just about to go VAT registered and I have been trading for 14 months!!! Well see what happens this year ;)
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I like the bottom website- what work do you do for Carillion
Rob ;D
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Kev
How many staff have you got ?
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I encourage and promote all WFP window cleaners to charge high prices on domestics as the normal. Makes it easier to obtain quotes at reasonably high prices as the customers are aware of the realistic prices window cleaners are charging nowadays.
Gaining quotes is realising what is an acceptible price the customer is willing to pay.
Too many window cleaners undervalue themselves and lack the confidence to price high which helps to keep the majority of window cleaners working for less then they value themsleves.
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I like the bottom website- what work do you do for Carillion
Rob ;D
I have a full maintenance contract for 25 years
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Kev
How many staff have you got ?
I am still sub contracting. I have 5 sub contractors at present. I am unsure of the way forward. I think I need to bite the bullet and go Vat registered and employ as the profits are higher but I am worried about losing quality and going back to no wage again for the short term.
I read an article about sole traders never doing that well, where as people that merged or became partners or limited companies with directors succeeding. To be honest I could do with some sound advice :)
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Heres my opinion
£350.00 for one days work is broken down to about £35.00 per hour - whats wrong with wanting to earn that.
Rob ;D
Most people would tell you to take a walk...oh they did...I rest my case ;)
Please dont get nasty with me, i didnt get this one, but there is no difference if i earn 45 for an hours work on one house and 350 for 8 hours on another is there really, they both pay the same,
he wanted the work done, so he would have to pay, but it depends how much i guess
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Would you see it as good advice if it was given or would a high and mighty approach blur your view!!!
Rob ;D
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Alex in my experience its fine to charge £350 plus for commercial jobs in fact I charge much more for some clients but domestic clients don't like paying that sort of money. The day that I have all my days filled rain or shine at that level I guess I will quote the same but until then I fill my slack times with "portfolio" domestics. I guess thats the answer if your that busy that Its worth £350 a day to you then cool but if your not earning this everyday maybe taking a little less will bring more in the long term? I concentrate on commercial and I go a little easy on my "portfolio" domestics until the day I can sell my domestics for a large amount and be completely 100% commercial everyday with employees on the books and make at least £350 a day profit ;)
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Would you see it as good advice if it was given or would a high and mighty approach blur your view!!!
Rob ;D
I am always interested in advice. I am willing to learn. Like I said I do need advise as progressing from here is the hard bit, or at least it feels that way.
If you would like a one to one and you can spare the time I would be interested in you opinion and your advise - M-Clean? Call me - my numbers on my websites ;)
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I'm playing with you -I think you have done incredibly well - there is a lot to be proud of in what you have achieved.
I don't know Carillion would offer a 25 year service contract but you have the paper work. Whatever you do now will cost you a great deal of time and there will be many head aches - I know!!!
I go away on Tuesday for a week I will ring you when I get back
Rob ;D
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m-clean uk is that maclaren?
sainsburys used to have a company called inter clean do there cleaning they subed about 20 stores on the south coast out to my dads company some years back. then pulled the plug when they asked them to drop the price by 20million.
you took over the contract then slowly got rid of all the sub contract w/c replacing them with instore min wage cleaners. is this right?
oh this aint a nasty post just seeing if this is the right m-clean.
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my dad werent to fussed as some, not all, but some of the stores were a pain to get to.
and really not being funny but because i used to clean alot of sainsburys i always look at there windows to see how there being kept and to you as the company director feed bac is there awfull mate. i would get a grip of you area reps and make sure there sorted!
thing is lots of things can go un-noticed in a store cleaning wise but some thing EVERY one notices and is a real reflection on a stores over all standard of cleaning is there windows. i hope you agree.
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Mr D
No your way off - We have been on the programme for 18 months now - are you refering to internal cleaners.
The work that we do is purely external and an amalgamation of lots of different services. M-CLEAN UK is my last name McLean.
I wasn't even in cleaning back then. Sorry to hear about your dads business
Rob ;D
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I think you are viewing me as bigger than I am as well.
The stores that we clean we do do the external window cleaning on - sometimes - there wouldn't be any reason to complain about that.
We are very proud of our work and bad windows or any other cleaning just wouldn't happen
Rob ;D
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dont apolagise mr. my old man is making a mint!
hes subs window cleaning from a french company that has some of the biggest contracts in this contry.
i think it was back in 2005 he lost them. as i said it was kinda a blessing in descise. inter clean were a good company but they made the biggest error by putting all there eggs in one basket. there MD wasnt to fussed as he had already made more than his fair share but IMO sainsburys starndards have dropped alot since, round here any way!
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i've prob got the wrong end of the stick. i thought you said you had the contract for sainsburys plc cleaning meaning the cleaning of there stores.
am i right in saying you do the grounds matanance? and only of a slect number of stores? do you sub the work from some one else or contracted direct from J Sainsburys?
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We do all the hard surface cleaning, walls, cladding,service yards, compactor areas, chewing gum/graffiti removal, high level and drain jetting.
I agree with you that the stores are a mess but so are a lot of the other high street names - from my point of view this is all good as my market is wide open and the longer they leave them the dirtier they get - someones got to clean them - might as well be me!!!
Rob ;D
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I'm playing with you -I think you have done incredibly well - there is a lot to be proud of in what you have achieved.
I don't know Carillion would offer a 25 year service contract but you have the paper work. Whatever you do now will cost you a great deal of time and there will be many head aches - I know!!!
I go away on Tuesday for a week I will ring you when I get back
Rob ;D
We were surprised at the contract length too ;) I look forward to your call :D
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so true, so true.
ive noticed the biggest name company with the worse kept stores by far is mac donnalds. being as tight as a ducks but they get there mostly migrant workers to do the bulk if not all of there cleaning. which is dont to a simeler standard as our hospitals. lol
one worth canversing there guys. too big for little old me to chase but if you have to means and man power....
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This £35 an hour charge is really to cover the lost time between jobs, fuel etc so surely there is no need to expect such a high income from a solid days work? There can't be many on here who earn £300+ solid day in day out. Who rates a days work at £350? Builders, plasteres painters? Not round here they don't.
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This £35 an hour charge is really to cover the lost time between jobs, fuel etc so surely there is no need to expect such a high income from a solid days work? There can't be many on here who earn £300+ solid day in day out. Who rates a days work at £350? Builders, plasteres painters? Not round here they don't.
Very good point.
My bro and I just hired a s/e builder (on the basis of quality not price) this week to damp proof the back pf my mum's little terrace, hack off some old plaster inside and replace and waterproof the pebbledash around the job.
It took him two days and it cost just shy of £600 including vat. Assuming £50 for materials and derv and the vat I reckon he made about £225/230 a day. And he knocked £50 off the quoted price cuz he knew my bro and he finished early on day two. (About 3.30pm)
Another mate into roofing for a weeks (5 days) job charges himself at £1000 and makes a bit on materials and any labour. Say, wage £1000 plus a couple of hundred profit. So even at that level he gets to £250 a day.
If he goes to replace a bit of guttering or a couple of tiles he'll charge £100 plus materials and the job might only take two hours. But then he might not have another job 'til the afternoon.
As Ian Giles says:- don't forget the days where you don't work, or you pick up the kids, or have an extra half hour in bed. They all knock the average.
Economy of scale see? If you want my cheeks for month, I'll do it for 3 grand (if I had the time), for a week, I'll do it for a grand (if I had the time) for a 7/8 hr day, £225/250. half a day? £150 and I'll start an hour early. Less than that and it's per job and depending on the mood I can go like Billy Whizz or Brian the snail! ;D
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i guess overall it doesnt matter, you win some you lose some
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True Alex, and if you've got plenty of work then you havn't lost anything, but if you had got it then what a bonus day that would be.
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I agree with your pricing Alex , 1 1/2 times for insides is spot on and £1 for downstairs and £1.50 for upstairs windows is also fine (if not a little low) - i am in the same area as you (SE) If the bloke had that many windows then that is how many windows he had. When someone has more windows than someone else why should your window price go down ...... ok there maybe a £4 front only merchant who may take it on and be killing himself for next to nothing but unfortunately that is what we are up against. Keep your prices and move on.
I think that "economy of scale" can kick in after a certain point - i.e. only needing to set up once, no time or fuel used up on drive betweens and stuff like that. The choice then is whether to pocket all the benefits of "economy of scale" yourself or whether to give the customer some of that benefit. I could take £350+ from a day if I lumped all my best work into one day - even with a bit of driving. Where I would be hesitant though is in asking that from one budget. Doing say, 7 x £50 jobs in a day would be easier for me to ask for than £350 in one job lot. So it's not the actual amount turned over but how it's spread around.
Before I get slated for talking about earnings on here, there are very few jobs on my books where I can earn that well and many of them were the ones that benefitted most from switching to WFP. Also, the way my round is laid out, the best work wouldn't necessarily fall on the same days.
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Doing say, 7 x £50 jobs in a day would be easier for me to ask for than £350 in one job lot. So it's not the actual amount turned over but how it's spread around.
I really think this is the main point of this thread. Its all to do with the customers perception. When pricing multiple smaller jobs its easier to get a premium rate then when pricing a larger job that will take all day.
I think its fine to educate our customers that we have value when compared to other trades but to price ourselves over and above other trades makes the customer question our worth. Don't get me wrong window cleaners are every bit as good as electricians and plumbers etc, but we are still trades people not brain surgeons or solicitors.
I have a couple of contracts that our above and beyond the average window cleaners remit due to specialised access being employed. These jobs I charge a premium for as there is very little competition, however when I price a shop front that any window cleaner could do I have to be more realistic as I do with domestic properties.
I think pricing is an art, and its one that takes years to cultivate. I know I am still learning, but having said that I have some good clients and customers and Im not a busy fool by any means ;)
Its sometimes better not to quote as well. I recently turned down quoting a chain of vets. The work was not at all straight forward for multiple reasons and to make a profit the price would have been high. Their current window cleaner was an old boy about to retire. The lady owner had already said she though he was expensive and he had been doing it for years without a price increase. The lady owner was a referral from another commercial client (much larger). I politely declined to quote after visiting the sites, informing her that I could not be competitive as the practices were too small to qualify for our minimum charge. She was very understanding and thanked me for my time and honesty.
I didn't want the work, putting in a high price may have cost me my other larger client if they perceived me as expensive, so not quoting was in my mind the best option. :)