Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Brian Nunn on September 28, 2008, 09:20:32 am
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I was wondering what the population of where you live and work is?
I live in a town with a small population of 8000 and I want to get 300 regular customers on my books.
I have set myself a goal of earning £300 a week which I know is small compared to some of you but I can live on that comfortably after paying tax and NIC and all my bills.
I worked this out on an average of £8 per property, 38 properties a week and looked on the negative side in case they only want me every 8 weeks instead of the 4 or 6.
Remember I am just starting out so I cannot be choosey about customers as I need the work.
300 from 8000 might be a bit of a tough ask compared to living somewhere with a higher population.
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The town i live in has about 8000 also and at one time i had over 500 properties although alot were less than £8 but it shows that it is possible to get that amount of customers
Dont underprice just to get customers you will regret it at a later date try to always get your price it may take a little longer but if you can manage short term to have less work then in the long term you will have a good round that you enjoy doing and not a round you hate doing (been their done that ) it takes a long time to correct this
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Hi Brian.
If you have 8000 people you will probably have around 2000 properties so you are looking to get 15% of them. I would say initially this is a big ask. Dean is right. An average of £8 per property is a bit low. You will soon get fed up working hard for very little. The only way you will find your answers is to get out there and ask. By that I mean canvass. Set aside every evening betweeen 5 to 5.30 and 7.30 to 8 and simply go and ask if they want a reliable window cleaning service. Don't be scared of knocking the doors. It's not a hard sell and people are OK in the main. In hundreds of hours of canvassing I have only ever had 1 rude person answer.
I know where you are coming from about needing the work. I was the same when I started but if you think about it you are better off doing 2 @ £12.00 than 3 @ £8.00 and in the long term you will be far better off.
If you get around 60% of the jobs you quote for your pricing is just about right.
I hope this helps and all the best with it.
Andrew
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92,900
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186,704 apparently! :o
I bought most of my round and some of it is underpriced. As others say, it is hard to keep doing these every month. So, go for the best price you can get. Work smarter, not harder! :)
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2,336 at last count, (not by me) ;D I do 250 houses in the town, and another 150 in surrounding areas
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Hi, mates.
4,700,000 (Saint-Petersburg). Our city is 4th biggest in Europe after London, Moscow and Paris.
Vadim
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A good source of information is local census data, this can be either found on your local council website or Government website.
This is what I have used to colate reports etc.. Some very good information on them.
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Hi, mates.
4,700,000 (Saint-Petersburg). Our city is 4th biggest in Europe after London, Moscow and Paris.
Vadim
You win.
My town is approximately 55,000 but I only have two jobs (both apartment blocks) locally.
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400,000
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The smallest place I do, has 10 houses with 29 people and I do all 10 houses.
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The smallest place I do, has 10 houses with 29 people and I do all 10 houses.
Family doesn't count Jeff ;D
Mrs A
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Thanks for the answers.
I got the £8 average by (hopefully) underestimating the amount of customers I would need if they only wanted me every 8 weeks.
I was planning on asking for
£7 for a terrace including doors.
£12 for a semi including doors and porch.
£18 for a detached including doors and porch.
£7 for a conservatory (minus roof)
£15 for a conservatory roof.
£25 clean out gutters all properties unless huge.
If I got a mixture of terrace, semi and detached I would need less customers.
Trouble is my neighbour over the road saw me cleaning my windows yesterday and he got talking to me.
I asked how much his guy charges for his 4 bed detached house with a rear extension. (I saw his guy use WFP a couple of times).
To my amazement he said £9, I was shocked.
That made me think my proposed prices were too high by far.
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Dont be swayed by other peoples prices charge what you want to take per house also dont have a rigid price per house as some take longer than others even though they seem the same access can slow you down and location compact rounds are what you need but can take time to build up
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The smallest place I do, has 10 houses with 29 people and I do all 10 houses.
Family doesn't count Jeff ;D
Mrs A
Almost got that many in grandchildren Mrs A lol
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Hi, mates.
4,700,000 (Saint-Petersburg). Our city is 4th biggest in Europe after London, Moscow and Paris.
Vadim
You win.
My town is approximately 55,000 but I only have two jobs (both apartment blocks) locally.
Alex, hi.
Trust is no one from Moscow and Paris here, so we have obtained the honorary 2nd place after London.
Is somebody from Shrewsbury? 98,000. I spent lovely time there.
Vadim