Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: East coast window cleaning Services on January 11, 2009, 09:44:53 pm
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Over the last couple of weeks ive seen price differences on here and spoken to windows cleaners up North who say they cant believe the prices we charge down south. I always say living expences are higher down south ie (house prices etc). Thought id see what you guys would charge on this random picture of a three bed semi on here for just the fronts using either wfp or Trad. Dont forget to say where your based
(http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e81/rickyuk/50340416719700101010101p400x300phot.jpg)
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i would charge £6.50 North london Hertfordshire borders
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So would i if it was a dolls house,you`ve gotta do better than that buddy lol. ;D
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£15 - Because that's my minimum price.
For the whole house it would probably be £20.
Andy
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So would i if it was a dolls house,you`ve gotta do better than that buddy lol. ;D
Not sure what you trying to say
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That's only a 5 minute job. I have a min charge of £10.
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That's only a 5 minute job. I have a min charge of £10.
Thats not a 5 minute job!
By the time you've setup, cleaned the windows, packed away and collected it's proabably more like 20 minutes (if your doing it properly).
Andy
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That's only a 5 minute job. I have a min charge of £10.
Thats not a 5 minute job!
By the time you've setup, cleaned the windows, packed away and collected it's proabably more like 20 minutes (if your doing it properly).
Andy
You have to get there and then get to the next job so that`s another 20 mins,this is what i find with a lot of the price threads numptyody takes costs into account at all.
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I would want to charge around £5.50 but my business partner ( who likes to charge more than me) may want to go to about £6 to £6.50. I work in the Birmingham area.
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Am i looking at the wrong pic? I counted 4 windows.
Time to get there, unknown.
Time to pull out hose and turn switch on. a minute.
I might take 20 minutes if it was a 1st clean. But i would prefer to have a higher flowrate and take 5.
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£4 - £5 for the front wfp in sheffield. Under 10 mins with my backpack.
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If it was close to other work, I'd do it for €10 or €12. WFP in Ireland,..
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£4 - £5 for the front wfp in sheffield. Under 10 mins with my backpack.
You are working in old money arn`t you lol. ;D
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£5 up in the valleys .
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You lot must be joking i`m in the middle of LMAO,i told my Mrs some of these prices and she said she would have you do them every week and she would also treat the family every week,they say small things please small minds.I know where this 3 x the monthly earnings and all that bull come from now,i don`t have a shop i charge that little for.
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OK - we're talking 2 big bays, bedroom window, a porch, garage door glass too.
I would charge about a tenner - wfp - and take about 15 minutes to do a thorough job.
Edited to add - I live in Bristol and an unimproved 3 bed ex council semi is about 130k/170k depending upon whether you live on a sink estate or a "better" one. Two years ago that would have been 160K/200K!
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Malc where are you from,do you know how much it costs to live in the south of england.
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£9 bournemouth
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£10 min charge
Exeter - Devon
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Out of interest how much would that house cost to buy in your area.
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NWH, you really are an arse!! Yuo've slaged everyone elses price off but you don't heve the balls to post your own price. >:(
btw, my price would be £6 trad Nottinghamshire
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It`s my choice not to say if i don`t want to it would only cause this thread to go on for about a week or so,i wouldn`t say it`s a case of North South divide i think the distance is a lot further than that in my reading.When you price do you think about the running costs of the van-wet days-holidays-sick days etc,if my opinion and business sense makes me an Arse then i have the biggest butt of you all.
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You lot must be joking i`m in the middle of LMAO,i told my Mrs some of these prices and she said she would have you do them every week and she would also treat the family every week,they say small things please small minds.I know where this 3 x the monthly earnings and all that bull come from now,i don`t have a shop i charge that little for.
Lucky you ,and we get a minium 5x when we sell ;D
Blimey that must make your round worth what at least 10 grand, ::) ::) WOW.
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im in dartford and would charge 8-10 pound for this job as wont take more than 10 mins to complete.
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Fronts only? £6.00
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Cheers for that Stan but i can afford to take the time to get it there mate. ;D
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£5.00 for the fronts -Cumbria
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I would have to clean exactly 500 of those houses at your prices to pay for my hot system,when you look at it like that it makes you think dosen`t it.
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Could be some guys have to charge higher than others if they have invested large amounts of money in their businesses. Flash van, carbon poles signwriting all on tick plus a big mortgage. If you have that kind of outlay then your going to have to charge big money. Some of us on less outlay don't need such high incomes to produce the same profit. When the going gets tougher prices may well fall.
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Could be some guys have to charge higher than others if they have invested large amounts of money in their businesses. Flash van, carbon poles signwriting all on tick plus a big mortgage. If you have that kind of outlay then your going to have to charge big money. Some of us on less outlay don't need such high incomes to produce the same profit. When the going gets tougher prices may well fall.
Most sensible answer to date.
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Everytime i see some poor sod working from a ladder these days it makes me want to go up to him and ask him if he`d like to come out for the morning to see how easy his life could be, but most that i talk to give the same response as you Stan so i`ve stopped bothering now.
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why should the customer have to pay more because you are to much of a wimp to use a ladder and need all the newest equitment ;D
That isn't why the custy pays more Stan; it's because he feels comfortable in so doing.
If I used a ladder I'd charge more because it would take me longer than wfp.
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£5.00 wfp if i was doing the houses next door or within 50 mtrs, £6.50 on it's own. (Worcester)
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wfp £12 monthly or £15 BM (if i thiught i could get away with it) definately no lower than £12 though.
Surrey
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£60 for front and £100 front and back.
I'm now using the "coach" marketing methods.
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£7.00 in Worthing West Sussex and you cant go any further south ;D It would have to be near an existing job though.
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here is my answer...it depends where it is ::) i have a lot of them close together.... i charge £9 ... i could charge double for 1...but i would stillm earn less per hour....
NWH you talk the talk, but can you walk the walk????
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£9.00
West Sussex/ Hampshire/Surrey Boarders
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£6.00 if I had other work round there. If I didn't then probably wouldn't bother with it as I would have to charge double that to make it pay and I'm too soft to ask the owner for that amount for so few windows.
Steve a. Lancashire
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£7 for me but would have to have other work nearby. I'm in West Midlands.
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£10 Poole (Dorset)
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£14 or £8 front only.
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About 15quid here in Holland and thank your lucky stars that your not here everyone pays 19% VAT ....
22.50 >25 for whole house WFP.
;D Cheers Dave.
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£7.50 - £10 depending on how much local work i had....would take me about 20 mins incl setting up and packing away.
I would only charge £12 - £15 for fronts and backs (if no cons) as it could probably be completey done and dusted in 30 mins.
Essex by the way.
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£9
Stoke-On-Trent
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£10
SW London
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£8 for me in West Yorks as its my minimum charge, but if I had any other houses nearby I would prob charge £5
Just quoted on a largish house recently £18 for about 30 - 40 mins work. Customer said existing guy charges £9. Dont think he can do all the windows though (ps funny thing is she was willing to pay me £14, but I turned it down, also at the time of quoting customer didnt say she already had a window cleaner
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£8.00 Plymouth, Devon WFP
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£7.00
Worcester
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20.00 chichester ,west sussex
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£7.50 trad in leicester my price
even though someone do it for aorund £4.00 mark
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£8 4 wkly or £10 8 wkly essex
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Am i looking at the wrong pic? I counted 4 windows.
I might take 20 minutes if it was a 1st clean. But i would prefer to have a higher flowrate and take 5.
You can't price that house front on the basis of '4 windows'
The upstairs boxroom has only 4 panes of glass
The upstairs bay has 14 panes of glass
The downstairs bay has 10 panes of glass
The porch has 6 panes of glass
When I was 'trad' I charged per pane of glass (dearer for upstairs than downstairs)
It added up to £7.80. I would have charged either £7.50 or £8.00.
I'm WFP now but use the same pricing structure.
If I had to go back to working 'trad' I'd now charge more - because it's harder work and potentially more dangerous.
Mike
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£12 front
£18 front
South East
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Matt Cloud,
Is that 20 for the front or for the whole house?
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looks more like east/west divide at the moment.
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if on its own £9 but if i had a few in area then between £4 or £5
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£7 front / £13-15 for the whole house ,
only if it was within or next to my other work !
harrow / middx . ( trad ).
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9-10 pounds for the front trad
essex
a lot of low prices here.just thinking how some cover the expenses with this quotes.it's a buisness not a job window cleaning.as a company u cannnot charge 4-5 pounds for something like this
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9-10 pounds for the front trad
essex
a lot of low prices here.just thinking how some cover the expenses with this quotes.it's a buisness not a job window cleaning.as a company u cannnot charge 4-5 pounds for something like this
yes you can our company has been trading since 1960 and doing very well thankyou and as said if i had a few in area then it would be between £4 and £5 but they would have to pay vat on top of that
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Traditional
£10 min charge
Cirencester Glos in the Cotswolds
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£10-12 Britn& Hove 8)
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whole house rob
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seven pounds,kent
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So long as it was on my round, minimum charge of a tenner. HANTS.
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8 to £ 10 seems fair. wfp forest of dean
mike
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As soon as i come on line eh lol. ::)
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£5.00- North Tyneside. without the car windows...
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£10 for me - Brighton
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£10 min 4 weekly.. f&b wfp south wales
poss cheaper if i have more of the neighbours
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MO - Have you noticed how many new vans there are around here now and how the prices have dropped
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Am i looking at the wrong pic? I counted 4 windows.
I might take 20 minutes if it was a 1st clean. But i would prefer to have a higher flowrate and take 5.
You can't price that house front on the basis of '4 windows'
The upstairs boxroom has only 4 panes of glass
The upstairs bay has 14 panes of glass
The downstairs bay has 10 panes of glass
The porch has 6 panes of glass
When I was 'trad' I charged per pane of glass (dearer for upstairs than downstairs)
It added up to £7.80. I would have charged either £7.50 or £8.00.
I'm WFP now but use the same pricing structure.
If I had to go back to working 'trad' I'd now charge more - because it's harder work and potentially more dangerous.
Mike
I just had another look to see what i'd missed. I don't think i have. It's very easy work and not much time. Reverse in, open van door, grab pole, turn on pump and clean. No need to unwind hosereel.
Generous flow, rinse on the glass. Pole back in van. Slip through letterbox and gone.
You are right about pricing it though. I would have charged £5 when i was trad. But since i got wfp the next best thing i did was to have a £10 min charge. So what i reckon would take me around 5 minutes on maintenace cleans would be a cost of £10.
Beccles area, north suffolk
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5 mins...lol....
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£8.00 if it was next to anyother one i do. or £12.00 on its own. live near sandhurst
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5 mins...lol....
due to the scepticism shown towards my 5 minute estimate i am wondering if i am being too optimistic?? ;D
But i don't think so. Although i haven't done a time and motion study on a front only.
I have a similar looking job and i will just pull the hose to the front and time myself.
I don't know what else to say? I use a 17ft xtel pole, between 1 and 1/12 lpm flow rate. I don't rinse off the glass, i rinse on. I also give a quick brush over the frames. I'm fit enough to reel my hose in quickly without mechanical aid. ;)
My 5 minutes ;D is based on the customer not being home and i post a chit to send me a cheque.
I have a cup of tea in the morning and don't stop for a break until i get the days scheduled work finished and i then go home. And have the 2nd cup.
This is also on maintenance cleans. 1st cleans i take however long it takes to be thorough and i will go back at the end of the day to check that they are spotless.
After the jobs come up good the 1st time i don't hang around on future cleans.
But the little seed of doubt has been planted in my mind. Maybe i ain't as quick as i think? ;D
But i will check. :)
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so now you can see the north south divide... some gloat at charging more... others understand thats just the way it is , cost of living slightly higher in the south, so the prices will be higher so , in reality we all earn about the same , as things must be cheaper in the north too...
dont think the cost of set up has much to do with it, after all a joiner cant put his prices up because he now uses an electric screwdriver instead of a hand driven.
there is a difference between north and south. but it all balances out.
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3.50 liverpool
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£10 min chg. 8 mins?
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Any luck on the van Dave.
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i think it is fair to say that there are cheap and expensive w/c ers wherever you are in the uk , as i said previously i would charge £12 min for the front and i am in SE , however i am "expensive" , i say this in the terms that there are plenty of w/c ers near me that would do this for a non SE price) i.e. £5.
So dont think that each new customer in the south east is happy to pay these rates because of being in the SE but the prices i charge are achievable. I still have a number of refusals when i quote because my price (and most other CIU SE based w/c ers) is higher than most. You can still get your windows cleaned for tuppence even down here!! ;D ;D
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Minimum charge on new work is £10 as i dont need the work if their was more work nearby that would make a great hourly rate and i agree maintanance clean on that house would take 5 mins
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£10, 5 to 6 mins, Surrey.
Nick
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£10 B'm'th
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£4 here in scotland
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£10
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front only, 7.50 , afterall its only 10 mins work
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I wouldn’t do that job or similar now. I do have a minimum but I would still be reluctant to take it on, even if my price were accepted.
There are types of work you can outgrow, and you would have to charge a lot more for you to make it worth your while.
Some window cleaners (and customers) misunderstand this as overpricing. When it’s just a window cleaner maintaining his profitability.
Ewan
Although there were good, and valid, points in the post, it sounds like you are 'bragging'.
I understand what you're saying ("There are some types of work you can outgrow").
But, before you outgrew this type of work, what would you have charged for cleaning the front of the house in the picture? And how long would it have taken?
Prices so far have ranged from £3.50 - £15.00 (minimum charge)
The fastest time was 5 mins!! :o
If you are unable to give such information, there seems little point in posting on this particular topic. Don't you agree?
Mike
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I wouldn’t do that job or similar now. I do have a minimum but I would still be reluctant to take it on, even if my price were accepted.
How much will it cost you to do?
How much net profit do you need to keep in line with the rest of your business?
If you get that wrong and take on the work all you are doing is reducing the profitability of your business. While being under the illusion your business is growing just because you have another customer on the books.
There are types of work you can outgrow, and you would have to charge a lot more for you to make it worth your while.
Some window cleaners (and customers) misunderstand this as overpricing. When it’s just a window cleaner maintaining his profitability.
What a perfect answer.
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I wouldn’t do that job or similar now. I do have a minimum but I would still be reluctant to take it on, even if my price were accepted.
How much will it cost you to do?
How much net profit do you need to keep in line with the rest of your business?
If you get that wrong and take on the work all you are doing is reducing the profitability of your business. While being under the illusion your business is growing just because you have another customer on the books.
There are types of work you can outgrow, and you would have to charge a lot more for you to make it worth your while.
Some window cleaners (and customers) misunderstand this as overpricing. When it’s just a window cleaner maintaining his profitability.
What a perfect answer.
That's this week, what will you think next week?
Still slummin' it in that old connect dude? ;D
Tony
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Yeah only for a while longer now,i`ve just got myself a new Merc though. :-*
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Darn credit crunch. ;D
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Ewan
I understand both your replies and agree that your policy/strategy is a good one (even the correct one).
What I was pointing out was that your first answer did not contribute anything to the discussion on the 'North/South Divide on Prices' (which was the Topic).
Mike
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in scotland ye wid be laughe dout of town quoting 10 quid for that. Most likely you would find yourself in anothe rjob within a month.
10 quid for that is nothing more than a rip off IMO.
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If I go back to when I first started window cleaning I would have been very happy to get another customer and would have probably taken me 30 mins first clean (10-15 mins regular clean) and I would have charge £5.
Few months later I would have probably charge £7.50 double £15 first clean.
Several months on, window cleaning minimum price would have been £10 £20 first clean and so on.
Ewan
To change the area of discussion, slightly:
I'm curious as to how you have dealt with your earliest customers whom you were originally charging £5, and your later customers whom you were charging £7.50.
When you began charging £10 (or more) for similar properties, did you increase the prices for your earlier customers to £10 also (take it or leave it) - or did you raise them a lesser amount and keep them on, out of loyalty - or did you just 'drop' them without any explanation.
There has been lots of advice given by other members regarding this 'problem' of 'what to do with underpaid jobs' - I'd like to hear your approach.
Are you a 'nice guy' or a single-minded, hard headed business man? ;)
Whatever your answer, this will be my last posting on this 'thread'
:)
Mike
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i no a company in perth ..scotland that charge £10 minimum charge. and they get it no probs.in fife east coast scotland u would get £1.75 in some places £3.50 for the whole house.
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I would charge £12 for this clean ie: windows,frames,doors using wfp :P :P :P :P
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Out of curiosity Ewan, what's a round of sixty underpriced customers worth?
I'd love to see the van and equipment that bought you. Does it have three wheels and would it be yellow by any chance?
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Ewan
Thanks for the reply.
Oi!! ftp
Don't be naughty! ;D
Mike
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£5 in Plymouth, it'll only take a short time to clean.
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Ewan, you really need to consider health and safety more : not only could i have choked on my coffee but i nearly spurted it into my laptop, this could have started an electrical fire and maybe burnt my house down. You are therefore more dangerous to me than any gas heater! ;D ;D ;D
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Ewan, you really need to consider health and safety more : not only could i have choked on my coffee but i nearly spurted it into my laptop, this could have started an electrical fire and maybe burnt my house down. You are therefore more dangerous to me than any gas heater! ;D ;D ;D
I learned that one ages ago- NEVER have anything in your mouth or hands when reading Ewan's posts, can make a real mess you know! ;)
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Oh i see, you didn't need money to live off, feed yourself and pay the bills so you made £6000 to put by for your new van. I think i would have kept them on if they were making so much money. Yes, as usual i didn't understand. ;D
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£8 trad cardiff. take 10 mins