Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Dave Turley on June 06, 2009, 10:38:20 am
-
hiya, I advertise quite a lot and have been getting really bogged down with first cleans recently, so i've just upped my minimum charge from £10 to £20 for new work.
i've done this because my average house value is now £23.64 and i'd guess only 15% or so of my work is under £20, so taking on a £15 house is not moving my round forward.
i've got loads of work and don't want to expand any time soon so i'm concentrating on quality not quantity.
i'm not trying to brag or anything so I hope this doesn't come across that way.
I was just wondering I anyone else has a high minimum charge or has found themselves in a similar situation?
many thanks :D
-
average house price £23.64 you will be a millionaire soon. how many houses do you do in a day at that price.?
-
Here we go! ;D
-
hiya, I advertise quite a lot and have been getting really bogged down with first cleans recently, so i've just upped my minimum charge from £10 to £20 for new work.
i've done this because my average house value is now £23.64 and i'd guess only 15% or so of my work is under £20, so taking on a £15 house is not moving my round forward.
i've got loads of work and don't want to expand any time soon so i'm concentrating on quality not quantity.
i'm not trying to brag or anything so I hope this doesn't come across that way.
I was just wondering I anyone else has a high minimum charge or has found themselves in a similar situation?
many thanks
do you only clean 5 and 6 bed houses ? and what area you in please
-
where in wolverhampton are these houses??! ;D ;D no offence but my bro lives in wolverhampton and only nice areas ive seen are penn and tettenhall, you doing well ! ;)
-
average house price £23.64 you will be a millionaire soon. how many houses do you do in a day at that price.?
sorry, I don't think it would be appropriate to answer that question on here. ;)
-
where in wolverhampton are these houses??! ;D ;D no offence but my bro lives in wolverhampton and only nice areas ive seen are penn and tettenhall, you doing well ! ;)
hi, I do cover penn and tettenhall and most of the outlying towns and villages. i've passed on most of my inner town work.
i've just been advertising a lot (£130 a month, going up to £153 a month soon), quoting expensive and ditching the rubbish.
-
now that makes a lot more sense! are you mostly every 4 weeks or longer frequency if more expensive?
-
I offer both, i'd say people are going 50/50, more 8 weekly for the largest houses.
if they're thinking of 4 weekly but think my price seems expensive, I push them towards 8 weekly and tell them roughly how much a week it works out to.
the usual response is..... oh that's not too bad, go on then!
-
An average price of £23.64 is very good.
My average price is £29.37 - But all of my customers are at least 8 weekly cleans.
Andy
-
we are to cheap ::) :-\
-
we are to cheap
It doesn't mean my earnings are more... I obviously clean less houses in a day than I would if my average price was £10.
Andy
-
When Dave says his avg price is £23.64 you have to remember that many houses will be less than this and some ll be over this price this is the meaning of average
-
I am in the same ballpark as Andy/SCS but in euro's..8 weekly too.
Dave.
-
Hey Dave,
I remember you starting up around the same time as me to. Are you still enjoying it?
Andy
-
It gets a tad boring..but the time off and money make it all worthwhile...and you?
Dave.
-
Don't have a minimum price, I will do any job even for a couple of quid,if it's on the way to another job. Example would be, petrol stn on the way to 1 of my areas, about 4 quid, takes 5 mins, outside only, every 2 weeks. No probs.
-
Same, we don't have a minimum, but I never go less than £5 and we do a few small shop fronts for that price mostly they are a single pane of glass 6' x 6', can have it done in under 2 minutes then on to the next one..
Just done my average price on George £14.32
-
sounds like £5 is your minimum then! ;D
-
sounds like £5 is your minimum then! ;D
lmao :)
-
sounds like £5 is your minimum then! ;D
lmao :)
You walked right into that one Ian
-
First cleans are always double.
Or if im in the area and i have time, then its 1.5 times regular 4 weekly clean price (depends if im feeling nice to lower my price).
Generally most first cleans are horrible and are worthy of charging more. Also it stops people from saying i want a regular cleaner and dump you after the first clean when you charged your regular clean price.
-
First cleans are always double.
Or if im in the area and i have time, then its 1.5 times regular 4 weekly clean price (depends if im feeling nice to lower my price).
Generally most first cleans are horrible and are worthy of charging more. Also it stops people from saying i want a regular cleaner and dump you after the first clean when you charged your regular clean price.
I very rare charge anymore for first cleans but they sign a contract for regular work or they are charged a one-off cleaning price and thats more than double a standard clean.
-
First cleans are always double.
Or if im in the area and i have time, then its 1.5 times regular 4 weekly clean price (depends if im feeling nice to lower my price).
Generally most first cleans are horrible and are worthy of charging more. Also it stops people from saying i want a regular cleaner and dump you after the first clean when you charged your regular clean price.
Right on, bro!
-
First cleans are always double.
Or if im in the area and i have time, then its 1.5 times regular 4 weekly clean price (depends if im feeling nice to lower my price).
Generally most first cleans are horrible and are worthy of charging more. Also it stops people from saying i want a regular cleaner and dump you after the first clean when you charged your regular clean price.
I very rare charge anymore for first cleans but they sign a contract for regular work or they are charged a one-off cleaning price and thats more than double a standard clean.
contracts mean nothing.. if people dont want to pay they wont.. not worth the hassle for small claims court.. and i cant be bothered with paper work. I work on mutual verbal agreements.
I explain why the first clean is more, if they are happy I carry on as normal.
Previously i used to charge double on the first clean, and give them a free 4th clean to sweeten it up a bit. But it got too confusing to remember to give the 4th free..LOL
-
No minimum. I have £5 and £6 jobs, and i can't imagine lower than that so that must be my minimum.
The £25 average was interesting.I remember copying southerns strategy very early on but i had no idea he had taken it so far.
I am constantly trying to expand so all jobs are wellcome at any price, i look more at the gross daily or weekly take.I often like to nick about four extra £10 jobs before packing up for the day.
As regards the earlier question about how many in a day this is what postmen etc always say too me."that looks easy, no ladders, how much do you charge?"
Me thinking they might want theirs doing"It varies this house is £10."
And then the invevitable"How many can you do in a day?"
"I can do about ten" I say" It sounds good,but the equipment is very expensive."
They nod as the interest drains and move on. I often feel like shouting after them "Of course that's if i start at nine and finish at eleven you moron."
-
average house price £23.64 you will be a millionaire soon. how many houses do you do in a day at that price.?
It only takes a couple of jobs in the hundreds to drastically bump up an average job price.
-
I think mines 14-15 and to be honest i expected that to be one of the highest on here. It just goes to show.
There is of course a mean median and mode. Mode being the most frequent price, median being the one in the middle regardless of anything else, and mean (what most people including george mean by average, total value divided by total number).
I think it's a bit snobish not to take work below a certain value, but then i'm not at or near capacity.
-
I think mines 14-15 and to be honest i expected that to be one of the highest on here. It just goes to show.
There is of course a mean median and mode. Mode being the most frequent price, median being the one in the middle regardless of anything else, and mean (what most people including george mean by average, total value divided by total number).
I think it's a bit snobish not to take work below a certain value, but then i'm not at or near capacity.
so would you take on a house 4 bed for £3 with 18 windows? would that make you snobish if you said no ?
-
Almost spot on, your out by £3.64! But there’s a lot more to your/anybody’s business than my individual comment on this thread, does sound like you are genuinely moving forwards though, unlike some, going by there post. ;)
Oh NO ::)
-
First cleans are always double.
Or if im in the area and i have time, then its 1.5 times regular 4 weekly clean price (depends if im feeling nice to lower my price).
Generally most first cleans are horrible and are worthy of charging more. Also it stops people from saying i want a regular cleaner and dump you after the first clean when you charged your regular clean price.
I very rare charge anymore for first cleans but they sign a contract for regular work or they are charged a one-off cleaning price and thats more than double a standard clean.
contracts mean nothing.. if people dont want to pay they wont.. not worth the hassle for small claims court.. and i cant be bothered with paper work. I work on mutual verbal agreements.
I explain why the first clean is more, if they are happy I carry on as normal.
Previously i used to charge double on the first clean, and give them a free 4th clean to sweeten it up a bit. But it got too confusing to remember to give the 4th free..LOL
You mean they mean nothing to you, since doing them I have cut most of the blaggers out, so something must work, have you ever tried ?
-
First cleans are always double.
Or if im in the area and i have time, then its 1.5 times regular 4 weekly clean price (depends if im feeling nice to lower my price).
Generally most first cleans are horrible and are worthy of charging more. Also it stops people from saying i want a regular cleaner and dump you after the first clean when you charged your regular clean price.
I very rare charge anymore for first cleans but they sign a contract for regular work or they are charged a one-off cleaning price and thats more than double a standard clean.
contracts mean nothing.. if people dont want to pay they wont.. not worth the hassle for small claims court.. and i cant be bothered with paper work. I work on mutual verbal agreements.
I explain why the first clean is more, if they are happy I carry on as normal.
Previously i used to charge double on the first clean, and give them a free 4th clean to sweeten it up a bit. But it got too confusing to remember to give the 4th free..LOL
You mean they mean nothing to you, since doing them I have cut most of the blaggers out, so something must work, have you ever tried ?
No, for me its too much work. I just double the first clean price and leave it as that, that rules out the blaggers ok for me.
I will actually go back to my original idea soon, of double first clean price, and 4th clean is free. i will be using a better way of tracking it..
-
Contracts are good idea, if you can get them to work! ;)
ive always got mine to work
in my favour 8)
-
Hey Dave,
I remember you starting up around the same time as me to. Are you still enjoying it?
Andy
hi andy, I am most definitely enjoying it.
I enjoy the cleaning, the planning, the marketing, the challenge, pushing yourself to do better, the investment ideas, the dumping crap custies/slow payers, everything.
hope you are too, well done on your average.
I don't have any MASSIVE jobs to bump up my average. the best four are..... one domestic £120 every 6 weeks, one domestic £100 every 8 weeks, one block of flats £150 every 12 weeks and one commercial averaging £110 every 6 weeks.
no silly money jobs, but a lot of fair sized jobs.
my round is almost unrecognisable to what it was a year ago. i'm sure there are those which are doing much better than me, but my advice to anyone that would listen would be keep improving your equipment and skills and don't let anyone take advantage of you. everyone will let you clean their windows for peanuts if you let them
-
I think mines 14-15 and to be honest i expected that to be one of the highest on here. It just goes to show.
There is of course a mean median and mode. Mode being the most frequent price, median being the one in the middle regardless of anything else, and mean (what most people including george mean by average, total value divided by total number).
I think it's a bit snobish not to take work below a certain value, but then i'm not at or near capacity.
hi, I am just past capacity and have only taken this step as I was a week and half late on my profitable jobs, mainly due to first cleans on new jobs.
I either had to stop advertising or do something like a big minimum charge, hence the post.
no snobbery, but if taking on a job isn't moving me forward, what's the point of taking it on?
-
I'm probably a bit more chaotic than you, and i can't fault your logic or clear direction. I was behind too because of holidays. I have a helper now and have caught the work.
The helper has given me 50% extra capacity, so at a stroke i am again under capacity.These little chats are very instructive, it's a pity because of the way the forum is for being jumped on we can't be even franker.
-
I'm probably a bit more chaotic than you, and i can't fault your logic or clear direction. I was behind too because of holidays. I have a helper now and have caught the work.
The helper has given me 50% extra capacity, so at a stroke i am again under capacity.These little chats are very instructive, it's a pity because of the way the forum is for being jumped on we can't be even franker.
thanks re the logic/direction comment, I don't quite get the last bit about the forum being jumped on. do you mean by potential newbies?
-
I'm probably a bit more chaotic than you, and i can't fault your logic or clear direction. I was behind too because of holidays. I have a helper now and have caught the work.
The helper has given me 50% extra capacity, so at a stroke i am again under capacity.These little chats are very instructive, it's a pity because of the way the forum is for being jumped on we can't be even franker.
thanks re the logic/direction comment, I don't quite get the last bit about the forum being jumped on. do you mean by potential newbies?
I doubt it. Just people who can't (or don't) do something themselves and therefore think it is impossible, bigheaded, or just plain stupid.
-
oh..... does that happen on here? lol