Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: steveo22 on October 29, 2009, 07:43:20 pm
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Today i went to clean a new customers windows. 3 windows at the front, 2 up 1 down with a glass front door. 1 high window on the side, 4 windows at the rear, 2 up 2 down. My normal price for this house would be £10 as the front windows were quite large. When i told the customer the price he nearly fell over, said his old window cleaner (who hadn't turned up for months?!) charged him a fiver???? He said i'd made such a good job though he was prepared to pay £7, when i asked if he was to be a regular customer he said oh yes, monthly i asked? no he said, the old window cleaner was monthly but you've done such a good job that we only require you every 6 weeks?? Done me not only on price but frequency as well!! Anyway before i gave him the price he'd gone a knocked a couple of doors in the street and got me 2 other interested customers, so off i went after i'd finished his windows to give the other potential customers a price. First off next door, knocked the door and said i'm here to price up your windows to which she replied sharply "well they'll be the same as next door" to which i replied "Oh sorry, i didn't know they were EXACTLY the same, didn't know if you perhaps had a conservatory or patio doors maybe? No she said, and you can't do the window above the front door because you cant stand on the porch, it won't take your weight, and its new!! I only weigh about 12 stone! She didn't seem to like me much. So over the road i go to the other customers house, not great access to the windows because of overgrown plants/weeds, same style house as the others with a small extension on the side and also one to the rear, normal price would be about £13. Out of interest i asked what the old window cleaner charged? £5.50 she replied, i cant do it for that i said, be a bit more than that i said, so she's going to get back to me now because she thinks even £7 is too much?? Am i being played?
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Yeh they are probably being economical with the truth abut the las w/cleaners prices. ::)
Honestly.............some customers make you want to eat your young!
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it is one of those things about wc you do tend to get rotten eggs together;
like estates ie ive had two full of top end houses wernt worth working on after a while
all too cheap to price up and didnt like paying .
i just move on when it suits me or if you can do them when weathers iffy
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Thats the normal but when i arrived the customer wasn't home so i just cracked on as i was losing light. This is a new area that i've just started to put out flyers and done one around the corner 2 days ago which i priced at £12 and the customer said yeah, great! Naive i suppose!!
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If you dislike these now just wait for a couple of months to pass by and when they start paying late... ;D ;D Oh and bet that one with the diffiecult side access with the overgrown bushes has loads of cats...and guess where they go to the toilet.
Onwards and upwards.
Dave.
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Did you ask what happened to old window cleaner?
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Bet they killed him and buried him under those bushes ...sorry
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So who runs your business?
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I do
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I have picked up work all year where the last WC was charging 3pound for 3 bedders!5pound for 4 bedders etc.15quid for the 4 bedders and they all came out and said what a great job id done of the windows!i do have quite a few 3 bedders at a 5 or 6 quid but 150 of them v.compact!harder to put them up once uv agreed a price.dont let the custy dictate to u!!on new work im pricing much better now.take it or leave it thats my price and im sticking to it!do u do sills and frames and awkward windows?i do and they seem happier to pay more then.some are chuffed that i do the sills!!as last WC didnt do them or half the windows :o :o :o
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Did you ask what happened to old window cleaner?
The old window cleaner had been doing the all the windows in the street for years apparently, had someone working with him who now no longer does, so hasn't been since about July?? They say they have seen the main window cleaner working elsewhere though so he is still working. Maybe just got too much work now his mate has left?
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Don't know if you're new to this or not but you're making a rod for your own back IMO. You'll regret taking them on at that price.
Unless you're absolutely desperate for the work then stick to your original price! Tight gits who want the world for nothing. Take your expenses off, then deduct 28% for tax+NI & then asses wether it's still worth it. ;)
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Trad by the way if it changes anything??
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Bet they killed him and buried him under those bushes ...sorry
;D ;D ;D I think his name was peat!
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just depends what area hes in MACMAC. no way would u get 10pound for a 3 bedder in manchester!too much competition.i can still make a living on 150 3 bedders at 5 or 6quid a pop plus another 200 custys ranging from 10 to 40quid.i have some granny flats in apoor area where i make 30quid an hour at 2quid a flat!im trad and have a lot lower overheads than WFP plus cost of living cheaper in salford! ;D ;D
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My average price is between £10 and £12 in my area, lowest is a £6 job that takes about 10 mins, highest is £25. Quite new so could do with all the customers i can get, probably got about 50 regulars at the moment!
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So who runs your business?
His customers and the previous window cleaner apparently!
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So who runs your business?
His customers and the previous window cleaner apparently!
???
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did you not give him a price before you cleaned the windows. ???
If you didn't that's silly ::), learn the lesson and move on.
If you had given the price and he had agreed then he's taking the mickey and a waste of space >:(. ditch and move on
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Pick an hourly minimum rate and don't go below it. Anything above it is profit. Don't ask what previous w/c charged. Just quote a price and stick to it. May take longer to fill your round but at least it will be worth it.
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I do
The impression I get is that you're allowing customers to make your business decisions for you.
Take the bull by the horns, for starters dont let them tell you what theyre going to pay you. Tell them what your charge is and dont falter. If they want it fine if not fine as well, they can sh!t on someone else.
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the old cleaner, is prob working on own now and took all the best jobs and dropped the rest,
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the old cleaner, is prob working on own now and took all the best jobs and dropped the rest,
Yeah, thats what i thought
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if your new, take them till your round is full, then replace them with better priced jobs, thats what i am doing at mo, lose a 6 quid job replace it with a 13 quid job,
if your in st helens, watch out for PCNW, he gets like £20 a house and would of got all the neighbours lol any one else agree
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He may have had those jobs at those prices for years and never put the price up. A decade ago those were good prices. He may be on the dole and working at the same time. If you can get a road of £7s then you can make good money and a good hourly rate, but it is hard work. Maybe do them for a few months and when you've pick up some more decent work, explain that you'll either have to drop them or put the price up. Explain the situation as well, that the previous window cleaner is either a dole boy or realised that the work is under priced and dropped it.
Simon.
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ive got a street like that , its only worth while as its compact and ive canvassed a few good uns in with the chaff but they are going up in new year, some double, cant do them forever, if they dont like it they will be dropped, i only paid 3x for the week and have had many times that back nowso not too mithered, although some are nice people but i wouldnt say they are good custies as the prices are pants
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ive got a street like that , its only worth while as its compact and ive canvassed a few good uns in with the chaff but they are going up in new year, some double, cant do them forever, if they dont like it they will be dropped, i only paid 3x for the week and have had many times that back nowso not too mithered, although some are nice people but i wouldnt say they are good custies as the prices are pants
Yep, Sean! I've still got an area like this which I've hung onto during the recession and in January I'm minded to do the same.
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Give written quotations ;)
Every enquiry we get I follow up with a visit and give a printed quotation form with a description of WFP and our 'rain guarantee'. The form has spaces for the custies address, the price and frequency of the job and any extras that might have been agreed.
That way there's no come-back or argument - it's all there in black and white
It also says on the form that conservatory roofs are not included unless specified (we had a spate of chancers trying to tell us we said our price included the cons roof)
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well mate they prob expected to do it for nowt and be greatful for it custies are stupid !!!
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I do
Then tell them you do not wish to work for them.
It's the fish that John West rejects that make them the best.
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So who runs your business?
His customers and the previous window cleaner apparently!
???
It's OK. Gold has a good sense of humour.
I made the mistakes at first too that you are making. If you lety a customer mess you about on price, usually they will mess you about in other ways eventually. By the time my round had grown, I had a fairly large list of "dump when no longer needed"