[Bay View WCS]

So I gets a call from new custy wanting a quote- I'd been recommended by another custy.  Had a look and while she was showing me round she mentioned she had got rid of the last windy- I asked what happened and she said 'well, I was in when he did the windows and he was on his mobile the whole time and I worked it out and thought that it was wrong that he was earning a higher hourly rate than me when I've got a PhD!''

Oh, says I, what was he chargin?
'£7.50 per month' says she
'well my price is £12.00 per 4 weeks' (and that's on the cheap side tbh)

a look of 'oh sh*t, what have I done?' comes over her face. 'Can you do it now and we'll give you a ring when we want it doin coz I'm not working at the moment?'
'fat lot of good your PhD was then innit!' thinks I
'No sorry, I don't work like that- it must be a regular arrangement but I can come every 8 weeks for £14.00' says I

Cue the 'oh sh*t, what have I done?' face again. 'Well ok then, we'll have them done every 8 weeks then'  she says sheepishly.  But she paid in advance and I've got them to do in the morning- plus an extra couple of quid for the first clean.

I have a feeling she won't be keepin me long - not when she sees how quick the second clean will be 

[Paddy Woods]

Brillant    ....that gave me a good giggle!!

[AS Window Cleaning]

Amazing how your perception of value for money affects how you feel.  Customers can be fine about how much you charge, can be happy with the job, but  if they time you and if your too quick they feel not getting value for money!

not such a prob since wfp, think people accept you have spent out and it makes it quicker.

Nice story......  

[EandM]

Serves her right. Little sympathy with people who don't live on Planet Earth.

[dave f]

i had a custy give me the bullit for doing the job to quick i used to do it trad but when i went wfp did the job half the time he dint like it  tride to put extra work on for same price when i said that would be extra fired me

[John F]

i do a lawyers office every 3 months. £55 takes about 40 to 50 minutes. do the first clean and the secretary signs the work docket and asks how do they pay? i say the invoice will be in the post, next time i turn up and do the normal clean she remarks that it was a good hourly rate i have and she is a legal secretary and she only earns blah blah blah.

she cant understand how business works. why explain? just send the invoice and who gives a toss? there are people out there who have a little bubble that they live in.

your new customer sounds like one of these but who knows? if she does cancel then replace her with two new customers. this way you get too busy to get angry at these muppets .  

let us know what happens though mate.

[matty72]

this job is physical, the older you get the less you will earn, fact of life with manual jobs, sitting in an office there pay will still go up, points like this wont even be thought of by these type of customers, tell her to stick up her ass politely of course lol

[g.brookes]

i must admit before i started window cleaning i had no idea about running a business.  when the plumber came round and charged £60 per hour I was gobsmacked and i was working out how much more money he earned than me.
Its very easy when youre not self employed to not realise that out of that money you are paying for all your equipment, vehicle, insurance, holiday sick pay and generally an earlier retirement with it being a physical job.
a lot of people see the money they give you as all going in your bank/under the matress, so i actively try and make the point whenever i can to customers if they raise their eyebrows at the amount.
was it tosh or someone who said you only actually end up with about 50% of what the customer gives you?

[matty72]

agree with the above as well, it is good money but you do work for it and have exspenses on top, work it out over 40 to 50 years that people work, it ends up not being as good as you think, manual work is that way, but i like working for myself and outside,  i now try and tell customers this, difficult though.

[richard jagger]

Your customer has a phd in what not common sense then.You would think a lady with a good education would know better. That`s why she is unemployed.I just dont have time for these types.I also went to uni and have a honours degree, but clean window so what. No one is stopping her cleaning window she wont need her PHD.

[GB Window Cleaning]

good post and some good replys, overall good read this 

[AuRavelling79]

Also we are not just window cleaners we are self employed window cleaners running our own business.

To compare like with like you need to compare yourself with a partner in the legal firm she works for. Or better yet what her firm charges.

So I would politely say "How much does your firm charge per hour for legal advice?" and when she tells me "£165 plus vat" or somesuch you can just look at her.

The point being that even her senior partner won't be on that sort of screw!

[Blue Frog Systems]

Had a regular comment yesterday that i cleaned her windows quick this time, infact she told me i was 3 mins quicker than the past few times.

Have just got some improved equipment so i showed her... she wasnt being funny, she was just interested in how i shaved the time off.

Her husband is SE so she understands the ins & outs of being SE