[Pj]

When you go to price a house/bungalow and it has a conservatory -
 how much do you allow to clean just the side windows of an average conservatory? 

And how long would you estimate to clean?

You know the type: dwarf wall, each window pane about 4' x 3', 2 panes to a frame, about 6 frames and a pair of patio doors.  (victorian style pitch roof not included).

[chris@c.m.s]

quoted for one like that yesterday £7

[Sanity]

Standard charge of £5 no matter what size, but the roof / guttering are seperate and priced per panel.

[Pj]

So........
£7
£5

Thanks, good start. 

And roughly how long do you allow.

[geefree]

my area ...semi £7... with average con... a tenner

[chris@c.m.s]

5-7 mins I'd have thought never timed myself. I do hate doing my mums though pot plants everywhere and plant leaves stuck to the glass grrrrr  :

[matt]

Standard charge of £5 no matter what size, but the roof / guttering are seperate and priced per panel.

im about the same to be honest, a normal 3 M X 3 M ( ish ) is about 5 quid

i have 1 thats 35 quid though, but that is massive

[Wayne Thomas]

Standard charge of £5 no matter what size, but the roof / guttering are seperate and priced per panel.

im about the same to be honest, a normal 3 M X 3 M ( ish ) is about 5 quid

i have 1 thats 35 quid though, but that is massive

Matt,

I bet your massive one isn't as big as one I done. 50ft by 50ft by 3 storeys high. No joke. I dumped it after a couple years because it was torture trying to work with so much heat reflecting off all the tiny panes of glass. Initially it use to take 4hours trad. Got it down to 1hour but had to pack it in because it was playing tricks on my eyes all the time.

[matt]

Standard charge of £5 no matter what size, but the roof / guttering are seperate and priced per panel.

im about the same to be honest, a normal 3 M X 3 M ( ish ) is about 5 quid

i have 1 thats 35 quid though, but that is massive

Matt,

I bet your massive one isn't as big as one I done. 50ft by 50ft by 3 storeys high. No joke. I dumped it after a couple years because it was torture trying to work with so much heat reflecting off all the tiny panes of glass. Initially it use to take 4hours trad. Got it down to 1hour but had to pack it in because it was playing tricks on my eyes all the time.

no, you have me beat

i do a swimming pool building aswell, thats all glass, but still not that big

[Wayne Thomas]

Matt,

I have a friend who cleans out swimming pools. How do you go about pricing them out of interest? With experience you could easily price by time taken but for a novice how would you price?

[Ian_Giles]

I charge about an extra fiver for a smallish conservatory, but I always wash everything from the outside of the gutters down.
If the gutters and frames are dirty and green I'll charge extra on a first clean and it also gives me more leeway on charging a higher price on a repeat clean because when the customer sees the difference in the conservatory when you've finished they are more than happy to pay the price I charge.

Time taken on a repeat clean - including all guttering and frames?....Mmmm...dunno for sure but I suppose that by washing down the frames and guttering it adds just a couple of minutes to the job.
A standard semi without conservatory - £10 = 10 minutes, with small conservatory (£5/7 extra) = 15/17 minutes.

So long as it works out at a £1.00 per minute worked I know I have it priced right.

[Pj]

The reason why I put this one up is because I had half a dozen all the same conservatories yesterday, so I timed them, and I did a couple trad  and timed them too.  I tried to keep to same speed and then used a stopwatch.

I usually just guesstimate.  Boring really, but this is what goes on in the head of a window cleaner whilst working............Well, apart from Quantum Physics and solving the mysteries of the ever expanding Universe.

Results?  How long do you think?

[Ian_Giles]

Oops! :
Missed the original daft post off....will be gone very shortly!

[Pj]

I enjoy time trials
Even though i'm getting slower

[frames to panes]

Same as Ian for me. Once everything is clean i would imagine to clean the panels trad would probably be quicker than wfp but i prefer to wash everything down including outside gutters every time.

[Sanity]

Yup, wash everything.  Frames, sills, doors, glass etc.  just gutters / roof are not done.

Takes about an extra five or ten mins on top of the house clean.

But most of my houses are 3 bed semis, so whole job inc house takes maybe 25mins...

[matt]

Matt,

I have a friend who cleans out swimming pools. How do you go about pricing them out of interest? With experience you could easily price by time taken but for a novice how would you price?

its only the glass around it

im afraid its all a guess  with the guess on the large side, as we know, i like to charge prem prices for the larger stuff, this pool in question is 20 M X 12 M and glass all around it ( with glass panels in the roof ), i just thought it would take me X amount of time, added that with my premium "rich tax" then added a little more because i could, i then came to a very nice price, half of these people dont really live in the real world anyway, she was happy with the price and i was over the moon with it, every1 was a winner, i havent put it up in 4 years though, dont want to upset her, but it doesnt matter as the price is still very good

[Pj]

Yes, as most of you say, I also clean everything I can reach and is visible - ie. door panels, sills fascia etc up to gutter line.

So

WFP - 6 minutes

TRAD - 6 minutes