[concept]

Hi chaps, picked up a builders clean today, can anyone advise on pricing? Inside and out, just a bit uncertain!

Cheers

[Martin ccs]

Hi chaps, picked up a builders clean today, can anyone advise on pricing? Inside and out, just a bit uncertain!

Cheers

at least double what you would normally charge, infact maybe even upto four times as much! depends how bad they are - with tape and concrete and so on.

they may look ok but once you get into it you may find the jobs gonna take alot longer than you thought and by then you have given a price.

maybe clean a few windows to see how bad they are and then work out how long it may take you.

[Steve CM]

be careful simon. had my fingers burn't a few times on not getting builders cleans priced right

[colley614]

I'd never do a builders clean for any company I don't know as last time I did one I left my employee on one all week while I did my normal work. I spoke to the site foreman on the Friday (This guy had been finding my employee more jobs all week saying he would pay for the extra.) we agreed on the price for 45 hours work cleaning all sorts when I'd just priced windows. Anyway he said to go and see him on the Monday for my money and low and behold I turned up and every bit of the builders kit had gone. The guy would not answer his phone to me and I've never seen him since and trust me every time I see block and mesh I'm looking to see who it is working on the site. My Dads boss has asked me to start doing builders cleans for him and this is the only person I trust, I'd never do them again for anybody! 

[Small but perfectley formed]

£2.50- £5 per window depending if your down south.

[Ian Lancaster]

I'm with the 'don't do builders cleans' brigade.

They are a pain in the ass - extremely hard work and you never get paid a decent rate for the effort you have to put in.

If I ever were to do any again, I would only do it on a time basis of £45 and hour and I would estimate how long it would take then demand that much plus 100% up front with a promise to reimburse any unused time at the end of the job.

In other words, I still wouldn't do it.

[stephen s]

be careful simon. had my fingers burn't a few times on not getting builders cleans priced right

same here and it defo wont happen again as I always put a hefty quote in as not bothered if I get it or not but if I do I make it worth my while




if you think the job will take 2 days to clean say    then don't be surprised if it takes double that time and if the builders clean is on a site then a cherry picker may be required

[[GQC] Tim]

Don't even think about pricing it twice. 2x the price is for first cleans. Builders cleans can take 5 times as long, sometimes even worse if you really want a perfect job done.

I've burnt myself on it as well.

[Andy Foster]

I charge £8 per pane which covers the inside and out, I always insist on a cherry picker or scissor lift for doing the exteriors.

Make sure your payment terms are rock solid otherwise you can get burned.
Always try to insist on weekly payment.

Good luck.

Andy

[ccmids]

plaster, paint , dust , stickers on the glass,sealant, you should be charging a day rate I do.
some places ive done have tacken me 2 days, im not jokeing mate think very Carefully. this could be a good one for you. best of luck.

[Mist A Bit]

in the past i`ve lost out on this type of job so do be carefull. i think if i was to do a builders clean again i`d do it on day rate

[Andy Foster]

Very few builders (if any) will have you on a day rate unless they have some idea of how many days it will take you.

You may get a small time builder with only one or two property sites but any of the big names will want a price off you.  Best to just make the quote for the work very specific and make sure that it is perfectly clear... in writing... that any extras are at whatever day rate you can get for them.

With the bigger sites, you should be able to give a price for an average house or property and just multiply it up to give you your job price.  You will lose out on some properties and make it up on others.

Commercial properties are a different animal altogether and you may be able to get job prices for some items of the clean and day rates for the others but the QS will never let you get away with a day rate for the lot as they have to set out budgets and unless they have a finite figure, how can they keep within it.

Surely you can visit site before you have to give a price, in which case just figure out how long it will take to do a sample of say 5 windows in and ou and then multiply it up... simples!

[geefree]

well,.... after all that... if it was me i wouldnt do it...

They have all frightened me to death  :.....

[windowswashed]

I wouldn't touch them ever again. Use to charge 4 times the normal price. Wait ages to get paid and sometimes get burnt. Isn't really worth the hassle.

[daz1977]

i have never understood builders getting in new people,  they usually keep to there own little group, (due to back handers) unless they ripped someone off,   i got stung on a plumbing job like that once, phone call out of the blue, big job, loads of other jobs to price up,  even a job in his dads house, quoted and got thought great, started the tiler in this dads house and went in to cap everything off on a other job so they could begin,  then got booted off all the jobs as tiler had used 2 mill spacers instead of 3 mill (i know)

basically got shafted, as bloke only wanted quotes so he could show customers and pocket the money, then put his own lads on it   lesson learned

[M Henderson]

My first experience with a big builders clean was Heaton Manor school in Newcastle.

It was a BIG job and a huge learning experience. We were subcontracted in by the people who had fit the windows which was odd. I put a quote in which I thought was high and the guy laughed at me and told me to think again and come back with a decent figure.

He was under pressure to get the job done and didn't want us to be walking off site after realizing that we'd totally underquoted leaving him to find someone else last minute. So he said my quote was way too low!

By the end of the job 3 weeks later, having earned hardly any more than I would have had I done my normal work I realised that I could have practically written my own cheque and asked twice as much.

The cleanup is usually one of the last things that gets done and the pressure is usually on to get finished by an already expired deadline.

Moral of the story is that on some builders cleans they just want the job done and don't have time to be getting quotes from Tom, Dick and Harry.

If it's a big build then the price you charge is just going to be passed to the main contractor who then passes a big fat bill to the building owner.

Think of a price that you would consider high and double it. If you get the job then great, you just might earn something decent.  If you don't get the job then you've saved yourself the hassle.

As said they are usually slow to pay and you need to spend time on preparing your health and safety RS and MS stuff because they're red hot on it on building sites.

Depending on what stage the building site is at you might need to allow for buying steel toe caps and the rest of the PPE if its your first builders clean, maybe access hire and IPAF training. If it's a big job you'll go through a lot more equipment than usual and probably get stuff nicked. Stock up with plenty of scraper blades , bottles of oil flo etc.

Get it right and your on a winner, get it wrong and it's a nightmare.

[DavidX]

I would never do builders cleans windows, It my worse nightmare

[amayze]

Simon, I would recommend that you get the prices in advance !

Also, watch out .....most cleans are towards the end of the job and you may just have some old man touching up the paintwork at the same time ! LOL !