[MJHolmes]

Hi all, just thought id ask what would you do if some one was under cutting your prices.....

1. Would you kick off with them
2. Would you match there price
3. Would you not think anything of it.
4. Would you think thats business ust like asda and tesco.....

Thanks

[perfectpanesplymouth]

just let them go and do it, you have priced up at what you  think the job is worth. Don't match the price as the custie will then never let you put price up as they will just say that so and so will do it for x amount

[formb]

If you have given a fair price and get undercut, chances are your undercutter wont last long.

If you have been ripping your customer off, then tough t!tt!es.

[Llaaww]

I see a few of these undercutting threads, so here is my two cents.

Firstly I would never willingly or knowingly undercut another window cleaner. I don't think it does the industry any good.

I have seen people undercut one another until the work is simply unusable. The bigger nationwide customers are the worst. With the big nationals the turnover of window cleaners is huge, because everybody has a pop at them when they try to build their empire. The best way to win them is to punt a low price. Many of these jobs are now worthless, after years of undercutting in order to win the work.

If I am out canvassing and a punter asks me for a quote and say's "the lad that does it now does it for a tenner" my standard answer is that the best I can do is match it, and then put in my price. These people automatically go into the "Keep an eye on this one" file, if I decide to work for them at all. They will do the same thing with the next lad that comes along, so you can never really trust them.

Nine out of ten (or more) prices that I put in, go in blind. I simply don't know, and don't want to know what somebody else is doing it for. All I am interested in is whether or not it will be a reliable job for me.

If my price is lower than an existing windie then that is just tough, we live in a free trade market and we can charge what we like to who we like. We should be able to do this without fear of physical, verbal or psychological abuse from other people who have staked their claim on a particular area.

Imho the people who rant and rave about being undercut don't really know for sure that they have been undercut at all. They may be aware that the new guy is doing it for less, but it is unlikely he knew the origional price at all. So rather than deliberatly setting out to undercut an existing price, he would simply put in the one he is happy to work for. Thats competition.

rant over

[Richard iSparkle]

personally i hate it when i;m canvassing and the person has a WC but asks for a quote, just to see if we're cheaper.  i just know that as soon as someone cheaper comes along they'll be off with them.  nowadays we are rarely the cheap quote anyhow, we aim to be at the high end of price and service.

[cozy]

I see a few of these undercutting threads, so here is my two cents.

Firstly I would never willingly or knowingly undercut another window cleaner. I don't think it does the industry any good.

I have seen people undercut one another until the work is simply unusable. The bigger nationwide customers are the worst. With the big nationals the turnover of window cleaners is huge, because everybody has a pop at them when they try to build their empire. The best way to win them is to punt a low price. Many of these jobs are now worthless, after years of undercutting in order to win the work.

If I am out canvassing and a punter asks me for a quote and say's "the lad that does it now does it for a tenner" my standard answer is that the best I can do is match it, and then put in my price. These people automatically go into the "Keep an eye on this one" file, if I decide to work for them at all. They will do the same thing with the next lad that comes along, so you can never really trust them.

Nine out of ten (or more) prices that I put in, go in blind. I simply don't know, and don't want to know what somebody else is doing it for. All I am interested in is whether or not it will be a reliable job for me.

If my price is lower than an existing windie then that is just tough, we live in a free trade market and we can charge what we like to who we like. We should be able to do this without fear of physical, verbal or psychological abuse from other people who have staked their claim on a particular area.

Imho the people who rant and rave about being undercut don't really know for sure that they have been undercut at all. They may be aware that the new guy is doing it for less, but it is unlikely he knew the origional price at all. So rather than deliberatly setting out to undercut an existing price, he would simply put in the one he is happy to work for. Thats competition.

rant over

This post should be a sticky at the top of the page. Post of the week for me.

[A & J Owen Window Cleaning]

under cutters should beware of the repertition here. they will change if someone undercuts them .personally wont give a hoot if i was i give fair prices not inflated ones .

[Smudger]

your right Cozy.

best post i've seen on here in a long time


Darran

[edward1]

 personally ,i put my price in and thats that.i know some are higher than me and some r lower.
 but my prices also vary a bit depending on weather i think i can get that job at a particular quote .or if i need to be more competitive.

an example is .i was doing a contract at 90 per clean .this was a very good price .done the job for about 5 yrs .then another windy quoted 50 and got the job .i wouldnt want to do it for 50 but would still do it for 65/70 .but i had 5 good yrs on that job so cant complain .that new guy will have to almost do twice as long on that job to make the same money as i did .
and he will probably give it up by then and ill get it back .

 

[MJHolmes]

I started last year in july and found out what windys where charging around my area, and charged that little extra knowing that the prices would go up in April 2011 Fact, so then i would be on level par with them, so as from April my prices will stay the same but will offer discounts every so offern to receieve more customers to my business for the first clean and vouchers to spend when ever in the year. Ive already found this does work giving vouchers to my customer and advertising them to none customers. Remember customers pay ower wage so sometime give a little back i say, so you appreciate them giving you a job. You will get many customers if you do this try it....

Under Cutting is not always the best thing.. you have to work harder to recieve a good wage and you have to rush the job to get the money in....I say good price good job work on the property more money. Less losing customers

[Johnny B]

If i lose a customer to someone undercutting me, I welcome the loss. As far as I am aware, I have only lost one customer in 14 years to an undercutter, and that one I was very happy to lose as I wasn't charging anywhere near enough anyway!

Customers who appreciate a job well done for a fair price won't try to penny pinch.

John.

[mikecam]

Hi all, just thought id ask what would you do if some one was under cutting your prices.....

1. Would you kick off with them
2. Would you match there price
3. Would you not think anything of it.
4. Would you think thats business ust like asda and tesco.....

Thanks

I'm uncertain as to what you mean by 'undercutting' in this context. For the avoidance of doubt, do you mean someone going round asking what you charge and offering to do it cheaper than you? Or something else?

[Crystal-clear]

Its all about pricing it right

I downed a house the other day by 20%, the gent wasn't complaining but he was happy when i did, now i could have continued cleaning him earning more money , but i found out what the going rate was in the street and realized he was priced a little to high , this way i wont loose him,unless someone charges less then average price. but these people norm wont last

[deeege]

"knowing that the prices would go up in April 2011 Fact"

Just out of interest keep leyland clean, can you explain the quoted part above? I've seen you say this in a few posts now and was wondering how you know other local wc's will be forced to increase prices.

[TLC]

Couldnt believe it the other day, was out Canvassing the other day and walked up this dead end Rd of quite large new builds, saw a wc 3 houses from end had a chat (nice bloke) said he cleaned the last 3 but none of the others. I obviously left the last 3 n wandered back down the Rd. At the bottom gave a card to this older man who was about to walk up the Rd n gave him a card, said yes he would like a quote etc n that he lived at the last house (other wc's customer) at that moment the other wc drove past old guy looked really awkward n said, that's my current window cleaner n then expected me to follow him up the Rd to give him a quote. I said sorry mate, I'm not gonna take that guys work off him n that was it, just walked off. Disloyal old git!!

TLC

[MJHolmes]

Deeegeee,,,,,,,well if you wanna lose money then thats upto you...but the cost of petrol....equipment... ect....has gone up already and petrol to hit £1.50 a litre in April....so thats why price increase will go up for windys....Fact.

[MJHolmes]

"Market reasearch" is a good idea.

[deeege]

I was asking a genuine question so no need to preach about me "liking to lose money".

Prices of petrol, insurances etc going up is obviously a reason that some will have to increase prices at some point. But to say "they will have to increase their prices in April....fact" is incredibly naive. Different business' have different running costs. Just because you cannot make a living cleaning £5 houses doesn't mean that the next man can't.

(and fwiw no I'm not that man cleaning £5 houses)

[cozy]

Deeege has a point. Lots of things would have to get more expensive before I would raise my domestics by even one euro. I use quite abit of fuel in a month, but an increase of 30 quid a month wouldn't bother me that much. Just an example.

We had Ewan on here months ago shouting and spouting about profit margins. Don't see how anyone can talk about profit margins unless they are an outfit like Lee Pryors or J.V. Price Ltd. The one man bands with between 250 and 400 custies won't NEED to raise prices as soon as petrol goes up 2p a liter on day one.

[Johnny B]

The one man bands with between 250 and 400 custies won't NEED to raise prices as soon as petrol goes up 2p a liter on day one.

Spot on Cozy. I have just sold half my work due to going solo again. I have kept my most local and compact work, which will earn me more than before, thus doing away with the need to raise the prices on my existing customers. 

John