[John F]

I don't like asking what previous cleaner charged. if u find out, I try and charge more.

if you go cheap just to get it, your working for less. and who knows in 6 months some other wannabe will come along far too cheap again, and you will loose it any!

my advice, quote a realistic normal price. nothing worse than going cheap to get a job, then finding out you could have and should have charged twice the price! quote enough so that you will be happy doing it and can do a good job still.

good advice. well put.

[John F]

You are the guy with the bottle to move to ireland and start from scratch Johnny. you of all people would know the answer to your own question. 

[Steve CM]

I would try my hardest to find out the cheapest price and see if it is worth my while.

If not i walk

business is business

[jouk45]

catherine, have you ever thought that they are lying, if i was a big company and i had a tender out, and i already had  cheap quotes, of course i would say, well the quote we have is a bit cheaper than that we may consider your quote if you  can beat that price, it does go on

[Johnny B]

Thanks for all your replies folks. I've read them all. They are really constructive and I appreciate them all.

My thoughts are that I feel for the guy who is cleaning the windows for the home at the moment. He has been doing the job for years, so has built up a reputation for loyalty with them, and because of his length of service to them, must be doing a grand job.

Sadly their loyalty to him seems dependent on whether he would be prepared to take a pay cut or lose the job altogether as soon as they find someone cheaper, which they will have no hesitation in visiting upon the next windy to come along, and the next ...

I will pass this one up and concentrate on seeking out and finding my own customers, and hope the current guy can hold on to this job for as long as he can.

John









 

[Paul Coleman]

I had similar happen once.  They told me the then current price (I didn't ask).  I couldn't believe how cheaply they were getting it done.  I just gave my "amazed" look and asked "You are only being charged £xx and you want it even cheaper?"  "I would be charging nearly double that." I meant it too.  I then suggested that they look after their window cleaner better  and give him a bit more money in case they lost him.
I wasn't taking the p either.

[Catherine10]

Tenders are different Jouk its massive amount of paperwork folded up in documentation, ISO0901, and all the accreditations not on local level stuff. Local level stuff is so much easier to deal with.  Had a classic example today, and yes companies do try it on.

[stuart mc]

I was asked to do the same thing this week, only I know the current w/c contractor and I know he is good, so I phoned him and told him, I added £40 to his price and put it in, even though he said he would rather lose it to me than someone else, but I sub some work from him, and he gave me a set of ladders to start up a few years ago, I did ask what was wrong with the current w/c and they said nothing, head office just wanted up to date quotes to see if they could save some money

[CLEANCARE WC]

Thanks for all your replies folks. I've read them all. They are really constructive and I appreciate them all.

My thoughts are that I feel for the guy who is cleaning the windows for the home at the moment. He has been doing the job for years, so has built up a reputation for loyalty with them, and because of his length of service to them, must be doing a grand job.

Sadly their loyalty to him seems dependent on whether he would be prepared to take a pay cut or lose the job altogether as soon as they find someone cheaper, which they will have no hesitation in visiting upon the next windy to come along, and the next ...

I will pass this one up and concentrate on seeking out and finding my own customers, and hope the current guy can hold on to this job for as long as he can.

John



I see your picking up the Lingo ok 





 

[Johnny B]

Thanks for all your replies folks. I've read them all. They are really constructive and I appreciate them all.

My thoughts are that I feel for the guy who is cleaning the windows for the home at the moment. He has been doing the job for years, so has built up a reputation for loyalty with them, and because of his length of service to them, must be doing a grand job.

Sadly their loyalty to him seems dependent on whether he would be prepared to take a pay cut or lose the job altogether as soon as they find someone cheaper, which they will have no

hesitation in visiting upon the next windy to come along, and the next ...

I will pass this one up and concentrate on seeking out and finding my own customers, and hope the current guy can hold on to this job for as long as he can.

John



I see your picking up the Lingo ok  





 

To be sure I am that sir! 

John

[William McCafferty]

I sometimes cannot believe what I read at times, every year all of us have to renew our vechicle insurance and every year we go though several companies getting quotes, and with most of these they ask if we have already been quoted, they will then come back with a cheaper quote.

The same happens when we book holidays, do the weekly shop or when we need new equipment for the business.

If you are talking about a domestic customers who is looking to save a few quid, yes you won't undercut the other cleaner, but will you turn down the chance to get a commercial contract that could be worth thousands over a couple of quid.

If your answer is yes, then I hope you show the same level of loyalty to your present companies you shop at.

[carl stanton]

PURE, yes thus is true, but we do not sell just a product, we sell effectively ourselves, though be it for a short time
that is the service we do which involves time out of our life's in  a sense, though be it for our responsibility to provide and work in society, where as these other things are a product

though after that i do agree with what you say on some level, we talk about 'this is what i want to get in monies'
but then when it comes to buying we crunch numbers

we want the most money but the least to pay out, as do we all

blimey i need more coffee

[William McCafferty]

Carl

It dosen't matter if you are offering a service or product, you are running a business, and pricing is all part of it, if the other cleaner was a personal friend then I would not undercut, but a competitor why not.

I know that I will not go below what I am happy to do the job for, but if I have to lower my price a little to earn a lot, well its a no brainer.

[carl stanton]

fare do's Pure, think i should have just gone out to work rather than posting, give me time to think about my comments at work!!       lol

[NBwcs]

"Thanks for all your replies folks. I've read them all. They are really constructive and I appreciate them all.

My thoughts are that I feel for the guy who is cleaning the windows for the home at the moment. He has been doing the job for years, so has built up a reputation for loyalty with them, and because of his length of service to them, must be doing a grand job.

Sadly their loyalty to him seems dependent on whether he would be prepared to take a pay cut or lose the job altogether as soon as they find someone cheaper, which they will have no hesitation in visiting upon the next windy to come along, and the next ...

I will pass this one up and concentrate on seeking out and finding my own customers, and hope the current guy can hold on to this job for as long as he can.

John "



Good for you Johnny

[stuart mc]

Carl

It dosen't matter if you are offering a service or product, you are running a business, and pricing is all part of it, if the other cleaner was a personal friend then I would not undercut, but a competitor why not.

I know that I will not go below what I am happy to do the job for, but if I have to lower my price a little to earn a lot, well its a no brainer.

yes I agree, the post I put up was my brother so not be taking to serious, anyone else and I would have certainly took a look an seen if I could better the price, but the chances are, I wouldn't, but if I could, I would without a shadow of a doubt, it is business at the end of the day

[NBwcs]

I sometimes cannot believe what I read at times, every year all of us have to renew our vechicle insurance and every year we go though several companies getting quotes, and with most of these they ask if we have already been quoted, they will then come back with a cheaper quote.

The same happens when we book holidays, do the weekly shop or when we need new equipment for the business"

Very true, everyone wants a bargain but the stark reality of window cleaning is that its very low skilled and wfp has made it potentially available as a start up business to anyone, and we're heading for a scenerio  where we're all driving sign written vans with uniforms and the only difference between us is price. Without the "code" or respect for each other etc it can only lead to prices being driven down, its a very slippery slope. Wfp is without a doubt the best thing thats happened to the window cleaning industry, and combined with the "business is business" idealogy, it will undoubtly be the the worse thing thats happened to window cleaning.

[William McCafferty]

window cleaning is the same as any other business and it should be treated as such, for instance there are many different window cleaners, you have, Trad, wfp, domestic, commercial, shops only, cradle, abseiling.

Now all of these offer different services to their customers, some phone the night before, some don't, some collect the money at the end of the week and some don't, some clean the frames and sills, others charge extra for doing this.

Because of this and other things, all window cleaners are different, it is illegal to run "cartels" and price fixing window cleaning could fall into this catagory.

I offer a service but to my customers I sell my business to them first and foremost, price is a factor but to some its not the be all and end all.

[NBwcs]

"Because of this and other things, all window cleaners are different, it is illegal to run "cartels" and price fixing window cleaning could fall into this catagory."

How could not undercutting other wc's possibly constitute a Cartel . Plenty of good lads round these parts just not prepared to tread on other windys toes, price doesnt come into it, if custy has a wc, you just dont quote, yet we all charge slightly differently.

[William McCafferty]

"Because of this and other things, all window cleaners are different, it is illegal to run "cartels" and price fixing window cleaning could fall into this catagory."

How could not undercutting other wc's possibly constitute a Cartel . Plenty of good lads round these parts just not prepared to tread on other windys toes, price doesnt come into it, if custy has a wc, you just dont quote, yet we all charge slightly differently.

so the customer does not have the choice to move to another cleaner then, because you all work as a team and will not quote them because they already have a cleaner, fixing prices or conditions on where a customer can get a service is just like running a cartel and a very strange way to run a business.

But thats upto you, until the day a newbie moves into the area and starts to target everybodys customers.