[dazmond]

anyone got any grudge cleans left?

i have a few here and there and their all on cheaper estate work.as ive been a window cleaner for many years and ive been guilty of not putting prices up for years.esp customers who ive been cleaning 10 years +.over the last few years new work pricing is much better and higher and ive put some of this older work up but its still not enough.
 
 im just about making £150 a day on most estate work which is very compact.9am-4pm.virtually all WFP.I feel it should be more like £180-£200.

im a lot more professional than i used to be and clean frames,sill, doors etc.reliable,honest and very trustworthy.

im having a price review of around 120 accounts and price rises of £1-£2 per job.some went up by a fiver 2 years ago.

the problem im having is some are going 2 monthly,others penny pinching a little.i know i will lose some of these accounts but i dont want any of these people who are struggling to stop me from raising prices or else ill still be cleaning these jobs in 5 years time for the same price and theyll be worth even less!!

im starting to realise that WFP costs thousands of pounds a year to run.with van costs,repairs,hoses,poles,resin,insurances etc.

one thing im lazy with is canvassing better priced work.i tend to let work come to me.dont get me wrong im doing ok i just feel i need to constantly improve year on year.im too busy cleaning these cheaper accounts to go canvassing thus not really improving my round a great deal!

im having a thorough review this month of all my work and telling customers of price rises next month to be implemented in april.

what are your thoughts and experiences  lads?


regards


dazmond

[Small but perfectley formed]

we had cancellations with 50 p increase

[dazmond]

i work mainly in affluent areas but this "squeezed middle" are losing jobs,builders,electricians,plumbers finding it hard to get good work,shops going to the wall etc,etc.

im not going to let this stop me from putting my prices up though as having clean windows IS VERY IMPORTANT!!!

[daniel worgan]

Just sell the stuff that you think is underpriced,or you know the customer will object to a price rise.
If you sell it a 3-4 times the value...which you shouldn't have any problem in doing then just get a canvasser in and pay them 2 times to get you stuff that is properly priced,this way you get to control how much new stuff you want to clean and your'e getting paid to get rid of the "grudge cleans"....

[dazmond]

sounds like an idea DW.thing is ive been cleaning some of this very compact work for 15+ years and they are all good payers plus i get lots of conny roof/fascia cleans in spring/summer,good xmas tips etc.

im sure i will only lose a handful and get some of them back within a few months when they realise other window cleaners wont clean one house too cheaply sandwiched in the middle of a mountain of my work!!

[bobby p]

have you got some still at original price of 15 yrs ago Daz? how many

[dazmond]

no bobby all prices have risen over the last 15 years but some only 2 or 3 times!!!

[Tom White]

I'm a bit like you, Daz.  And it's easy to avoid putting your prices up.  Last year we went all WFP, new (2nd hand) van etc; and I didn't want to put my prices up in tandem with that.

This year I'll dither 'cos of my perception of some of my customer's finances.

I need more work also.

In fact the bottom line is that I need to get my lazy ass out and rustle up some more work.  More work means less fear when it comes to putting up prices; I can afford to lose them.  But even then, that's irrational because in the past when I've put prices up, I've rarely lost any - never more than three.

Another thing I've always done is, if I've worked hard and got upto date, rather than keep working to get to a point where I've no work - and then get out canvassing - I'll just get lazy and spread the work I have left out.  I need to keep my nose to the grind stone, run out of work, and then get canvassing.

So, I think this is the plan:

1.  Work hard till I've ran out of jobs to clean.
2.  Canvass.
3.  Put prices up.

Oh, and another thing I've ended up with is that I clean accounts in an illogical order.  I have my favourites, which tend to get done bang on time, and I have my usual stuff, which is in and amongst my favourites; and these get done 'as and when'.  I need to get them all in order so I'm not wasting time and fuel travelling about.

[king marko]

Im in exactly the same situation - classic mistake of underpricing some work from the start, now i hate doing it every month
the worst thing is I know the customers are only having it done coz its cheap, Im always waiting for them to mess me about so i can justify to myself sticking a couple of quid on the price or dumping them but they never do
this last 8 months ive steadily built more better priced work into the rounds - dont get me wrong its slow going tho, but until im full up ill keep going - a few of these houses are due in the next week or so - Ive made a descision to start with just a couple and introduce a small increase and see how it goes

[Richard iSparkle]

it's funny, i;m canvassing an area where a local window cleaner has just retired from.  he was cleaning for 25+ yrs and his prices are just insane.  you can tell his newer clients who are only £4 or so away from our prices, but some of the others were paying pea nuts (£8 for a house we'd charge £18 to clean) and are horrified when i quote them modern prices. 

[dazmond]

im on a mission now!i told around 10 customers their price is going up from april today.all of them moaned even though it was only a £1 on each account.when i explained to them why they were all fine about it!only another 110 to go!!!

[Lee GLS]

How does WFP cost thousands? You need a van regardless of what method you clean windows! As for repairs poles ect, this doesn't cost much. Is 18 months of WFP I've had to replace 1 pump, 3 sets of pre filters, and a bag of resin, hardly a fortune!

[Steve Sed]

Most trad guys use the family car.

[Cliff perkins]

Go for it daz its only a pound as u say and if u loose a few so what,dont work for peanuts mate look at the bigger picture

[rscleaningservices]

Daz my old son I wouldnt put all up at once do it in stages just incase you lose quite abit which Im sure you wont as the customers get to know youas you you say things are getting expensive good luck son !!!!!

[Sean Dyer]

DAZ

I am putting mine up my similar work to yours up by 25% in april

sounds alot

but actually its £6 goes to £7.50 and £8 becomes £10 , £10 becomes £12.50 etc

Anything over ten quid on my rounds is 99% new work i have canvassed and is thus priced ok

I have a load of 3 bed semi type stuff that probably should be ten - 12 minimum nowadays but as i bought it a few years ago it has been £6-10 , so all need a couple of quid on them , so 1st april there is 25 % going on

Also i am changing over to wfp on this work this month and last, i dont see why change over should mean you don't put prices up for a year

But if your working hard like you say 9-4 with wfp on compact work and doing 150 they definitely want a rise.. or you need to move quicker

[Sean Dyer]

PS i was doing the lowest priced of these this morning and they are also the most difficult ie lead , loads of glass etc , and after 2 hours decided sod it im coming back tomorrow with the wfp for em 

went and done some better paying stuff,ive got 2 days left on ladders this week and then its bye bye forever (apart from 2 days a month )

[LBWCS]

I'm a bit like you, Daz.  And it's easy to avoid putting your prices up.  Last year we went all WFP, new (2nd hand) van etc; and I didn't want to put my prices up in tandem with that.

This year I'll dither 'cos of my perception of some of my customer's finances.

I need more work also.

In fact the bottom line is that I need to get my lazy ass out and rustle up some more work.  More work means less fear when it comes to putting up prices; I can afford to lose them.  But even then, that's irrational because in the past when I've put prices up, I've rarely lost any - never more than three.

Another thing I've always done is, if I've worked hard and got upto date, rather than keep working to get to a point where I've no work - and then get out canvassing - I'll just get lazy and spread the work I have left out.  I need to keep my nose to the grind stone, run out of work, and then get canvassing.

So, I think this is the plan:

1.  Work hard till I've ran out of jobs to clean.
2.  Canvass.
3.  Put prices up.

Oh, and another thing I've ended up with is that I clean accounts in an illogical order.  I have my favourites, which tend to get done bang on time, and I have my usual stuff, which is in and amongst my favourites; and these get done 'as and when'.  I need to get them all in order so I'm not wasting time and fuel travelling about.

spot on glad im not the only one!

[dazmond]

RS CLEANING im putting 120 of my lowest jobs up mate.i still have another 200 accounts that i wont be putting up!so plenty of work.

ill let you know how i go on with them!i reckon ill only lose 3-4 jobs!!thats usually the case anyway!!!


fingers crossed!!

[rscleaningservices]

Dazo im sure you wont lose any you sound like you do a good job & you sound like a nice fella so I reckon you get on well with your custys & they should be fine dont get greedy thou will ya with ya increase pmsl !!!!! gd luck !!!