[dazmond]

picked up a new job yesterday.i used to clean  this guys windows years ago when he lived elsewhere and bumped into him while cleaning in another area.

anyway i went to price it up.(think of faulty towers!! ).big place set in its own grounds.he said he had cleaned them himself around 6 months ago.from a distance they didnt look too bad.he said there is the odd bit of silicon that will need to be scraped off.i thought no problem ill take the hit first clean then it will be an hours work on maintenance cleans(8 weekly).i thought £45 so he paid me cash then went out leaving me to it.

i was there for 3 HOURS!!on closer inspection the windows were absolutely filthy and under the layers of dirt on the windows were loads of silicon on nearly every window!!i wfpoled the lot and then went round to every ground floor window(still needed my single pointer)and scraped and scraped!there is the odd bit of silicon on the top windows but i just wfpoled them.

in hindsight it was more like a builders clean!!i was knackered when i got home!!i wanted the job though as he lets lots of properties and there could be further work in the pipeline.

i hated every single minute of it as i know i seriously underpriced it!!if id of known they were that bad then £120.i WILL NOT make this mistake again!!!

any of you guys make mistakes even though you ve been in the game for years??

[elite mike]

yep     

[steven ainger]

I still make the occasional pricing mistake, but not very often.
But what i done last year was far worse !!!
Was cleaning a custys window, above a con' roof, and he came out for a chat,
At that moment i lost the grip of the pole ( dont know how ?? ) and it fell hitting the con' roof, with the end of the brush.
I say ooops sorry, and carry on.
Next day i get a call from that custy saying, that where i dropped the pole, theres a hole in his con' roof.
Anyway i go to the suppliers where the con' came from to buy a replacement section of roof, £192  :
Plus his son inlaw £30 to fit it,
So leason learnt, be more carefull when cleaning over conservatories !

[Londoner]

Oh yes, I think we all do that.

[Viktor]

I know the feeling...
You clean, but want to run away...

[Johnny B]

Yep! If you call it a mistake. I call it going the extra mile to give a good first impression.

On a first clean I take as long as necessary to bring the windows up to a good standard, not really even thinking about how long it actually takes. It also shows the householder how conscientious and thorough I try to be in caring for their windows, in the hope of not only keeping them as customers, but getting referrals through them as well.

I look forward to the second cleans, which is when I start to reap the rewards of the hard work I put in first time round.

John

[dazmond]

glad im not the only one!!

feel better now!at least i know that job will make me a good hourly rate in future!!

ive got a nice 4 days off as van booked in for MOT on monday so any repairs probably wont get fixed until tuesday(fingers crossed!).so ill be starting my working week next wednesday.

[dazmond]

johnny i see it as a mistake mate.i made £15 an hour for working hard when i could of been cleaning maintenance cleans for a lot less effort at £30+ an hour.so ive lost money.

[EandM]

I think we've all done that at some point...Keep going forward.....

[steven ainger]

just remembered another occasion

went to price a biggish house, just been totally refurbed in and out.
the lady of the house was looking for a regular cleaner but it needed a builders clean first.
while i was there i got chatting to the builder, who told me other window cleaners had been to quote that day.
 i thought i dont want to go in cheap, just to get the regular clean, as i know i would hate doing it everytime, so i offered to do the builders clean at a special price if i got the regular clean, to which she agreed.
 the regular clean is £40 every 6 wks outside only, so i said i would clean in/out builders clean for £100.
 Thought to myself it would take 4-5 hours, so even at £20 p/h, not too bad....
 Wrong.... 8 1/2 hrs later i finished, without stopping.
But the bright side is that a couple of years on, i still do the regular clean for £40, and it only takes me an hour    

[ben M]

johnny i see it as a mistake mate.i made £15 an hour for working hard when i could of been cleaning maintenance cleans for a lot less effort at £30+ an hour.so ive lost money.

Daz, you didn't lost money, just didn't earn more! 

[mgba_78]

We use the saying "FCWC"

First Clean Worst Clean, just crack on knowing when you go back it will be POP  (Piece Of P**s)  :-)

[AS Window Cleaning]

johnny i see it as a mistake mate.i made £15 an hour for working hard when i could of been cleaning maintenance cleans for a lot less effort at £30+ an hour.so ive lost money.

it's all money in the pocket mate, and you will have strengthened your reputation with him as being someone who does a good, honest job.

it's worse when they cancel you or mess you around after this clean, if they prove to be good customers, then this is really an investment in the future.

shame that there are so many messers out there that you run the risk of being short changed in the long run if you don't charge enough for that first clean.

[dazmond]

i dont think he ll mess me about as he was a good customer previously when he lived in a much smaller house.yes the job will be much easier from now on.

ive picked up some good jobs lately all from recommendation.i cleaned a new  commercial(offices)the other week(£40)it took me an hour first clean but that job will take 30 mins on future cleans so quids in.

ive also put my prices up on 150 customers with no cancellations!!

my round is just getting better and better year on year!!im really banging it into much better shape!ive really upped my game over the last few years in my attitude to the job,sign written van,uniform,business cards and leaflets,plus wfp.its starting to pay off!!

[Ryan @ Transparent, Carlisle]

i think we all do a lot of first clean's on the CHEAP.... not many will admit to it though 

[rosskesava]

i think we all do a lot of first clean's on the CHEAP.... not many will admit to it though 

I now accept that those real bad first cleans will always be too cheap. Not only that, they always take longer than expected.

Over time though, I've always ended up quids in with regular & rock solid customers as a result apart from one or two.

[Tom White]

Ever made 'mistakes' the other way, in our favour? 

[bobby p]

main mistake i made was basing my work in a nearby town Ipswich.It has a reputation as being  miserable, boy they tried hard to drag me down to quit like previous windies did , lord knows how i survived amongst the doom merchants on the estates . Of course not everybody there is totally sour but its a known fact the towns a bad un and its rare to get a tip there whatever line of work you are in .
  
yesterday ,in the local paper the main headline was "We hear its bad but what do you all think of our town,write in and tell us -be honest "-  they are trying to big it up but instead theyll be swamped with long letters saying its had its day (about 100 years ago ) !

lucky for me i spread my work into other towns .

[Paul Coleman]

picked up a new job yesterday.i used to clean  this guys windows years ago when he lived elsewhere and bumped into him while cleaning in another area.

anyway i went to price it up.(think of faulty towers!! ).big place set in its own grounds.he said he had cleaned them himself around 6 months ago.from a distance they didnt look too bad.he said there is the odd bit of silicon that will need to be scraped off.i thought no problem ill take the hit first clean then it will be an hours work on maintenance cleans(8 weekly).i thought £45 so he paid me cash then went out leaving me to it.

i was there for 3 HOURS!!on closer inspection the windows were absolutely filthy and under the layers of dirt on the windows were loads of silicon on nearly every window!!i wfpoled the lot and then went round to every ground floor window(still needed my single pointer)and scraped and scraped!there is the odd bit of silicon on the top windows but i just wfpoled them.

in hindsight it was more like a builders clean!!i was knackered when i got home!!i wanted the job though as he lets lots of properties and there could be further work in the pipeline.

i hated every single minute of it as i know i seriously underpriced it!!if id of known they were that bad then £120.i WILL NOT make this mistake again!!!

any of you guys make mistakes even though you ve been in the game for years??

Of course.  We all do it occasionally. A couple of years ago I misquoted a job where I think the guttering had been treated with some chemical and the top windows kept showing weird marks as they dried.  5 or 6 attempts wouldn't resolve it.  Fair sized industrial job too.  Think I ended up turning over about £12 an hour on that one.  The job was actually priced OK but for that though.

[Paul Coleman]

Ever made 'mistakes' the other way, in our favour? 

Yes.  I quoted a couple of commercial jobs when I was very early in WFP.  At the time, I really did not realise how quickly some jobs can be done when it's wall to wall glass.  This was a few years ago.  I still have one of them.  The other one wasn't lost due to price either.  They moved away.