[telfordwindowclnr]

I've had another today. Another what? Another cleaning company thinking I'm stupid by pretending to be a client asking for a price. It sounds a genuine enquiry. "Hi. I'm after a quote for a six-monthly clean of 12 panels mounted on the roof of a two storey house. I look forward to hearing from you."

Sounds good until the email address is andrew@cleanwindows.co.uk or similar! It may as well be clueless@iamfishingforprices.co.uk.

Hilarious! 

Anyone else have anything similar?

[dannymack]

Get back & quote him £3000 Steve cheeky begger lol !!!

[Soupy]

Get back & quote him £3000 Steve cheeky begger lol !!!

+1

Either that or 10p per panel...

[Paul Coleman]

I've had another today. Another what? Another cleaning company thinking I'm stupid by pretending to be a client asking for a price. It sounds a genuine enquiry. "Hi. I'm after a quote for a six-monthly clean of 12 panels mounted on the roof of a two storey house. I look forward to hearing from you."

Sounds good until the email address is andrew@cleanwindows.co.uk or similar! It may as well be clueless@iamfishingforprices.co.uk.

Hilarious! 

Anyone else have anything similar?

It might be a window cleaner who doesn't have WFP facilities.  Rather than risk losing the customer to a WFP operator, he just wants a quote for the panels so that he can sub that bit to you.  It's not so unusual.  Some of my work has come through subcontracting from ladder users who are unable to do the job.  So long as my quotation is honoured, what they make on top is their business.  Mind you, I have also had an enquiry such as yours.  One guy wanted a quotation to clean the gutters on his parents house but he wouldn't supply the address for me to take a look.  I told him no quote without seeing it.  I got chatting with him over the phone and it turned out he was a WFP operator who was thinking of getting a guttervac but "wanted his parents gutters cleaned as he didn't have it yet".  I don't believe it was his parents house at all and he was seeing what people charged.

[AuRavelling79]

Had it by phone - usually get the wife to phone me up and they drop themselves in it by saying something like "I'm looking for a window cleaner" and then dropping words like "residential job" or "8 weekly" into the conversaton ... 

[Ian101]

They should just join this forum as we all know solar panels start at £3 each unless there is 10000 of em then it may drop to £2.50 ... all guttervacers make £5000 a day .... simples 

[J.D]

I just knew I was undercharging for gutter vac cleaning! I only made 4k this week! Well I suppose I have 4 more days to go, so it might work out ok by Friday.

[Paul Coleman]

Serious question now.  What would normally be the right sort of price to charge for solar panels? I've had an enguiry from one of my customers.  It's a pretty big place.  There are 12 one side and 8 the other side.  The roof is rather higher than usual but I can step back far enough to clean by pole.  Obviously I would have to set up twice.  I could probably reduce it a bit as it can be done with a window clean - though if it's expensive, I would be open to doing it instead of a window clean to keep their costs down.  Good regular customer for a number of years so want to keep things sweetish.
I was thinking around £70 - £90ish.  Hard to say exactly how long it will take.  I was thinking around 1.5 to 2 hours but I've not done these before (so worst case scenario £35 an hour - best case £60 an hour).  I can live with either scenario though somewhere in between looks most likely.  One side is going green.  Are there any issues using TFR followed by water rinse within a few minutes?  I am prepared to work at a lower rate than I would for a one-off panel clean for a non-window customer.

[PoleKing]

Serious question now.  What would normally be the right sort of price to charge for solar panels? I've had an enguiry from one of my customers.  It's a pretty big place.  There are 12 one side and 8 the other side.  The roof is rather higher than usual but I can step back far enough to clean by pole.  Obviously I would have to set up twice.  I could probably reduce it a bit as it can be done with a window clean - though if it's expensive, I would be open to doing it instead of a window clean to keep their costs down.  Good regular customer for a number of years so want to keep things sweetish.
I was thinking around £70 - £90ish.  Hard to say exactly how long it will take.  I was thinking around 1.5 to 2 hours but I've not done these before (so worst case scenario £35 an hour - best case £60 an hour).  I can live with either scenario though somewhere in between looks most likely.  One side is going green.  Are there any issues using TFR followed by water rinse within a few minutes?  I am prepared to work at a lower rate than I would for a one-off panel clean for a non-window customer.

20 panels mate, you'll be done in half an hour.

[Soupy]

Remember to factor in danger of death.

Solar panels kill.

[Ian101]

Remember to factor in danger of death.

Solar panels kill.

they don't if you take em by surprise 

[Clever Forum Name]

I have lowered my prices to £2 a panel now. Min charge is £20

Average install seems to be around 14 panels so its £28 for basically 30 mins work if that.

It breaks up the boredom and i usually do it on a Saturday

[Clever Forum Name]

Notice the black rubber gloves that will stop 40,0000000000 volts 

[J.D]

Is there a chance of electric shock?

[Clever Forum Name]

Is there a chance of electric shock?

If the panels are faulty, yep.

[SeanK]

Its them wfp problem free window frames that I'm jealous of.
A few hundred properties with windows like that and I would be a happier and richer man.

[Paul Coleman]

Thanks for that.  The panels that I'm referring to are a bit more difficult than in the picture as the house is higher and the ground falls away slightly at the back.  I clean a dormer in the rear roof with a 48ft Extreme.  I can see that, on the back, 48ft won't be quite enough for the panels.  So I will be popping on one of the extensions.  That should do it but it may even need two judging by where the dormer is.  This is the side where the worst of the green is too.  The front is OK; 48ft will do it a lot more easily as the ground is flat.  I can't see me completing the back in much under an hour by the time I've set everything up.  It's a long hose from the van too.

[telfordwindowclnr]

Is there a chance of electric shock?

If the panels are faulty, yep.

+1

And I had to jump through some pretty big hoops with one company to prove we do them safely. Their H&S guy was all over us like a rash!

[J.D]

How exactly do you go about proving you are safe to clean them Steve?

[Clever Forum Name]

Its them wfp problem free window frames that I'm jealous of.
A few hundred properties with windows like that and I would be a happier and richer man.

You can't beat windows without top lights