[Ian101]

Started today to put my prices up on my older work ... some same as they were in 2011 when first took em on.

so far no problems
£120 up to £135
£24 up to £30
£25 up to £30

Got one to email over this weekend £90 up to £160  ..... massive place and massive under priced 2 years ago ... was ok when had empty days but not anymore ... tbh if I was pricing job today it would be £200 but a jump of 222% may be a bit hard to pull off. ... if they  cancel then so be it 

[Cookie]

I'm still at the stage when I'm trying to fill out my day (only started part-time in April this year). Sometime next year however I plan to time my maintenance cleans so I know where to increase prices - hopefully I'll also be quicker at cleaning by this time!

[SeanK]

I was going to up mine this year but because of ill health my round was all over the place for about 16 months
and my customers stuck by me, Iv decided to leave it until the middle of next year as a way of thanking them.

[Ste M]

You speaking to them face to face ian or just dropping them a note by email or through their letter box. Im doing mine soon and I've always done it by letter but just interested thats all

[Ian101]

You speaking to them face to face ian or just dropping them a note by email or through their letter box. Im doing mine soon and I've always done it by letter but just interested thats all

If their home then face to face or staple a note to their invoice if out .... the big one is by email only as all comms thru email only seen em once in 2 years house is size of small hotel ... staircase wider than my kitchen

[Ian101]

I'm still at the stage when I'm trying to fill out my day (only started part-time in April this year). Sometime next year however I plan to time my maintenance cleans so I know where to increase prices - hopefully I'll also be quicker at cleaning by this time!

Sounds like u got this job sussed mate

[Ian101]

I was going to up mine this year but because of ill health my round was all over the place for about 16 months
and my customers stuck by me, Iv decided to leave it until the middle of next year as a way of thanking them.
[/quot

Fair play

[dazmond]

i text/email or tell them face to face a few months before the new price comes into affect.

i always have a price review every january and then put up some of my prices starting from april.

[Walter Mitty]

Started today to put my prices up on my older work ... some same as they were in 2011 when first took em on.

so far no problems
£120 up to £135
£24 up to £30
£25 up to £30

Got one to email over this weekend £90 up to £160  ..... massive place and massive under priced 2 years ago ... was ok when had empty days but not anymore ... tbh if I was pricing job today it would be £200 but a jump of 222% may be a bit hard to pull off. ... if they  cancel then so be it 

I think it would work out around 122% rather than 222%.  Still a bit hard to swallow though.

[Ian101]

https://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=MzE4iFroJNE


Some decent thoughts here

[Rich Wilts]

Started today to put my prices up on my older work ... some same as they were in 2011 when first took em on.

so far no problems
£120 up to £135
£24 up to £30
£25 up to £30

Got one to email over this weekend £90 up to £160  ..... massive place and massive under priced 2 years ago ... was ok when had empty days but not anymore ... tbh if I was pricing job today it would be £200 but a jump of 222% may be a bit hard to pull off. ... if they  cancel then so be it 

I think it would work out around 122% rather than 222%.  Still a bit hard to swallow though.

No, 122% would be an increase to £110.00.

[sunshine windows]

Started putting mine up last month and have increased the annual value of my round considerably. Lost 2 so far

[Ian101]

maybe its 77.78% 

£160 less £90 = increase of £70 ..................... £70 divided into £90 as a % = 77.77% ..................... just saying 

[Soupy]

Finished putting my prices up in May.

Been in this game 16 years. This was the toughest price increase yet, even worse than 2008-2009.

[dazmond]

Finished putting my prices up in May.

Been in this game 16 years. This was the toughest price increase yet, even worse than 2008-2009.

what do you mean by tough?

[chris turner]

Also in the process of putting mine up by £2-£3 on average for most.
I don't give notice, customers are not tied into a contract so no need.
If there home when I clean I tell them there and then, if not I leave a letter outlining the rise and stating its coming into immediate affect.
Iv lost a couple already but that's to be expected.
Had one email me the other night saying there not happy with a 20% price increase (£15 put up to £18) and they won't pay an increase of more then 13%. Started going on about inflation etc blahdy blahdy blah and basically trying to hold me to ransom.
My response was the rise is non negotiable and is the same for every customer, I have not raised my prices in 3 years so a price rise is long overdue. If i raised my prices yearly with inflation you would be paying more then this current price on offer.
Please feel free to look elsewhere for a window cleaner who is willing to work to your business terms.

That was the short story lol. This was after 4 or 5 emails at about 11.30 pm and all because he wanted to pay £17 , not £18, saving him about £8 a year. 

The key thing about price rises is you have to be tough, decide exactly what you want to do beforehand and stick to your guns.
Expect lost customers and don't let customers try and re negotiate your terms.
Reason with them and explain your decision but if paying an extra £2-£3 every 6 -8 weeks is such a big issue for them, then there probably not good customers to have anyway.

[SeanK]

Also in the process of putting mine up by £2-£3 on average for most.
I don't give notice, customers are not tied into a contract so no need.
If there home when I clean I tell them there and then, if not I leave a letter outlining the rise and stating its coming into immediate affect.
Iv lost a couple already but that's to be expected.
Had one email me the other night saying there not happy with a 20% price increase (£15 put up to £18) and they won't pay an increase of more then 13%. Started going on about inflation etc blahdy blahdy blah and basically trying to hold me to ransom.
My response was the rise is non negotiable and is the same for every customer, I have not raised my prices in 3 years so a price rise is long overdue. If i raised my prices yearly with inflation you would be paying more then this current price on offer.
Please feel free to look elsewhere for a window cleaner who is willing to work to your business terms.

That was the short story lol. This was after 4 or 5 emails at about 11.30 pm and all because he wanted to pay £17 , not £18, saving him about £8 a year. 

The key thing about price rises is you have to be tough, decide exactly what you want to do beforehand and stick to your guns.
Expect lost customers and don't let customers try and re negotiate your terms.

The key is to do it in a way in which it doesn't aggravate your customers, you have left it too long so now have to
up them by a large percentage.
Smaller amounts more often is a better way to go.

[chris turner]

As I said Sean that was the short story. From the start I was very reasonable with him but his view was he was not going to pay more then 13% and he would not budge.
My view was I was raising mg prices by £2 for houses up to £15, and £3 for houses £15 and over., and I was not budging.
Of course I didn't mention that the idea behind the rise is that I want to do less work each week yet still earn the same, that would of really aggravated him   

I don't do gradual increases, I prefer bigger hikes every few years. Tbh most customers were more then happy to pay the extra and I have more then enough to take the risk and lose a few.

[Ian101]

Got one to email over this weekend £90 up to £160  ..... massive place and massive under priced 2 years ago ... was ok when had empty days but not anymore ... tbh if I was pricing job today it would be £200 but a jump of 222% may be a bit hard to pull off. ... if they  cancel then so be it 

just emailed this over 

Hi XXXXXXXXXX,

Like all businesses from time to time we review our prices as we only have so many hours per day to create our turnover.

Since we started cleaning your windows back in early 2013 the demand for our services have increased dramatically and now it’s at a level where we can no longer service all  of our customers unless we are achieving a turnover rate per hour that is achievable with our other work.

Unfortunately this means that we will no longer be able to clean the windows at XXXXXXXX at the current price of £90.

To bring your price up to our current levels would see a required increase of £120 making a new price of £210.

Obviously in percentage terms this is a huge increase - however it reflects, that in May 2013 I under-priced the job but have stuck to my price for over 2 years whilst I could afford to, it brings it in line with what we charge our other customers and means no further price increases for at least 2 years.

You may like to seek another quote and possibly go with another window cleaning company ( obviously I hope not) so I will wait to hear confirmation from you if you would still like us to clean your windows.

Thank you for you past custom.


Best Wishes

Ian Hornby
H2o Proclean.
www.h2oproclean.co.uk


Decided to go with what I would charge the job at today - why not ?

Not bothered if they go elsewhere as it was £90 tri monthly so will easily replace the £30 a month lost with a quick UPVC front or a quick conny wipe over to a  window cleaning customer ... rather that than a 6 hour full on big house.

As the interesting Keith Kalfas says "you have to dissolve the bottom to expand the top"

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheEmployeeTrap

[Ian101]

Today and yesterday took on 2 new jobs and replaced the income lost from the big house - love this job 

then .............. email this evening from the big house ..........  "Yes Ian price increase fine with us - we totally understand being in business ourselves ..... P.S. would not have anyone else cleaning our windows"

that went well then