[Tom-01]

Love the....move to another area quote..
someone far removed from reality

That was me.

I actually did move to a certain area in order to start my business, fortunately it wasn't too far from friends and family.

I actually said it more as a joke as of course people can't just move.

Prices vary massively for buying a property within 10 minutes of each other so of course prices for window cleaning in certain areas of the country will be different. However, you could still charge quite a bit more than others and have quality work.

Do Gardiners price their stock differently for people buying from up North I wonder..?

[ChumBucket]

If I priced based on what my time is worth I wouldn't work for the pittance that both soupy and Bladder charge either so I would inevitably be unemployed. The only  good and reliable thing about these threads are that they never fail to entertain! 

Are you actually blind or is that a funny name?

After Nine or so years witnessing some of the tripe posted on here Ian my eyes are wide open buddy!

[Shrek]

Love the....move to another area quote..
someone far removed from reality

That was me.

I actually did move to a certain area in order to start my business, fortunately it wasn't too far from friends and family.

I actually said it more as a joke as of course people can't just move.

Prices vary massively for buying a property within 10 minutes of each other so of course prices for window cleaning in certain areas of the country will be different. However, you could still charge quite a bit more than others and have quality work.

Do Gardiners price their stock differently for people buying from up North I wonder..?

Yes they do , I'm up north and bought an Slx from gardiners 40% cheaper than if I put a southern address . as long as you put the voucher code in at checkout , then you get it cheaper

[Perfect Windows]

Move to another area, but if, as you say, moving is somehow 'far removed from reality' then jack in window cleaning altogether.

There is no worthwhile profit margin in £10 for that house, regardless of where it is in the country. That's the reality of it. £15 is better but still not enough.

For me pricing shouldn't be about confidence, it should be about numbers. How much money is my time worth (a), how long will it take (b).

a x b = price.

No matter any other mitigating factors like location, car in the drive, how much they tell you someone else is charging or whether on not the owner is a hottie. You'll get less customers but a high number of customers shouldn't be your target.

I have a slightly different view.  There's a lot of talk on this thread about our time and our value.  I think that's looking at the wrong thing.  We should be pricing according to what the customer is prepared to pay.  Yes, it needs to be profitable enough for us to want to do it but the basis should be what the customer is willing to fork out.  That will definitely vary across the country so you're bound to get variation in pricing.  You can, of course, make yourself worth more to the customer by not being a bottom-dwelling-tracksuit-bottom-wearing-jailbird-scruffy-knuckle-dragging-neanderthal but regional variations are still certain.

If someone can make a decent living from doing that property for £15, what's the problem?  If that's what the market will stand, all power to people who make a living doing them.

Vin

[ChumBucket]

Move to another area, but if, as you say, moving is somehow 'far removed from reality' then jack in window cleaning altogether.

There is no worthwhile profit margin in £10 for that house, regardless of where it is in the country. That's the reality of it. £15 is better but still not enough.

For me pricing shouldn't be about confidence, it should be about numbers. How much money is my time worth (a), how long will it take (b).

a x b = price.

No matter any other mitigating factors like location, car in the drive, how much they tell you someone else is charging or whether on not the owner is a hottie. You'll get less customers but a high number of customers shouldn't be your target.

I have a slightly different view.  There's a lot of talk on this thread about our time and our value.  I think that's looking at the wrong thing.  We should be pricing according to what the customer is prepared to pay.  Yes, it needs to be profitable enough for us to want to do it but the basis should be what the customer is willing to fork out.  That will definitely vary across the country so you're bound to get variation in pricing.  You can, of course, make yourself worth more to the customer by not being a bottom-dwelling-tracksuit-bottom-wearing-jailbird-scruffy-knuckle-dragging-neanderthal but regional variations are still certain.

If someone can make a decent living from doing that property for £15, what's the problem?  If that's what the market will stand, all power to people who make a living doing them.

Vin

As much as this might pain me and accepting that this day has arrived...... Very well said Vin!

[8weekly]

I got a phone call two days ago regarding a conservatory roof cleaning enquiry. Anyway, I went out there today and had a look.  A little tricky on a couple of the roof elevations as there's two valleys, however a days work, in and out. Its not huge.

She told me her existing window-cleaner quoted her £50.00. My quote was £330.00 Its booked in for two weeks time.

Price confidently.

Went to look at a new car today, nothing special but one dealer quoted £35,700 and another dealer quoted £42,250 for the same car- guess which dealer I chose?

But anybody can sell a car, it takes many years of study and training to be able to clean a conservatory roof and only one in a hundred thousand has got what it takes, well in certain parts of the country this seems to be the case. lol.

That's probably about right. Not many more than one in 100,000 would have the equipment.

[SeanK]

I got a phone call two days ago regarding a conservatory roof cleaning enquiry. Anyway, I went out there today and had a look.  A little tricky on a couple of the roof elevations as there's two valleys, however a days work, in and out. Its not huge.

She told me her existing window-cleaner quoted her £50.00. My quote was £330.00 Its booked in for two weeks time.

Price confidently.

Went to look at a new car today, nothing special but one dealer quoted £35,700 and another dealer quoted £42,250 for the same car- guess which dealer I chose?

But anybody can sell a car, it takes many years of study and training to be able to clean a conservatory roof and only one in a hundred thousand has got what it takes, well in certain parts of the country this seems to be the case. lol.

That's probably about right. Not many more than one in 100,000 would have the equipment.

I wish, if there where only 10 equipped shiners per one million population I think we would all be rolling in it and this
forum would go from the £500 to the £1000 a day forum.
That said there would still be some on here where a £1000 a day for one man would still be peanuts. lol.

[SeanK]

Move to another area, but if, as you say, moving is somehow 'far removed from reality' then jack in window cleaning altogether.

There is no worthwhile profit margin in £10 for that house, regardless of where it is in the country. That's the reality of it. £15 is better but still not enough.

For me pricing shouldn't be about confidence, it should be about numbers. How much money is my time worth (a), how long will it take (b).

a x b = price.

No matter any other mitigating factors like location, car in the drive, how much they tell you someone else is charging or whether on not the owner is a hottie. You'll get less customers but a high number of customers shouldn't be your target.

I have a slightly different view.  There's a lot of talk on this thread about our time and our value.  I think that's looking at the wrong thing.  We should be pricing according to what the customer is prepared to pay.  Yes, it needs to be profitable enough for us to want to do it but the basis should be what the customer is willing to fork out.  That will definitely vary across the country so you're bound to get variation in pricing.  You can, of course, make yourself worth more to the customer by not being a bottom-dwelling-tracksuit-bottom-wearing-jailbird-scruffy-knuckle-dragging-neanderthal but regional variations are still certain.

If someone can make a decent living from doing that property for £15, what's the problem?  If that's what the market will stand, all power to people who make a living doing them.

Vin

As much as this might pain me and accepting that this day has arrived...... Very well said Vin!

Plus one, excellent reply.

[8weekly]

I got a phone call two days ago regarding a conservatory roof cleaning enquiry. Anyway, I went out there today and had a look.  A little tricky on a couple of the roof elevations as there's two valleys, however a days work, in and out. Its not huge.

She told me her existing window-cleaner quoted her £50.00. My quote was £330.00 Its booked in for two weeks time.

Price confidently.

Went to look at a new car today, nothing special but one dealer quoted £35,700 and another dealer quoted £42,250 for the same car- guess which dealer I chose?

But anybody can sell a car, it takes many years of study and training to be able to clean a conservatory roof and only one in a hundred thousand has got what it takes, well in certain parts of the country this seems to be the case. lol.

That's probably about right. Not many more than one in 100,000 would have the equipment.

I wish, if there where only 10 equipped shiners per one million population I think we would all be rolling in it and this
forum would go from the £500 to the £1000 a day forum.
That said there would still be some on here where a £1000 a day for one man would still be peanuts. lol.

Well the point is that not anyone can clean a conservatory roof. If I searched Google for local window cleaners to clean my roof I'd struggle to fiinf more than a handful and of those I bet half wouldn't be interested. I wouldn't quote for a one off for a non customer at the moment.

[Tosh]

If I priced based on what my time is worth I wouldn't work for the pittance that both soupy and Bladder charge either so I would inevitably be unemployed. The only  good and reliable thing about these threads are that they never fail to entertain! 

Are you actually blind or is that a funny name?

Neither I'd imagine.

[Smurf]

If yer not making 2k a day then I tink yer in the wrong job...well that's what most travellers would say anyway

[Soupy]

Move to another area, but if, as you say, moving is somehow 'far removed from reality' then jack in window cleaning altogether.

There is no worthwhile profit margin in £10 for that house, regardless of where it is in the country. That's the reality of it. £15 is better but still not enough.

For me pricing shouldn't be about confidence, it should be about numbers. How much money is my time worth (a), how long will it take (b).

a x b = price.

No matter any other mitigating factors like location, car in the drive, how much they tell you someone else is charging or whether on not the owner is a hottie. You'll get less customers but a high number of customers shouldn't be your target.

I have a slightly different view.  There's a lot of talk on this thread about our time and our value.  I think that's looking at the wrong thing.  We should be pricing according to what the customer is prepared to pay.  Yes, it needs to be profitable enough for us to want to do it but the basis should be what the customer is willing to fork out.  That will definitely vary across the country so you're bound to get variation in pricing.  You can, of course, make yourself worth more to the customer by not being a bottom-dwelling-tracksuit-bottom-wearing-jailbird-scruffy-knuckle-dragging-neanderthal but regional variations are still certain.

If someone can make a decent living from doing that property for £15, what's the problem?  If that's what the market will stand, all power to people who make a living doing them.

Vin

Is inconsistent pricing not a bit of a pain with the franchisees? We cover a relatively large area (it's more sparsely populated up here) and obviously there are some well off areas some, not so much. We try to be consistent across the board, you have to be, to ensure fairness between the rounds.

[W.booler]

If you work in a sparsely populated area then that's why you object to £15 for that job, because time is money. Some would object to that price in some parts of the country is busy cities, where you could spend your time in traffic jams. Again time is money. It is not unusual to have a weeks work all within a mile or two of houses like that. In this instance I would do them all day long at that price, but if I had a ten minute drive to the next one than I would make the customer pay for that time, pushing the price up by at least 25%.

[Soupy]

If you work in a sparsely populated area then that's why you object to £15 for that job, because time is money. Some would object to that price in some parts of the country is busy cities, where you could spend your time in traffic jams. Again time is money. It is not unusual to have a weeks work all within a mile or two of houses like that. In this instance I would do them all day long at that price, but if I had a ten minute drive to the next one than I would make the customer pay for that time, pushing the price up by at least 25%.

Yeah, I'm pricing that assuming it's in an estate near to other work. If it were rural and there was travelling time it'd be waaaay more.

[Perfect Windows]

Is inconsistent pricing not a bit of a pain with the franchisees? We cover a relatively large area (it's more sparsely populated up here) and obviously there are some well off areas some, not so much. We try to be consistent across the board, you have to be, to ensure fairness between the rounds.

Not for now as we've not really spread our wings from the local area yet.  I'm sure that at some point it'll come.

Vin

[Tom-01]

Is inconsistent pricing not a bit of a pain with the franchisees? We cover a relatively large area (it's more sparsely populated up here) and obviously there are some well off areas some, not so much. We try to be consistent across the board, you have to be, to ensure fairness between the rounds.

Not for now as we've not really spread our wings from the local area yet.  I'm sure that at some point it'll come.

Vin

Is that maybe why you are getting less return on your leaflets Vin? I did ask that on the other thread about leaflet return rates.. I just wondered if you have a lot of work already in a particular area, or if there may also be more competition?

[W.booler]

If you work in a sparsely populated area then that's why you object to £15 for that job, because time is money. Some would object to that price in some parts of the country is busy cities, where you could spend your time in traffic jams. Again time is money. It is not unusual to have a weeks work all within a mile or two of houses like that. In this instance I would do them all day long at that price, but if I had a ten minute drive to the next one than I would make the customer pay for that time, pushing the price up by at least 25%.

Do I take that having read your posts on this subject that you have franchises in Scotland? If so then that may be of interest to me in the future, and may widen my partners job search...

Yeah, I'm pricing that assuming it's in an estate near to other work. If it were rural and there was travelling time it'd be waaaay more.

[Perfect Windows]

Is inconsistent pricing not a bit of a pain with the franchisees? We cover a relatively large area (it's more sparsely populated up here) and obviously there are some well off areas some, not so much. We try to be consistent across the board, you have to be, to ensure fairness between the rounds.

Not for now as we've not really spread our wings from the local area yet.  I'm sure that at some point it'll come.

Vin

Is that maybe why you are getting less return on your leaflets Vin? I did ask that on the other thread about leaflet return rates.. I just wondered if you have a lot of work already in a particular area, or if there may also be more competition?

Don't know, but as we do around one in a hundred of the properties in the area, we're only scratching the surface.  As for competition, no noticeable change.  And the oddity about the change in response rates was that it was overnight.  I graph loads of data as I need to see patterns and after versus before a particular weekend calls in dropped off a cliff.  Not to zero but very noticeably down.

Vin