[Soupy]

I don't mind these pricing threads because even though 90% of what's posted is bull there's always some good advice
amongst it.

The trick is to decide who is full of it and who isn't.

Not as easy as you'd think, for example I'm pretty sure you think I'm a bulls hitter with some of the comments you've fired off at me. If you met me or knew anything about me you might think differently, you might not. You might be a knuckle dragging neanderthal without the first clue about how to open a door let alone price a window cleaning job, I've never met you so I've no idea really.

[Oliver James]

Here is another way to work out your prices:

1. Decide on your salary / weekly wage (remember you will be paying tax on this). eg. £500 per week = £26,000 per year.

2. Work out your annual costs. Here are some things to include:

Domain name registration
accountant
bad debt
banking
batteries
book keeper
capex on poles and ladders and reels
Cleaner Planner
cleaning supplies - parts, tools, fluids
clothing
diesel
marketing
extra ordinary expenses
go cardless
Heater servicing
hosting and mail redirection
IT hardware
IT software
professional eg. accountant
Losses/ breakages
Misc
postage
Phone
Stationary, printin, office supplies
System servicing
Text Local
Van insurance
Van servicing
Web design
Wages

3. add 10% for contingency to your costs. eg. Salary of 26k plus costs of 9k (includes 10% contingency)  = 35k per year or £673 per week.

4. divide  by the number of operational days per year (allow for admin / marketing time). Subtract 15% from the number of operational days you have to allow for holidays and illness. eg. 4.5 x 52 = 234 days x .85 = 199 operational days.

5. Then divide your total costs by the number of operational days to get your daily costs. eg. 35k / 199 = £176

6. Divide this figure by the amount of productive operational hours you work per day to get your hourly costs eg. £175 / 6 hours = £29.33 per hour.

7. This will give you your costs per hour / daily break even figure.

8. Then work out what you want your profit margin to be (in percentage terms) and add it to the costs per hour.

9. So, say you want a 20% margin then multiply £29.33 by 1.2 to get your hourly target: = 35.19.

[Smurf]

Or a much simpler way to look at it is to try turnover as much as you can in the shortest possible time without turning into a workaholic.

[slap bash]

Appearance is very important as most customers respond to you knocking on the door for business. What`s that about ?
They check you out before you clean their windows. You can`t do that in any other way. No website, not leaflet, no special offers. Unless your customer is also dodgy.

[slap bash]

Some turn their nose up at this type of pricing thread, but I ask this question every year and find a few pearls each year.Some find it boring due to the" I`am alright Jack " Factor surfacing on the forum all the time. But remember you can learn something from a fool. It`s all here to add to the wealth of this forum and to build consensus in our ragtag industry. 
       Maybe we all need to look beyond ME and you will see US and what can be achieved by US  the window cleaning industry in the UK. The way to the top is not standing on each other heads but working together for all of our betterment.

[Smurf]

WE are never too old to stop learning that's for sure. It’s the remembering bit I struggle with now 

[nathankaye]

Some turn their nose up at this type of pricing thread, but I ask this question every year and find a few pearls each year.Some find it boring due to the" I`am alright Jack " Factor surfacing on the forum all the time. But remember you can learn something from a food. It`s all here to add to the wealth of this forum and to build consensus in our ragtag industry. 
       Maybe we all need to look beyond ME and you will see US and what can be achieved by US  the window cleaning industry in the UK. The way to the top is not standing on each other heads but working together for all of our betterment.

The problem is, its all competition related isnt it!  Some are happy to totally under cut you just to get a foot in. Others are happy working at a snails pace, some price a job thinking how much they would be happy to pay if they were the customer and some operate like a business mind set etc etc.
So for instance, in some areas i work, there are shiners happy to earn five pounds a house, others are charging 8-10 and i charge 15. Not sure if anyone is charging more, but if they are then i can learn from that as well. So what should be the level playing fields, if we find the average price and we all stick to it??
Sadly, whilst we have ones willing to run all the prices down hill and not improve it for themselves, your fighting a battle which your not going to win. Tho on the other hand, would you want people to up their game, which may make it harder for us good ones to stand out.

[Dave Willis]

Some don't need to charge much to make what is to them a decent living, Others have to earn a big wage to pay for their lifestyle or mega van because someone told them they must buy a new shiny van on the never never to be professional.

How professional you think you look doesn't matter once you have a full round it only matters to those who don't have enough work. Would my customers leave me if I took my signwriting off, stopped using Cleaner Planner or my van was ten years old? Doubt it. I don't wear a uniform and never will. I'm flooded with work, probably too cheap but I'm happy with my income.

[Smurf]

I can also be said the ones that don't charge much in general are the ones that need to work a lot harder for the same reward.
You don't need shinny new vans etc to figure that one out.

[Dave Willis]

Maybe, but unless you splash your earnings all over the internet like some love to do then you'll never know.

[Smurf]

Very true