[nathankaye]

Ive had this round for over 13yrs and some /majority of prices have not changed. (Shud have but never got round to this one,) since yesterday, ive had 3 phone calls giving really poor silly reasons to get rid, ie leaves puddles, not been happy. Lol been doing wfp for just over a yr now!
Anyways, today phone call was also saying the new chap uses ladders.
Now when i say cheap, these houses have been 7quid for over 10yrs, i should have them uo to 12-14 by now. But my other rounds make up for it, and majority i get pleanty of tea breaks. Infact only round which i do. (But yes, shud have stuck prices  up along time ago n with convidence lol!)
So i dread to think how low this chap has gone in with and using ladders as well. It used to take me 2-3 days fir all the round traditional, now a day n half.
Lol at this rate will take ne even quicker if they all jump ship 

[Spruce]

Ive had this round for over 13yrs and some /majority of prices have not changed. (Shud have but never got round to this one,) since yesterday, ive had 3 phone calls giving really poor silly reasons to get rid, ie leaves puddles, not been happy. Lol been doing wfp for just over a yr now!
Anyways, today phone call was also saying the new chap uses ladders.
Now when i say cheap, these houses have been 7quid for over 10yrs, i should have them uo to 12-14 by now. But my other rounds make up for it, and majority i get pleanty of tea breaks. Infact only round which i do. (But yes, shud have stuck prices  up along time ago n with convidence lol!)
So i dread to think how low this chap has gone in with and using ladders as well. It used to take me 2-3 days fir all the round traditional, now a day n half.
Lol at this rate will take ne even quicker if they all jump ship 

Unfortunately, its the way it goes.

It will either be some cleaner working part time and receiving family credit to top up his low wages or he has worked out that if you go like made you can clean 4 houses an hour and at £7 per house that's good money traditionally.

You can't compete with that.
 
He will know the state benefits system backwards and will be working the least he can possibly work to claim those benefits, and then he will discover that he can do some 'back door' undeclared work for extra pocket money.    Sooner or later the bubble will burst.

-

[Ian101]

if the new guy don't last and they want you back then price em at new higher price 

[Smurf]

Some will always want to penny pinch no matter how much or little you charge.

[slap bash]

some have just been spoilt.

[the king]

try and look at it like u have diched some poor jobs and replace them for good ones so ur on a win any way

[nathankaye]

Thank fully im not overly fussed at moment, as its only a small hand full. Im due next wk, so will see what damage had been done then.
But, as we all kno in this game, we loose some but always gain better. Recently ive been able to expand my rounds in more profitable areas, so it had to come back round to the loose part.

Im sure this other person wont last, been in this game 14yrs n seen competition come and go. It always makes me smile when the customer comes grovelling back and their faces when i tell them they lost their loyalty regular low price and now need a new customers price. Or pending my mood, i sometimes just tell them i had opportunity to replace the work i had lost and now too busy to take extra on. Then smile each month as i see their windows get dirtier n dirtier   

It shouldnt but it does, keeps suprises me just how cheap people want to go, and customers dont care if its beer/drug money etc untill they also realise that they get a cheap job done as well or they soon pack in because they cant earn a descent wage from it. 

[Richard iSparkle]

my inlaws from gravesend in Kent have had a trad window cleaner in their close for over 20 yrs. he used to do the whole close at £7 a go. always used ladders, and never put his prices up.

as people move out, and as WFP have come in people have moved over to a new WC. the new guy charges £20 a time and used WFP. he's getting people because he's quicker, and they say he does a better job. they aren't fussed that he charges 3 times the price.

my inlays still use the old chap. they'd rather switch to the WFP guy, but haven't the heart. the tread chap was saying to them that he can't believe that people will pay £20 to have their windows cleaned, and he can't fathom why people would pay £20 when he'd been cleaning their windows for decades at £7.

funny isn't it!

[Tosh]

he can't fathom why people would pay £20 when he'd been cleaning their windows for decades at £7.

He needs to learn to start thinking outside the box - outside 'his' box to be more truthful, cos his has got holes all over and they're leaking brains.

[SeanK]

he can't fathom why people would pay £20 when he'd been cleaning their windows for decades at £7.

He needs to learn to start thinking outside the box - outside 'his' box to be more truthful, cos his has got holes all over and they're leaking brains.

What's the point, if people are prepared to pay three times more then he must do a horrendous job, think how bad he would
be using WFP.

[nathankaye]

When i first started window cleaning 14/15 yrs back. I worked a large round which i rented from a family friend, but soon went on to buy the round.
There was this old chap who i saw from a distance regular. He pushed his ladders along on the top of a bike. The old wooden ladders that weighed a tonne no doubt.
Similar story, he had been cleaning windows for yrs and people kept him for either sentimental reasons or his age certainly not the quality of his work. He also charged low low prices, perhaps also thinking people wouldn't swap for an higher price. Yet people would still come and ask me to take over.
There was also a  group of young lads around 8yrs back, about 4 of them. They came up all mouth behind the main boss and accused me of nicking some of their customers. So pointed out obvious to boss, that if their customers came and asked me to clean their windows when i was 3 times more than their price. Then he needed  to be having words with his lads to find out why!! (It also helped that im a stocky chap who regularly went to gym back then) The mouthing of all stoped then!

[duncan h]

I get areas where they do a semi for £4. I charge about £9/10.
I would rather do half the work for the same money

[Smurf]

You could blame all the professional window cleaners about driving up the prices I suppose 

[Shrek]

£10 is not much these days , how much do people spend on takeaways? £20? A couple of bloody McDonald's kids meals are nearly £10, so to ask someone to turn up to their house and clean their windows for less than a tenner is madness or to quote less than a tenner

[Richard iSparkle]

£10 is not much these days , how much do people spend on takeaways? £20? A couple of bloody McDonald's kids meals are nearly £10, so to ask someone to turn up to their house and clean their windows for less than a tenner is madness or to quote less than a tenner

that's a really good point. i;ve never really thought of it like that before.

[capn sparkle]

£10 is not much these days , how much do people spend on takeaways? £20? A couple of bloody McDonald's kids meals are nearly £10, so to ask someone to turn up to their house and clean their windows for less than a tenner is madness or to quote less than a tenner

that's a really good point. i;ve never really thought of it like that before.

I'd imagine houses aren't cheap in Gravesend - sometimes shiners forget that the £7 or £20 job is someones pride n joy or even in some cases their pension

[jk999]

£10 is not much these days , how much do people spend on takeaways? £20? A couple of bloody McDonald's kids meals are nearly £10, so to ask someone to turn up to their house and clean their windows for less than a tenner is madness or to quote less than a tenner

.+1

[jk999]

My dads 77years old and does about fifty bungs all well under priced and does it the old way ,so im dreading when he asks me to start doing them because i do 99%wfp and my prices are double what he charges

[jk999]

I cleaned an house for about eight years ago only got phone call every three to six months always minging when i went round ,she was never happy with job it was always like a first clean she wasn't having none off it so got local druggy to do them guess what got a text six months later to do them so made sure she had to have them done on a monthly basis to get best results and £4 a clean better off and shes happy how good the clean is ,some people never listen

[SeanK]

£10 is not much these days , how much do people spend on takeaways? £20? A couple of bloody McDonald's kids meals are nearly £10, so to ask someone to turn up to their house and clean their windows for less than a tenner is madness or to quote less than a tenner

.+1

+2, the thing is I have about a dozen smallish semis on my round at around £7 all in the same area, I tend to target larger
properties so don't want any more, quoting a tenner has worked every time in putting off any new customers in that area.
The thing is they have no choice but to pay £20 for their takeaway or do without, but they have a choice when it comes to paying
me a tenner as others will do it for less.