[Dry Clean]

I suggest you take a look at the website of  Vin from Perfect Windows it will soon bring you back down to earth and
less inclined to lecture others on how to price.

Again there you go.
My thread is to encourage ones to periodically put prices up so customers are aware of at least the going rates of window cleaners. To get a good price because it can be done even when the market is saturated or in poorer economical towns/villages.  I even acknowledge different pricing structures depending where you are, as in southampton  in vins case that you point out. I would however dry clean point out somebody else's  prices who isnt 180 odd miles away from where im based.

As in my last quote " its business not personal"   why do you seem to take this personal Dry clean

No Nathan its not personal its a discussion on a forum, your accusing other shiners of keeping the prices low and ruining the
business in your area to the point where it angers you,  my point is how do you know you couldn't be getting Vin's prices or at least better than your getting,  if so are you not just another low priced shiner ruining the prices for somebody else ?
Yes you have upped your prices and improved your business, excellent but don't let it go to your head.

[nathankaye]

I suggest you take a look at the website of  Vin from Perfect Windows it will soon bring you back down to earth and
less inclined to lecture others on how to price.

Again there you go.
My thread is to encourage ones to periodically put prices up so customers are aware of at least the going rates of window cleaners. To get a good price because it can be done even when the market is saturated or in poorer economical towns/villages.  I even acknowledge different pricing structures depending where you are, as in southampton  in vins case that you point out. I would however dry clean point out somebody else's  prices who isnt 180 odd miles away from where im based.

As in my last quote " its business not personal"   why do you seem to take this personal Dry clean

No Nathan its not personal its a discussion on a forum, your accusing other shiners of keeping the prices low and ruining the
business in your area to the point where it angers you,  my point is how do you know you couldn't be getting Vin's prices or at least better than your getting,  if so are you not just another low priced shiner ruining the prices for somebody else ?
Yes you have upped your prices and improved your business, excellent but don't let it go to your head.

Fair comment.....

Just like to add though, alot of my taking more of a business stance on my work is to a certain degree, partly down to discussions on here. I may be lower compared to someone else, thats a fair point and perhaps next price increase or new work i might have to go even higher if its possible. 😁😁

[NWH]

Everytime you get better paying work drop the dross or say to the lower paying one it'll be X now even if it means doubling it,I wouldn't become sentimental about it like you say your trying to improve things. No loyalty in business they'll lose no sleep if they just want a cheap job,imo there's more to it than price trust and whether they like having you round there property goes a lot further than being a few quid cheaper than the local tracksuit wearing shiner.

[Marc Stock]

Woah...

OK I'm going to add my little thing here and put some figures up...oh no wait for the abuse..

Nathan, stop.worrying about what other window cleaners are charging. Let them drive each others prices down, try to separate yourself from them by keeping to your word, doing a thorough job, and make it as easy as possible for your customers to use the service. Now is not time for complacency.

1. Be polite and smile
2. Do the job on time
3. Leave your bill (I don't take cash from customers, I let them settle online even if they are in) I have recently set up a merchant account and card reader so I can take credit card payments if they want.
4 return on the agreed date.

These are all good ways to lock your customer into your service, and setup a direct debit with those  busy types.

I also have a number of customers who pay me upfront for the year, that's  a good lock in and I just subtract the labour from the balance.

It its pretty cutthroatat the moment, but you know Nathan it's like this everywhere. Even estate agents are getting a hammering with the advent of fixed price advertising for property sales.

My prices are a bit on the high side, but my min price is £20 for regular work, and £50 for one offs; that's quite competitive, yet not low like £8 a chap that charges round the corner from me and he is really busy off his feet.

Me I can do 12 jobs on a day and clear more than 300 leptons as they are all 20 30 40 or 50 lepton  jobs, usually large houses.

OK here come the bs callers...

[NWH]

At last someone speaks sense,couldn't agree more.

[nathankaye]

Ok now im confused 
Where on this thread have i said im worried about competitors or loosing work that im worried about or how to keep hold of customers etc.

This forum is about discussions and help i thought. Every time price gets brought into the mix it explodes on here! Yet ones have said so so many times that they have low prices due to competition or this excuse or that excuse. If we show on here that, that is rubbish and you can aim higher it might stop ones from being scared or apprehensive about doing so.

If we dont and stay quiet, it be like the supermarket wars with the likes of aldi and pound stretchers taking over the market. Yes its good for competition but would you like to see them eventually take over

[jk999]

Why would it be weird talking to my mates customers just because my mate cleans houses I don't I still know a lot of folks that a few of my windy mates do .but for your info I didn't know this customer I was doing windows on my local Ford garage and this lady started ranting on about my mate I didn't tell her I new him because she would have stopped talking about it .I got as much info as I could so I could let my mate know the situation

[Marc Stock]

Why would it be weird talking to my mates customers just because my mate cleans houses I don't I still know a lot of folks that a few of my windy mates do .but for your info I didn't know this customer I was doing windows on my local Ford garage and this lady started ranting on about my mate I didn't tell her I new him because she would have stopped talking about it .I got as much info as I could so I could let my mate know the situation

Eh?.

[jk999]

Eh what

[Bungle]

For instance this house im just cleaning, the front has four windows and the back you can see.
Its in a little village thats been hit with pit closures and the like but this house is £15.
The snobby tight peoples houses are twice if not 3 times the size and are paying roughly the same if not less.
But explaining that logic to them doesnt work or the fact that some are paying less than what i charge a cleaning a dingy community hut in the same area for.
It drives me mad how some people charge silly silly prices.  Arrrrrhhhh

To make you fell better I charge  a  min of £65 for an end of tenancy one-off exterior window  clean, 65 min for a gutter check & clear, 65 for a fsg clean, 600 min for a render clean, 250 min for a driveway clean etc. That's the main reason why I chose not to have a large window  cleaning round. Not only that I would hate having to just clean glass all day long and have no spare time for anything else more profitable..

Do you get all the jobs you quote for smurf?

[G Griffin]

It's up to you to sort out your prices, Nathan, not other wc'ers.
If you're taking over another round you should be prepared for it.
If someone wants to charge a fiver then it's nowt to do with you. You're not ranting for their benefit, it's to make your life easier.

[dazmond]

you cant expect  customers to just swallow a £5 price rise nathan.your bound to get cancellations.i know another window cleaner who also lost quite a few upping them so much as he moaned to me about it!

my price rises this year have been £1-£2 increases on around 200  mainly 4 weekly accounts.had one go to 8 weekly but otherwise no problems.my other work stays at the same price.this is ok as this rise was purely to cover my van lease payments every month.

my customers who ve been with me for a long time have seen a steady rise in me getting better vans,equipment,stationary,logo d uniform etc,etc and i think most are glad that im doing ok as some remember me driving rusty old bangers,holes in my shoes and well worn cloth pockets!

[Marc Stock]

Eh what

Eh Awww

[Marc Stock]

you cant expect  customers to just swallow a £5 price rise nathan.your bound to get cancellations.i know another window cleaner who also lost quite a few upping them so much as he moaned to me about it!

my price rises this year have been £1-£2 increases on around 200  mainly 4 weekly accounts.had one go to 8 weekly but otherwise no problems.my other work stays at the same price.this is ok as this rise was purely to cover my van lease payments every month.

my customers who ve been with me for a long time have seen a steady rise in me getting better vans,equipment,stationary,logo d uniform etc,etc and i think most are glad that im doing ok as some remember me driving rusty old bangers,holes in my shoes and well worn cloth pockets!

I do have to admit Nathan £5 price rise is a bug wack in one go

[G Griffin]

A minimum of a fiver.
Bigger than a 50% increase by my reckoning.

[Splash & dash]

If prices are that bad you have just got to explain why the price needs to go up so much I had 3 or 4 exactly the same I put them up by £5 and they are all tight fisted ones , when I explained why they all accepted it , however if they haddent I was quite happy to loose them and get better paying jobs . as I canvass new work at better prices I try and put up the cheaper jobs or just dump them bad  payers ,  dog poo , difficult access etc

[Dave Willis]

I was on a toilet cleaners forum earlier  - it's the same over there, prices have gone down the pan, it's crap!

[nathankaye]

If prices are that bad you have just got to explain why the price needs to go up so much I had 3 or 4 exactly the same I put them up by £5 and they are all tight fisted ones , when I explained why they all accepted it , however if they haddent I was quite happy to loose them and get better paying jobs . as I canvass new work at better prices I try and put up the cheaper jobs or just dump them bad  payers ,  dog poo , difficult access etc

Thats exactly right, hence my flyers that i posted on another thread to explain my price increase.
Yes be prepared to loose some, ss ive said soo many times now. Im guessing people are not reading all the other posts.
Yes put prices up gradually each year, thats the point because if not they the customers get used to such low prices that in the end, if your not brave to increase them n maybe loose some, then you are stuck!!

Yes a 5 pound increase is steep, but in 20 years these people have had only 2 price increases and so its more of a shock to them. I understand that obviously and if i loose ones than good because they are cheap skates. But i cannot justify cleaning a house as shown in the picture for 15 and in a posh area a house 3 times the size for about the same price. So would you rather me lower the 15 to justify it or increase the posh ones, by 1 or 2 quid,,,, now your having a laugh

[Tom-01]

I had a customer who cancelled, £35 8 weekly. Including two rear roof velux windows, approx 20min job. We had been doing them for about 3 years.

Email sample as follows:

"Hi Tom,

I hope you are well! We have just received your messages (we were on holiday) and indeed your email actually landed in my junk folder! Please accept my apologies for this huge delay in payment.I also would like to cancel your services going forwards, as a family member of one of my colleagues has offered me a great quote of £15 per cleaning session which also includes cleaning the gutters."

My reply

"Hello Mr Customer

Thank you for the email. Yes they are the correct bank details.

I would question how someone could work so cheaply though? Over the 10 years I have been in business the cheap window cleaners don't normally hang around.. It may be worth checking he has adequate insurance for the services he provides and also the correct equipment to do the job properly, including cleaning the velux windows on the rear roof of your house - if in the event of an accident or something being broken is he covered? With prices as low as his I wonder if he can pay for insurance and the correct equipment to do a professional job.

Thank you for your custom over the years, it has been a please to deal with you."

I still can't believe someone could charge that small amount for the work including the gutters! However, they are probably earning more now than they were before. Maybe in a while it will be one of those jobs he hates doing, if he's still about.

I didn't get angry though. What I did do was go canvassing one afternoon and got one recommendation: 6 jobs at an average of £41.83 per clean all 8 weekly. 4 signed up to GoCardless, one old couple cheque and one BACS. I could have thought 'crap there's cheaper window cleaners about I need to quote lower' but I quoted higher, there's a market for it it just takes persistence and professionalism. Some cheaper ones come and go like they always have. Some cheaper ones stay and are happy with what they've got. Others will stack out loads of work at cheaper prices because they need to keep employees busy all the time. Each to their own. My customers are always getting leaflets/cards through from other window cleaners, if they go then so be it, I'll go canvassing again.

Don't worry about what others are doing.

[Tom-01]

Didn't realise how long that post was until I posted it - sorry got lost in my head for a while - keyboard warrior!