[giftedk]

Hi all
I was talking to a freind of a freind, and he said he was qouted £70 too clean his windows, now where he lives they are all big houses with little sqaures and a couple are valued at 1 million pounds.
I was wondering if any one else does any jobs at these prices, and is it feasable to charge that amount?

[AuRavelling79]

Yes usually it's 1 million houses with genuine georgian windows.

Seriously tho' standard 1930's detached houses are about £20-25

half a million pound houses (in Bristol) start getting individual in design and this is where prices of £35 upwards start.

Georgian you can add 50% to the price.

[eddie d]

 you can get £70 houses and i do a few .but to build a round on prices like those is hard and risky .loose a 70 house and it hurts 7x more than a 10 pound  one 

[[GQC] Tim]

you can get £70 houses and i do a few .but to build a round on prices like those is hard and risky .loose a 70 house and it hurts 7x more than a 10 pound  one 

True that mate, as long as they are happy, no problem! But ouch does it hurt when you loose them, it's more then half of a days money.

[Ian_Giles]

These houses are usually out in the countryside or in the wealthy villages surounding most major towns.
They are for the most the type of account you will pick up by recommendation...they will come to you.
You also need the balls to slap in a big price too.
If you are a newbie just learning the craft then you are going to be stepping way outside your comfort zone going for these accounts.

I don't personally have a domestic account over £55 (outside clean) although I did do a one off I charged over £120 for.

These bigger accounts are fantastic money if you are WFP (providing you have priced them for doing it the trad way)
The danger is that if you are a newbie who has virtually gone straight into WFP then the odds are you will underprice these by a mile
Possibly by as much as 70% if its a big georgian house.

You'll be so cheap they'll ask you to do the insides, then you will need to quadruple your price to break even, in fact, if you have no experience (or very little) in trad cleaning. on a georgian house you will not stand a chance of breaking even, it'll be a nightmare account.

There are plenty of them out there at present though, but you really do need to be experienced to get them.

Ian

[a-r window cleanin]

We only have one expensive house. We charge £67.50 and do it every 2 weeks as that is how often the owner wanted us to visit.
It is a new house though and the entire downstairs is glass at the rear of the house.
It only takes about 1 hour 15mins max to do.

[Paul Coleman]

Hi all
I was talking to a freind of a freind, and he said he was qouted £70 too clean his windows, now where he lives they are all big houses with little sqaures and a couple are valued at 1 million pounds.
I was wondering if any one else does any jobs at these prices, and is it feasable to charge that amount?

A domestic account I had for £70 actually ripped me off for the money on the last clean.  It was a big old place with all leaded windows.  I dropped it due to them being unreliable payers.  I wasn't prepared to leave 2 cleans unpaid as I had a bad feeling about it after I had been there maybe 8 times - and I was proved right.  I was switching over to WFP around that time as well.  The customer had some ornate stuff on the window sills and those windows would definitely have leaked.
The feeling I had about the place was that paying the window cleaner was very unimportant as they were so rich.

If a job is worth charging that amount then charge it.  OK so it is usually easier to do jobs where it's oner big place rather than a number of smaller places next to each other.  You may want to consider charging slightly less due to "economy of scale" but not to the point where it compromises your expected hourly rate.

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

my highest house was £50 but they have since moved and i have not heared from the new owners yet!

[Roy Harding]

I have 33 domestic accounts that are over £70.

I rarley lose one but if I did its just a drop in the ocean.

But Ian has said you have to price  right. If you get asked too qoute for a big house break it down into sections.

Roy

[Sir Squeaky]

I have 33 domestic accounts that are over £70.

Didn't realise you did that many 2-bed semis Roy...

[supernova77]

I have a few £70+ houses on my round... I clean them every 12 weeks or so. They are very good accounts when you can get them.

I went canvassing the other day in a VERY wealthy area... You're talking £2m+ houses! The people I met were very cagey and guarded - wondering who I was, why I was there etc... they didn't give very much away.

However - I did get a chance to quote 3 properties. Two of them I quoted £75, and the other was £70... The problem was none of them would commit and say yes at the time - They didn't flinch at the time when I gave them the price so that wasn't the problem, I think they are just concerned about someone they don't know working at there £2m+ house.

Anyway... One of the £75 quotes called yesterday to say yes please + gutters (which I haven't quoted for yet)... If the other two also say yes then I will have 3 BIG houses all in the same road totalling £220!

Andy

[Easyclean Windows]

The biggest i do is 190 lead glass on three floors £200 but its a 5million pound house not 1

[Roy Harding]

I have 33 domestic accounts that are over £70.

Didn't realise you did that many 2-bed semis Roy...

I liked that Rog made me laugh 

Roy

[www.mrgutters.co.uk]

hi all

my highest is 85 house every 4 weeks but i have only done it twice so we will have to wait and see if they mess  me around?

shawn

[mfwindowcleaner]

£125 georgian mansion all small panes
swimming pool/conservatory/gym   bigger than my house
takes 2 of us 3 - 4 hours

[Neil Williams]

These bigger accounts are fantastic money if you are WFP (providing you have priced them for doing it the trad way)

And that is the key to getting it right.
It's easy to feel guilty quoting £55 knowing the job might only take 1 hour by wfp, but remember the customer doesn't have a wfp system and if they were to do the clean themselves how long would that job take them 4/5/6 hours at best.
We have many £40 plus jobs and one £57 job. If the customer keeps out of the way (they love to talk) I can get this down to about one hour.

[tatman]

£75 my most expensive house every 4 weeks takes me 3 hours and they are very good payers. Nice people as well. all georgain windows but hey makes achange using cloths instead of tbar and sqeeue! There are a few houses around that pay this sort of cash every month for window cleaning.

[Trevor Knight]

We are situated in a very wealthy area so £70 is not out of the asking price.

Like people have posted already, they are nice to have, good to keep and sad to lose.

Happy days 

[gazz28]

I have one job where i charge £95 to clean the windows of a big house in a very expensive area of hertfordshire. All the windows are leaded and I also clean the windows on the pool house aswell. This includes the frames. Takes me about 4 or 5 hours.

[neil100]

My highest priced house is £110.00 and its on a four weekly clean cycle.

They have the insides done every 6 months, On this clean the total cost is £300.00, They are both Lawyers with their own separate companys. Great people with a Big house.

I have another account thats £140.00 which is on a 8 week cycle.

It may sound great haveing big accounts but you spend longer cleaning them then smaller accounts.

My biggest earner tommorw is a £40 house. The customer is renovating  next door which is twice as big. So that will be £80 when he moves in next summer.

I try to pick the best day of the week on my big accounts,but if the weather is bad all week, Tough, I still need to work, they have to pay up or get dropped.

Nel.