[Captain Scarlet]

A cusomer phoned up the other day and we arranged to see the property, the woman was desperate to get a cleaner as this was a holiday home they were going to rent out. Anyway she broke the appointment and when my dad turned up to quote she was out, anyway he looked around the property and told me it would be around £110 ( builders clean ). I made another appointment for my dad to see her today at 1 o clock. She broke the appointment again but her husband was in. My dad told him the price and said it would £40 thereafter ( 20 easy windows ). Anyway the guy nearly dropped dead and said the previous cleaner where they lived charged £8 every week. My dad explained our running costs, insurance etc etc and explained that a window cleaner like that is uninsured and wouldnt be back the following year. My dad said that wfp is so good that it will only need cleaning every other month ( we clean loads of houses near his, and they take ages to get dirty ), but he wnated a weekly clean!!!!!! this guy is a doctor and even when my dad explained that £8 every week would work out more than £40 every other month he couldnt understand! anyway we are the only wc in his area so he will have to get his own ladders out!!!! Luke

[supernova77]

Anyway the guy nearly dropped dead and said the previous cleaner where they lived charged £8 every week.

What happened to their previous window cleaner then?

Andy

[Captain Scarlet]

they don't live where he cleans anymore so they dont have him! we are the only wc here s he has no luck in finding another! Luke

[brightnclean]

Welcome to the world of commercial WC'in young Jedi

Weekly cleans like this one will always be competetive. Try shop work mate  lol.  20 easy windows for £40 is far too expensive for commercial work especially weekly cleans. The previous guy was a bit on the cheap side though. I would say £12 to £15 every week for a job like that but only if it was very local to me.

[supernova77]

Welcome to the world of commercial WC'in young Jedi Smiley

Weekly cleans like this one will always be competetive. Try shop work mate  lol.  20 easy windows for £40 is far too expensive for commercial work especially weekly cleans. The previous guy was a bit on the cheap side though. I would say £12 to £15 every week for a job like that but only if it was very local to me.

If work like this is that competitive (cheap) then it's not worth going for IMO.

Andy

[Captain Scarlet]

its a domestic job! and we always charge at least double the amount of winows to find the price on a domestic property sometimes triple ( depending on access, window size, where the job is etc etc ). What got on my dads nerves was they wasted our time so now we are going to be changing our leaflets to "from £2 per wondow" that way we will avoid time waster because they will be able to give their own estimate, Luke

[brightnclean]

It is worth it Andy.

Think about it. I could probably do a place like that in 15 mins tops especially weekly. £12 x 4 is £48 per hour or even better 12 x £15 is £60 per hour mate. Like I said though it would have to be very local to me for obvious reasons. Another way to look at it is say 50 cleans at £12 is £600 a year. You have to look at the bigger picture mate  

OMG Luke I was just about to post this and saw ur reply. Unless you live in cloud cuckoo land where ppl will just chuck money ur way you will price urself right out of the market and just coz the place is a holiday home doesn't make it a domestic job. It's a hiloday home for rent so it's a commercial job.

[cat9921]

Hi Luke

What you have to remember is,this guy is a doctor.
and Doctors do not get paid as good as us  

[Nathanael Jones]

its a domestic job! and we always charge at least double the amount of winows to find the price on a domestic property sometimes triple ( depending on access, window size, where the job is etc etc ). What got on my dads nerves was they wasted our time so now we are going to be changing our leaflets to "from £2 per wondow" that way we will avoid time waster because they will be able to give their own estimate, Luke

I'd quote "per pane of glass" as windows can range from a single pane to 20 odd,.. and you'll either get custies not calling cause they thing you're expensive,.. or expecting you to clean massive 20 panel picture windows for £2 "cause it's only 1 window"!!!

[Captain Scarlet]

Anyway no need to worry people, our wc buisness is running very well!! My dad was annoyed because we very rarely loose a job like that especially with a doctor!!!!Luke

Nathanael, we live in a rural area so travelling to a job we wont get is very wasteful, we dont want to attract customers who cant afford us! Its also possible to say from £2 and show a picture on our leaflet of an average window

Brightclean, it isnt very local and we do all the stuff in his area every 2 months so we would be going out of our way to do it. He wouldnt believe even though we clean houses next to him, across the road that every 2 months is fine and would save him money instead of every week which we cant do anyway!

[windowwashers]

its a domestic job! and we always charge at least double the amount of winows to find the price on a domestic property sometimes triple ( depending on access, window size, where the job is etc etc ). What got on my dads nerves was they wasted our time so now we are going to be changing our leaflets to "from £2 per wondow" that way we will avoid time waster because they will be able to give their own estimate, Luke

Luke if you put from £2 a window IMO you would be shooting yourself in the as= m8, put from 50p that could be a window 6inch by 6 inch, people that quote them self will payless not very often do they want to pay more but you do getthe odd one or two.

if you put £2 a window and that window had say 20 panes in it that is a very low price to charge, start with small amount and work up, whoever said about pricing yourself out of the market is right, I charge £10 for my own house and it has 15 windows I think

[Captain Scarlet]

we live in a rural area so travelling to a job we wont get is very wasteful, we dont want to attract customers who cant afford us! Its also possible to say from £2 and show a picture on our leaflet of an average window

Dont panick people, we havent done this yet, we are just thinking of it! We're not stupid we know our market very well, we even have a customer profile we aim at. We like customes who are prepared to pay that extra for a top notch service. We are the biggest wc comapny in our area ( there arent many!!! ) Luke

[jdemarco]

its a domestic job! and we always charge at least double the amount of winows to find the price on a domestic property sometimes triple ( depending on access, window size, where the job is etc etc ). What got on my dads nerves was they wasted our time so now we are going to be changing our leaflets to "from £2 per wondow" that way we will avoid time waster because they will be able to give their own estimate, Luke

Bad idea my friend! Keep your price per window in your head and dont tell them unless speaking direct in person and you can sell it well.
 DO NOT put it on your flyers as a selling point or any point, you WILL NOT get any business that way. You need to attract there attention not put there backs up straight away. Keep it real!

 Your dad needs to learn to give a bit when negotiating otherwise its not negotiating its just being stubborn. Dont get me wrong im all for getting as much as you can get but you have to learn to give and take. You should have got that job but by making it a bit cheaper. You might be lucky and the doc might phone and say ok but i doubt it, what will prob happen is hell rather live with dirty windows than give in to your prices cos you probably annoyed him with your price and your attitude. Dont be surprised if someone else gets the job for the same price or even more expensive cos of finding someone further a field, but he wont want you!

 But ive been known to be wrong believe it or not.

[Captain Scarlet]

Wish I'd never posted this now!!!! all information taken onboard! thanks for all your concerns and help, Luke

PLEASE NO MORE POST!!!!!!!!

[brightnclean]

Just 1 more Young jedi... u still have a lot to learn  lol 

[Captain Scarlet]

OH YES I DO!!! today I have learnt that I should never post on a forum again, although I probably will!!!!

[Captain Scarlet]

oh yeah

[Jeff Brimble]

Hi Luke you have asked me not to post so I wont- unless you want my opinion ?

[Captain Scarlet]

go ahead Jeff! it was just a suggestion of mine, not my dads, he is more intelligent than me so I will have to ask him his opinion!!!

[Jeff Brimble]

Quote - OH YES I DO!!! today I have learnt that I should never post on a forum again, although I probably will!!!!

Just keep asking questions  but also expect answers you may not like.