[geoffreyspecht]

no ive been cleaning windows now for 30) years

[dai]

Geoff, you know you can on a good day, not enough of them though, especially on our patch. Dai

[Rob_Mac]

Geoffreyspecht

Are you trad  and where are you based and what sort of work do you have

Rob

[geoffreyspecht]

im from llandudno midas,most of my work is houses

[robbie14000]

We put up all our prices this jan and not one has cancelled.
If youy do a good job they will keep you.
People want quality,trust and reliability .
Keep them happy and you will keep them for years.
Had a woman last week where one of my employees had priced her house (very High).
When we cleaned it I told her he had charged her wrong and that it would be £10 cheaper than quoted.
I will keep that house for a long time to come.
We charge high but give a great service and could not earn what we earn in any other industry.
Some people pull this industry down (it,s only window cleaning)
It,s a skilled and dangerous job and you need to be an all round businessman/woman to survive and grow.

Been in the industry just over 4 years, have 2 employees and for those thinking you cannot earn good money in this industry think again as there are some crafty beggers on here that turn over 100k no problem.

It,s what you do when you get to that point that matters.
We are now branching into pigeon spiking , draincare services,drive cleaning etc ect.
When you have a large customer base you have got to use them to your advantage and provide as many quality services as you can as your captive audience is huge and they trust you already.

We do a great job/service to both the commercial/private sector and the next time you pass someone while you are cleaning speak to them as they are your next prospective(victim) I mean client.

Good luck to you all
Robbie

The world is full of windows ---- and opportunities

[geoffreyspecht]

i bet your turnover is over £100000 robbie

[fergus77]

So far i make enough to pay the bills and fuel the car, but i'm thinking of starting up myself as i'm working with a friend at the min and would like to have my own round as well as share a day or 2's work. He's shown me the ropes and also given me the experiance to go out and find work, but more importantly, shown me that the work and money is out there to whoever wants to go and find it!

Personally speaking, i think the job can be a very good earner, but only after the graft has been put into building the business through canvassing and building up a a steady and reliable round.

I still have to cope with the round building but have door knocked to some degree, and been sucessful

[robbie14000]

Goeff - When I first started it was all about the money.
I came out of a job paying me £24k to start my own business.
I was salaried and working 60 hours per week with lots of stress and finding life difficult to live,pay bills ect.

Now 4 years in it,s about picking up quality work and adding quality to what we already have.
I noticed you said you only do residential - Why.
Cleaning commercial is only like doing houses but on a larger scale with H&S , more liability built in.
I could not have got to where I am without good staff and have been very lucky.
I love selling myself and my company to any prospective clients with the promise of a well run company delivering a quality service first time , every time.

There are a lot of window cleaners that sell themselves short and do not push themselves to move their businesses on to the next level whether it being they are scared to fail ,embarassed to approach people or do not have the knowledge.

All the above are barriers that have to be crossed for them to be able to move forward and grow.

6 months ago I new nothing about Draincare services but it was an area I thought there was a market for.
I went on two courses , spoke to loads of people in the industry to gain more info and knowlege.
We will be starting on 1st April
Thanks Robbie
Clearshine Ltd

[Rob_Mac]

Geoffrey

I am surprised that you are surprised that £150.00 per day can be earned.

Do you not get anywhere near this figure or were you joking.

I would have thought that this should be the average that a busy window cleaner can earn for a days work.

Can you describe your work, small houses, big houses, cheaply priced, well priced, do you work a full week

Rob

[Feen]

The one problem I have is the inability to say "no" I take on jobs that are not really worth the bother. Help me be more selective

If you have trouble saying "no". we've all done it...brain screaming "no way" and mouth going "of course we will!!!!"
Jobs that your feel are really not worth the bother price them higher than normal. The custie may not accept the price - problem solved. If they accept at a hgh price then they won't be classed as "not worth the bother"

Sounds simple. Must try to put it into practice
Seriously, I,ve found myself underpricing new jobs because I'm embarassed how quickly I can do them wfp.

[robbie14000]

Feen- At the end of the day you have invested in your company by going wfp so deserve to reap the benefits and being wfp does cost more.
Just because you can clean quicker than trad you can still put the same price in.
We actually charge extra for cleaning trad now as it does take longer.
You should not feel guilty at all.
At the end of the day if you are regular,trustworthy and do a good job you can charge what you want going forward as you will have less and less time in your week to fit everything in so unfortunatly the poor paying jobs have to go to create more space for better paying work.
It is a business afterall and your company needs to grow like the likes of tesco,barclays ect ect.
We still have some cheap jobs but only because we are happy to keep them (relatives , friends ect)
Be ruthless mate especially if you are busy anyway and do not need there custom you can add extra and if you get it so be it.
I cannot understand how some people do not put theer prices up in years as it does not make sense (inflation ,price of equipment ,fuel costs ect)
As each year passes they are getting less and less for that job.

Thanks Robbie

[Helen]

/

Sounds simple. Must try to put it into practice
Seriously, I,ve found myself underpricing new jobs because I'm embarassed how quickly I can do them wfp.

Never be embarrased by doing a good job. That is what you advertise and that is what the custie gets. We price new custies as we would price for trad work, whether they are WFP or not. For most custies, not all, they just want the job done right and don't mind paying a bit more than the norm for it

[Wayne Thomas]

Don't sell yourself short. Have some confidence in yourself and most importantly price right.
If you get all your new quotes then you are too cheap.
If you don't get any then you are quoting to high in your area.
It's about finding a happy medium that suits that you're able to get in your area. If you don't try, you'll never get it and end up working all the hours under the sun for peanuts.

[Rob_Mac]

Laddermonkee

Have you worked out if you are doing anything wrong from the posts to your topic or is it that there are some people further down the road than you because they started before you.

Rob

[Rob_Mac]

I would also be interested to know what others picked up from this thread and how they will go about implicating this into their service/s

Rob

[laddermonkee]

Laddermonkee

Have you worked out if you are doing anything wrong from the posts to your topic or is it that there are some people further down the road than you because they started before you.

Rob

Hi midas,i think basically i'm not charging enough i would average about £100 per day bearing in mind this is london i think i could do better, i haven't been window cleaning to long and my pricing is a bit hit and miss. I have tried asking other window cleaners but some are a bit cagey about giving advice on how to price work. Thanks for your advice anyway i have found it very helpful.

[Rob_Mac]

I think that if you are going to increase then you have to justify the increase and set it at £1.00 rise per clean every January, February etc and stick to that. If you believe that you are too cheap then you know what you need to do.

If you put a £1.00 increase on tomorrows work and you clean 20 houses you've made £120.00 for the same work, 20 quid you would not have had.

They will not tell you to put the prices up but start as you mean to go on.

We had a plumber in last week doing our ensuite, cracking lad and did a very high quality job for us but charged us next to nothing for the weeks work. He charged average plumbers rates.

I told him he was too cheap.

The next day he came in and said he had done a quote the night before and added 10% as an increase - worked out at £300.00 on the job that he would not have had. He got the job!!!

He will always put that 10% on now because he knows they will pay it.

Put your prices up and when you are getting the money you want you can take us all out for a drink

Rob - Mines a double rum & coke

[geoffreyspecht]

 laddermonkee u should be able to earn at least £2oo a day even working of ladders.take a look at this site.the english cleaning company

[laddermonkee]

from some of the posts i have read and some of earnings claimed, am wondering where i am going wrong

What do you qualify as a decent living?

Andy

Sorry for the late reply, i would say about  £150 per day bearing in mind i live in the south. Good brickies would earn around that in london and the south, then when you take into consideration insurance, tax, N.I. ect. i don't think £150 per day would be unreasonable.

so if you think you are going wrong somewhere, what is your average day at the moment. £150.00 per day is achievable on your own, but again don't compare window cleaning with other trades

I think window cleaning can be compared to other trades, after all a tradesman is only a labourer who is skilled at one aspect of labouring so in that respect window cleaning is entitled to be classified as a trade others may disagree of course.

[laddermonkee]

I think that if you are going to increase then you have to justify the increase and set it at £1.00 rise per clean every January, February etc and stick to that. If you believe that you are too cheap then you know what you need to do.

If you put a £1.00 increase on tomorrows work and you clean 20 houses you've made £120.00 for the same work, 20 quid you would not have had.

They will not tell you to put the prices up but start as you mean to go on.

We had a plumber in last week doing our ensuite, cracking lad and did a very high quality job for us but charged us next to nothing for the weeks work. He charged average plumbers rates.

I told him he was too cheap.

The next day he came in and said he had done a quote the night before and added 10% as an increase - worked out at £300.00 on the job that he would not have had. He got the job!!!

He will always put that 10% on now because he knows they will pay it.

Put your prices up and when you are getting the money you want you can take us all out for a drink

Rob - Mines a double rum & coke

The advice youv'e given is worth more than rum and coke rob,your to cheap man I'm in wetherspoons acton high st every sunday morning if i see you there i will get  you a treble rum and coke thanks again to you and everyone else for the advice it has been really helpful.