[Tosh]

I honestly don't believe in all this credit crunch buisiness; okay pubs are going down, hotels and the posher class of restaraunts are suffering; shops too, but in general I think the domestic market will be as strong as ever with the exception of lower-end residential.

I live in a 3 bed semi, and if I asked someone to clean my windows, I'd expect to pay at least a tenner.

Crikey, I had a carpet fitter lay a bedroom carpet just before Christmas and he charged me £50 for what was less than an hours work; he did a good job with no fuss; and I was happy to pay.

I don't think £6.50 for a 3 bed semi is viable; not without working your socks off.

[peter holley]

the more houses u do, the more time spent collecting if they are in , and the more time spent on admin and envelopes etc....being cheap doesnt pay in the long run

there is a huge gap between £16 and £6.50...that is not being competitive , its being silly

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

I wouldn't say you are undercutting, as it is an ad.  However you do stand a chance of damaging the market for window cleaning where you are, I know that if I've seen a price for goods cheaper else where it makes me re examine what I'm paying.  At £6.50 a house your not working at much of a profit, just a wage.

Also if someone looses a job, then from experience I've found that no matter how much they are paying they will cancel.  £6.50 is still an additional not needed expense when not earning money.

Simon.

[jaykie]

I think that you must know your competitors charge more other wise theres no way you would advertise your price unless your expecting people to change.

Chris

[Paul Coleman]

£10 is my minimum for new work but there aren't many new jobs I quote a tenner for now.  £11 seems to be my new minimum unless it really is very small.  I have older work kicking around for a bit less than that but will need to increase these in the Spring.  I'm loathe to do it but a few jobs are way too low and wouldn't be missed if they cancelled.
If I was doing basic 3 bed semis for £6.50 it sounds like it could cause problems for me.  I suppose it depends on overheads though.  I imagine a quad bike is a lot cheaper to get around on than a van though I've never tried it.  I'm getting a sharp reminder at the moment of why I charge what I do (by no means high compared to some here).  This week £200 for 3 tyres. 2 - 3 weeks time another £200 for front discs and pads plus £50ish for the MOT plus maybe rear pads.  Also, a tax bill which I will be a bit late paying due to cashflow and too many customers who think that their window cleaner can live on fresh air.
I feel like going out there, putting a big spurt on for new work (it IS still out there) and dumping the worst quarter of my round.  I always do better when I channel my stress in a healthy direction.
So what I'm saying is that this money we receive (when they can be bothered to pay us) is NOT wages.  It's turnover.
Of course £6.50 is quite doable with low overheads and low or non-existent debt levels.  It can be done.  But why do it when you can get a tenner and be pretty sure of keeping the work?

[Sir Squeaky]

It's up to him if he wants do do it for as little as £6.50 (personally I'd want 9 or 10 quid), but the other guy charging £16.50?
I'm glad he's losing work. Good on you.

[Andrew McCann]

a friend of the family who happens to be a self made millionaire once gave me the advice, that unless some people tell you while doing a quote that your too expensive then your not charging enough.

This is very true. If you get approx 60 to70% of the jobs you quote for on residential then your prices are right for the area.

I do think that price you are charging is too low based on the other prices at £16.50 but if I had tried to charge £16 or £17 for a 3 bed I would have probably got ZERO percent of the jobs in this area.

As to the credit crunch I do think that it will hit the domestic market. Hmmm  well if you are charging over the odds it deffo will hit you. There will be a lot more window cleaners around at low prices so those charging "top end" prices will be hit the hardest I think.

Do a good job at a reasonable price and all will be OK  (Hopefully)

Andrew

[Oakley Windows]

I cant understand for the life of me why you would want to work at such a dramatically low rate of pay (busy fool) I know you'll guarantee yourself work, but be reasonable to yourself, theres no need; your harming your own business as well as others.

Im wondering if its a windup.

They are rates a newbie would charge.

[johns window kleen]

Personally I think advertising in the Local paper at £6.50 for a semi is damaging the market, and the others near you may get damaged as a result.
People may think this is the benchmark price. Its not.
Why do it so low, why not £10, or something realistic?
What was your motive for doing this? More custies, knock out the compo,?or what?
This is nearly in the silly league IMO.

[Ian_Giles]

Phew!
Why on earth work so cheap?
I was charging those prices for a semi 10/15 years ago.
You are WFP so quicker than before, but your running costs are now far higher than before, dropping your prices so low will eventually eat into your margins.
Did I read that you used "WE" when referring to the work you have?
If there are two of you then £750 per week isn't so good, plus maintaining that workrate day in day out, for month after month isn't really sustainable.

To advertise a semi at £6.50 just has to be misleading, some will have more windows than others, some will have conservatories and porches, some will have access issues...

If the average price in your area is around £16.00 for a semi then that is pretty high, as others have said, don't put in such a huge drop in price...why on earth would you want to work so cheap?
I know you might work out that you can knock out 5 an hour ( I am assuming that you are in fact a one man outfit) over the course of a day, and maybe even average that over a working week, but 5 an hour is above the average, few will manage that, especially all day long and then all week long.

Even though 5 in an hour isn't exceptional very few will have work that is so compact that they can sustain that day afer day.
A more realistic average is 3 an hour over the course of the average person's round...and even that is allowing that almost all of your work is is 3 bed semi's!
that way, if you want to earn £30 an hour your average price will need to be a tenner.
At that price you are still far cheaper than your opposition, and when you have days where you knock out 5 or 6 an hour you earn very good money indeed.

Being fast doesn't mean you have to keep dropping your prices!
This is how you boost your earnings, you are quicker than the opposition (not that it matters if you aren't of course) you are cheaper than them but are still earning a top income (theoretically) but even on poor days your income is still ok.
And of course you also need to factor in rain affected days, holidays, bank holidays, lazy days, days lost through illness and those days where you just can't get it together, days when your equipment will breakdown.

If you are happy with your earnings then more power to your elbow...but you are not working to your potential, I'd say you are shooting yourself in the foot.

Ian

[Davo]

It's up to him if he wants do do it for as little as £6.50 (personally I'd want 9 or 10 quid), but the other guy charging £16.50?
I'm glad he's losing work. Good on you.

Why are you glad hes losing work?? Would you still be glad if it was your job at a tenner and someone took it from you for £6.50.

As a generalisation discounting is not the way forward, you can only clean one window at a time.

Mark

[Sir Squeaky]

It's up to him if he wants do do it for as little as £6.50 (personally I'd want 9 or 10 quid), but the other guy charging £16.50?
I'm glad he's losing work. Good on you.

Why are you glad hes losing work?? Would you still be glad if it was your job at a tenner and someone took it from you for £6.50.

Yes i would be annoyed if it was my job at a tenner, but £16.50 is a rip-off, so good enough for the greedy git.

[East coast window cleaning Services]

It all comes down too running cost and what commitments each of us have, I know the figure i need to earn each week to keep the business running and a roof over my head. Dosent mean i would start cleaning windows cheaply. wheres some dont have outleys each week.

Me: Half decent van, superb van mount poles etc, fully insured, reliable service, Mortgage payer.

Man in car: R reg estate, 30ft point ladder, No insurance, Un-realiable. Council tennant.

Sorry if this offends but this is how i see it.

[AuRavelling79]

You are an undercutter and competitive. And I believe you are underpricing yourself as mentioned above you will not sustain that hourly rate over a month.

I have a group of about twelve ex council semis which are within 200 meters and two van moves of each other - no bays easy access and without conservatory I charge £11. But some of my older ones are still on at £ 7.50 or £5.50 for the front and sides only. (Gate issues).

Added together they equal £105 and take me just under three hours if I work briskly. Their average price is thus about £8.50.

If my round was all that compact then I would be happy with it as it would work out at over £200 for a six hour day. But it isn't.

So I reckon our man is a bit on the low side and should be going in at a tenner perhaps saying if you and your neighbour sign up it will be £9.50.

Other 3 bed semi's (Edwardian with two bay sash windows, poor access and a few side windows or mid thirties two faceted bays then I charge at £20 and £13.50 respectively) are priced differently as are those with porches aned conservatories.

[s.w.c]

If your happy with your daily takings, why are you concerned about others?   Business is business.  If you have worked hard, built experience & are happy with £6.50, no one else's opinion should count.

Your in business to please yourself, not worry about local competition & how much you might upset them.    Your not running a charity or doing it out of the good of your heart.   In the "current economic climate", you have to look after yourself.   Selfish?  yes.   Should you care?  hell no!  

Would you rather keep charging high & plodding along, losing a few to other cheaper guys, risking losing it all, or do as you plan and get in there to secure your future.

interesting mr jj.

[Rob.Hall]

I think the w/c industry is in for a shake with regards pricing of work.

We all know more people are starting and they will be keen for the work.

If you are excessive with prices then you may lose a few or many.

Why pay more for the same job.

[kevin James]

[quote

That makes even less sense to me. Why would you want to reduce the cleaning frequency and still charge the same price as a 6 week clean for an 8 week visit? I understand you want to give your customers value for money but I presume your existing customers still pay £6.50 a clean but now will only see you every 8 weeks not the original 6.

Mark

Why doesn't 8 weeks make sense? It doesn't take any longer to clean, you're still earning £30/hour andit matters less when you lose customers. You can always drop back to 6?weeks.

Kevin.

[matt]

I think the w/c industry is in for a shake with regards pricing of work.

We all know more people are starting and they will be keen for the work.

If you are excessive with prices then you may lose a few or many.

Why pay more for the same job.

ive been saying this for the best part of 12 months

keep it real and you will be ok, hammer them customers for all you can, and some1 will come along who doesnt

[kevin James]

knowing the areas i would say you are very competetive at those prices and would think you have a good chance of mopping up the market. Problem is you'll then get so much work i would think you would need to employ - then your margins may be too small. I would have thought those prices would be extremely low as you get to the largest city in the area.
Getting quite worried. 
Have you always charged so low for three beds? If not then some existing work would have to be reduced to fall in line.

Dont worry dave, once I hit 8 week intervals the ad will change. In fact the ad only runs for a  year.

[kevin James]

That's 25 a day - you'd need it nice and compact to keep it up every day. Is that for one person?

Aye, just me on the quad. You wouldn't believe how easy it makes this job. No parking hassles. Reels at a decent height, park & go. ( that's mine ironics!)

Kevin.