[chuggers]

Def charge the £24. For pita custies you gotta factor in the furutre hassle you might get off them

[Glyn H]

The problem is in thinking that £24.00 is a lot of money!

If she is a Lawer, Doctor, Vet, Dentist or any other professional £24.00 is a half decent bottle of wine at lunch time.

If a  garage charges £95.00 an hour for their services, is their a reason a window cleaner shouldnt?

[Gleaming windows]

If a  garage charges £95.00 an hour for their services, is their a reason a window cleaner shouldnt?

Yes the costs associated to be able to operate a window cleaning business are peanuts compared to that of a garage.

[Glyn H]

Yes the costs associated to be able to operate a window cleaning business are peanuts compared to that of a garage.

Many window cleaning companies work from premises that their vehicles and equipment are stored in and have accounts,surveying, sales, customer service,  departments.

[TonyD]

The problem is in thinking that £24.00 is a lot of money!

If she is a Lawer, Doctor, Vet, Dentist or any other professional £24.00 is a half decent bottle of wine at lunch time.

If a  garage charges £95.00 an hour for their services, is their a reason a window cleaner shouldnt?

Good point there, £24 isn't a lot of money for a professional cleaner for 20 minutes or more.   As mentioned, if she's comfortably off £24 to her may be the equivalent of £2.40 to us..

[cozy]

The problem is in thinking that £24.00 is a lot of money!

If she is a Lawer, Doctor, Vet, Dentist or any other professional £24.00 is a half decent bottle of wine at lunch time.

If a  garage charges £95.00 an hour for their services, is their a reason a window cleaner shouldnt?

Good point Glyn, do you charge 95 quid an hour? If not, would you try it? I know we all have the odd well paying jobs that could be worked out at that rate, but you couldn't expect to hit 95 an hour on avarage.

[Glyn H]

Good point Glyn, do you charge 95 quid an hour? If not, would you try it? I know we all have the odd well paying jobs that could be worked out at that rate, but you couldn't expect to hit 95 an hour on avarage.

Its fair to say we do not earn that amount each and every hour 7.30 - 4.30  but we do have many large commercial monthly jobs that pay considrably more than that.

Many on this forum will have seen the large amount of tools and equipment we carry on the vans for example as well as 1200 litres of water (800 litre + 400 litre tanks) running off of fixed pumps we carry portable pumps,,spare batteries,backup DI bottles, ladders held on internal racks,backpacks,trollies, jerry cans,over a dozen different size poles and close to 20 brushes,scrubbing pads, different size and shape  goosenecks some brushes are just for one specific job. It means we are very rarely caught out without the right tool.
By having exactly the right tool for a particular job speeds the work up and earnings considerabily.
We do both commercial and domestic work the domestic van doesnt have quite as much equipment but has more than enouth to tackle any new extra job that we may be asked to carry out that day.

[cozy]

Yes mate, but the guy is on about low priced dom jobs at about 3 quid. I get your point but it doesn't really apply in this case, nice if it did, but he has a problem as you can see.

[Glyn H]

Yes mate, but the guy is on about low priced dom jobs at about 3 quid. I get your point but it doesn't really apply in this case, nice if it did, but he has a problem as you can see.

His problem is that he is frightened to charge £24.00 for the job!

I have never encountered this problem with any trades that have worked at my home or business premises.
A builder turns up gives me a price which is  usually in the thousands and I say yes or no, I dont work out how long he will be doing the job nor does the time have any bearing on the price.
I am happiest when they are quicker than I thought they would be as they are not disrupting me, wife, staff, dogs etc.
So if a carpenter charges a couple of thousand for labour for fitting a kitchen or bedroom furniture and is only there for a day or two   great.... I am happy and so is he.
Provided of course the job is perfect

[peter holley]

I agree, £24 is not a huge amount for that area ...eg , how mush does a house like that cost to buy in that area?
well then,, they can afford it!!

more to the point, if its a PITA job , can you afford to do it for less?

[Sean Dyer]

Yes mate, but the guy is on about low priced dom jobs at about 3 quid. I get your point but it doesn't really apply in this case, nice if it did, but he has a problem as you can see.

His problem is that he is frightened to charge £24.00 for the job!

I have never encountered this problem with any trades that have worked at my home or business premises.
A builder turns up gives me a price which is  usually in the thousands and I say yes or no, I dont work out how long he will be doing the job nor does the time have any bearing on the price.
I am happiest when they are quicker than I thought they would be as they are not disrupting me, wife, staff, dogs etc.
So if a carpenter charges a couple of thousand for labour for fitting a kitchen or bedroom furniture and is only there for a day or two   great.... I am happy and so is he.
Provided of course the job is perfect

I think the same, i used to think "you cant charge that" but as you get more used to the job and the expenses involved etc, i think if you get a good price and keep them happy - well done, in fact to do well as a sole trader in this business, you have to be hard working and efficient and quick, but pricing is the main thing, you can only earn as much as you have priced, and there are only so many hours to work, so you gotta price right!!

I might get a good job now, and in a few months i feel it is average, its strange how it goes like that, im gonna start price rising soon, its been too long

[johns window kleen]

We worry too much about what we charge being too high for window cleaning. If the customers happy to pay that for a small clean then it's their choice
{I only wished I could find a few more like that}

Some bloke fixed my up and over garage door, which had got stuck open. Took him 2 hammer blows and a tug of the door. 5 minutes work. £47.00 + VAT.

And some of us think we are robbers!!!

[mark dew]

It's the fact that it is £24 when the neighbours would be paying £16-£18, that feels a bit too cheeky for me to do similar.
Prices go up but 50% over 'going rate' for the area is a big increase.

[Gleaming windows]

Yes the costs associated to be able to operate a window cleaning business are peanuts compared to that of a garage.

Many window cleaning companies work from premises that their vehicles and equipment are stored in and have accounts,surveying, sales, customer service,  departments.

You need to look at the kit in the average well stocked garage (any idea how much the average hydraulic vehicle ramp costs these days?) like this



They have all the expenses youve listed plus many more.


Additionally, the window cleaning business youve described Glyn isnt in the 'many' category, it is in the minority category.

[Nathanael Jones]

If the customer agrees to the price before work has begun then it is IMPOSSIBLE to overcharge. £24 for 20 mins is good money,.. but take into account setting up, packing away, travelling to the next job etc, and it'll prob be closer to 40 mins.
Then pay your VAT, tax, fuel, expenses etc etc and you'll be earning a wage that isn't nearly as extortionate as you think.

[Glyn H]

Additionally, the window cleaning business youve described Glyn isnt in the 'many' category, it is in the minority category.

Sorry but this is not in my experiance.
Who is it you think cleans all the millions of panes of glass in every major building, all those thousands of complexes,that every city has.
The window cleaning jobs that are worth hundreds of thousands of pounds a years.
The buildings that have teams of static window cleaners working five days a week every week of the year of which their are thousands of.

Virtually every large building you see has a window cleaning company servicing it, when you start counting the buildings you soon realise how many work in the business and how much the window cleaning industry is worth.

[cozy]

One point that you should think about is, a mechanic needs a 3 year training course just to learn the basics of the trade. His hourly rate will be relative to what he costs the garage for him to be there with all the kit he needs to do the job.Most people are under the impresion that window cleaning is unskilled and any prat can learn it in a few hours. That's not true, but that's what some custies think.

So, if a WC tips up and wants 90 odd quid an hour, I reckon the custy might get a little upset. I can't charge 90 quid an hour because some firms in this game are massive and have millions in turnover. It's just common sense surely.

Yes the indusry is worth many millions in turnover every year. But it's not all MY turnover is it?

[Gleaming windows]

Additionally, the window cleaning business youve described Glyn isnt in the 'many' category, it is in the minority category.

Sorry but this is not in my experiance.
Who is it you think cleans all the millions of panes of glass in every major building, all those thousands of complexes,that every city has.
The window cleaning jobs that are worth hundreds of thousands of pounds a years.
The buildings that have teams of static window cleaners working five days a week every week of the year of which their are thousands of.

Virtually every large building you see has a window cleaning company servicing it, when you start counting the buildings you soon realise how many work in the business and how much the window cleaning industry is worth.

And for every company of that size, theres 150 one man bands servicing more glass in residential estates.

Thus, those companies you mentioned are the minority.

[John Walker]

A one man band washing machine or boiler engineer will charge around £60 just to turn up.  Customers just seem to accept that without much quibble. 

Far less physical and they are working indoors in the dry and warm - and more likely to be offered tea and a cake or occasionally even more    !!

Their operating costs can't be much different to window cleaners with a small van.

[vacman]

A one man band washing machine or boiler engineer will charge around £60 just to turn up.  Customers just seem to accept that without much quibble. 

Far less physical and they are working indoors in the dry and warm - and more likely to be offered tea and a cake or occasionally even more    !!

Their operating costs can't be much different to window cleaners with a small van.

No but their work is completey random unlike cleaning windows where a lot of it is regular. The washing machine and boiler men have to fund the times they are not actually working. Not that I am saying the author of this post is wrong to be charging what he is; after all the client did agree to it, though i can't help but think she is going to demand her £24's worth of flesh of him  and in practice i don't like the idea of 'overpricing' to avoid jobs; saying "I can' t fit it in @ the moment" works for me. But no, what i am saying is that window cleaning can't be compared to how a washing machine man runs his businesss.