[sullivan]

Hi all,

Here's the situation.

I cleaned a former colleagues windows and her friends for the first time 8 weeks ago (I used to work with her in a previous office job, so we know each other quite well)

I charged her £20 for her house, and £15 for her friends bungalow.

Her house is actually one huge house, which is converted into 2 flats... I cleaned the lot, took me about an hour. So I thought £20 was actually slightly under priced, although as I'm building my round and I don't have many customers, its better than nothing at all.

I then charged her friend £15 (who lives in the same street).

I'm due to head over there tomorrow for their second clean. I asked her and she confirmed that they want them done again, although her friends sister's window cleaner only charges £10, and as they have the same number of windows can I match it? If not, she'l get them done by the other windy. 

Chop em... or bite the bullet?

Ideally, I should up the price of the other to £25 and drop her friends to £10... ?

[paul rulton]

ur price is ur price, & keep it at that. if u start doing lower prices u could soon
end up not enjoying the work  n trust me u dont want that. im guessing u do
a good job  : so get the price u deserve 

[michael papworth]

Keep your prices high.

What do you want people to say about you?

A: My window cleaner is the best around here.

B: My window cleaner is the cheapest around here.

NO ONE is going to recommend you to their friends with sentence B. And recommendation is where much of your customer base is going to come from.

[dazmond]

im sorry mate but i personally think £15 for a bungalow is ridiculous!!my min charge for bungalows is a fiver.maybe £10 if your down south or ireland.

if your new to this game you should speed up on the big house and it will be easier to clean.

you would get seriously undercut if you was charging £15 for a bungalow in the northwest!they would prob laugh at you and tell you to get lost!!!!


regards

dazmond

[windowswashed]

All depends if you are desperate for work. Personally, I would stick to my prices and only deviate on my prices if it leads to better opportunities.

[sullivan]

Well that's it really... I do my best every time.

I would end up feeling cheated if I were to match just because they have the ''same amount of windows''

Its really annoyed me, but, I guess this comes as part of the job eh!

Dazmond - as I said... the other place is underpriced, the £15 kinda compensates for the cheap price on the other job... and this isn't your average bungalow... its fairly big, and awkward to clean... So how you can quote without seeing it is beyond me 

[scottt24]

personally i would drop it but if you are desperate for customers tell her you will do it for £10 if she can get you another new customer in the street - this might take the sting out of it a bit

[Johnny B]

I remember a few years ago I did a detached house with a conservatory, for which I charged the princely sum of £12 for the lot. I even wiped the conservatory gutters each time. It was ridiculously underpriced even then, but when I finally increased the price to £14 (still not enough but I thought I'd try to be fair and do it in stages) I was dropped in favour of a couple of lads who charged her £11!

I remember being very happy to have lost that one!

The moral is, it is better to lose a customer than to undercharge. You will replace such ones with those who will appreciate you and pay accordingly.
Best wishes,
John.

[Ian Mason]

Well that's it really... I do my best every time.

I would end up feeling cheated if I were to match just because they have the ''same amount of windows''

Its really annoyed me, but, I guess this comes as part of the job eh!

Dazmond - as I said... the other place is underpriced, the £15 kinda compensates for the cheap price on the other job... and this isn't your average bungalow... its fairly big, and awkward to clean... So how you can quote without seeing it is beyond me  

Why did you not say it was a big awkward bungalow in the 1st place


Also it`s a bit unfair to overprice one property to compensate yourself for underpricing yourself on your mates property. :

[Jays Window Cleaning]

Do you clean the whole window glass frames and sills? Does the other guy do the same?

Jay

[sullivan]

I don't know if the other guy does the same, but yea, I do, I clean everything.

Ian- Well not really, as shes a friend,  I'm happy to do it at mates rates... Also as she recommended me to a friend, Its only fair IMO that she has a slight discount, thinking of it that way makes me feel better. This was the case until her friend has asked me to match the other window cleaner... Either way, £15 is a fair price for the job 

and also.. I wasn't asking anyone to judge my price... or tell me whether or not I was charging too much. So saying its big and awkward makes no difference at all, what I was asking was what do you do when you get undercut 

[Ryan @ Transparent, Carlisle]

you would get seriously undercut if you was charging £15 for a bungalow in the northwest!they would prob laugh at you and tell you to get lost!!!!

im in the northwest, i charge £15 for a bungalow that i do. and it gets cleaned every fortnight. the guy has been a happy customer since august 

[dazmond]

if its a stand alone awkward big bungalow then i would have priced it at 12quid dropping to £10 if i get 3 or more similar down the same street.we ve all made mistakes when pricing up certain jobs.im a bit better at pricing now.

charge what you want for your own circumstances,standard of living etc.i price fairly for both me and my customer i think!!

remember if you price too highly and drive a flash van your more likely to be undercut!it happens all the time!

CUT THROAT BUSINESS!!

[dazmond]

DONT BE SURPRISED IF YOU GET UNDERCUT RYAN!!

30QUID a month to have his bungalow cleaned?he ll keep ya till he realises he s payin you £300+ a year just for his windows cleaned.prob put you on a monthly or someother guy will come along and do em monthly for a tenner!!

thats what happens mate esp in the current climate


regards

dazmond

[Jays Window Cleaning]

If you really want the work why not say you will clean the doors too or inside of patio doors only takes a few mins and with that in ther eyes you are doing more for them then the other cleaner. I did the doors once on  one of my custys houses and he reccomended me to 5 people because i do the doors aswell. Are you wfp or trad?

£15.00 a fortnight for a bunglow!!

Im lucky to get a tenna a month for an awrkward one.


Jay

[sullivan]

Yeah £30 a month is ridiculous, but hey, if that's what he's willing to pay, then that's what the job is worth

Do you clean his car whilst your there too  

[sullivan]

I'm wfp, although I always carry trad incase someone wants inside done. She also has latticed windows, what are they like to clean for the trad guys?

[martinsadie]

I'm wfp, although I always carry trad incase someone wants inside done. She also has latticed windows, what are they like to clean for the trad guys?

do you mean leaded,they arnt a problem

[Smudger]

There is a golden rule is business - if you start out cheap then you will always be cheap - so you will end up working for very little money and the custy will not value you or your service.

Unfortunatly you have only done 1 clean so the custy has not seen all the benefits of quality reliable work ( this is 1 reason i now charge extra for 1st clean )

just this week another "w/c" canvassed here with prices from 2.50 !! -  i have not lost a single custy as i do a top job and always turn up on the day promised - people really appreciate this and if not then you will lose them to some guy looking to earn a few spare quid on the side.

As for price - Don't let anyone dictate your prices - you will know whats right or wrong for a place - size of windows access problems all affect price not just the number or windows in a house.

Darran

[williamx]

All this talk that you will be undercut and driven out of business if you charge high, if that is the case why do the likes of M & S, Sainsburys, BT, British Airways, Rolls Royce, Harrods, Chem Dry and the other many thousands of sucessfull businesses survive and all of them show healthy profits.

Price is a important part of the product, but quality and many other factors are normally more important to your average customer.

I personally charge high, if a customers says they can get it cheaper elsewhere, then they are quite welcome to go there, you might lose some but at the end of the day you will end up with customers who are willing to pay high if the service that they are getting is in their opinion worthwhile.

I also never give discounts to friends, there are customers and it is a business you are running.