Clean It Up

UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: AC Window Cleaning on July 27, 2011, 04:56:31 pm

Title: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: AC Window Cleaning on July 27, 2011, 04:56:31 pm
I do the front and side of a bungalow-2 small 5sided bays with leaded top lights and a 3 sided bay at the side which is 5 sections of glass.
I underpriced it upon canvassing at £5 but dont mind as it only takes about 10mins and the lady is sound and pays as soon as i arrive every time.
Anyway todays clean she passed me a slip of paper-and i mean a slip of paper (think kingsize rizla packet) with a "window and door cleaning service £3.50p -07xxxxxxxxx"
Pen written aswell
£3.50?!! whats wrong with people??!!
Doesnt anybody wanna earn any money?! lol
Seriously though,it worries me sometimes,i often wonder what the future holds when folk are putting in prices that are beating an underquote FFS!!
Title: Re: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: Lee Gilroy on July 27, 2011, 05:06:12 pm
I will do it for £1.99
Title: Re: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: H2GoKent on July 27, 2011, 05:52:18 pm
One of you is gonna get fired.  ;D
Title: Re: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: Paul Coleman on July 27, 2011, 06:58:01 pm
I do the front and side of a bungalow-2 small 5sided bays with leaded top lights and a 3 sided bay at the side which is 5 sections of glass.
I underpriced it upon canvassing at £5 but dont mind as it only takes about 10mins and the lady is sound and pays as soon as i arrive every time.
Anyway todays clean she passed me a slip of paper-and i mean a slip of paper (think kingsize rizla packet) with a "window and door cleaning service £3.50p -07xxxxxxxxx"
Pen written aswell
£3.50?!! whats wrong with people??!!
Doesnt anybody wanna earn any money?! lol
Seriously though,it worries me sometimes,i often wonder what the future holds when folk are putting in prices that are beating an underquote FFS!!

It doesn't bother me if someone is doing it for stupid money.
It can be a bit of a concern if someone is slightly less though.  However, if the difference is small, most will stick with what they know.
Title: Re: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: AC Window Cleaning on July 27, 2011, 07:51:05 pm
Dont get me wrong i dont mind competition,everyone has a right to canvas,i mean theyre not to know they already have a Wc.
The point was,it can drive prices down in certain areas.
Title: Re: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: Helen on July 27, 2011, 07:59:32 pm
Dont get me wrong i dont mind competition,everyone has a right to canvas,i mean theyre not to know they already have a Wc.
The point was,it can drive prices down in certain areas.


It can drive prices down, but usually they are doing it for beer money and will soon NOT go back :)
Title: Re: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: bobplum on July 27, 2011, 09:27:08 pm
lost one today i charge £8.00 she says she got it cheaper and i thought £8.00 was cheap ah well
Title: Re: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: EandM on July 27, 2011, 09:51:15 pm
We have nothing  under £10.
Title: Re: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: richard jagger on July 27, 2011, 10:24:49 pm
I print all my own stationary including business cards I have a card saying we re-clean badly cleaned windows with our details and I give them to customer who rejects my quote or if they leave for cheaper priced work. We also put our 24 hour clean guarantee at the bottom.
Title: Re: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: AC Window Cleaning on July 28, 2011, 05:10:30 pm
Ive been in the area again today and one of my £7 bungalows priced up at........yep you guessed it £3.50 lol
Title: Re: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: Londoner on July 28, 2011, 09:46:13 pm
You said yourself the first bungalow takes 10 minutes. This is going to happen a lot more, there are people out there who will see £3.50 for a 10 min job as good money.
Title: Re: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: Pope vader on July 28, 2011, 09:51:15 pm
think about it this way, most people are on 6 - 8 ph and we do 10 mins work and ask for £10 and we wonder why they go with some one cheaper
Title: Re: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: Flash.. on July 28, 2011, 09:54:42 pm
I dont know anyone that is self employed earning 6-8 ph, employed maybe but not self employed.
Title: Re: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: Dave66 on July 28, 2011, 09:58:21 pm
thing is when they charge 3.50 for a house or bung they aint go to be there long  ::)

2 or 3 cleans then they'll disapear... d*ckheads
Title: Re: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: mci services on July 28, 2011, 10:03:28 pm
thing is when they charge 3.50 for a house or bung they aint go to be there long  ::)

2 or 3 cleans then they'll disapear... d*ckheads

don't know about that loads of legit w/cleaners round my way do that and have been going for years, I could get my 4 bed terraced done for £4 and he would do a good job as well, and he obviously does ok, nice guy, nice house, nice car and only works 3 days during the summer and 5 through the winter ;)
Title: Re: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: mci services on July 28, 2011, 10:16:09 pm
thing is when they charge 3.50 for a house or bung they aint go to be there long  ::)

2 or 3 cleans then they'll disapear... d*ckheads

don't know about that loads of legit w/cleaners round my way do that and have been going for years, I could get my 4 bed terraced done for £4 and he would do a good job as well, and he obviously does ok, nice guy, nice house, nice car and only works 3 days during the summer and 5 through the winter ;)
same around here Stu, dont know how people get the high prices bragged about on here,most of my work is under £5

stan I have work ranging from £3.50 to £200 but my best money and turnover is all £5 and below ;) paid quickly, cash flow is good, no messers and all compact
Title: Re: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: Pope vader on July 28, 2011, 10:19:09 pm
thing is when they charge 3.50 for a house or bung they aint go to be there long  ::)

2 or 3 cleans then they'll disapear... d*ckheads

don't know about that loads of legit w/cleaners round my way do that and have been going for years, I could get my 4 bed terraced done for £4 and he would do a good job as well, and he obviously does ok, nice guy, nice house, nice car and only works 3 days during the summer and 5 through the winter ;)
same around here Stu, dont know how people get the high prices bragged about on here,most of my work is under £5

stan I have work ranging from £3.50 to £200 but my best money and turnover is all £5 and below ;) paid quickly, cash flow is good, no messers and all compact

my average price is between 6-7 and i have high price jobs, which i have nothing but probs with,  wanting to go 2 monthly or leave it till then can be bothered as wc is not a priority for a lot of people, or leave it this month
Title: Re: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: AC Window Cleaning on July 28, 2011, 11:25:15 pm
In an area where the average bung is £6 and thats 4 different companies i know of inc myself who price at that,why charge that little??
With overheads i have/most have couldnt do that,hell 4 of them at 3.50 is 14quid an hour,after diesel,insurance,tax,mot/repairs,public liabilty,water,detergent,gear etc etc and all the other outgoings-you would be working for minimum wage guaranteed.Whats the point?!
Title: Re: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: Dave66 on July 28, 2011, 11:41:03 pm
excactly...

average prices £9
Title: Re: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: AC Window Cleaning on July 28, 2011, 11:50:52 pm
Lets remember yeah £20 an hour may sound awesome to some and "well thats average/going rate/trash",but lets not forget after the stuff i said in my previous post it isnt anywhere near that...
So its NEVER £3.50 for 10mins etc unless your on a bmx,with stolen gear and a pogo stick
Title: Re: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: GB Window Cleaning on July 29, 2011, 07:56:10 am
In an area where the average bung is £6 and thats 4 different companies i know of inc myself who price at that,why charge that little??
With overheads i have/most have couldnt do that,hell 4 of them at 3.50 is 14quid an hour,after diesel,insurance,tax,mot/repairs,public liabilty,water,detergent,gear etc etc and all the other outgoings-you would be working for minimum wage guaranteed.Whats the point?!

exacly. you would be better off p.a.y.e working for someone!
Title: Re: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: Lee Burbidge on July 29, 2011, 06:04:50 pm
Lets remember yeah £20 an hour may sound awesome to some and "well thats average/going rate/trash",but lets not forget after the stuff i said in my previous post it isnt anywhere near that...
So its NEVER £3.50 for 10mins etc unless your on a bmx,with stolen gear and a pogo stick


Plus, when the weathers really bad you cant work, when you go on holiday you dont get paid for that either or if your ill, no sick pay. No pay at all.

I do this old ladies house. She only wants me to clean the tops (3 bed semi). I never spoke to her husband or hardly saw him before.
One day she was out but he was in and when I asked for my £5, he had a pap on! Im not paying that for 10 minutes work, he told me.
I used to get that an hour before I retired. I tried to tell him that it is not as bad as he thinks, since I have insurance, overheads, tax etc to pay and plus if I do not go work through sickness or bad weather or if I take a holiday I dont get paid.
His answer to me was: that it was my fault for picking to be a window cleaner  ::)

He gave me the fiver and I told him he was off my list.

Next month I did next doors and the old lady ran out to me. Apparently she gave the old misery git a bollocking and she told me she could not do without her window man.

I back on it now, but just shows the ignorance of people dosent it.
Title: Re: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: david watts on July 29, 2011, 09:15:09 pm
had a bungalow priced up by some chancers;
no kidding round here most you could charge would be£ 20
they walked round said we will do a better job make it £60 :o
they have been going a year so that shows how fast some learn
Title: Re: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: Londoner on July 31, 2011, 09:26:38 am
These examples all go to show that pricing is a really complicated subject and the implications go deep. Just because some window cleaner will do a bungalow for £3.50 where another wants £60 doesn't mean either are wrong. They are just extreme examples of the spread.

If somebody asks you to quote a bungalow and you say £10, chances are you might easily have got £12, maybe £14 who knows? If the customer then said I can only afford £8 would you take it anyway?
Another window cleaner would be absolutely delighted with £6

Complicated, very complicated.
Title: Re: Chancers Pricing lol
Post by: dazmond on July 31, 2011, 09:45:35 am
depends on so many things.

area.if your down south you need a hell of a lot more money to live compared to areas of the north.

is it very compact and local?if it is then that cuts fuel costs and you ll spend more time cleaning rather than driving about.


i have a mix of various types of rounds.some are very compact cheap 3 bedders.large domestics at good prices,commercial,blocks of flats,converted barns and well priced stand alone accounts.

i pick up a fair amount of add on jobs on the 3-4 bedders over the course of the year and because of the sheer amount of it i dont notice if one or two cancel because of moving,losing jobs etc.

i personally wouldnt clean a bungalow for £3-50 but i dont slag off other windys that do.


regards


dazmond