Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: L.J.Thorpe on February 23, 2008, 08:26:02 pm
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went out this morning to get caught up a bit.Care home that me and marcus do together then on to finish off some of my stuff (2 houses and tiny bungalow) so ready to start fresh on monday.Get to bungalow which is last job,just get started when old dear comes out ,offers coffee and then reminds me i was going to clear out the gutters((i had forgotten completely) any way not got all gear but improvised quickly with w/c bucket and a borrowed binliner. Two straight runs of guttering ,front and back,stepladder job, check front....empty,check back....empty.I gave her an estimate of 25 to 30 quid before i started but in the end i couldnt do it and said a fiver just so i didnt actually lose out.Is this bad business? am i just not ruthless enough or what?.... ??? what would you have done
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Thats what I like about you mate ........ you have compassion , job well done and im sure she was gratefull ;D
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You'll be giving windowcleaners a bad name. you should have got at leas 40squid cleaned the plastic job done ;D
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If it`s a nice old lady i usually leave these for when i`ve caught up with my main work,if i`ve had a good week-month and she makes a good coffee and isn`t flush with cash i`d clean her gutters out for nothing.
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tut tut
you will never be rich
you know you should have a min charge for gutters of £100
as she was old, that should be increased to £100 PER SIDE
no no no, that will never do
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yes i think you are too soft,
you have to be slightly ruthless in any business,and to drop a price to nothing,
you should be ashamed. ;D ;D
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thats the spirit lads ;D ;D ;D ;D
get rich any old how ;D
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You did what I would have done, how could you charge for not doing anything? We're not Pikeys are we
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Did you clean the gutters....no. But you did the job of checking them, so you did what I would, not charge the gutter cleaning price but a checking price, Luke
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i am serious its not a "look how lovely iam to old biddies" post.I could have pulled some moss of the roof and some dirt out the flower beds ,sat and read paper while drinking the coffee and spent a bit longer doing the windows then said "tell you what love lets just call it 20 quid all in" and she would have been quite happy...so would that have been a bad thing to do ??? after all she cant do it herself and some people....well rogue traders and all that eh, so why not just take an easy and not extortionate 20 nicker for my time ??? :o....is it cos they are old ??? ???
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Did you clean the gutters....no. But you did the job of checking them, so you did what I would, not charge the gutter cleaning price but a checking price, Luke
thats a fair point really.....spose honesty is best policy even if not most lucrative ;D
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You are going through an internal conflict but you will come out other side a better man :-\
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I had just finnished a job and was walking back to the car when a neighbour asked me to clear out his downpipe as it had grass growing out of it. He made the point that there was no way he could get up there himself. I was in a good mood and pulled it all out, took 2 minutes up the ladder no probs. He came out with a fiver but as I was in such a good mood I said it was ok dont worry about it. He said thanks and that was it. What has annoyed me since is that I have been on that road no end of times after I did the job and he has seen me every time with not one hello or anything just looks right past me.
My conclusion is that no matter what even if you make a climb to check something then you should charge even if its a fiver. For us w/c its no probs we have all the ladders and are not scared to use them. Just think if you didnt and needed your gutters checking or cleaning out, how grateful you would be for someone to do it for you. Its definatley worth fiver if not a lot more.
Steve
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I had just finnished a job and was walking back to the car when a neighbour asked me to clear out his downpipe as it had grass growing out of it. He made the point that there was no way he could get up there himself. I was in a good mood and pulled it all out, took 2 minutes up the ladder no probs. He came out with a fiver but as I was in such a good mood I said it was ok dont worry about it. He said thanks and that was it. What has annoyed me since is that I have been on that road no end of times after I did the job and he has seen me every time with not one hello or anything just looks right past me.
My conclusion is that no matter what even if you make a climb to check something then you should charge even if its a fiver. For us w/c its no probs we have all the ladders and are not scared to use them. Just think if you didnt and needed your gutters checking or cleaning out, how grateful you would be for someone to do it for you. Its definatley worth fiver if not a lot more.
Steve
now this is my point exactly.....but how much is reasonable and how much is gonna get matt allright knocking ??? ??? how much would a gas engineer want to tell you that your boiler is fine its just making that noise cos a casing screw is loose ??? or is it best to be honest and risk end up a "willing horse"
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Just do a good turn when needed.
If you win you win. If you loose..........you win!
Do a good turn ;)
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I've done the same sort of thing. You will never be rich but you will feel good inside,
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Sometimes if i'm running short of work, i might occasionaly do a bit of gutter washing if it's a short length in the hope that a neighbour might be watching and want theirs done. It never works, and the regular customer doesn't even comment so probably doesn't even notice. That's bad business!
But what you did LJ is quite commendable in my book. Your as useless at business as me though.
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Ive done the same myself
At least we can sleep easy at night mate !!
My wifes nan who lives in Luton had some Pikys come round and replaced a bit of chainlink fencing 2 2x2 angle iron posts knocked in with club hammer into the earth the chainlink fence was weaved round the posts they were there about half an hour, over £400 they charged her .....
Marcus..
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went out this morning to get caught up a bit.Care home that me and marcus do together then on to finish off some of my stuff (2 houses and tiny bungalow) so ready to start fresh on monday.Get to bungalow which is last job,just get started when old dear comes out ,offers coffee and then reminds me i was going to clear out the gutters((i had forgotten completely) any way not got all gear but improvised quickly with w/c bucket and a borrowed binliner. Two straight runs of guttering ,front and back,stepladder job, check front....empty,check back....empty.I gave her an estimate of 25 to 30 quid before i started but in the end i couldnt do it and said a fiver just so i didnt actually lose out.Is this bad business? am i just not ruthless enough or what?.... ??? what would you have done
Doing good business isn't just about making money. Ironically, doing it the way you've done it may make you more money in the longer term though - even though I'm sure that wasn't your intent. I would have done it your way too.
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I've done the same sort of thing. You will never be rich but you will feel good inside,
The funny thing is that by feeling good about yourself, you will attract customers anyway so it is actually viable to do little things like that financially as well as in other ways.
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Out of interest what is the charge for cleaning a guttering and what does it ACTUALLY entail. Just clean the crap out or cleaning all the dirt so it looks like new?
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went out this morning to get caught up a bit.Care home that me and marcus do together then on to finish off some of my stuff (2 houses and tiny bungalow) so ready to start fresh on monday.Get to bungalow which is last job,just get started when old dear comes out ,offers coffee and then reminds me i was going to clear out the gutters((i had forgotten completely) any way not got all gear but improvised quickly with w/c bucket and a borrowed binliner. Two straight runs of guttering ,front and back,stepladder job, check front....empty,check back....empty.I gave her an estimate of 25 to 30 quid before i started but in the end i couldnt do it and said a fiver just so i didnt actually lose out.Is this bad business? am i just not ruthless enough or what?.... ??? what would you have done
Depends on a few things really, but i think its not a bad way to go, as long as you dont start to think of yourself as a charity to help all waifs and strays, you can give because you want to, the more successfull you are the more you can give when the feeling or situation arises.
The gutters were clear though, what would you have charged if they had been half full? I presume you based your cleaning figure on how dirty you thought they would be.
Mark
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I would have done the same LJ, and I think Steve H is bang on.... & the checking price is a good one.
Shiner is right as well, if you feel good about yourself you will attract more work. It's that positive honest outlook that gets customers... ;D