[Granny]

Hi reading through post of mgba_78 saying about £10 house with 11 windows was a decent price.
Yesterday was doing some of the work I was passed on -  13 windows £6 told the woman that next time would have to charge more as there is a lot of glass for the price.
"Well if that's the case then don't bother coming back!"
They've got a decent house and cars, both working, knocked me back a bit 'cos a lot of the work I was passed on is underpriced and want I to change that obviously!!!!
It was a depressing day sky black, raining, cold, windy - afterwards I thought maybe not the best psychological moment to drop a price increase.
Got me wondering is there a "best time" to increase prices and will "choosing the right moment" change the outcome?
Wife says "For those who don't want it there never is a good time "
G.

[Ian101]

When I read your title but before I read your wifes advice I thought now is the time for price increase as it sounds as if its becoming a grudge clean.

My thoughts are in 2 lots.

1. If its vastly underpriced do it now .. if they say dont come back then great as its saving you money by not having to clean it again.

2. If its a whole round increase of say a £1 or £2 then never in winter but spring time when sun is out and people happy but avoid Government Budget time of year as people may think they need to save a few quid to pay for extra petrol prices etc and windy easy to save £10 a month.

[dazmond]

i have a price review every january and earmark ones im going to put up,dump or offer my ultimatum price rise(eg i will have to put your window price up £5 or stop cleaning as your account is well underpriced).

i tell them at least a month or 2 months in advance of the price rise and i tell them face to face.then they all go up in april.

i only ever lose the odd one or two customers.

ive put loads of my work up every year for the last 3 years and as a result im earning £10,000-£12,000 more a year than i was 3 years ago.

i suffered years ago though and never put prices up for years,had low self esteem and generally just got by.

also new work is much better priced that ive picked up over the last few years albeit a lot on longer frequencies(eg 2 monthly rather than monthly)but im fine with that as ive got a solid customer base.

just make sure your window cleaning is top notch.frames,sills and doors cleaned every time,your regular and reliable and you get to know some of your customers a bit before putting the prices up.


best wishes


dazmond

[mgba_78]

We do ours March April sorta time. Every other yearish.
 Last time we did our price increase if memory serves me correct we were better off by £400 per month. We don't put everyone up just where we think it's worth it or its under priced. Also I think we only lost a couple. Work smarter not harder is the attitude with it.
Don't be afraid of it. We bought some work earlier this year and put it up after the first clean, nobody moaned, and if they did tough, find another cleaner!
We wrote a letter explaining it and reasons with new price. We didn't say if you're not happy call us either, we didn't want to invite a debate about it. This is the price and tough.

Demographics have a lot to play with pricing though. So that £10 semi with 11 windows is 14 miles from another area we do, where a 3 bed detached we charge £12-£15.

As said above do a good job, have a chat to customer turn up regular. The when you put price up they cant argue!

We use the line, although we may not be the cheapest window cleaners, we are insured, regular, do a good job and come recommended. Were in it for the long hall not just as and when!

Price each job on its own merits as well, dont think its a 3 bed semi its £x amount. If you want to do it for £10 say that see what happens, if they say no obv if you want it go in at £8 maybe.

[Nathanael Jones]

I reckon about lunch time is best,...


Seriously though, if you put up 100 houses by 10% and loose 10 jobs,.. you'll still be earning the same amount of money but be doing less work. And the ones that tend to drop you for a small increase are the wasters that would have dropped you for the next dole scrounger with a dirty rag & ladders anyway. The ones you keep are the ones that appreciate you're a professional running a business with overheads.

[Granny]

Thanks all
Roll on April Till then I'll make the best of what I have.
This has taught me one thing though - being given or buying low price work is a mixed blessing.
While you're working on poorly paid work you are losing the time for canvassing some better priced work.
Easy to get caught in an "insecurity trap" especially when starting out "I'll stick with this poor work 'cos at least I've got something" rather than dumping the lot and starting out afresh.
G.

[Frankybadboy]

iam going though my round as we speak with putting them up,

the last two weeks no one said anything,

[Spruce]

My opinion would be to settle in first and get established and then advise them that a price adjustment will be necessary in March/April as the prices need reevaluating.

I'm sure if you did it now you would loose most of the new work as they will assume you are ripping them off and make an instant decision. They may try to find another windy, but once they realise what a fair rate is, they will go with the last person to quote, which won't be you.

[Mike #1]

As spruce pointed out let custys get to know you first  , no doubt you will lose some custys as it always the case as some are just greedy ,

Up in county durham most windys are using a pricing structure that was used 20 yrs ago and to be honest i am not much above that as most custys wont pay much above that as they are so used to getting their windows cleaned cheap,  Mike

[John pearce]

I sometimes help a mate out when he gets behind, and i've cought up with work,
and he used to put his work up in december, the customers would come out and pay him, and say give him a fiver xmas tip,
then he would say "oh and next time im around your windows will be going up £2.00"   
should ave seen the looks on their faces
I explained to him that thats not a good time to put prices up (bit of a cheek) ...     

[keyser soze]

experienced windy told me only put prices up on those  you can afford to lose. kinda makes sense cause it is a bit of a gamble . those who have no problems brill. but im sure some custys will be thinking of another quote from another wc...  custys know you can fit 3 or more 10 pound jobs an hr . 

[Banbury Window Cleaning]

We have a letter going out to all our custys in Nov advising of a price rise from Jan 2013.
We havent increased any prices for 4-5 years now altho more recent work is better priced any way.
Our plan is to increase everyone buy £1.
Our letter just thanks then for there continued custom and referalls but highlights the increased costs of diesel and insurance etc!
And for the few we still collect from there letter informs them that we will stop collecting full stop in Jan also!!
We are preparing too loose a few custys from this move but there is pleanty of windows out there that need cleaning 

[Ian101]

I sometimes help a mate out when he gets behind, and i've cought up with work,
and he used to put his work up in december, the customers would come out and pay him, and say give him a fiver xmas tip,
then he would say "oh and next time im around your windows will be going up £2.00"   
should ave seen the looks on their faces
I explained to him that thats not a good time to put prices up (bit of a cheek) ...     

did anyone ever snatch bottle / tip back and tell him to go forth 

[Carl2009]

I started in April 2009. In 2010 I kept prices the same. In March 2011 I put all prices up (by an average of 7.5% overall, covering 3.5% for 2010 and 2011). I think I lost 1 custie.

In April 2012 I didn't increase prices; several people asked me if prices were going up and I explained that I was trying to hold prices for 2 years. I'm going to increase prices next in April 2013 and there are 2 main reasons for this:

1. The state pension goes up each April, so any increase won't feel as bad for retired custies.
2. The perssonal allowance for tax purposes also goes up, so April's pay is higher than March's, again offsetting the cost of the increase.

I will be increasing less than last time as I want an "in line with inflation" policy, excepting those underpriced jobs or ones that I don't mind if I lose for some reason.

[Mike #1]

3.5 % increase , my increases range from 10 % up to 40 % , mike

[Carl2009]

Note I said an "average" of 7.5%...

Good luck adding even 20% to a £15 clean every year. Year 1: £15, Year 2: £18, Year 3: £21.60 (ooh that's fiddly), Year 4: £25.92 (fiddlier still), Year 5: Ooops i'm out of business.

I clean a chippie and the guy there says his job is not serving chips - he has staff for that. His job is reducing his overheads at every opportunity. He sifts suppliers for the best prices. He's extremely successful, owning 2 houses that in the southeast would sell for £1m and £600,000 a piece, plus a raft of commercial property. I adopt the same approach to costs both for the business and the house.

As a professional I like to be fair with my customers and not take the pee.

[Mike #1]

I increase my prices every 2-3 years so its not that bad .  some are underpriced which is my own fault so they get the biggest increase but a £5 house will see an increase of a £1 .

If you are only putting your prices by 20p , Then you may struggle yourself my friend . Mike

[G Griffin]

Hi reading through post of mgba_78 saying about £10 house with 11 windows was a decent price.
Yesterday was doing some of the work I was passed on -  13 windows £6 told the woman that next time would have to charge more as there is a lot of glass for the price.
"Well if that's the case then don't bother coming back!"
They've got a decent house and cars, both working, knocked me back a bit 'cos a lot of the work I was passed on is underpriced and want I to change that obviously!!!!
It was a depressing day sky black, raining, cold, windy - afterwards I thought maybe not the best psychological moment to drop a price increase.
Got me wondering is there a "best time" to increase prices and will "choosing the right moment" change the outcome?
Wife says "For those who don't want it there never is a good time "
G.

She might be bluffing; she might be willing to pay more but isn't going to tell you that; she might not even know herself yet. Some just like to drive a hard bargain and you may have to play along, if you need the work.
Some just need a bit of convincing, so sell your service. 
If you don't need the job, explain you're not prepared to do it for the price. Be polite, business like and wish her well getting another wc'er.
As for the timing, I'd go for New Year or new tax year; they sort of get used to it more.

[John pearce]

I sometimes help a mate out when he gets behind, and i've cought up with work,
and he used to put his work up in december, the customers would come out and pay him, and say give him a fiver xmas tip,
then he would say "oh and next time im around your windows will be going up £2.00"   
should ave seen the looks on their faces
I explained to him that thats not a good time to put prices up (bit of a cheek) ...     

did anyone ever snatch bottle / tip back and tell him to go forth 

not when he done it,  i think he did lose a couple the following months,  he puts them up in the spring now i think,  i try to put mine up is in the summer, because people seem to be in a better mood than when  in the dark and early dreary nights of the winter.... 

[supernova77]

I've been window cleaning 7 years and only ever put about 4 customers prices up.

Most of my work is fairly decent price wise, but I am going to be putting quite a few up in the new year, it will be £25 to £28, £30 to £32 etc...

When I think of how my costs have risen in those years it would be silly not to increase some!

Andy