[Ian_Giles]

I plonked this at the bottom of a reply to another posting, thought it would make an interesting posting of it's own!

A couple of points to bare in mind when working out what you should be charging an hour:

1/ There are of course 365 days in the year.
2/ you don't work all of them!
Take of holidays and bank holidays (you may not take them, but should assume when working out your rate that you do)
3/ Allow for days off through sickness or other reasons, there will always be a few.
4/ Take off the weekends too (even if you do intend to work them)
5/ Scratch off at least 10 working days for bad weather, heavy rain isn't the only time the weather will stop you working, high winds, snow and sub zero temps will slow you right down even if you do persevere and battle the elements.
6/ Customers will talk to you, people will ring you, time will be lost every day and you can't work much past 4pm in the winter months.
Out of an 8 hour day, you will be lucky to be actually working much more than 6 of them.

Do your sums re-hours, you will be surprised how much you need to charge to actually earn your target income.

Oh, and of course you also need to take into account your actual business running costs, might be quite small for us window cleaners compared to other trades, but they do add up!.............  



Ian

[Stoots]

Excellent post ian.

[AuRavelling79]

Excellent post ian.

Thanks Lazarus. 

[dazmond]

I plonked this at the bottom of a reply to another posting, thought it would make an interesting posting of it's own!

A couple of points to bare in mind when working out what you should be charging an hour:
 
1/ There are of course 365 days in the year.
2/ you don't work all of them!
Take of holidays and bank holidays (you may not take them, but should assume when working out your rate that you do)
3/ Allow for days off through sickness or other reasons, there will always be a few.
4/ Take off the weekends too (even if you do intend to work them)
5/ Scratch off at least 10 working days for bad weather, heavy rain isn't the only time the weather will stop you working, high winds, snow and sub zero temps will slow you right down even if you do persevere and battle the elements.
6/ Customers will talk to you, people will ring you, time will be lost every day and you can't work much past 4pm in the winter months.
Out of an 8 hour day, you will be lucky to be actually working much more than 6 of them.
 
Do your sums re-hours, you will be surprised how much you need to charge to actually earn your target income.
 
Oh, and of course you also need to take into account your actual business running costs, might be quite small for us window cleaners compared to other trades, but they do add up!............. 
 
 
 
Ian

exactly ian but customers dont always know that(esp if they have never run their own business)and just work out roughly how much you made that hour!£35-£60 an hour you must be loaded! .

it costs me £12,000-£15,000 in taxes,insurances and expenses EVERY YEAR before ive made a single penny in profit.no holiday/sick pay and days off due to bad weather etc.

im lucky to make £30,000-£32,000 in profit every year after everythings taken out.hardly a fortune is it?

[Dry Clean]

Traveling to from and between jobs is non paid.
Washing your van and looking after your equipment is non paid.
Canvassing is non paid,
Sorting out advertising looking after websites and so on is non paid.
Pricing up jobs and dealing with customers is non paid.
Looking after your tax returns and sorting out legal requirements such as insurance and so forth is non paid.
Keeping on top of your water production is non paid.
That's on top of Ian's list and would all be hourly payable or not needed if working for an employer.

[sunshine windows]

Also being on CIU when you should be working is non paid 😂

[Stoots]

Excellent post ian.

Thanks Lazarus. 

This had me stumped for a second. I was just about to google it them I remembered a football commentary line from years ago when a team rose from the dead. So I got it.


Its a good post and deserved a reply I thought.

[dazmond]

Traveling to from and between jobs is non paid.
Washing your van and looking after your equipment is non paid.
Canvassing is non paid,
Sorting out advertising looking after websites and so on is non paid.
Pricing up jobs and dealing with customers is non paid.
Looking after your tax returns and sorting out legal requirements such as insurance and so forth is non paid.
Keeping on top of your water production is non paid.
That's on top of Ian's list and would all be hourly payable or not needed if working for an employer.

that means i must work on average 30-35 hours a week including water production and the odd bit of collecting.cool.

[Dave Willis]

I plonked this at the bottom of a reply to another posting, thought it would make an interesting posting of it's own!

A couple of points to bare in mind when working out what you should be charging an hour:
 
1/ There are of course 365 days in the year.
2/ you don't work all of them!
Take of holidays and bank holidays (you may not take them, but should assume when working out your rate that you do)
3/ Allow for days off through sickness or other reasons, there will always be a few.
4/ Take off the weekends too (even if you do intend to work them)
5/ Scratch off at least 10 working days for bad weather, heavy rain isn't the only time the weather will stop you working, high winds, snow and sub zero temps will slow you right down even if you do persevere and battle the elements.
6/ Customers will talk to you, people will ring you, time will be lost every day and you can't work much past 4pm in the winter months.
Out of an 8 hour day, you will be lucky to be actually working much more than 6 of them.
 
Do your sums re-hours, you will be surprised how much you need to charge to actually earn your target income.
 
Oh, and of course you also need to take into account your actual business running costs, might be quite small for us window cleaners compared to other trades, but they do add up!............. 
 
 
 
Ian

exactly ian but customers dont always know that(esp if they have never run their own business)and just work out roughly how much you made that hour!£35-£60 an hour you must be loaded! .

it costs me £12,000-£15,000 in taxes,insurances and expenses EVERY YEAR before ive made a single penny in profit.no holiday/sick pay and days off due to bad weather etc.

im lucky to make £30,000-£32,000 in profit every year after everythings taken out.hardly a fortune is it?

You tell everyone you work part time. If you worked full time you could get a decent wage.

[dazmond]

i couldnt face cleaning windows full time now dave.not after 24 years of window cleaning.im happy with my earnings generally.(my living costs are very low).

[Darran Smith PRSS]

To work out what you need to charge is relatively easy.

FIRST - YOU MUST KNOW HOW MUCH YOU WANT - YOUR GOAL!
(If you don't know how much you want, read no further)

Decide the timescale to reach your goal

Work out how much you want to earn for yourself each year

If you intend growing your business - Work out how much you would have to pay someone to do your job - for example another person cleaning the windows instead of you.

Work out costs of cars, vans (including future ones)

Will you employ other staff members? Sales person, secretary, in house web designer/seo/marketing

Will you want premises, how much will they cost?

Create yourself a Brilliant Forecast

Once you understand the daily running costs of the bigger business, you can then charge WHAT YOU SHOULD EVERY DAY NOW to achieve this goal/desire

If you don't charge NOW you will never grow your business easily.

So many SME's don't realise the importance of charging enough in order to grow their businesses

A good friend of mine taught me:
"When you Change Your THINKING
You change your BELIEFS

When you Change your beliefs,
You Change your EXPECTATIONS.

When you Change your expectations
You Change your ATTITUDE.

When you Change your attitude
You Change your BEHAVIOUR

When you change your behaviour
You Change your PERFORMANCE

When you change your performance
You Change your LIFE"

Some who know me know I started Purple Rhino as a large company in 2010 - I had no money but decided not to start small.

How did I do it - by finding people who could "Mentor" and "Coach" me

You can't do it all by yourself, go find a Mentor that can help you understand how to grow and improve your business and life.

Happy Easter!

[AuRavelling79]

That's the spirit Darren! 

[G Griffin]

That's the spirit Darren! 

It is.
Start a large company with no money.
What are you like with fishes and loaves, Purple Rhino?

[Darran Smith PRSS]

i have bank statements to prove it - but only on a one to one - face to face

[CleanClear]

i have bank statements to prove it - but only on a one to one - face to face

Just go to bed.

[Don Simon]

got to say a big thank you to cleanitup, as posts like these and similar have made working more professional and profitable over the years.    You have to syphon out the wheat from the chaff, but there are some excellent businessmen on here whose advice has given me a real advantage.

Thank you for sharing, and bless you for giving for free.

[Darran Smith PRSS]

Having money or no money to start a business makes no difference

[Dry Clean]

Having money or no money to start a business makes no difference

How do you work that out ? (roll eyes) so what your actually saying is having no money makes no difference as long as you have access to it or a clever way of getting others to give you theirs without the need to invest a penny. (wink)

[G Griffin]

i have bank statements to prove it - but only on a one to one - face to face

Just go to bed.

What do you take me for?
I want a half of mild first.