[kevin James]

There's a few guys on here losing work due to price. If this hurts then we can do 3 tings:
1) get nasty with the undercutters. Bit pointless cos even more will appear.
2) stick the bonce in the sand & carry on as before.
3) adjust our prices/speed to get good hourly rate plus be competitive.

I like ftp's attitude. Load yourself up with dommi's & put out cream prices on the commercial. "hey, if it comes then good"

I've priced low on dommi's for 7 years now & at last the books are chokka. So up the prices, gently, mainly on the new work till you see pain on the custies faces. Then you play it savvy.

With experience comes speed & thus us hiwcto protect yourself from undies (cutters!). Buy gear that's fast & get that top notch hourly rate in!

Kevin b

[matt]

i have allways said this

when you are starting out you need work, so you price low

when your round is full, then you can price higher, if you dont get it, then you have a full round, if you get it, bonus

it works for domestics and commercial, i have done it on commercial for years

[sgibsoncleaning]

never get involved in a price war. no one wins. i have seen knife attacks over the price of cauliflowers.
if you lose a custome to an indercutter then move on, its not the sort of cutomer you want

[matt]

though on the same subject

people on here talking about 500 quid a day, 5 days a week were allways going to be bad

it was allways going to attract more and more people into window cleaning, the money people who get into it, the more newbie who will need work and will price low, thus people pricing low will allways drive down the price for us all, it might not be instant, but it will trickle down the line

why would mrs adams in 23 new street pay 12 quid a clean if a newbie is cleaning next door for 7 quid a clean ? ? ? ?

my idea of low overheads will allways be a winner, low overheads mean that the money you earn is mostly yours

[dazmond]

im in a position where i struggle to keep on top of my work esp in winter.ive had a major overhaul of my prices with most going up a pound,some £2 and one from £18 to £25.ive not lost one yet!ive had a few moans off some long standing custys that ive not put up for years but i just explain to them i need to put them up or stop cleaning as i have much better priced work and yours is lagging behind!

ive got another week and a half of work to put up mostly by a pound some £2.i feel good that ive bit the bullet!ive been too soft on some of my custys for years!

by the middle of next month when i start my round again at the higher prices i should be earning roughly £250 more a month for the same work!

i have a min charge for certain types of houses and fronts only.im sticking to my guns!itll be worth it in the end!


im savin  ;Dfor a van/wfp system which over time i think will catapult me into a much more profitable business!!

[lozsing]

My only reason to go wfp is my own safety.

[dazmond]

i wholeheartly agree with you tosh!i will probably lose the odd one over the next week or so but ill still be earning quite a bit more for the same work.im also pricing higher for new work on a 2 monthly basis as well.

its quite a brave thing to put up my prices again as i put up quite a few last year as well but mostly just 50p.

i have been ruthless this year though and some have gone up £3,£4,£5 giving the ultimatum treatment!i havent lost one yet!im good with the spiel though!

i make them feel grateful that ive cleaned their windows for such a low price for years that as im sooo busy with better paying work i will have to stop cleaning..........unless i put them up!

i just go in with the attitude im not bothered about losing the job!its working well for me at the moment!

regards

dazmond

[matt]

mine are going up this spring, i have typed the "newsletter" and just waiting for it to be printed

[sgibsoncleaning]

its got to be priced right to start with, all newbies make that mistake. too low and you are flogging your guts for nothing, too high and you will lose the job. find a happy medium and have a good rapor with you will keep the job. increase every year without fail otherwise you end up having to hike up to catch up.
a happy  customer will never drop you for anyone else even at stupidly low prices. i got one job where every couple of months someone quotes, i am still doing it after 12 years. last quote was less than half what i charge.

[james44]

mine are going up this spring, i have typed the "newsletter" and just waiting for it to be printed

Mine are going up now they are called 8 and 12 weeklys