[Johnny B]

Why should someone be prepared to agree  to a monthly/6/8 weekly whatever service before you have even cleaned their windows ?
They don't know you from Adam, you've yet to prove yourself as a good reliable and trustworthy worker.
After all you are working on their property, respect that.
To be honest if I were that customer and was expected to pay double for first clean I'd move on to the next number in the phone book.

I agree.  When I get a new call, I see it as a personal challenge to transform their windows from minging to gleaming. If it takes twice or three times as long, I don't care. I am investing my time in that customer and they are investing trust in me. I aim to show that they are having their window cleaned by the right guy, who won't overcharge, but does an excellent job: the perfect combination. If it turns out to be a one off, that's ok too. I never take it for granted that they will want to use me again, but 99% of them do.

John

[dave f]

its down to the individual to charge what he wants at the end of the day imo so if its £7 quid for a 5 bed semi with conny or £15 its there choice so why bitch move on consentrate on your own world and not some one elses

[nathankaye]

Business is business, dog eat dog world is what your saying then. No business morales, its ok to undercut other workers.... u kno at one time in certain areas a person would be knee capped for that attitude. Thats how turf wars are started with that mentality. ...
(No im not one of them who starts turf wars or of that mentality. Just saying in some areas I known stories of it happening,  even had a group of lads that tried it on with me, till explained to look at his team why hes loosing work as I kno for a fact I charge 3 times his price!)

[8weekly]

Thas no chance of double round here

 

If you say so...

Ok so maybe that's not strictly true.
But I find window cleaning work that hard to obtain that to lower my chances even further of getting work is just not viable.

Lots of windys round here and prices are low. I get very few enquiries off website. Facebook I get a low percentage of quotes as it is because my prices are more than most. Canvassing is always a struggle again low prices. So when I do finally get a customer he last thing I want to do is not get them by charging double. If I had enquiries coming out of my ears it'd be different.

I find that the amount of customers I get is proportionate to the amount of effort I put into getting them. If I waited just for website enquiries I'd have about 30 regulars and about 100 one offs. In other words if you are leafleting/canvassing 10 hours every week then your view is a valid one. If not, then you don't have enough data to give an informed view.

Wrong you could canvass/leaflet 10 hours a day and you still wouldn't have an informed view, your canvassing for work not taking a survey to see what a potential customer may or may not put up with.
At the end of the day we all do the same thing which is pluck a number out of the air and hope our customers will go for it, yes
there will be things around us that will help with that decision, what others are charging, what others are offering, how good is their work, how much competition there is and so on.
Canvass an area full of wealthy types with a shortage of shiners and your going to be a lot bolder than somebody canvassing a
run of the mill estate with a shiner at every corner, similar if your in an area with plenty of competition but all doing crap work then your going to be in the position to charge more for a better job. but no matter what we do none of us will know for sure if we have pushed our customers to the limit price wise.

But it all balances out. You'll have some areas with desperate windys and other that aren't so competitive. It will balance out. To say they won't stand it round my way if you only quote a few jobs that have enquired from the internet a month isn't a true picture. I've quoted two jobs today, for one it's a first clean of £298 (two conservatories & FSG). I absorbed the first clean price on the windows on that one, but they were minging.

[tlwcs]

Looking at the variety of responses to this thread is interesting. I suppose it separates the window cleaners who want to tipy toe around customers and those that want to run a business.
Yes my rounds are long standing and have been built up over the many years, but I was proud of the service and hard work that I did, regardless of what others in the area did and from day one ive been one of the more expensive shiners in all my areas. 
First impressions count, so if you look like one of the cowboys like probably the rest in the area than you wont atand out as different and first impressions count. A whole lot is in how you present yourself; appearance, attitude and confidence. Theres been many threads on this forum of how when you dont want the job you charge a silly high price and ended up being suprised when customer said yes!! Whys that I wonder. Did you say the price with confidence, I wonder??
Point is, your running a business not a charity

Get over yourself, it shows how we all have different roads to travel depending on where we try to build our rounds nothing
more.

Love this thread.
These two posts sums it up for me.
Some see this industry through what they think they would pay or indeed what the customer would pay. No right or wrong here if your happy with your price that's fine.
Others see it as a business, don't get to close to the customers and keep refining the business.

To the o/p if you can get in front of people and sell yourself, within reason you should be able to charge double on first cleans and provide a service at a premium rate. People buy people, if they like and trust you, their your customer for a long time, regardless of how many priced flyers that come through the door.

SeanK your right, it only window cleaning.
Nathonkaye your right it's the be a business to be in. Window cleaning
Tony

[RO-Sheen]

I charge double here in Oxfordshire  (sometimes 50%  extra if windows not too bad) for 1st clean but I approach it from a different angle. For example, I tell them that the cost is £28 for the first clean but afterwards further cleans based on a regular clean every 6 weeks is REDUCED to £14.  That seems to be more appealing to customers as it sounds more like they are getting a bargain for going regular.
It seems to work for me.

[trippyboy]

A I never give a price over the fone
B I nearly always charge an initial clean charge.
C My prices are always take it or leave it prices, as I already have more than enough work