I cleaned them for him about 18 months ago and charged £80. I must have miscounted on that occasion (probably missed a row out) as I recall only counting 88. I remember driving away from the job thinking it was a little underpriced, but it only took just over an hour on that occasion. This time they were dirtier and it was sunny so they required more scrubbing and water, took an hour and a half so I told him it was £120 for the panels. He wasn’t very happy and complained that it was a 50% increase on last time. I explained it took a lot longer and used more water this time and that I had miscounted the number of panels last time so perhaps I had undercharged the last time…….He paid in the end.
I get what most are saying about quoting first, but jobs like this it’s hard to tell how long they will take or how hard the work will be.
Note to self, don’t clean an array of solar panels on a sunny day!
Id honestly say to him next time you do the windows, next time he's wanting them cleaned you would encourage him to go get a few quotes, or have a look online for a rough idea of the price, tell him youl happily go with the current rate instead of the deal you gave him.
He said he won’t be asking me to do them again………as far as I’m concerned, that’s a result! Cleaning windows are a breeze compared to these.
It’s like I’ve said on many occassions, knocking out houses nobody knows or gives any thought to your hourly rate, take on bigger jobs taking over an hour and the hourly rate comes under the microscope a bit.
Oh, hel be asking you again you can guarantee that, as soon as he gets a quote elsewhere he's going to call you back and say for you to do them. When he does id say to him, I take it you got a quote then and realised that instead of over charging you, i was being more than reasonable.
He might say he's not had a quote, just because he doesn't want you knowing how much he'd been quoted, he's lying when he says this though.
I’m actually having reservations as to whether I should clean his house again or not😂