[Wayne Thomas]

In an ideal world, window cleaners would love to have the monopoly on customers just like the water boards. Unfortunately we don't.
Newer window cleaners (those who have just lost their jobs, or are tired of their old jobs), seasonal workers, benefit cheats are all competing against us professionals who have been doing it all year round whilst declaring it to the taxman and remaining insured.
The competition and our locality sets our potential prices.
You can aim as high as you like with quotes. The majority of customers are always looking to economise. The only thing that allows us to price higher than our market rivals is our reputation and believement in ourselves that we can offer a better service to justfy our higher prices.
Everyone has their set price they are willing to do a job for, anything above that is a bonus.
Newer window cleaners with less experience will offer the same service for much less as they are inexperienced with pricing and need the work to build up their rounds.
One frightening thing is no matter how well you look after your customers, eventually they will die or move/sell house, go to a cheaper window cleaner or simply cancel because they can't afford it any longer because of economic times. You have to keep looking for new work and can't always rely on your old customers to keep recommending you. Unless you are very lucky you will eventually have to lower your prices in time owing to competion from your fellow window cleaners who are all in the same boat of keeping busy looking for new work or because you are too afraid of raising your prices to keep in line with inflation.
It's the customer and competition which are lowering the prices we charge.
Window cleaning forums are a double edge sword. In the beginning they are helping us to improve the way we work to potentially earn more money and it is us ourselves who are welcoming new members and making it attractive to join our ever increasing competing workforce.
WFP competition is what's lowering our prices as new w/c's are coming into this as an easy set up without the fear of having to climb ladders and balance like circus performers or acquire the skill to clean traditionally.
IMO credit crunch, depression to follow shortly, ease of wfp and the increasing competition will eventually lower our prices as we find it harder to attract new customers to stay busy in business just like all the other businesses out there in the real world.

[trevor perry]

Really it seems like we all go round and around yet never get anywhere

Some of these fantastic prices are what they would charge, but never can because they can't get that job.

Charging £60 per hour is fine but you are not going to get much regular work that way, sure you will get one off's but what happens when one week you don't get any.

Stop playing for the quick buck and start building up a good fair priced regular portfolio.

Me? we would do that job for £50 + vat and none of this 8 week faffing about it would be £50 a month every month for years. That adds up to a lot more than a one off high price

One person one van two hours and w/c makes £20 we make £20 with a tenner for costs. Now we have enough work at present for 2.5 w/c forty hours a week, that's every week so without leaving the office it is a pretty decent wage. We have many clients that have been with us for over five years, work out that "hourly rate"

Stop looking for a quick killing and build a solid client base at fair prices, regular work either fortnightly or monthly forget the 8 week thing charge less but more often.

Offer excellent service with a fair price and no-one will take it away from you and then build in gutter cleaning, power washing, office cleaning carpet cleaning, supply them with cleaning products and disposables too.

Unless you just want to pop up as a w/c for a short while make a bundle and then do something else do it slowly.

C'mon now stop physically working hard and use your minds to work smarter

If we all stop blowing our trumpets and competing with each other we could share all the good ideas and all of us would benefit. My business plan is to join up with other w/c across the country and take on the big nationals at their own game. We could offer quality, experience and best practice. Can you imagine Tesco's choosing between us or Mitie wow we would wipe the floor with them. But only if we stop pushing and shoving each other.

cheers

Gordon

great post a bit of reality at last

[Ian_Giles]

I have quite a few accounts of the kind of size showing on the photo's, and all are priced very well indeed.
I have quite a lot of residential work that is also on the large size, priced between £50 and £200 and some of this work I have had for a long time too, some of the commercials I've had for over 20 years.

But some of you just don't get it; I don't earn £60 an hour...but my 'rate per minute worked' is £1.00 per minute or thereabouts.

I make nothing like £500 a day, though over the last couple of years I have had several days when I have cleared that amount.
There have also been a great many days when I have made sod all! And they equate to far more than the days I made £500!!

Price cheaply and you are going to have to work flat out day after day after day.

I'm not talking about those who have several working for them, I am talking about the sole traders...though those who have employees also have far greater overheads and commitments...employers liability, sick pay, holiday pay and so on.

but if you want an income of about 25k a year, and that isn't a big income, you need to be banking 30k+ a year, and if you want to earn that in a standard week then you need to be charging a darn sight more than £50 for a job of this size!! Added to which, these jobs are usually drive between types, so traveling has to be factored in as well.

And no matter how much work you have, unless you start to employ, one person can only do so much a day...

Ian

[windolene]

Hi,

£80.00 outsides traditionial with the top floor cleaned from the inside.

Kevin WINDOLENE.

[trike]

the wfp in pic looks a bit small

[[GQC] Tim]

£108 at least. If they are very dirty, a fair bit more, say £180 if it would be a dirty one off.

[[GQC] Tim]

oh ps. everyone under a £100 is an undercutting cowboy! (Just kidding!  )

Fully agree with Ian Giles on this one, he's got the point, take notice.

Oh, and sometimes it isn't about the lowest price, I'm cleaning a massive massive school, and they absolutely wanted to keep the business in the town where I live, and I price £60 an hour worked, so that's inline with Ian's £1 a minute worked. I take off faffing about off of that. After I did part of the school for the first time, they said, do you just want to give us the price after you've done it? We can see that you are spot on with your quotes, and know what you are doing. I said, yes that would be best for the both of us, so I can give you the most accurate price possible. They were over the moon with the work, and so was I. Even the headmistress said it looks fantastic, the site manager was pleased, because it made the both of us look good!

[Wayne Thomas]

£60 ph is a good wage. Let's invite more competition as if we haven't got enough already. Soon the out of work bankers will be joining us

[Sir Squeaky]

I'm a bit late on this, but I'd probably ask about £60-70, then wish I'd asked more.

Ian, you're extortionate!

£100 for an hour's work?
Dick Turpin or what?

[[GQC] Tim]

I'm a bit late on this, but I'd probably ask about £60-70, then wish I'd asked more.

Ian, you're extortionate!

£100 for an hour's work?
Dick Turpin or what?

Extortionate? No, well priced up yes, and it's certainly not an hours work, I'd say more then that, of course depending on how dirty they are.

[Sir Squeaky]

I'm a bit late on this, but I'd probably ask about £60-70, then wish I'd asked more.

Ian, you're extortionate!

£100 for an hour's work?
Dick Turpin or what?

Extortionate? No, well priced up yes, and it's certainly not an hours work, I'd say more then that, of course depending on how dirty they are.

I think it's more than an hour too, but he was basing his £100 on an hour.

Of course it's extortion!
£100 an hour to have your windows cleaned? :

[[GQC] Tim]

Ey? I'm sure he wasn't? He said this :

But some of you just don't get it; I don't earn £60 an hour...but my 'rate per minute worked' is £1.00 per minute or thereabouts.

So if he would work on that job for an hour, it would be £60?

£100 would be extortionate yes haha.

[macmac]

95 quid I would charge.

Tony

[Sir Squeaky]

Ey? I'm sure he wasn't? He said this :

But some of you just don't get it; I don't earn £60 an hour...but my 'rate per minute worked' is £1.00 per minute or thereabouts.

So if he would work on that job for an hour, it would be £60?

£100 would be extortionate yes haha.

Yes, but he said this...

My own price would be around the £100 mark and about an hour or so's work at the most for one person.

[jefftemperley]

Id charge £120-£150 for a job that size.

really surprised how cheap a lot of you guys are you could all be earning a lot more money

[Jago]

I have one house that is £160 and do it every 16 weeks it is 3 storey and I have to do it inside and out
 
seems expensive now
but it takes me 5 - 6 hours and I do a good Job

I loved Gordons Post and that to me seems to sum it all up really

for this job in the picture I would have to say £50  for Monthly £80 for Quartly

J

[EVER CLEAN]

doing this job trad would take no longer than 1 hour for 1 man, so how can you justify charging more than £40
any tradesman worth his salt would be happy working for 40 quid an hour, i quickly browsed through all the responses and was amazed to see some silly prices £120 ! whats all that about? that sort of price is not justifiable, its 1 hours work, and if you couldnt do it in an hour then thats your problem, not the paying customers fault.

[NWH]

People saying £40 for jobs like this i can honestly say i give up on threads like this.

[gerard mcmanus]

doing this job trad would take no longer than 1 hour for 1 man, so how can you justify charging more than £40
any tradesman worth his salt would be happy working for 40 quid an hour, i quickly browsed through all the responses and was amazed to see some silly prices £120 ! whats all that about? that sort of price is not justifiable, its 1 hours work, and if you couldnt do it in an hour then thats your problem, not the paying customers fault.

I agree with your post, allot of them were prob WFP and doing it in 30 mins, but not the time.

They said 62 windows, thats 1 minute per window. Time climbing a ladder, setting it, leveling it if needed, then some are three pains of glass, two are six pains. I hours trad on that job is unlikely.

gerard