[Majestic]

When I do inside work I allways ask to use their steps as the feet are cleaner , and use old bath towels to put on any window sills and under my bucket,

[paul w]

aii points tacken. steve i charge £10-£15 for ave 3 bed unless its oap then £5 or so but i must admit i dont like to do house so a lot of the time i say a hi price to put them off you would be supprised how many say ok .most of my work is commercial so i get a good rate so when i do a house i need to charge wot i do as it stops me from doing my other work. 'ps' to say i would not get my ladders off the van 4 £3.50 was wrong we all have to start some were i agree and when i started i would work 4 any money [ but dont under cut yourself ] gutters ect see how much a roother would charge and then go lower you will be suprise how much thay charge.paul

[g_griffin]

Paul w,

  I`m  not saying you were wrong for saying it because it`s probably true but it doesn`t help really.
 There`s no point someone trying to build a round but getting no work because they are trying to charge what they`ve heard somebody else charges. If that makes sense.
  Can you imagine going to see the bank manager about a loan to buy a round,telling him/her what you`d make and he/she replies " I wouldn`t get out of bed for that".
    I admire your honesty though.

         Gerry

[paul w]

thanks gerry ................ when you do insides you could try this one on the customer i dont mind doing insides but unfortunately my insurance dose not cover me to move stuff off window sill... it works for me i say i dont know why but thats one of the things thay said when i took out the policy....  then thay move it .   paul

[T_W_CONTRACTS]

are there any shiners on here that dont do houses
i do contract work ie marks & spencer  restaurants
& local council work . cleaning houses is ok to start with
but if you realy want to earn good money try to get
some contract work

[Terry_Burrows]

;)yes I agree we dont touch houses petty people because all they do is watch you and complain ???we dont do private flats or builders cleans they are agro!
I have been asked many times to clean houses,there is not enough money in it,we look after big cleaning conpanys sub contract basis,this works well ;)they know we are pros

[T_W_CONTRACTS]

i do commercial work in london but if someone ask me
to do thier house i charge between £8-£10 they
never complain.especially if it is a one off as thier windows are not likely to have been cleaned for years

[cd5000]

I LIVE IN THE SOUTH WEST ( EXETER ) I HAVE BEEN W/C
FOR ONLY SIX MONTHS, SO FAR I HAVE 180 HOUSES AND 4 SHOP WINDOWS, I CHARGE £5.00 FOR 3 BED & £ 6.00 FOR 4 BED HOUSE ( THATS A FULL CLEAN ) I ONLY WORK PART TIME AS I WORK FULL TIME NIGHTS, SHOULD I PUT MY PRICE UP, ALL MY PEOPLE SEEM TO BE HAPPY WITH MY WORK.

[jontydog]

my charges vary from 3-6 pounds but those were the prices when I bought the round 18 months ago and it is mostly on the council estate where I live.  I used to work for the bloke I bought it off so I knew the round well beforehand.

They are going to get a nice rise in April too.  The problem is I don't know how much to put them up

They haven't increased in 4 years

[denzle]

This is just my personal oppinion here, but i think a lot of you guys are seriously under-selling yourselves.
If the job was that easy then the home owner would do it themselves, If the husband was confident on ladders the same would apply. But their not, thats why you do it.
You offer a service, you risk your life and health to provide that service, you work in all weathers to provide that service.
Charge accordingly, don't think Oh i'm only a window cleaner.... you are a service provider.
The days of Old George pushing his bike along with ladders and bucket, charging next to nothing have gone forever. £25 - £30 per hour is what you want, if they won't pay that then they can do it themselves.
There you go, rant over
Denzle

[denzle]

I understand your predicament, i made the same mistake a few years ago when i started out, the problem is that you make a rod for your own back later on. Once your customers are used to paying X amount they are reluctant to part with more later on. A price rise of just £1 will bring you nothing but aggro in 12 months time ( trust me it will ) And in 12 months time you will hate doing these jobs with venom as you will know that you could be earning so much more elsewhere.
I would suggest that maybe you start to canvas virgin territory and raise those prices to want you want to be earning, then when you have enough put the prices up in the areas you already have, that way you will be replacing the lower priced stuff with new work at a better price. The way i look at it these days is that if a customer cancells due to a price increase, then that gives me a spare slot to put a better priced job in.
If you had say 100 houses at £5 each and put every price up by £1, but 10% cancelled due to price you are still making £50 more but doing 10% less work. If 20% cancelled you are still earning the same with more time to do other work.
Just my thoughts
Denzle

[tam]

Hi folks just in fom work. An intresting topic. My Co. does a lot of council houses and the most you can charge is £2.50- £3.00 per house as the cowboy element here, when they start work on a Fri. the dole pays their rent, council tax and they have a few quid in  their pocket. When we start work on a Fri we start from scratch, we have to earn our rent/mort. council tax etc.
We can do about 7-8 per hour and all are quite close togther. It is hard work. If you do contract work all the time you do not have the benifit that we have.(read between th lines)

[T_W_CONTRACTS]

I DONT KNOW WHAT PART OF THE COUNTRY YOU ARE IN
BUT IM IN LONDON [SOUTHERNER] I DONT USUALLY DO DOMESTIC BUT TODAY AS I WAS FINISHING A OLD FOLKS HOME I WAS APPROACHED BY A MAN WHO ASKED ME TOO CLEAN HIS HOUSE [ON COUNCIL ESTATE] REGULAR PLACE 2 WINDOWS UP & GROUNDS BACK & FRONT LITERALLY 6-7MINS WORK HE ASKED HOW MUCH
I SAID £ 8 WHEN I FINISHED HE GAVE ME £ 10 & WAS VERY HAPPY . SURELY £3- £6 POUNDS IS NOWHERE NEAR ENOUGH WHEREVER YOU ARE PEOPLE GET MORE THAN THAT FOR WASHING CARS & THEY DONT TAKE RISKS LIKE CLIMBING LADDERS ETC...ETC..
PUT THOSE PRICES UP

[Terry_Burrows]

no wunder you can drive around in a nice new van   T.W. US PLEBS  have to suffer

[mickeyfat]

i have some house that are 3.50 (3 bedroom!!)
and some 2 bedroom that are £10
i would rather do 30 houses at £3 and get £90 than earn nothing
as said before though ..these houses will the first to go when i get more!!!!

[tam]

What about your new van Terry. Canny hide on this site.

[Terry_Burrows]

;)if thats the Tam I am finking of ???I should have known betta that will cost you a black russian
at the Fed do ;Dfor spilling the haggis

[tam]

with your readies th drinks are on you. Yu smokies not
no how to spel

[T_W_CONTRACTS]

hows that ladder tel
have you used it yet

[Terry_Burrows]

;)no not yet mate soon will do I am sure