[Ben Walker]

for those who like the challenge of pricing, sift through these two:

first house

inside and out

first clean very dirty

inside (half yearly)
17 georgian
10 plain (has half-lights)
18 leaded (mostly stair-way, needs ladders inside)
3 small georgian
sky light (28 panes)

outside (quarterly)
17 georgian
2 larger georgian
12 plain
18 leaded
15 small georgian, 10 with bars
2 georgian bays, small panes
skylight 28 panes


House 2

Large victorian town house

outside monthly
inside  every 2 months

Front
each window 2 panes

basement 2 windows
ground 2
1st floor 3
2nd 3 (cleaned from inside, no standing on ledge!)

back
4 small
1 large stair-way
3 medium, 2 panes
3 patio doors on balconies with window above(easy access)
1 ground patio

Rich fella

new to the game me, help with this much appreciated. don't want to under charge. 

Ben-chan

[Chris Cottrell]

How long will it take you?

Calculate
 

Est Hrs x Hourly rate = price to quote

regards

[AuRavelling79]

Unless we're talking BIG money - walk away!

Leaded/georgian (non wfp) plus quarterly/six monthly would make a saint swear!

[Ben Walker]

How long will it take you?

Calculate


Est Hrs x Hourly rate = price to quote

This is the problem, i don't how long (not done anything but my car windows and nextdoor's easy access plane glass so far!!     ) in at the deep-end here.
maybe it would be a whole morning each job, 4 hours + break, doing insides and out, or do you think longer/ shorter? . so perhaps 160 quid all in. but then its not monthly, so add a bit, some difficult access, so add a bit, house 2 wants me to move his furniture for doing insides...

well i've come up with these prices:
with trying to get a sense of what they might be expecting (house 1 is bigger job, but expect they wont be willing to pay quite as much)

house 1

(i've estimated totalling inside and out to be someting like 600 panes of glass to clean! georgian carry-on!)

insides
£105

outsides (note more windows (dont ask))
£126


House 2

112 inside

88 outside



in the ball park u reckon?  

cheers
ben-san


 

[Newwfpgatherer]

don't get so complicated if you're just starting out:
1) Decide what you want/need per hour.

2) Walk round and guesstimate time/ give them a price for outside.  Forget the inside for now, you'll know what to charge better when you've done the outside.

3) If they're not fully convinced, tell them you'll do it for that guesstimate, time it when you do it, take the money you agreed, then if it took you, say, 4 hours instead of 3, tell them next time it will be another hour's worth.
Thus they will see you are being fair...very important if you want repeat business.

Don't expect to learn it all at once, you'll get there.

Pj

[Chris Cottrell]

if not ....tell em you'll send PJ round when he's sorted wfp
he'll need that dosh to pay for "le chein testie systeme"

 

[chris@c.m.s]

A job like that could put a newbie off for life i would think,
maybe you should start with something a little smaller and gain some experiance and confidence first, good luck if your feeling brave though 

[matt]

for jobs i dont really know about

i allways tell them a TOP END price, then explain if the job goes easier than i think it will, the price will slide down according to the time it takes

PRICE HIGH then slide the price down a little, you wont have to rush, they get a good job, every1 is happy

NEVER tell them your hour rate, as this was you can slide the price down a little, but still earn a good wage

for example

i have to price a conserv roof clean, its not been done for ages, i think it'll take me best part of the day

so i give them a price of XX (my days wage) then explain if it is easier the price comes down

[Ben Walker]

A job like that could put a newbie off for life i would think,
maybe you should start with something a little smaller and gain some experiance and confidence first, good luck if your feeling brave though 

yeh, its a bit daunting, but don't want to turn down custom at this stage.
 bit like jumping on a moving train. if you get on then you're off and away, but its a bit of a jump. !

think i'll like to try a jump   i'll regret it when the train disappears down the track. character thing.

though aslong as i'm happy with the price, esp in 6 months time.

so any ideas (sorry to be pushy, have to get back to them tomorrow or so) you guys who do big houses for well off folk -do you price accordingly?
i mean, without being silly and greedy, its difficult not to think to up the price a bit, make sure you don't feel hard done by after 4 hours of graft.  

B-chan  

[Ian_Giles]

If you are only just starting out, the job itaself will take you 4 or 5 times as long to do by comparison to an experienced window cleaner.
A job that size is really jumping in at the deep end.

You have a mixture of just about every window!

A nightmare clean for a newbie.
You really would be much better off gaining some experience first.

A standard window will take 90 seconds to clean.

Thats 1 opening light and 1 pane underneath it + 1 pane to the one side of it.
A standard casement window in other words.

A similar sized georgian window will take about 2/3 times as long to clean.

A modern style leaded (stuck on lead), similar size will take about half as long again as the standard casement, but quite a bit quicker than a georgian window.

Real old fashioned leaded can take at least as long as a georgian window.

you have to price up as if you can clean at the same sort of average speed as the average window cleaner, just because you will be inexperienced and slow does not mean that you can charge 3 or 4 times as much!!

A standard 3 bed semi with UPVC windows will take about 20 minutes (the quicker and more experienced pro's will take between 10 and 15 minutes) but it is reasonable for most window cleaners to average about 3 of these an hour.
 We are talking about 10/13 windows, including 1 set of patio doors and a couple of small windows or glazed doors.

If you could ask these people (or be sneaky) if you could take some photos...er, no, stick with sneaky, they'll think you are casing the joint! lol
But some photo's would give a much better idea of the work involved.

Best of luck!

Ian

[Ben Walker]

Cheers Ian,
great help, thanks
yeh photos would help wouldn't they.
though if they see me... 

a thought about georgians: best to cut a squeegee down so it fits? that would be quickest, non?

leaded window with frosted, bobbly (!), glass. is this best simply with wet cloth. (for ludites that is) 

just trying to get a sense of what the tasks would be (as i climb the steps up to the diving board!)

Ben-chan

[chris@c.m.s]

damp scrim, then a dry scrim polish on both, wfp would do both much quicker so i understand.
 

[rosskesava]

Difficult.

Depends on how easy access is. I'm assuming it's run of the mill. Some easy, some difficult.

Also, on return visits it will be quicker.

House 1

Inside £90

Outside £60

House 2

Inside £80

Outside £70

Tricky one that without being there.

[Davindo Cleana]

Ben why not sub contract it or just give it away
you have said you only cleaned the car and a house up to now - it is too big a jump

one v important thing is the risk that you might damage something on the insides
big house = fancy furniture deco and ornaments quite often.

you are using ladders indoors, probably wearing a bucket on a belt - all these take experience to avoid accidents

you are not missing the train because another one will come along and as has already been said, this could end up putting you off for good
'walk before you run' - we all hear that phrase and it's not a bad one

[Ben Walker]

yeh, totally hear what you're saying Davindo.

i think i'm crazy enough to give it a go though. 
in both cases the owner wont be in when i'm there, just the cleaner, so i'll go at it real slow and methodical. plus they both know i haven't been at it that long (though not this short!)

House 2 accepted my offer of 80 out, 90 in  so even if it takes all day i'm happy.

i'll update you on how i get on.

(i've got some practices lined up!)

cheers for all ya advice

Ben-chan

[mark dew]

Good on you Ben-chan... go for it. Just don't break anything.

[gaza]

BEN-CHAN DONT START ON A FRI CUS YOU WOULD HAVE TO GO BACK AT WEEKEND,AND THERES NOT ENOUGH WEEKENDS IN A WEEK


 GOOD LUCK GAZA

[Ben Walker]

cheers guys! 

[windows_chepstow]

Good on you Ben-chan... go for it. Just don't break anything.

I agree.  Every job that's bigger than your normal is a good experience.  You've got to take risks to learn, but I'm not talking health and safety here; don't take risks that could leave you in a wheel-chair. 

The worst case scenario is that you have a nightmare; sweat buckets; grossly underprice and either sack the job or re-negotiate a new cost.

But you'll learn for the next job.