[roundbuilder]

I think what it is mick was the fact that you said the word, mugs.

You are right in what you say, but also some people are happy with what they charge, joey sounds like he's happy enough charging what he does.

Like I say I have some houses at £5.00 which are nice little earners  

I already said that maybe the word mug is a bit harsh to use.

Archer your a bright bloke. Wouldnt you feel like your doing something verey wrong if you was charging £6 doing what your competition does for £15.

To be fair anyone underselling there self wherever they are or whatever they do are mugging themselfs off.(selling themselfs short).

[G Griffin]

I think what it is mick was the fact that you said the word, mugs.

I agree.

Someone may have quoted £6 for a job that he could have got more for. He might have bought the work or had it passed on. It could be seen as a mistake, being naive or unbusinesslike but a mug?  
I've got complacent and I'm not motivated enough to sort my business out, so I just go out and earn a wage.
I don't mind what others think or do and I shouldn't matter to them.
If they find it hard to sell themselves because of others, that's their problem.  

[roundbuilder]

I think what it is mick was the fact that you said the word, mugs.

I agree.

Someone may have quoted £6 for a job that he could have got more for. He might have bought the work or had it passed on. It could be seen as a mistake, being naive or unbusinesslike but a mug?  
I've got complacent and I'm not motivated enough to sort my business out, so I just go out and earn a wage.
I don't mind what others think or do and I shouldn't matter to them.
If they find it hard to sell themselves because of others, that's their problem.  

Changed it from mugs to something more suitable.
Being from south london mug and mugged off are words i hear and use daily so i appologise if came across as rude.

[Archer]

G griffin,

I get like that sometimes, but then have a few weeks being motivated again and going for it,   

[rosskesava]

I totally agree. Different areas are different. This is about same area. If you charged £6 per house but found out everyother wc is charging £12-£15 on the same streets as you wouldnt you question yourself of totally underpricing??.
I know what maybe £10 down south could be £5 up north and the cost of living reflects this somisnt much different in value by the time bills and mortgage is payed etc etc.

I don't know whether the different areas being different is just a reflection of what value the window cleaner in that area places upon themselves based on what they think window cleaning in that area is worth.

I live in Brighton mainly but have an uncle in mid Wales near Aberwythwist, or how ever it's spelt, who has a farm. Me and the missus go there 4 or 5 times a year. Daft as it may seem, I now have 11 jobs I do when we visit my Uncle which started off from doing the windows of a neighbouring farm 3 years ago when the farmer saw me cleaning my uncle's windows and it spread by word of mouth.

I quoted the same prices as I quote here in Brighton (for me, a 4/5 bed detached house plus conservatory £30 - £40) and got all the jobs bar one.

Last time I was there I got talking to a window cleaner in a place called Tregaron who was doing shop windows and he didn't believe the prices I was charging. He reckoned on about £8 to £10 as being the maximum any one would pay for the jobs I was doing.

Someone posted somewhere on this thread that you only can charge what you believe you are worth and I think there may be some truth in that.

[G Griffin]

I think what it is mick was the fact that you said the word, mugs.

I agree.

Someone may have quoted £6 for a job that he could have got more for. He might have bought the work or had it passed on. It could be seen as a mistake, being naive or unbusinesslike but a mug?  
I've got complacent and I'm not motivated enough to sort my business out, so I just go out and earn a wage.
I don't mind what others think or do and I shouldn't matter to them.
If they find it hard to sell themselves because of others, that's their problem.  

Changed it from mugs to something more suitable.
Being from south london mug and mugged off are words i hear and use daily so i appologise if came across as rude.

Fair enough, Mick; I understand.
I got a lot of underpriced work when I started, so I know what you mean. I blamed the old cleaner for his prices etc but then realised it was down to me to sort it.
He was content with it- he would have liked more, I'm sure- but it was his business.

I do realise that that it can affect customers' expectations; but conquering that is part of business.
I just can't be bothered, though  .

[rosskesava]

Changed it from mugs to something more suitable.
Being from south london mug and mugged off are words i hear and use daily so i appologise if came across as rude.

Mick, where abouts? I hope it's not Croydon.

That term 'mugged' and 'mug' does have a different use and connotation there to the rest of the UK.

Rosskesava,

I have said that, and I stick to my price, I know I am good and I will charge accordingly.

I got told that a few years ago off a wise old man, and it has paid dividends.

Archer, sorry mate, I didn't mean to sound like I was being critical and that wasn't aimed at you at all.

I stick to my price as well even when it gets declined because that reflects somehow onto the next customer you give a price to and yes, I agree, it does pay dividends.

I was just making a general comment about how maybe prices across the country have maybe more to do with what the window cleaner thinks the customer will pay.

[rosskesava]

Yup, it's amazing how many people will pay happily more for the same thing and I think it's because of the way our society is based, they believe that price dictates quality.

[Joey Eastwood]

If i did my £6 houses for £15 id earn £75 an hour. Id feel guilty taking £15 off somebody for a 15min job, regardless of 'its a service' or 'im not under selling myself'. Sometimes i feel bad charging old ladies £6! End of the day its not a hard job is it in all honesty, hardly factory work slaving away or fighting fires or saving lives. People constantly go on about under-selling yourself, id rather 'under sell myself' for £24 an hour than feel like a con man charging people twice what they earn an hour for a 15min job....

[MATT BATEMAN (OWC)]

But you dont earn £24.00 an hour.

[andyM]

If i did my £6 houses for £15 id earn £75 an hour. Id feel guilty taking £15 off somebody for a 15min job, regardless of 'its a service' or 'im not under selling myself'. Sometimes i feel bad charging old ladies £6! End of the day its not a hard job is it in all honesty, hardly factory work slaving away or fighting fires or saving lives. People constantly go on about under-selling yourself, id rather 'under sell myself' for £24 an hour than feel like a con man charging people twice what they earn an hour for a 15min job....

I think you should feel guilty if you were charging £15 per house and only cleaning the glass! 
At the end of the day you are trying to compare your prices against other people's but from what you have said you are not doing as much work, ie. not cleaning frames and just giving sills a "wipe".
Does your pricing also include cleaning all exterior doors or do you not do them either?
Not having a go at you, but you are questioning what other people are charging but realistically you are not comparing like for like.
If customers in your area are only willing to pay £6 then perhaps you are providing just enough to suit their budget.
But I think you are being unfair believing all customers will only accept a second rate window cleaning service.
From a business perspective I don't feel you are exploiting the potential you could realise from your customers, if you upped your level of service and provided more perhaps you could earn more out of them? 

[Joey Eastwood]

But you dont earn £24.00 an hour.

I clean roughly £25 - £30 an hour.

[Perfect Windows]

Yup, it's amazing how many people will pay happily more for the same thing and I think it's because of the way our society is based, they believe that price dictates quality.

Probably because, under most circumstances, price does dictate quality.  More directly: Of course price dictates quality.

I do lots of little bits that add up to quality service in my customers' eyes.  Need a garage door doing once in a while?  No problem.  Need a window on an outhouse doing?  No problem.  Want your frames cleaned as well as the glass?  Every time.  Got a window that needs a bit of TLC for some reason?  No problem.  Building work being done next door so your windows need a couple of goes over to be right?  No problem.  Away on holiday and can't open the gate?  No problem.  Need a single window cleaning on the inside occasionally because you can't reach it?  No problem.

If that's quality of service, then I'm offering quality.  I can do it because I charge enough.  You cannot get something for nothing.

Vin

[8weekly]

But you dont earn £24.00 an hour.

I clean roughly £25 - £30 an hour.

You still don't actually earn anything like that.

Assuming you work every day and are full. Costs need to come off (fuel, depreciation on vehicle etc, travel time, collecting etc.). Then you need to subtract holiday pay, sick pay. You need to take off round management activity. You will be lucky if you get to £15 an hour when you really do the sums.

[MATT BATEMAN (OWC)]

But you dont earn £24.00 an hour.

I clean roughly £25 - £30 an hour.

The commonest myth amongst newly self-employed?


So what about wet days, ill days, bank holidays, holidays, days off, windy days, sleet snow, icey cold days. You dont earn £25.00 an hour. After that lot minus expenses your probably earning something like 8weekly says or less an hour. For someone who is self-employed thats atrocious.

[Joey Eastwood]

Sorry i forgot you both know me and my situation so well hahaha... All my work is 5miles or less from my house, i do not drive, my girlfriend does haha and as for bad weather days i dont stand outside and earn £0 an hour do i..... Like i said i clean £25 - £30 an hour as a minimum and i have low expenses. As for collecting i wouldn't class that as working, that's the best part of the job

[Perfect Windows]

Sorry i forgot you both know me and my situation so well hahaha... All my work is 5miles or less from my house, i do not drive, my girlfriend does haha and as for bad weather days i dont stand outside and earn £0 an hour do i..... Like i said i clean £25 - £30 an hour as a minimum and i have low expenses. As for collecting i wouldn't class that as working, that's the best part of the job

By your reckoning (and I know I'm taking this to an extreme) if there were a week of terrible weather and you managed to get out for an hour, you'd consider that to be £25 an hour.  While that might be strictly true, it's not really too relevant, as you'd have earned £25 for a week's work.

Also, if your girlfriend is driving and you're considering that as being "free" then you're going to pay far too much tax at the end of the year.

Vin

[rosskesava]

I have a round of £10 houses and they are all big detatched houses with massive conservatories, they have all got 13plate mercs on the drive... I do about 3 of them an hour. I suppose everything is more expensive in London though.

Large detached houses with massive conservatories and you do three an hour?

That says it all really.

[roundbuilder]

Changed it from mugs to something more suitable.
Being from south london mug and mugged off are words i hear and use daily so i appologise if came across as rude.

Mick, where abouts? I hope it's not Croydon.

That term 'mugged' and 'mug' does have a different use and connotation there to the rest of the UK.

Rosskesava,

I have said that, and I stick to my price, I know I am good and I will charge accordingly.

I got told that a few years ago off a wise old man, and it has paid dividends.

Archer, sorry mate, I didn't mean to sound like I was being critical and that wasn't aimed at you at all.

I stick to my price as well even when it gets declined because that reflects somehow onto the next customer you give a price to and yes, I agree, it does pay dividends.

I was just making a general comment about how maybe prices across the country have maybe more to do with what the window cleaner thinks the customer will pay.

No not in croydon. Im belvedere near plumstead/woolwich(dumps)
Full of mugs here lol.

[Archer]

I'm happy with my £5.00 houses

Everyone's goin round in circles