[poleman]

I have been a window cleaner for 26 years and in the past four or five years seen a big explosion in joe public getting into this much loved industry of ours, yes you can blame WFP as its a lot safer, but WFP has been good to us, however I have personal lost in the past 6 months 20 domestic customers to others undercutting, one customer said he would do the first clean free and half what I charge on the next clean, now my point is....for me and many other window cleaners I come incontact with over many years its a unwritten rule that you DON'T undercut on houses, if you do a bad job or are unreliable then fine but undercutting will kill this much loved industry  sorry rant over its just I have worked hard to build up my business and to see it going down likes this is soul destroying
 

[Dave Willis]

I quoted a three storey mid terrace today £15
Previous quote was £60!!!!!!

Am I guilty of undercutting?

[poleman]

I quoted a three storey mid terrace today £15
Previous quote was £60!!!!!!

Am I guilty of undercutting?

well with out seeing the house that is a lot of money and is over priced in the first place, we normal charge that price for a block of flats

[C o z y]

Here you go mate, seems to be the norm at the moment.

http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=182679.0;all

[bobplum]

business is business.......sorry

[Dave Willis]

The only way to undercut would be if you know the current price. If the guy is pricing your work up but doesn't know your price then I guess in his eyes he isn't undercutting.

He's probably new and thinks £8 and hour is a cracking price.

[poleman]

business is business.......sorry

Yes has always been the case on commercial work but on houses not on....if we all do it then it will kill it for all of us

[Clever Forum Name]

So many iff's and butts tho.

A canvassed customer will drop you way before a recommendation job will.

Are you actually doing a good job OP (dont mean that in a horrible way)

How much are they undercutting on the prices. Forget the first clean rubbish and half price this rubbish.

For them to swap i would image a house you are changing £15 for they must be coming in at like £7 - £9

[South Window Cleaning Ltd]

have you had a bad day Andy ?

[PoleKing]

I did a huge over cut today.
Went along priced up. Huge 3 storey house bit of a flat roof so need the steps too for a few.
I quoted £50 every 2 months.

Customer said, 'seems expensive, our current guy only charges £17.50 every 3 months'
I said 'no wonder he's not doing a very good job, i'll leave it with you'
Went to walk away, customer stops me says: 'no, no, no, we want them doing, can you do them now'?
Yes i says. Cleans, gets paid, no probs.

OP, in 26 years you must've had some ups & downs?
Try and look at it as though you may just be having a little down, an up is only around the corner.
I actually think that a few downs every now & then does us good.
Keeps us on our toes.
It'll only be short term bud. Stay positive

[roundbuilder]

I agree with bob plum. Its just business! If was paying £20 a month to have my windows cleaned and someone said they would do it for £10 id save myself £120 a year and swap to the £10 guy.
I lose customers to undercutters all the time! Such is life i just go out and replace them to keep the ball rolling.
I guess the trick isto charge a fair price instead of a chancer price!
I charger £10 for fronts so have high risks of being undercut which does happen however with millions of customers out there it realy doesnt bother me as 1 customers money is as good as anothers! Flip side a customer would simply just want there windows cleaned and the cheaper the better! Loyalty doesnt always come into it.

[jmb]

business is business.......sorry

Yes has always been the case on commercial work but on houses not on....if we all do it then it will kill it for all of us

It's the same with commercial as with domestics tbh there has always been an understanding to a lot of commercial window cleaners in bristol about undercutting, the problem like poleman has posted is that since wfp has come out we've all seen an influx of so say window cleaners who can only clean a window via wfp.

It can only be damaging to all of our business's by doin stuff to cheap because to try and get the prices back up to what they should be is a nightmare and at the end of the day our running costs to any business isn't going down ie Diesal ect.

Ps I hope this doesn't sound like I'm a wfp hater cus I'm not, it all has it's uses like being able to squeegee a window inside instead of like some people have posted on this forum " I've been asked to clean some inside windows what's the best way to do it "

[Tom-01]

There's cheaper prices in every industry though, window cleaning shouldn't be any different. It's business. I 'over cut' all the time. It sorts the wheat from the chaff.

OP when you're quoting new jobs you should put extra £5 on what you would normally quote, the ones who say yes will be the best customers and won't go for the cheapest guys, providing you do a great job and offer great customer service.

[Tom-01]

As an example if I needed a gardener and was looking for quotes I would probably go for the £15 per hour guys rather than the £8 or £10 per hour guys. The £15 per hour guys would probably have uniforms, sign written vans, insurance and actually be able to hold a conversation, basically be professional. I'm not Mick Kent

[roundbuilder]

As an example if I needed a gardener and was looking for quotes I would probably go for the £15 per hour guys rather than the £8 or £10 per hour guys. The £15 per hour guys would probably have uniforms, sign written vans, insurance and actually be able to hold a conversation, basically be professional. I'm not Mick Kent

Lol fair point, cant argue with that.
Some like profesionalism and others like a bargain, the only thing is though the majority of people just want there windows cleaned for a reasonable price.why would the customer pay her window cleaner £20 a month if another offered to do it for £10 saving her a massive £120 a year halving the cost to have the same simple job done of cleaning her windows?.
I just look at it from a customers point of view which is why i accept being undercut as its business at the end of the day Some you win and some you lose.
Would you pay £200 a month gas and electric with british gas if you could half it to £100 a month with ion???   You would be a fool not too.

[Scrimble]

put it this way i recently went to a barber shop had my hair cut for £6, the young lad barber did a poor job, i wasnt happy when i got home, i usually pay around £9 to £10 which is the going rate around here it seems, next time i needed a hair cut I drove past the £6 barber shop and went to one i know is good and is what i think is a fair rate £10

I left the barbers happy that my £10 was better spent than the £6 i wasted previously, end of the day you get what you pay for and there are people who want to pay rock bottom rates but there are plenty more who want to spend good money and have a good job done,

never ever sell yourself short, thats a mugs game

[Dave Willis]

I had a close shave with a barber once.

[Frankybadboy]

I had a close shave with a barber once.

[richard groves]

As an example if I needed a gardener and was looking for quotes I would probably go for the £15 per hour guys rather than the £8 or £10 per hour guys. The £15 per hour guys would probably have uniforms, sign written vans, insurance and actually be able to hold a conversation, basically be professional. I'm not Mick Kent

Men in uniforms don't do it for me and I certainly wouldn't want to hang around and chat with them  

[poleman]

many thanks chaps, seems its changing times out there, I was this year going to do a price increase but thats going to have to be put on hold now  I just hope its worth being a window cleaner in say 5 or 10 years time if this undercutting continues