[dave f]

im thinking of upping the prices i charge .i havent put the price up for 5yrs.the reason is where i live ive seen a significant rise of windys latley.which i must admit its a bit off putting regarding a price rise.ive had a few new custy recently and ive asked what there old windy charged suprised is a understatment.but ive just added a couple of quid on the old windys price and still got the job.its the old reliable custys i dont want to loose. as theirs always some one canvassing

[SeanK]

I'm upping my prices in the new year (March) would have upped them this year only I have been unreliable
due to a spell on the sick.
I would go for it Dave, as long as its a sensible amount I don't think too many will complain and if you don't
your going to end up under priced.

[richywilts]

im upping mine this year from jan 1st and going to be quite bold about it i chose january so that the customers can see the reliablity in the service since ive taken back over and standards of work improving etc a lot of my work is quite well priced but then there quite a lot that was canvassed at stupid prices that need dramatic increases

[dave f]

ill try a few newish custys first wait and see what happens

[Smudger]

We review our prices every feb/March - every customer is giving a note to say their price has been reviewed and has either gone up by x.xx or be held for a further 12 months.

On average about 30% go up per year, and normally we hold the price for 2 years before increasing again

Darran

[Ian101]

My missus has just gone down to a 4 day week car dealership where she works is cutting costs   ... says I need to put all my customers up a quid  

I used to work there before I became a windie and I can remember a few  laughs / smart ass comments when I left to become a window cleaner ... guy that took my job over is now on a 3 day week !

[richywilts]

what made u think about becoming a window cleaner ian from salesman

[Ian101]

what made u think about becoming a window cleaner ian from salesman

hated the job and wanted out but couldn't think of what else to do until one day I was cleaning my own windows as our window cleaner had sacked me for being a crap payer  and neighbour jokingly said give you a tenner to do mine ... few days later and into my head popped ... hmmmm ten a day @a tenner would be £100 ... that's £2000 a month ... hang on that cant be right ?? ?? ... found this forum ... went canvassing and got customer on 2nd knock ... did window cleaning on side for a few weeks then took fortnight off to canvass ... handed notice in ... went from £46000 a year and company car to zero with a company van ... few months later offered a large round with a van and system borrowed £16000 from bank ... loan now paid off and business ticking along nicely 

[dazmond]

dave f just do it mate.not just one or two either.put up hundreds of your accounts and you ll see a significant rise in earnings week on week.

ive put 200+ accounts up twice in the last 5 years.most a quid or two but some a fiver.only ever lost 2 or 3 customers each time.

BUT!make sure your  offering the best cleaning service in your area.long standing customers will be fine generally although i have lost some.even had the odd one point blank refuse to accept the price rise.fair enough.just dump them.they wont hold you back from building a more profitable business thats for sure.

i find march/april the best time for raising prices.i review my round every january and earmark ones to dump or put up.

good luck.

[dazmond]

ill try a few newish custys first wait and see what happens

dont do this.put ALL your long standing customers up first.newish customers should be on higher prices anyway if you priced higher when you took them on.

if you just put up a few here and there you wont notice a difference in earnings mate.

i always inform them the clean before the rise comes into force whether its a little note on an invoice/text or my favourite! FACE TO FACE!

[Mike #1]

I find April to May the best time the weather is a lot better people are starting to think about holidays etc and they are in good mood Summer is on the way and custys don't bat an eyelid when you increase prices

[gary999]

Mine will go up in may

[SeanK]

Totally agree with Dazmond, that why I didn't put mine up this year, I wasn't offering a good enough
service.
But once this is put right they are going up.

[Leeds]

We review our prices every feb/March - every customer is giving a note to say their price has been reviewed and has either gone up by x.xx or be held for a further 12 months.

On average about 30% go up per year, and normally we hold the price for 2 years before increasing again

Darran

Darran,

How much do you normally increase your prices by on domestic customers?

Meridion

[Smudger]

depends on house size and frequency,

I try to bear in mind that inflation is around 2% so for an average £10 4 wky clean I'd find it difficult to justify £1 rise ( unless it was underpriced ) so usually around the 50p mark.

Say an eight weeker at £40 would be around £3.00

I use every feb/March review to check houses of similar style/size are all paying the same price across the board, any problematic customers get a bigger rise to either ease the pain or for them too walk.

Darran

[Leeds]

depends on house size and frequency,

I try to bear in mind that inflation is around 2% so for an average £10 4 wky clean I'd find it difficult to justify £1 rise ( unless it was underpriced ) so usually around the 50p mark.

Say an eight weeker at £40 would be around £3.00

I use every feb/March review to check houses of similar style/size are all paying the same price across the board, any problematic customers get a bigger rise to either ease the pain or for them too walk.

Darran

So would around 5% every two years be a safe bet?

[Smudger]

People can't really complain at that, esp. When you point out its been 2 years since they last went up!

Don't get me wrong, this is to keep your hourly rate at the place you want it to be, underpriced work would go up a lot more to bring into line with others,

You will always have the potential of losing some, but the increase more than covers these.

We have over 1000 regulars and lost maybe 3 due to the prices going up

Darran

[SeanK]

Totally agree with Darran, another thing worth remembering is the longer you leave it the higher
the price rise will have to be.
Better a small rise every few years than a larger one every five or more.
But when your customers are all facing pay freezes and higher living costs it can be scary upping prices
so understand where the op is coming from.

[Mike #1]

I would rather put prices up by £1.00 or above every 3yrs than 50p every 2yrs , although some do go up every 2,yrs if they are a bit underpriced then it brings them up to the price I want

[dave the rave]

what sort of pricing system do you guys use ?ie  the amount of windows say £1 A Window or a flat price for terrace, semi, bungelow etc.