[stuart webster]

Do you set a minimum charge?

If so what is it?

[Sir Squeaky]

Don't have one, every jobs different.

You can't fairly have one.
If an elderly lady asks me to do her 4 bungalow windows and it takes me literally 3 or 4 minutes to do, then it's going to be 2 or 3 quid.

That would still make it a far better payer than most big houses.
How could you have the heart to ask a fortune?

Rog.

[Paul Coleman]

Don't have one, every jobs different.

You can't fairly have one.
If an elderly lady asks me to do her 4 bungalow windows and it takes me literally 3 or 4 minutes to do, then it's going to be 2 or 3 quid.

That would still make it a far better payer than most big houses.
How could you have the heart to ask a fortune?

Rog.

£10 but as Rog says, it is sometimes OK to deviate from it.

[callum macleod]

generally no i don't have a minimum charge you have to be flexible depends on the customer. :

[Ian_Giles]

My own target minimum is £8.00
But there are always a few exceptions, though I wouldn't go below a fiver, I'd chatge even a tiny flat that much.
Which almost means that a fiver is my minimum charge doesn't it? lol.

I have 2 accounts next door to one another that I just do the fronts, 3 windows for a fiver each.
I have one house for £6.00 and another for £7.00, and after that I have nothing under £8.00.
Domestic that is!
I have lots of shops that are only £2.50 

Ian

[Easyclean Windows]

£10 min used to do bungalows etc but not anymore

[matt]

i am s.prised by the poll

so some1 asks you to do a small house next door to 1 you do, they say "can you just do the front please" which is 3 windows and a door

and people charge 10 quid for this  : :

[Paul Coleman]

i am s.prised by the poll

so some1 asks you to do a small house next door to 1 you do, they say "can you just do the front please" which is 3 windows and a door

and people charge 10 quid for this  : :

Not for the fronts only.  I just wont offer a quote at all on a job that size.

[pjulk]

I try and get all my work above £10 i don't take on really small properties as there are to many doing them for £5 or £6.

Although i do have some under £10 but not very many and thats the way i like it.

Paul

[mark dew]

I don't have a minimum charge though i have been thinking about it for a while after reading it on here. My cheapest job is £3 for 3 small downstairs windows.
I do only leaflet places that look bigger than £10 now and i also quote £10 when it would have been £9 before.
I am beginning to think more and more though about having a £10 minimum charge for any phone enquiries. 
But i haven't done it yet.
I've got a soft spot for oldies though and would always be flexible with them. Depending on the job.

mark

[andy east sussex]

it all depends on what type of area your in and how tight the customers are going to be
im in east sussex  probly minimum £8-10 here

[steve k]

I have moved on from the minimum price thing...I work on a minimum hourly rate that I can achieve without breaking into a sweat...sorry, I meant my back

If I get a call from someone in an area where I know I will not get this rate or I can gather from the conversation they have a cleaner in the area who simply does not do their house, I tell them to have a word with the cleaner and offer him a couple of pound more if his books are full...If they say they have already, I tell them I can`t drive into an area for 1 house as it is not financially viable.

If it is a big house where I can get £25+ for the property, I`ll take it on.

If I got offered 20 houses in a street where I could do 4 an hour comfortably at £7-£8 an house, I`ll bite their hands off.

[Mike_Outlook]

who on earth would climb a ladder for less than ten quid,or a pair of steps for less than a fiver.At the end of the day you only have to fall once,and you're either crippled for life,or dead for a very long time.Having done this job for 18 years,I've had time to work out,that its the risk factor which you are actually charging for,and remember you are very often charging the same sort  of people who don't really want to pay you more than a fiver for doing something they haven't got the bottle to do,but think nothing of going out that night and paying some guy £25 in a pub  to pour them a round of drinks!
                         Cheers Mike

[geoffreyspecht]

mike those £5 jobs can make u a lot money in a day when they r next door to each other some peaople r just to greedy

[chris@c.m.s]

I do the 3 top front windows of a house for £3 and then had to do the same for his mate next door but one, both are elderly and are the sort you just dont mind helping out. my minimum for front only cleans though is generally £5.  minimum whole house is £7 for 2up 2downs and £7 minimum on bungalows.

[Sir Squeaky]

I do plenty of little bits and bobs like that Chris.
Never makes any difference to your day, and it's nice to help and have something different to do, instead of the same old jobs every time.

It seems some w/c'ers are getting a bit above their station.
Yes we're skilled workers, and it can be a bit dodgy at times, but we're not de-fusing bombs, or tackling a blazing building....... :

[stuart webster]

It's not about greed, but moving a bussiness forward.

Thankfully there are plenty of WC who are happy to stay where they are.

Well done them!

When like myself, you have too much work, you have to find a way to filter out smaller jobs.

it may well take you 5 mins to do the job, but then collecting, asking about the cat and trying to get away can be a problem, esp. if you are a talkative WC.

[steve k]

Sqeaky,
5 years in the army...highest pay = £430 a month (left in 1988)
9 years in Merseyside Fire Brigade = £911 a month(left in 1997)
Loved both of them but couldn`t pay the bills!!!

this is a great way of exercising and admiring other peoples gardens without having to think too much while listening to my favourite music on the Ipod...and getting paid well.

Bear,
just leave an envelope for payment...don`t collect if you can avoid it.

[Mike_Outlook]

in my defence,its nothing to do with greed,thats the domain of plumbers,and anyway if it was, I'd be driving a posh sign written van,not a beat up old 1994 Audi estate!
    I realised long ago that hourly rates are a waste of time,you cant work at your own pace(I'm just an old hippy),counting windows is also pointless,has nothing to do with anything,the ONLY criteria for pricing are ,effort involved and risk factor.
   In all the years i've bin a "ragger",more people have said "is that all?"than HOW MUCH!!,when I've given quotes,so I sleep quite easy at night!
      Obviously attitudes to pricing have changed slightly,with the advent of WFP,and the risk factor element slightly reduced,but then you've still got to pay for  the kit.
     Anyway I'm of to join Bomb Disposal then,obviously more money in that.

[David 'Duck' Clare]

Myself i dont really have a minimum but in the bit of Crawley i know Shinner hates its a minimum of £6-£7 but ive taken his advice recently and moved a little out of town and leafletted 400 houses which i new i would not charge less than £8 to all of them and in most cases £12+

Im very happy with this as the ones ive got so far are close(ish) together and about 20% £££'s more than i have been charging to date 

That said id clean a house for £5 if i had to, i dont care if the house is worth £5 ill do it for that as long as its worth my time. Besides one of my £5 houses always gives me a tin of coke and he is a real nice bloke - in fact i went to do his house 2 weeks ago (he has it done every two weeks/ and its a fairly small house) and it really didnt need doing - he looked at me like i was an alien and let me go......i got 2 calls that week from his neighbours asking me to do their windows

My wife says its KARMA i was honest with him and he looked after me. So his house may be a fiver to me but it is fortnightly and has produced £18 of other work a month now also!