[NWH]

I don't employ so some of the pricing makes no sense to me. An employee could be on less than £10 an hour.
If I cleaned that on my own and it took me all day then I wouldn't need more than £250 to keep me happy. No VAT to pay and lowish overheads.
Two employees might only cost £80 in wages for that, how can you justify a £450 bill for half a days work one van?

Because he's running it as a business and wants to make a profit as well as his own wages,what's the point if your not able to save any money at the end of the month after you've paid bills out money away for TAX etc sorry I'm not being funny but what's the point otherwise just earning a days wage your never going to make anything are you.

[NWH]

Say you charged £30 an hour some would say fantastic,how many Windows can you clean an hour I can clean loads of em and what for £30,I don't think so profit wages tax the list goes on 1500 on 2 poles who's going to pay for it.

[Dave Willis]

My point is I don't need more than 1k a week so as long as there are people like me competing with the companies who need 1k a day then I guess now and again they will lose the bidding war.

[chris turner]

There's no way that's 4 hours for 2 men.
Most decent window cleaners could do it in less then 4 on there own.
I have one that's about 2/3rds the size of that, including front and back balconies and a roof lantern that has to be accessed with 2 ladders, that takes me just under 2 hours, I charge £80.

For the job in question I would charge £160 if regular, £240 if not. 4 hours work if regular and once use to doing it. 5 hours if not regular.

[chris turner]

Say you charged £30 an hour some would say fantastic,how many Windows can you clean an hour I can clean loads of em and what for £30,I don't think so profit wages tax the list goes on 1500 on 2 poles who's going to pay for it.

You can't expect to make your money back on equipment immediately.
Plus it's not the customers fault if the contractor isn't equipped properly for the job. 

[Smurf]

The only one to lose out is you Dave as you should never be competing on price alone as you could be earning a lot more for less work. Drop the low paid jobs and replace with well paying jobs as you can only do so much work on your own.

[SeanK]

We are in business to make a decent net profit on each job not lose money Dave.
For instance I did a gutter clearing job that took just over two and a half hours to do properly for £300... That’s working on my own.

I can't get my head around why so many want to charge so little on large window cleaning jobs like that as makes no sense to me whatsoever.

Its simple, if it was possible to get £300 for two a half hours doing work a trained monkey could do then every trained
monkey in the land would be out doing it.
I like others have to compete with  guys clearing gutters from a ladder charging £20 for a 4 bed semi front and back, now
being more professional and doing a better job means I can demand more but not hundreds more.
As I have said before its always strange that the only places where there are fortunes to be earned in this business are places
where no nobody seems to want to do it.

[Smurf]

We are in business to make a decent net profit on each job not lose money Dave.
For instance I did a gutter clearing job that took just over two and a half hours to do properly for £300... That’s working on my own.

I can't get my head around why so many want to charge so little on large window cleaning jobs like that as makes no sense to me whatsoever.

Its simple, if it was possible to get £300 for two a half hours doing work a trained monkey could do then every trained
monkey in the land would be out doing it.
I like others have to compete with  guys clearing gutters from a ladder charging £20 for a 4 bed semi front and back, now
being more professional and doing a better job means I can demand more but not hundreds more.
As I have said before its always strange that the only places where there are fortunes to be earned in this business are places
where no nobody seems to want to do it.

Any trained monkey as you put it can clear gutters but it's down to the salesman in you to have the bottle to ask for what the job is really worth to you and get away with it. The reason why people are willing to pay top dollar for work is they don't want a trained monkey to turn up and do it. 

[NWH]

Say you charged £30 an hour some would say fantastic,how many Windows can you clean an hour I can clean loads of em and what for £30,I don't think so profit wages tax the list goes on 1500 on 2 poles who's going to pay for it.

You can't expect to make your money back on equipment immediately.
Plus it's not the customers fault if the contractor isn't equipped properly for the job.

Im talking in general terms of course I don't expect to get it back on one job I including all factors in your business there are costs as you know they all add up,do you think I'm buying a couple of poles like I go out and buy a new TV,the TV is for my enjoyment the poles are for my business that earns me money and your pricing should include replacing equipment and all other business expenses. If you call someone out to unblock your drain the minimum will be £80 +vat it might take him 5 minutes to do but do we complain no because he has bills and business expenses to pay like everyone in business. If your not including expenses and a bit of profit on each job it's pointless you might as well work for someone and not yourself.

[Tosh]

There's no way that's 4 hours for 2 men.
Most decent window cleaners could do it in less then 4 on there own.
I have one that's about 2/3rds the size of that, including front and back balconies and a roof lantern that has to be accessed with 2 ladders, that takes me just under 2 hours, I charge £80.

For the job in question I would charge £160 if regular, £240 if not. 4 hours work if regular and once use to doing it. 5 hours if not regular.

But there's knocking a job out and doing a professional job.

[chris turner]

There's no way that's 4 hours for 2 men.
Most decent window cleaners could do it in less then 4 on there own.
I have one that's about 2/3rds the size of that, including front and back balconies and a roof lantern that has to be accessed with 2 ladders, that takes me just under 2 hours, I charge £80.

For the job in question I would charge £160 if regular, £240 if not. 4 hours work if regular and once use to doing it. 5 hours if not regular.

But there's knocking a job out and doing a professional job.

There's also doing a proper job or taking the p@ss just so you can charge more. Lucky this customer has as much sense as money...

[NWH]

I've seen it time and time again windys do jobs like that for a 1/3 or a 1/4 of the price only to lose it after years of doing it to another firm charging 4 times the price,just because your cheap it doesn't mean you'll keep the job. Just think you've done it 4 times to there 1 and the people are still happy to pay there price,on places like that the price is only a part of what will get you the job,if they take a dislike to you and you said you'd do it for 50 quid they'd say ok I'll get back to you but don't hold your breath. A WC is normally recommended on a job like that in a lot of cases.

[NWH]

There's no way that's 4 hours for 2 men.
Most decent window cleaners could do it in less then 4 on there own.
I have one that's about 2/3rds the size of that, including front and back balconies and a roof lantern that has to be accessed with 2 ladders, that takes me just under 2 hours, I charge £80.

For the job in question I would charge £160 if regular, £240 if not. 4 hours work if regular and once use to doing it. 5 hours if not regular.

But there's knocking a job out and doing a professional job.

There's also doing a proper job or taking the p@ss just so you can charge more. Lucky this customer has as much sense as money...

If someone is living in a house like that do you think they think that £150 is a lot of money then,it's a bottle of wine to them.

[Tosh]

Not true. They can be just as tight with their money.



If its a bottle of wine to them why don't you charge for those conservatory roofs you do, they'll only be the olives that are part of the starter.

[Smurf]

Speaking of a bottle of wine it's probably worth more than 170 a bottle anyways and they probably drink a few 

[NWH]

Not true. They can be just as tight with their money.



If its a bottle of wine to them why don't you charge for those conservatory roofs you do, they'll only be the olives that are part of the starter.

Because I'm charging the right money in the first place so I can afford to throw in the odd few panes of glass,do you think I'd be doing that if I was pricing jobs like that at £150 that's just ridiculous,if you seriously think that's a £150 job If I was you I would be looking at changing things where pricing is concerned because in any part of the country that job is worth a lot more.It cost the bloke there more for 1 tyre on his Bentley lol.

[Smurf]

I've found very wealthy people are not tight with their money when they know they  will get the job do properly with someone they can trust.

[NWH]

Nothing to do with being tight at all its down to trust and first impressions like anything in life how often do we say I didn't like the look of him,yeah but £150 the wife says yeah but I didn't like the look of him I know the other blokes a lot dearer but he looks like if you left the door open he wouldn't wander inside for a nose. With people like that it's not about the price they are letting you round there property they will pay for he fact they can trust you.

[NWH]

There's no way that's 4 hours for 2 men.
Most decent window cleaners could do it in less then 4 on there own.
I have one that's about 2/3rds the size of that, including front and back balconies and a roof lantern that has to be accessed with 2 ladders, that takes me just under 2 hours, I charge £80.

For the job in question I would charge £160 if regular, £240 if not. 4 hours work if regular and once use to doing it. 5 hours if not regular.
[/quoted ]I agree with your timescale it could be done in a lot less time but it wouldn't change the price.

[chris turner]

A professional commercial window cleaning company with overheads to pay for staff, office, vans etc. would be in around £550 to £650 per clean depending on frequency.

Can I ask what makes you 'professional'?
Does the fact that you have an office and staff mean you clean Windows better then everyone else?
So in effect you have the right to charge more?

I have a nice van, quality equipment, always in uniform, proper receipts upon completion of work and always do a very good job.
Am I not 'professional' because I don't have an office and staff?