[Mick Kent]

i just don't get it. My customers pay me to keep there windows clean.  By 4 weeks they get a slight film of dust/dirt that only just notices which being cleaned keeps them free for another 4 weeks....by 8 weeks they are  covered in dust/dirt/bird poo and  by 12 weeks well i dont even go there as would be embarrased to offer at 12 weeks for domestics however i do a lot of quarterly commercial work which is always covered in filth and grime,baked in bird poo etc etc. Yet you guys are charging around 50% more and getting away with it to give them a poorer service leaving them with windows being dirty for more time than they are clean.
Im not knocking it as it obviously works, i just cant get my head around it.

[tlwcs]

i just don't get it. My customers pay me to keep there windows clean.  By 4 weeks they get a slight film of dust/dirt that only just notices which being cleaned keeps them free for another 4 weeks....by 8 weeks they are  covered in dust/dirt/bird poo and  by 12 weeks well i dont even go there as would be embarrased to offer at 12 weeks for domestics however i do a lot of quarterly commercial work which is always covered in filth and grime,baked in bird poo etc etc. Yet you guys are charging around 50% more and getting away with it to give them a poorer service leaving them with windows being dirty for more time than they are clean.
Im not knocking it as it obviously works, i just cant get my head around it.

With respect Mick it's the customers choice, whether we like it or not.
12 weekly priced right are a nicer earner and the customer sees a massive difference.
Not everybody's priority is to have dust free windows.
Tony

[Mick Kent]

I know. Thats why im confused its the customers that go for it.

[8weekly]

I have 8 weekly customers that reckon it's too frequent and I regularly turn down people wanting 12 weekly.

[chris turner]

Nearly all my work is 8 weekly.
Your right mick, windows are normally pretty dirty by the time 8 weeks comes around. It means I almost never get a 'not this time', nor do I feel any resentment about me being there from my customers.
The other great thing about cleaning dirty windows is that you can noticeably see the difference once they've been cleaned, and customers appreciate your work more.

With wfp 4 weekly cleaning is not needed in most areas, I noticed this almost 6 months after switching to wfp, windows still looked clean after 4 weeks. With that comes the 'not this time' and 'the windows are still clean' comments.
6 weekly is probably just right in terms of frequency but I wanted to enforce a considerable price hike on my customers, so switching to 8 weekly softened the blow.
I only lost 1 customer after the big price hike and switching to 8 weekly, my earnings stayed the same but I had much easier days ( only do 6-10 houses a day) and plenty of space in my rounds for the add ons like gutters and cons.

Works for me and customers seem happy..

[Mick Kent]

I have 8 weekly customers that reckon it's too frequent and I regularly turn down people wanting 12 weekly.

Would never have thought all your work was 8 weekly 

I do get 8 weekly work as i have some which does get dirty and poo is baked on harder than at 4 weekly but still easyish to keep clean compared to the 12 weekly clean.
Fair play To the guys who get away with doing 12 weekly cleans and charging 50 percent more.
The customer is always right afterall.

[SeanK]

I'm six weekly but I certainly don't get 50% more for it, Mick there are lots of mysteries in this game but I put most
of them down to the lack of decent competition.
At the end of the day if you have budgeted x for a yearly window cleaning service then you have to take what x can buy you,
now the beauty of window cleaning is once most customers get a shiner then unless the quality is crap they rarely think about
their windows again so don't question the fact that they could get better value elsewhere.

[ascjim]

i just don't get it. My customers pay me to keep there windows clean.  By 4 weeks they get a slight film of dust/dirt that only just notices which being cleaned keeps them free for another 4 weeks....by 8 weeks they are  covered in dust/dirt/bird poo and  by 12 weeks well i dont even go there as would be embarrased to offer at 12 weeks for domestics however i do a lot of quarterly commercial work which is always covered in filth and grime,baked in bird poo etc etc. Yet you guys are charging around 50% more and getting away with it to give them a poorer service leaving them with windows being dirty for more time than they are clean.
Im not knocking it as it obviously works, i just cant get my head around it.

With respect Mick it's the customers choice, whether we like it or not.
12 weekly priced right are a nicer earner and the customer sees a massive difference.
Not everybody's priority is to have dust free windows.
Tony

I don't think its the customers choice. I choose our frequencies.

[NWH]

I can charge way more doing 6 weeklys or 2 monthly cleans,I took a new one last week that TBH is only a £45 every month or so I quoted £75 and she jumped at it because it was 2 monthly. If you turn up every month it feels like you have only just done them and the general view in my area is that 6 weekly to 2 months is prefered,I would rather get more money for doing less work and to say they get much much dirtier by leaving them a few more weeks is ridiculous.

[NWH]

To say you choose the frequency I'm my book is wrong you choose the price you'll clean it for granted but you can't say to someone I will be cleaning your Windows .....,I tell new customers 8 weeks is my preferred gap between cleans and this gap between cleans will stop them getting so dirty so that it doesn't look like you have a WC. I tell them I don't go any longer than 3 months which to me is a acceptable but I never say to them if you want me I will come X day like it or lump it if I did it wouldn't take long for them to get fed up with my bill through the door. Again estate work or compact work is different you can't clean £100 + houses every month they wouldn't go for it or at least most wouldn't.

[Tony dunmall]

I agree most my larger houses are not 6 weekly there 12 weekly, mostly as you say NWH there good prices between £65-235
 I choose 12 weekly because I can alternate them on my 6 weekly rounds so it's just easier to regulate

But to be honest hour for Hour there much better priced

They may be dirty, need more water but most mine look at the price over the year like they would insurances

But I do stipulate the frequency choices

One offs, 6 weekly or 12 weekly there the 3 choices if they would like my services

[capn sparkle]

You could say that after 5 yrs in this game I'm fairly inflexible - I offer an 8 weekly / 2 monthly service, 6 cleans a year take it or leave it! Be fussy, do a good job and turn up when you're supposed to... Simples

[slap bash]

I find the longer you leave between clean,  the customers  will always want a longer term. I have cleaned 4 weeks then also offer 8 weeks and very soon after I changed to this offer customer wanted 12 weeks. For which I do charge more. The difference in work on a 12 week clean. Well,  there is much more dirt and it`s noticeable in my area. .I must say one needs to draw a line in the sand as there are many new windies coming into the business and if we offer longer between cleans we will soon have problems filling our book. I have heard the statement too often there is plenty glass out there.
Unfortunately, we don`t work for glass we clean for people and there is not an inexhaustible supply out there.

[Tom White]

My preferred frequency is every-eight-weeks.  Why?  I think I can charge them more for it.  Charging high and coming too frequently isn't a good idea.  Being cheap and frequent isn't good either.

Every-eight-weeks and well priced seems to be the right balance for us. 

And just to brag, we quoted for and got a £350 every-eight-week domestic account today.

[Smurf]

I never force a frquency on people as I let them decide how often they want their property cleaned.
That goes for any services that I offer not just window cleaning.
 

[Tom White]

I never force a frquency on people as I let them decide how often they want their property cleaned.

I never force a frequency on anyone either.  I say "This is what I offer..." and they can take it or leave it.  If the job is big and I can charge well for it, I might be more flexible.

But I wonder how does yours work in practise?  Don't you find it difficult to group work together by area if everyone is at a different frequency?

[8weekly]

I never force a frquency on people as I let them decide how often they want their property cleaned.

I never force a frequency on anyone either.  I say "This is what I offer..." and they can take it or leave it.  If the job is big and I can charge well for it, I might be more flexible.

Ditto.

[SeanK]

This one was discussed before and like Mick I just couldn't believe that people could be that stupid, for example a 6 weekly
£20 clean would cost £160 a year but a 12 weekly clean at 50% more would cost £120, so a £40 saving for half the cleans.
Remember these guys are also cleaning in well to do areas ( the £50 or more an hour mob ) so £40 wouldn't be a lot of cash to
their customers and certainly not worth dropping half their cleans to save.
I think the conclusion was that their customers where either pin heads or dirty brutes. lol.

[dazmond]

4 or 8 weekly mainly but i do have some work in other areas at 6 weekly and the odd stand alone 12 weekly job.

it really doesnt matter what frequency you offer as long as you have enough work and are making money IMO.

I have lots of very compact work at 4 weekly and its easy work to clean but some are pretty dirty after 4 weeks esp in spring/summer with birdmuck/pollen etc

[SeanK]

I never force a frquency on people as I let them decide how often they want their property cleaned.

I never force a frequency on anyone either.  I say "This is what I offer..." and they can take it or leave it.  If the job is big and I can charge well for it, I might be more flexible.

Ditto.

That's just bluster, I'm 6 weekly and was hoping to go 8 weekly to do a few extra better paying add on jobs, the response I got from my customers soon knocked that idea on the head, they were not having it especially with the bad weather we have been getting over the past 6 months dirtying the windows a lot quicker than usual.
We all do what we can get away with but at the end of the day its down to what the customer will put up with.