[len]

Hi Trev,

thanks for your comments very encouraging, I've not been window cleaning for long and have been quite surprised how much customers are are prepared to pay for a clean,  but when it comes to giving  a quote I sometimes feel a little apprehensive about quoting to high even though I have not  had any complaints to date, I suppose I just need to get a bit more experience and a better understanding of what to expect from the business, so far things are looking quite positive except for one dog bite lol, luckily it was only a small creature, must of thought I was the postman.

Regards, Len. 

[mark dew]

but what worry’s me is what do I say to a £10.00 customer who’s house takes me half an hour to complete if they think £20.00 an hour is over the top ?

Len, you need to take into account that after you've been doing it for a while your hourly rate will increase quite a lot due to just being able to do the job quicker.

A £10 house used to take me approx 1 hour, now takes 25 - 30 minutes traditionally cleaned. That's where your £20 an hour will come in.

Also, you don't want to reveal what your aiming for per hour. It is none of your customers business and very few will ask anyway. If any do they will probably be a pain in the rear at some stage in the future and are better off dropped.

It's all about self-confidence i think. If you think of yourself as a labourer with ladders and scrim you will find it hard to price up work correctly and will always be cheap.
What you are selling is not your time but a finished product.
If you want to be worth what you charge you need to ensure that you do a good job everytime and are regular and trustworthy.

As for comparing your hourly rate against what your customer is earning is like comparing apples and oranges.
You need to consider how long you took when 1st cleaning windows and how long it will take your customer to clean them. And at least you will have probably cleaned them properly.

mark

ps I was on between £3 - £5 and hour for the 1st few weeks until i got up to speed.
     I didn't reach £10 p/h consistently for about 5 months.

[thewindowcleaner1]

I earn as much as I need but not as much as I'd Like

[neil100]

Wait untill you call out the Gas board or a plumber, They have a call out charge of £50 approx.

What I charge is for the work and service I provide, My round is the biggest its been in terms of customers and earnings per hour in 26yrs.

I filled my tank up with petrol on friday to a wallet crushing £60. Nobody is getting rid of there cars cos of the price of petrol.

I clean windows by choice and I want to earn a good wage by choice.

nel

[chris@c.m.s]

I tend to go along the lines of 'the manual trade market is where the money is at present' thanks to everyone leaving school and wanting to sit behind a computer screen it left vast gaps in manual trades, hence why plumbers earn (quoted somewhere) £100k a year
 

Helen please tell me where this is I am a qualfied plumber and without ripping someone off the best I could do employed was about 24k with corgi reg or acops as it is known I chose window cleaning because its low stress and i could earn the same ?
 

[chris@c.m.s]

I earn as much as I need but not as much as I'd Like

thats the way to work enough to keep you fed, clothed, and a roof over your head so your warm and dry what else matters apart from internet and broadband