[mickeybok]

About 4 years ago a management company came to me and asked if I could clean 4 apartment blocks, 2 stories high with 4 flats in each block.  The sills were filthy and when I asked when they had last been cleaned I was told 'yesterday', so it was obvious that they had been getting ripped off for years.
I agreed a 6 week clean for £100 and I have been doing it ever since. A couple of months ago the management company changed and a couple of weeks ago I got a call from them saying that the residents, who I have always gotten along with and have never made any complaints, would like the windows cleaned every 4 weeks and how much would I charge? At the time of the call I was busy and simply said that it would be the same price as it was the same amount of work. I later began to think about it and realised that the new company were probably looking for a way to reduce costs and were wanting me to reduce my price. After thinking about it I decided that to reduce my price would simply be working harder for less and so I didn't offer them a lower price.
Yesterday I received an email saying that the residents would like to thank me for all my excellent work over the years but wont want them cleand any more.
I am pragmatic and I know this sort of thing happens but it does p you off.
I'd like to know what you other boys, and girls would have done and did I do the right thing in sticking to my principles? I provided a good reliable, regular service, not one complaint in 4 years.
Got to move on now, if it ever stops snowing🙂

[Stoots]

Surey if they wanted to save money they would have asked for a longer frequency? Doesnt male sense.

Two weeks difference in frequency is hardly going to make your job much faster so yes it's the same price.

It might have been worth asking the reasoning and seeing what the issue is.

[Richard Stevenson]

I would have done the same..

[Cookie]

Yes it would p me off. But in another couple of months you'll have filled your time with new work, moved on & forgotten about it ....

[Splash & dash]

I would have done the same , maybe there’s a back hander going on with the management company and someone else that they use for other work I had this once unfortunately all you can do is move on

[Walter Mitty]

Six weekly to four weekly doesn't make the cleaning easier.  Whatever the gap between cleans, there is a minimum amount you can charge even if you clean them daily.  If £100 was a fair price by you, then that's it.  They found someone cheaper.  It happens.  However, if you were cleaning say, eight times a year and the new cleaner is cleaning twelve times a year, the residents will be paying more unless his price is less than two thirds of yours.

[Dry Clean]

Surey if they wanted to save money they would have asked for a longer frequency? Doesnt male sense.

Two weeks difference in frequency is hardly going to make your job much faster so yes it's the same price.

It might have been worth asking the reasoning and seeing what the issue is.

Its the weather Adam, I used to do 8 weekly cleans and the windows would still look clean when due again, the last few years with storm after storm they are hardly staying clean for 2 weeks.
Its not that they want to spend less its wanting more cleans for the same spend.

[Blackadder]

You did the right thing. I had a restaurant clean that I was charging £60 for, was doing it for 3 years, got on really well with all the people in there, in fact, I stopped their head chef getting a parking ticket by giving him a permit that I’d paid for! Anyway, the cleaners who hired me to clean for them were let go, restaurant wants to keep me on, I tell them it’s £60, they say they didn’t realise it was so much, I offered the same service for £45, still no. They had staff do it in the end. A new job similar is never far away 

[Richard iSparkle]

not commercial, but one that always bothered me was a [milionaire] customer i had who's windows I cleaned for 2 years at £37 a time. big house, orangery, the lot. after first cleans he got his daughter on board who lived next door, similar house, same price.

always got on well with him and he was always interested in the businesses and my kids. one morning he was talking to me about his son being in hospital with a heart scare and how worried he was. next week he emailed to cancel, he had been offered the 'same service' for £35. the guy was loaded. the mind boggles

[richard groves]

Sounds to me like the new management already had a preferred contractor in mind. Renegotiating the terms was their way of pushing you out.

[Walter Mitty]

Surey if they wanted to save money they would have asked for a longer frequency? Doesnt male sense.

Two weeks difference in frequency is hardly going to make your job much faster so yes it's the same price.

It might have been worth asking the reasoning and seeing what the issue is.

Its the weather Adam, I used to do 8 weekly cleans and the windows would still look clean when due again, the last few years with storm after storm they are hardly staying clean for 2 weeks.
Its not that they want to spend less its wanting more cleans for the same spend.

So they wanted 12 cleans a year instead of 8 - for the same money.
"Yessir.  Three bags full sir.  I'll take a one-third drop in my hourly rate."
Do some people actually realise what they are asking?

[lal]

 Micky if my sums are right, your cleaning 16 apartments over 4 separate blocks, that works out at 6 pound 25 pence an apartment 6 weekly, you were right to stick with your price, i think they were getting to good a deal.

Larry

[Rayleigh Window Cleaning Services]

Very fickle these management companies, they can change like the weather and have there own ideas.

Sounds like you were giving them a great deal and it's still not good enough.

Better away from it, you've done nothing wrong.

[Walter Mitty]

Micky if my sums are right, your cleaning 16 apartments over 4 separate blocks, that works out at 6 pound 25 pence an apartment 6 weekly, you were right to stick with your price, i think they were getting to good a deal.

Larry

It really does depend on circumstances.  I do some flats over three blocks (from one parking position), and it works out around £3.60 per flat per clean - and that includes a small amount of interior communal windows.  I know that sounds pretty dire but I earn reasonable money from it, the job is only a mile from home, I send the invoice by email, and I always receive the cheque within three or four days of billing.  Also, the access is very easy - none of those daft balconies.  I can hit £35 an hour from it.  Not the greatest of rates, but it's a longish half day in one hit so I can live with it.

[AuRavelling79]

If I was charging a £100 for six weekly (and I was making north of £40 per hour and they asked for 4 weekly I might say £90.00. I might then not do the top vents every time.

If they's asked for 8 weekly I would have said £120.00 so fair's fair.

[Slacky]

Trouble with a thread like this on CIU is all you will get is people second guessing the real reason why.

Even if you asked the management company you probably wouldn’t get the truth. Try not to question it. You did right anyway. Move on. More work, more progress, more opportunities. More challenges.

[Plankton]

I'm wondering why you kept the same price for four years! There's no way you should drop the price after four years and the next windys will probably be crap if they're cheaper.

[dazmond]

never ever take any job for granted!!ive had jobs for years and suddenly lost them to someone cheaper......it doesnt happen too often but it happens every once in a while....

also ive had jobs that have just cancelled with no reason given who have been fantastic customers over the years....

no job lasts forever...luckily for most of us theres usually a new job or two around the corner....

[mickeybok]

Thanks for all your comments, nice to see you were all in agreement. We all work hard and try to give good service for a fair price, I have over 250 customers and very rarely lose them other than when they move home or die. I dont demand loyalty but it comes when you offer a good service, do an excellent job and turn up on a regular basis.
Management companies dont care about any of those things, the bottom line is all that matters and most of them come unstuck at some point, which is what happend to the previous company that employed me.
I'll move on, there's plenty out there to make up for this and I think Daz summed it up well 'no job is forever' thanks again and good luck catching up after this disasterous week😎

[cgh window cleaning]

Commercial work can be fickle.
You can be cleaning a job for years every one is happy until new management come in and want to save a couple of quid.
I lost one this month it was a couple of grand a clean gone for know reason than new management company are taking over and driving the price down on all services and contractors.

As soon as someone say to me "we are looking to save money"on a job I already clean.I know the jobs about to end.
There are good ones out there that value quality and service.

You did the right thing never go backwards and reduce your price on a job you clean.
You will recent cleaning it and it will stop you moving forwards.