So , I put a few prices up the other week - most have said yeah no worries, one said her husband will do them from now on (£1 increase 
) . One said she think about it and let me know and got a reply from one yesterday going from £20 - £25.
Now they had an extension done with massive bi fold doors that wrap around 2 sides of the house and a flat roof with a little glass roof but added . The windows are very hydrophobic and takes shed loads of water , so I underestimated as I didn’t think I’d use as much water . So apologiesed that I’d got the price wrong and said it needs to go up if she’s happy with the service.
Hi shrek, well what a bomb shell ... I do understand that costs go up bit to make such an error in costing the job which you have been doing since we alter the house is quiet a mistake on your behalf and on percentage terms the increase is 25%!! We are happy with the work you do therefore would like you to continue. Thanks Mrs j
They are nice people, so just wondered how to respond, cheers!
From her standpoint:
She was expecting a price adjustment but wasn't prepared for that much. The surprise caused her to temporarily loose control over the situation.
By expressing her shock at your inability to quote correctly and getting you to continue allowed her to regain some of that control. You have lost some of your 'power' because you don't know where you stand - you are a bit wobbly on your proverbial feet.
Now what's £5 really worth? In todays money, not much - a cup of Costa coffee and a cookie. But an increase of 25% would be a difficult one to swallow. When the price of gas went up 20% a few years ago and then in smaller annual increments we all just had to cough up as we had no choice. When the price of fuel jumped up we all again had to take it and now we have to continue to take it as the cost of imported goods rises as the £ weakens against the Euro and the US Dollar.
The general populace has no one they can moan to when the price of their weekly shop increases every week, but your customer for once has that person who has cause her 'pain' 'standing' in front of her.
To start window cleaning, we were given some customers that no one wanted to do as the only access to the back is over the washroom roof. We were trad and we soon found out how demoralising that 3 days a month was. The going price for those jobs back then was £7.50 and they were priced at £4.50. After a while we pushed them up to £6.50 with the plan to increase them another £1 the following year. £2 was nothing, but the increase of 45% (seen as most as 50%) was the deal breaker. We lost more than half the jobs we did and we some of the ones who continued with us were very disgruntled for a while. But they got over it.
We did push those prices up another £1 the following year and lost a few more.
We were in 'competition' with a fellow windie who worked part time for the council. He was charging £5 a house, but I'm sure it was never declared as extra income to the receiver. Some went over to him but he packed in a year or so later as the council offered him a full time job. A couple asked us back but I don't know what happened to the rest.
Just put your head down and get on with it. I wouldn't even bother to respond tbh. You stand the chance of them dumping you in the future so just be prepared for that if it happens. If it doesn't it will blow over in a few months - but it won't be forgotten.
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