[Shrek]

I know people who have been doing this for 30 + years and they’ve got a different mind set to me. They say they can’t charge more than £7/8 per house because they’re old school 🤨. I come along and charge £15 no problem. Iv just picked up 2 neighbours that used to pay £10 each (detached) , iv got 1 at £30 & 1 at £25 once every 2 months no problem at all 🤷‍♂️

[tlwcs]

No im quite happy with what i earn been in business 36 years and earn a decent living out off it ,my point was where we live in Yorkshire average price for houses are around £ 8 mark but new guys just starting up are trying to get £15 an house customers dont want to pay so they take them on till a better price comes along outprice yourself and your gonna lose customers

It’s only me that holds me back ☹️😁

[Richard iSparkle]

No im quite happy with what i earn been in business 36 years and earn a decent living out off it ,my point was where we live in Yorkshire average price for houses are around £ 8 mark but new guys just starting up are trying to get £15 an house customers dont want to pay so they take them on till a better price comes along outprice yourself and your gonna lose customers

 

[P @ F]

I’m more than happy to plod along slowly at 36 an hour for 5 hours a day , I am not greedy or looking to build bigger , been there done it and fluffed it   

[P @ F]

There is no rule in my eyes, if you want to charge big then don’t be shocked when another comes in at half the price , it happens all the time whatever part of world you live!

[Stoots]

No im quite happy with what i earn been in business 36 years and earn a decent living out off it ,my point was where we live in Yorkshire average price for houses are around £ 8 mark but new guys just starting up are trying to get £15 an house customers dont want to pay so they take them on till a better price comes along outprice yourself and your gonna lose customers

I'm in Yorkshire and I agree with you average price is about £8 a house.

It's certainly not easy getting half decent prices when that's what you are up against.

You might have been in business 36 years but if you are charging £8 a house then you are missing a trick.

If you charged £12 a house you might get less quotes accepted however once full you would be £400 a week better off doing 100 houses a week! £1600 a month!

[nathankaye]

No im quite happy with what i earn been in business 36 years and earn a decent living out off it ,my point was where we live in Yorkshire average price for houses are around £ 8 mark but new guys just starting up are trying to get £15 an house customers dont want to pay so they take them on till a better price comes along outprice yourself and your gonna lose customers

I'm in Yorkshire and I agree with you average price is about £8 a house.

It's certainly not easy getting half decent prices when that's what you are up against.

You might have been in business 36 years but if you are charging £8 a house then you are missing a trick.

If you charged £12 a house you might get less quotes accepted however once full you would be £400 a week better off doing 100 houses a week! £1600 a month!

I agree.  For years I had the same mind set and charged an average of 8 per house and thankfully ive now come to my senses.  😂😂 on a yorkshire facebook window cleaning page, I have often got myself in debates on pricing and the amount of old school boys on there, who insist that its being greedy asking for more, is unbelievable!.  They use the same excuse that they only take you on whilst they wait for a cheaper cleaners to come along!  What utter nonsense!


(This customer pays over £30 and others on same street charge £13)

Too many people have a mind set of a customer when pricing and therefore dont ask / dare not ask what they trully want for the job and therefore are convinced you should not / can not do so! 

It is frustrating and annoying (dont lie  and say its not) but its up to you if you allow it to effect you or not. Now a days Im glad i get a lucky escape  on these scenarios because i dont want those types of customers who jump ship every time a couple of quid cheaper cleaner comes along.

[Dry Clean]

Same old same old, its starts of with Dazmond harping on about how he couldn't work for anything less than x per hour, it goes up with every new pricing thread,  and finishes off with NK who mistakenly posted  a 5 cleans for £25 invoice making a fool of himself by wibbling on about mindset.
I charge what I need to charge to keep me washing glass and I suspect that most who last longer than a year in this game do the same.

[Slacky]

I priced a commercial job in London a couple of weeks ago. Was walked around the site by the custard. He told me what he thought it would be moneywise, saying as a company we needed to make money.

He was probably twice what I wouldve charged. So i went in at 80% what he said, thus about 65% more than I would’ve gone in at. I got the job. And the opportunity to price up a big project they have in the pipe line.

Sometimes the custard is beneficial in these circumstances.

[Dry Clean]

When it comes to saving money we all shop around so why should window cleaning be any different, thing is if you have a decent reliable shiner who you trust then for the sake of a few quid it would be foolish to get rid and risk not getting as good a service from the next guy, problem is some people are that tight with their money they cant see this.
 

[deeege]

Why charge £15 when you can be perfectly happy with £8? Capitalism at its very worst. 🤔

[NWH]

I was under charging a house by 20 some years ago and did it for 15 odd years so when you look at it like that it’s a lot of money,every 6 weeks so about 8 times a year.
I only lost about 2 and a half grand in just 1 job lol,price is very important on every single job no matter how small,and if you don’t stick em up every couple of years you could be losing 1000s over a long period.

[Richard iSparkle]

When it comes to saving money we all shop around so why should window cleaning be any different, thing is if you have a decent reliable shiner who you trust then for the sake of a few quid it would be foolish to get rid and risk not getting as good a service from the next guy, problem is some people are that tight with their money they cant see this.

thats the thing. we dont all shop around.

if i am buying a new car or new TV, i shop around. christ, even I just bought a new TV and dont even know how much it was. i dont want the cheapest, i dont want to spend over £500. and i want to go to a shop where they are good if there's a problem, and one that easy to get to and to do business with. we chose John Lewis for these reasons

if I want my car washed , or a coffee, or something below about £20 I dont think about it. i just want the pain sorting.

people have different levels of cash they are sensitive to. some people watch every penny and want the cheapest price every time. some people just want a problem solved for them.

i had a milk man recently. one was the cheapest but was a real pain in the A to deal with as sometimes they wouldn't come on the day arranged, and want ed me to pay cash or by BACs. the one i switched to comes on the day agreed and i pay by DD. i dont want to speak to my milkman, i dont want to deal with them really. i just want milk in the morning for the kids breakfast and my cuppa.

its ridiculous that we even have this debate again and again. you can buy a cup of coffee for 50p from a cafe in a polsyrene cup or you can pay £3 in starbucks. my own window cleaners go to starbucks because its convenient and its a better coffee

the other thing i have found in all my cleaning businesses is that the customers who want the cheapest price are usually the worst customers to have. they are more likely to complain, more likely to cancel, more likely to defer cleans, everything... and they are paying the least.

the customers who pay the most often are ideal customers. they are happy to pay by DD, they dont complain, they just want the problem (feeling unhappy their windows aren't cleansed) sorted for them. even paying more for the service is reassuring for them. they think because they are paying more they all be dealing with Pros. to be fair they are!

charge whatever prices you want to charge. whatever works for you. but dont back up you decision with made up reasons. if you've been in business this long you should be smarter than that

the bind you are in now if you charge low prices is that if you put your prices up lots of your customers may well cancel. that is because you have got those customers by charging low rates. you have attracted price sensitive customers.

if you have decent prices from the start you attract customers who are happy to pay that price because they either dont worry about £5 extra a clean, or they want a better service.

[NWH]

All depends on the particular customer and there generation some people find different things more important than price alone,them liking you is top of the list not just them saving a few pounds.
If they take a dislike to you it doesn’t matter if you say you’ll clean there windows for a cup of coffee if they don’t want you round there house on a regular basis your knackered,so many times I’ve heard and it’s probably the main comment I hear,I didn’t like the bloke in all honesty couldn’t take to him. A little chat to them every now and again letting them know a little bit about you goes a long way in my experience,all recommendations come from people who like and trust you.

[dazmond]

All depends on the particular customer and there generation some people find different things more important than price alone,them liking you is top of the list not just them saving a few pounds.
If they take a dislike to you it doesn’t matter if you say you’ll clean there windows for a cup of coffee if they don’t want you round there house on a regular basis your knackered,so many times I’ve heard and it’s probably the main comment I hear,I didn’t like the bloke in all honesty couldn’t take to him. A little chat to them every now and again letting them know a little bit about you goes a long way in my experience,all recommendations come from people who like and trust you.

yep this too nigel......i try and look smart and professional at all times(plus im vain like most of us),clean shaven,smart haircut,logo d uniform,clean,tidy,sign written van and im naturally friendly and open to anybody i see when im out and about working but i also know when to just nod and say hello and leave it at that if their busy.......

lots of window cleaners let themselves down with sub standard cleans,unreliability,bad attitude to the job/customers,old,scruffy cars/vans and wearing football shirts/tracksuit pants for work...i know 2 window cleaners that have been going longer than me and their always just about getting by,on their arse financially charging £6-50 for houses.......there slowly dying out though as more and more new window cleaners are coming into the trade with a more professional approach and attitude....

[Dry Clean]

Why charge £15 when you can be perfectly happy with £8? Capitalism at its very worst. 🤔

Why charge £15 when there's a chance you could get £20 or even £30, the problem with these pointless threads is nobody knows what its truly possible to get which is why it always ends up with the nonsense I mentioned in my post above.

[AuRavelling79]

Not a pointless thread at all. Always good to listen to others experience before making your business decisions.

[jk999]

I didn't say i got £8 an house i have been lucky with my work i do a good job and never lost a customer yet unless they move out of area or pass away ,i have been fortunate to build my round with good prices without taking the p@#$ out of the customers, i would rather have regular 3 to 4 week cleans than stupid 6 weekly plus

[Richard iSparkle]

if you have never lost a customer you are doing too much for them.

you must be bending over backwards to keep them.

that's nothing to be proud of TBH

[nathankaye]

I didn't say i got £8 an house i have been lucky with my work i do a good job and never lost a customer yet unless they move out of area or pass away ,i have been fortunate to build my round with good prices without taking the p@#$ out of the customers, i would rather have regular 3 to 4 week cleans than stupid 6 weekly plus

This is the attitude i refer to.  That if people dare charge more than them and gain the work, others think they are taking the p@#$ out of the customer 

On the last point, if I have two separate customers on an 8 wkly basis and charge £35 ( which I have) and i clean one in one month and the second the month after. In two months thats £70 for 2 cleans.
Or
I could have two customers on a 4 wkly basis, say £15 per clean. In two months, that equals four cleans and £60.

Which one is more stupid a set up?