[Fast 1 *]

Once again i have been out knocking,and come across many propertys that needed a window cleaner.Unfortunately it seems the last window cleaner was charging £5,compared to my £12.This happened about 10 times,needless to say i got nothing.Words cant describe how much these people **** me off.They honestly must be earning about £60 before tax(which they probably dont pay)a day.They must be on the dole.People like this are devaluing window cleaning,and keeping its reputation in the gutter.I personally think they should introduce some sort of regulations to keep these fools away.******s

[Paul Coleman]

Once again i have been out knocking,and come across many propertys that needed a window cleaner.Unfortunately it seems the last window cleaner was charging £5,compared to my £12.This happened about 10 times,needless to say i got nothing.Words cant describe how much these people **** me off.They honestly must be earning about £60 before tax(which they probably dont pay)a day.They must be on the dole.People like this are devaluing window cleaning,and keeping its reputation in the gutter.I personally think they should introduce some sort of regulations to keep these fools away.******s

Stick with it.  It'll come right.  I had a lot of that at first.  It takes time to build a full business with all well priced work.

[Fast 1 *]

hopefully

[Malcal]

Hey FAST ONE
£5.00 i wish in the northeast its hard to get over £5.00. I charge around that but today lost a customer to a dole boy who charged her £3.00. But regions apart, stick at it, be regular, on time, smart, sober & get the windows clean and the business will come via word of mouth.
Regards mal

[bumper]

Wish i could get £12.00 a house i charge £5.00 per house and im one of the dearest up here in manchester,and they still grumble at that.

[Sir Squeaky]

Hmmmmm.
Sounds like your prices take the p1ss.

£5 for the last guy, and you want £12?
I've never been more than £2.00 more expensive than any previous w/c.

On that basis it's probably a 7-8 pound job.

[ecowasher]

I suppose it depends on regional differences in cost of living / employment / wealth etc.

Average 3 bed terrace (all windows but no extra glasswork ie conservatory etc) is around 10-12 quid in my area,  and scaleable either way from that point.

[RO-Sheen]

I charge £1 a window with a minimum price of £10 per house here in Oxfordshire. Average price for a house is about £14. I get about 75% of the houses I quote for.

[Trevor Knight]

Hmmmmm.
Sounds like your prices take the p1ss.

£5 for the last guy, and you want £12?
I've never been more than £2.00 more expensive than any previous w/c.

On that basis it's probably a 7-8 pound job.

You do brighten up my day squeaky 

As for the cheap prices, like everyone has said, stick at it and you will soon get what your business up and running.

I often find when I am charging so much more than the previous cleaner that he is a Dole dodger and just getting a few pennines together. you will never compete aginst that, you just have to ask the customer why he hasn't come back??

Stick at it

Trev

[david68]

I am having the same experience, Window cleaner before me charged £4.
I priced the job at 50p per window, price came to £9.
Lady comment was that i must live a expensive life.
Also another lady where i charged more than the previous cleaner said ok, but because you are expensive do them every 3 months till i find a cheaper cleaner.
These 2 ladys have not had a cleaner for a year.

[jeff1]

I often find I'm more expensive than the previous window cleaner aswell, but I just let the customer know,
unlike her previous window cleaner, I'm not here today and gone tomorrow.

as for 50p a window, were do you get those prices from?
I charge minimum of a pound a window, then I do an assesment of the area, and if its full of items in my way, I add more on.

I always do the frames, god it only takes a couple of seconds after the first clean to wipe frames, it always looks nicer, customers happy, I'm happy, they tell there friends were all happy.

[dai]

I have 6 days work on one estate of starter homes. I charge £5 if they don't have a conservatory. These are by far the best paying area of my round. I don't move the van all day and just do house, after house, after house, in the same close.
I am not some fly by night, having done the job for the last 12 years, and even had a spell at it back in the 1950's. I charge what my customers will pay. Conwy has the lowest per capital income in the UK. I know there are some wealthy people round here too, but they are the tightest of all.
Compactness is the key, and if you can get a fiver for 6 windows and a patio door, for houses on open plan estates that are all next door to each other you will do OK.
I'm a very happy member of the fiver brigade. Dai

[macc]

Hi. The reason we come accross these £5 nerds is because most of the time they are on the dole, every bennifit coming in, no council tax, no rent, presciptions & dentist free & pay no tax.  

Where as we have all these to pay plus all the other costs of running the show.

I had this the other week, I had polite words with him but basically told him to p*** off or i would report him on the fraud help line. We came to an agreement if he stayed away i would be happy & leave it at that. He was happy with that cause he didnt wont hassel from them.  :

My problem sorted.  

Macc

[bumper]

If you charged £12.00 per house up here in manchester it wouldent be long before you was on the dole,and and for saying we £5.00 pound nerds  are on the dole, you to would be  taking a visit to the dentist
 problem sorted

[ecowasher]

Im in Surrey,  and I charge a Tenner for a standard 3 bed terrace with no extra glassworks (conservatory etc)

I then scale up or down from there for the rest of my customers depending on house size and... in certain cases.  I tend not to penalise for hard to get ats,  or Leaded,  because as far as my customers are concerned windows are windows,  and mrs B talks to everyone else about how much she is charged,  if you see what i mean.

I can average 10 a day at the average price at the mo,  but i expect as speed and experience come my way to double this in a day.  is that realistic?

Grant
Newbie whos getting there slowly!

[windows_chepstow]

It is frustrating when you try and put your prices up or give a quote only to be told that other window cleaners, or their last one were much cheaper than you.

This never bothers me though; if they don't like the quote/price increase I'll just move on.  There's loads of work out there.

However, I think it's wrong to generally classify all window cleaners who price cheaply as dole-scrounging tax-dodgers.

I can think of three local window cleaners who charge a low price and appear to be happy with their income.  One of them is a JW, a great bloke, who advised me not to charge to cheaply when I first introduced myself to him!

I pretty much work side-by-side with one mature fellow, in one area I/we do; a cracking-bloke (he gives me free fish he catches); who charges a fair bit less than me.  I keep encoraging him to put up his prices, he keeps saying he will, but he hasn't; yet.

I think he's just happy with what he's charging, and there's nowt wrong with that.

My advice would be to advertise this forum to your fellow window cleaners, since what some lads are earning here is a real eye-opener!  That'll encourage them to put their prices up!

[macc]

If you charged £12.00 per house up here in manchester it wouldent be long before you was on the dole,and and for saying we £5.00 pound nerds  are on the dole, you to would be  taking a visit to the dentist
 problem sorted

Bumper. I live in Sussex & was refering to my area, sorry if you took as in general, WAS NOT. A 3 bed house is £8-£10 down here. I was not refering to wc charging £5 a nerd, down here if you charge £5 a pop you have to be on the dole cause theres no way the bills would be paid.

Macc

[Paul Coleman]

If you charged £12.00 per house up here in manchester it wouldent be long before you was on the dole,and and for saying we £5.00 pound nerds  are on the dole, you to would be  taking a visit to the dentist
 problem sorted

Bumper. I live in Sussex & was refering to my area, sorry if you took as in general, WAS NOT. A 3 bed house is £8-£10 down here. I was not refering to wc charging £5 a nerd, down here if you charge £5 a pop you have to be on the dole cause theres no way the bills would be paid.

Macc

I'm in Sussex too and mostly have work at £10 plus.  As you say Macc, the cost of living is, quite simply, higher down here.  Around my way I am on the doorstep of an international airport.  That bumps up the cost of living substantially too.  Not only does that airport mean that unemployment has traditionally been very low around here, but many of the jobs are reasonably well paid too.  All this means that the local economy is a bit inflated.  Additionally, we are within driving distance of Brighton where the pink pound has an inflationary value too.
Over all, I believe that if you are employed in a reasonable paying job in the northeast, you are probably better off than in the southeast.

[bumper]

No offence taken macc,it seems to me that all the window cleaners on this forum come from  the south or south of birmingham, meaning the north and south divide,

[Fast 1 *]

At the end of the day,it is a business we are running.I can fully understand the £5 price up north,that is not the issue.the issue is that i priced a job up at £12,which included a very small conservatory,and in order for me to do a descent job,that was a reasonable price.People that say a fiver are fools to themself.I worked on site as a bricklayer before this,earning about £120 a day.I did not intend to have my own business and earn less than when i was working for someone else.Its no wonder window cleaners are looked at like scum,half of them bring it on themselves.By the way,this is not intended as a dig to the plenty of descent people on this forum,some of whom seem great fellas.