Dave,
Once again I find myself disagreeing with you, but I assure you it's not out of choice, but I think that's pretty much the most irresponsible post I've ever seen.
Ok, we all know that you earn the big bucks and your customers will pay you up to £400 an hour on commercial jobs and by golly do you spare no effort in telling us all. But Dave, there are people on here who because of the current economic climate haven't heard their phone ring much lately and when it does they will need every edge they can get to turn that enquiry into a sale.
Ok, that obviously doesn't concern you because you've got customers falling over themselves to pay you hundreds of pounds an hour, but many of the people reading this topic haven't and so for you to suggest that when Mrs Jones rings in the morning to find out how much it's going to cost to clean her lounge carpet, we'll say £100. Say that to someone in Wigan or Sunderland and you won't be venturing out of your house much until you start quoting people a realistic figure that bears some relationship to what they consider to be value for money.
Conversely if the phone is ringing off the wall then charge what you like because you can afford to lose the business.
The correct advice by-the-way is set your prices at a level where you get more yes's than you get no's and that figure will vary from one area / region to the next. I know of many people who claim to be charging super high prices and getting it, but who only do two jobs and week, they spend the rest of their time on forums telling people how much they earn.
Some of the most successful people I have ever come across in the business charge moderate prices and do high jobs volume and as have massive bank balances as a result, why? Because they offer their services at a price the majority of people in their area can afford.
But to be fair to Dave if he has found a rich seam of people willing to pay his kind of prices then hats off to the man.
Simon
