[deano]

just started pricing houses bungalows semi ets led work

[paul]

you can either price it per a window ie 50p small one £1.00 standard the extra if georgian or leaded or you can price per the job ie standard three bed house £7.00
small oap council bungalow £3.50 but its up to you
paul

[matt]

we allways price it up 50p a window, 75p if leaded of those small georgain type windows

then add a quid on top of that

[windows_chepstow]

I find pricing £X amount per window doesn't really work.  What about those ground floor windows that require A-Frames to reach?  Houses where you have an assault course to get to the rear windows.  Those that require a long walk to get to the rear.  Others that you have to drag your ladders over garages and under electical cables to gain access to the back.

For me it's a combination of:

     How affluent the area is.
     How long the job will take.
     How desperate is the customer.
     What do I judge I can get away with.

A recent customer who I priced at £20.00 per month (for a large house with conservatory - about an hours work) told me her last window cleaner charged her £12.00 per month.

I asked her what happened to him and she replied, "I don't know, he just stopped comming".  No wonder at £12.00 every six weeks.  (I only do monthly).

If I charged her at £1.00 per window, it would be more like £40.00 per month and I'm sure she'd tell me to "naff off".

I'm happy with £20.00 per hour.  The houses I feel like I'm being 'ripped off' (even though it was me who gave the price) tend to get dropped as I find it less stressful to bin them than put prices up (a character fault I know).

[Londoner]

Don't make it complicated, just go for what you think you can get.
It all comes down to that in the end.
Like our friend from Chepstow says you will get it wrong sometimes (often?) but thats how you learn.
Pricing is the hardest part.
The secret is to never stop canvassing, that way you always have a new intake of customers and you can feel more secure about asking the price you want.

[sham33]

Aim for £20 a hour. If u can only manage 2 house's an hour thats £10 each.

[fez]

Aim for £20 a hour. If u can only manage 2 house's an hour thats £10 each.

That's roughly the same way that I do it - small semis that take 20 minutes are £7 (three per hour). Everything else works off that - it depends how long it would take to do - so that I keep to £20 per hour. Houses where I've priced wrongly and don't meet £20 per hour are raised after about six months and if I meet resistance then they are dropped. There's plently of work out there anyway.

[Londoner]

The other thing that nobody has yet mentioned is your location. Where are you?
That can make a big difference.

The advise from sham33 and fez is good. Price a job out by the time it takes rather than by counting windows.

No matter how you do it you will make mistakes so don't worry, you will get better the more you do.
Lets face it you are never going to lose money on a job.

Also,  don't worry if people turn you down when you give them a price, that always happens. It doesn't mean you are too dear.

[STEVE71163]

As Londoner said above your location makes a great deal of differance. I am based in Surrey and i price mine at £25 an hour but you really need to find out the going rate for your area.

Steve

[Mikey Warner]

I'm on the most easterly point of England and if I went by the prices I hear other guy's are charging in my area I would not be able to live.

So I'm going to many houses and getting the usual reply of my last cleaner charged X amount and I just ask them why do you need me then?? (instead of where is he now), which usually stumps them, haha

Mikey