[dai]

Hi Danny, My biggest single estate is 6/7 working days a month, all white UPVC. AVERAGE 4 climbs a house. I  have very few wooden frame jobs.
When this estate was been built 12 years ago I was one of 3 w/c's. I got to know the site foreman and he tipped me off as to when the owners were moving in. I was there with the removal men. My gimmick was every one got the first clean free. It was good phychology as it created an obligation from the customers point of view. I could keep my price down because I move my car once a day at most. I do 32 out of 36 houses in one close and must do 90%of the estate. The other guys have fallen by the wayside so to speak, theres a couple that service customers I have sacked for one reason or another.
My mistake is not increasing my prices often enough. I started doing them at £3.00 12 years ago. That was before they all put up pannel fencing and conservatories. In the begining you could just step over 2 ft fences into the next back garden. Now you have to go through and sometimes over 6ft gates. Too busy to even think of painting frames. When you start with low prices it's hard to to break the cycle. My prices on this estate have gone up 50% in 12 years.
I lost a customer the other day because she could no longer afford the £4.50.
the county of Conwy has the lowest per capita income in the U.K.
As Ian said in one of his postings, Location  dictates your prices. Dai

[jsm]

Don't let the low income thing fool you Dai, all my in -laws live round your patch - most are retired but have more money than me !!! you got some nice pads round the marina /golf course , easy £10-£15 plus a house .

If you put you prices up 50% and lose 50% of your customers you will be doing half the work for the same money    I'm moving up to wrexham in 5 days so I'll pick up the other 50% and give them a top price so then they think it's the norm after a while haha . 

you can punt the working at height ladder thing and say you have to use the wfp now to soften the blow to them . going back years i never put my prices up as i was a bit green , now they get a increse yearly  , You may get one moan but if you do a good job they will keep you anyway .

[Londoner]

Dai is right. Location dictates your price. Thats always been true but the reasons are not always clear.

Here in London house prices were high and wages were high to compensate.
Now a lot of parts of the country have virtually caught up on the house prices.
A lot of wages are the same wherever you live. A policeman / nurse / teacher etc earns the same in Leeds or Liverpool as they would in London.

But out of London window cleaners get a lot less.

I think Shiner is right,  if you don't ask you don't get.
However, its hard to drive up your prices once you have established a certain price level in a particular town it becomes the norm

[Jeff Brimble]

Tell them you need to put the price of the conservatories up OR you will do them every other time but still charge the same overall price, it worked for me. Mind you I dont get loads of sea salt in Ruthin.

[matt]

most conservatories i price now are the same as the house, afterall they have the same glass

i priced a house up wednesday, house 8 quid, conservatory 7 quid

the guy asked why the conservatory was so much, i said, look at the glass, he mentioned well you dont need to climb ladders, even though we were stood right next to my cart and pole  :

he used the old, my last window cleaner stopped coming last winter and used to charge 8 quid the whole lot  : i explained, thats why he stopped coming, it was too cheap and not worth doing

i got the job, and was happy

[Paul Coleman]

most conservatories i price now are the same as the house, afterall they have the same glass

i priced a house up wednesday, house 8 quid, conservatory 7 quid

the guy asked why the conservatory was so much, i said, look at the glass, he mentioned well you dont need to climb ladders, even though we were stood right next to my cart and pole  :

he used the old, my last window cleaner stopped coming last winter and used to charge 8 quid the whole lot  : i explained, thats why he stopped coming, it was too cheap and not worth doing

i got the job, and was happy

I use a similar line Matt.  I just say he probably went bankrupt working for that kind of money    .

[dai]

Funny thing JSM I have just given the marina to a mate of mine. I did most of the houses there for years. Most are holiday homes and getting your money was a real pain. £10 to £15 a house, Dream on. I was doing the 3 storie one s for a fiver, stopped going up 3 floors 4 years ago. My mate has got the pole and he is a bit shy asking for £7, The biggest house on there only has 7 windows and 2 patios. Your right most of them are loaded, but in my experience those that have it are least willing to part with it. There are some nice people there like everywhere else, but lots of them think they are royalty. When someone talks down to me they are off my list. I don't have to put up with it and won't. The Conwy marina is the only place I have had cheques bounce. What does that tell you. It seems to me there is a fine balance with pricing. Either you go in high and spend more time travelling or you price lower and get more compact work. Getting the price right on new estates is the secret. It's easy to shoot yourself in the foot, pricing too low to beat off the oposition. When your starting out you need the work but, when you have a full round going you can affored to price higher, you have nothing to lose. That's what I'm doing from now on. It's taken me a long time to learn though.
This forum is great, it allowes new guys to learn from other peoples mistakes.
The wish I'd known then what I know now thing no longer applies. Any one starting out in our profession has a vast amount of experience to draw on. He or she, only need to ask this forum. Dai

[geoffreyspecht]

dai i live in llandudno and my price for a three bedroom semi detached house is £10 my advice to u is put your prices up so u lose a few jobs just dont worry about it lots more work out there