[macmac]

I also price up each job as a stand alone. I don't do discounts if i have next door as well. I do this because if i lose 1 the other isn't worth doing so i in effect lose 2 customers.
I don't reduce prices over time either. I look at each new quote and think would i be happy cleaning this for ££ for the next 3 years. If no i add a quid on or  whatever.
Any extras i do might be low level guttering around porches and conservatories. But i have to be happy with the price. It can be demoralising going to a job semi unhappy.

Spot on.

[Window Washers]

My average price is over a tenner anyways and we hardly ever drop below, but that said if its only a small house you just cant get away with a tenner....

For someone who is established and has all the work they need it is very easy to be picky about the new work they take on.

I have been doinf this since march and only very very rarely have i quoted cheaper prices than the customers is already being charged.

I know full well some people on here pump up there prices on this forum to make themselves look better(and I am not aiming that at anyone in particular) I work all over the UK on a daily basis and probably have a better feel for REAL WORLD national prices than anyone on here.

In most areas when I knock on and quote 11 to 12 for a 4 bed detached they reel a little as they are not or have not paid that kind of money before, it takes hard work, skill and persuasion to get them to change to pay more.

And I  have references on here to prove my word...

I have tio say you do talk the talk, not saying your not being honest as I do belive you,  there are just so many poor round builders out there that promise and cant deliver, it gets a little annoying.
 but still I would stick by min charge as I do it daily and I know my areas obviously
i

[mark dew]

I have minimum charge but if a neighbour wants the front done that's a fiver or whatever. I'm not that hard.
But if it is a new job and requires a its own single trip, that's a tenner minimum please.
Gd roundbuilder, do you find 80p per standard window excessive?
I get 90% of rural work and 50% of town work using this method of pricing. 

[Window Washers]

ask marccope or deantaberner,

I have a list of customers nationwide, and they will always back me up. I have had one come back to me today after I had not heard from him in a while.

you are right I do talk the talk but I can back it all up with daily results....

Good for you,

I do not agree with your last post by the way as I do not want to be a busy fool

[Window Washers]

you would lose a job over a pound?

would you pay me £1 per month that they stayed a customer ? 

to help you, if they was under my min charge then yes I would turn them away, I have a min charge for a reason and because the odd person does not want to pay it is not a reason for me to drop it. That is not good business at all.

[mark dew]

mark, that sounds spot on to me mate.

One thing I would say is dont walk away from a job for the sake of a pound or two, its the old glass half full or half empty conundrum. I would much rather have a job for £9 even if it should be £10 rather than no job at all....

You never know where that job might lead...

Yes i understand what you say. And good advice.
But it's never been a case of walking away. They just never accepted the quote. I am too long in the tooth now (not window cleaning) to realise that what i've never had i've never lost.

[Window Washers]

well all i would say to that is when you deliver the price, if they dont say yes ask why? Then just discuss and come to a compromise if you can. Each quote is worth £120 a year to you so dont just give up on the first no....

I seem to have a different sales pitch to most, I do not go in at a higher price in the hope of getting it, I quote the price I want and it is plain and simple, they can have it cheaper if they have it over a longer period but the price per clean goes up I win either way.
each customer is not worth £120 at all

[mark dew]

So if you quoted 11 to a customer and they said 'would you do it for a tenner?' you would walk away?

No i wouldn't. I would call it a tenner. It would increase to 12 eventually.
I don't haggle, i give my price and that's it. There is no haggle going on. I explain my service and that's it.
Having different prices where the people that questioned my quote the most had the cheapest prices, doesn't sit right with me. 
Thing is i'm building something to serve me well for years. I've got to be happy to provide the level of service i promise the customer.

[Window Washers]

So if you quoted 11 to a customer and they said 'would you do it for a tenner?' you would walk away?

no I would offer them a different service

[Window Washers]

All this for a pound? well guys you crack on...

I am off to the land of nod, sweet dreams.....

Hope your dreaming of a pound 

[mark dew]

Yeah go on ewan. You've got me thinking i might not know now.  Put us out of our misery.

[mark dew]

Is it me Mark or is he avoiding the subject? Have I not used my manners? oh i am so sorry.... will you enlighten me please, in fact pretty please with bells on... that better???

You still think i gave a politicians answer earlier?? 
 

[leapstallbuildings]

I think a minimum charge only works for jobs you have to travel to, when we work an area we tend to get a high density of work so if we get any below a tenner(which is rare these days) then they work into the round and become viable...

Do understand the minimum but I wouldnt impliment it across the board...

As has been stated, a job must be priced as if it stands alone.  No point discounting if you get four in a row etc.  This is because custies move on/cancel etc.  Then you get left with one on their own that is too cheap.  Usually the workload increases but sometimes it reduces in a street too.  As a canvasser, I assume you've only ever seen increasing amounts of work occurring rather than a few months/years down the line when out of those four houses, only the two at either end remain - each requiring their own equipment set up due to hoses being across the driveways of now non customers.  Of course it does happen thew other way too with gaps being filled in.  This is my point.  There is no way of predicting it so you have to do standalone pricing just in case.

[leapstallbuildings]

My average price is over a tenner anyways and we hardly ever drop below, but that said if its only a small house you just cant get away with a tenner....

For someone who is established and has all the work they need it is very easy to be picky about the new work they take on.

I have been doinf this since march and only very very rarely have i quoted cheaper prices than the customers is already being charged.

I know full well some people on here pump up there prices on this forum to make themselves look better(and I am not aiming that at anyone in particular) I work all over the UK on a daily basis and probably have a better feel for REAL WORLD national prices than anyone on here.

In most areas when I knock on and quote 11 to 12 for a 4 bed detached they reel a little as they are not or have not paid that kind of money before, it takes hard work, skill and persuasion to get them to change to pay more.

And I  have references on here to prove my word...

If you feel that a W/C wants a higher than average price for jobs in a particular area, my guess is that rather than trying to keep the price of the clean down, you ought to be asking extra per clean from the W/C  e.g. rather than 2x maybe 2.5 or 3x.  Possibly with the extra bit being paid after a while if the customer is retained.  Or am I being naive in assuming that most W/Cs would be as honest with you as I would be?

[leapstallbuildings]

I am sorry but it just seems like another case of glass half empty, if you are doing a good job then your work load in a particular area should only ever rise, as long as you not travelling miles between jobs then I cant see a problem.....

Not necessarily so.  It is normal for a workload to rise in an immediate area but there are occasions when the opposite is true.  The quality of work and the pricing are just two of a number of factors.  The customer deciding to clean their own windows, moving away and the new owner doesn't want a service, and unemployment (or the fear of) are other reasons that are not cleaner related.  Also, some retire from work and need to cut back on expenditure.  Indeed, sometimes in a block of work there will nbe one or two customers who mess about.  In those circumstances, it is I who makes the decision to stop cleaning to keep the work viable.
Customer does not pay for lack of density.  In my business the customer pays the same price whether the work is dense or not.
I do see things from your perspective too.
You are the canvasser.  The money you get from the W/C is your business income.  The quality of the work is not your problem.  The longterm viability/sustainability of the work is not your problem.  Padlocked gates and dogs mess all around the patio are not your problem.  You are better off obtaining the work a little cheaper if it means a higher volume of customers.  I'm not having a go at you.  I would probably view it the same way if I were a canvasser rather than a cleaner.
There is a big grey area where a canvasser's requirements and a cleaner's requirements are not the same.  It is that grey area that has brought about conflicts between the two parties in the past.  If there were acceptable ways of addressing those differences, a lot could be gained by both parties.
For instance, canvassing work along a stretch of double yellow lines in a busy area near traffic lights or a junction.  If I were doing my own canvassing, I would avoid like the plague.  Areas where parking is particularly difficult also.  I always avoided such work - even when I was building the round up at first.  Not so bad back then if I could park legally and walk with the ladder but now it's tricky when using hose.  Although a backpack will do some situations, it is limited IMO.

[leapstallbuildings]

If you read through the posts, I have never said that you should discount a job if you have more in an area. What i did say is that maybe a minimum charge does not work in that scenario.....

You've already said that you don't actually do the cleaning.  If you did, you would realise why having a minimum is a good idea.

[Window Washers]

Mate on friday i picked up £164 worth of work in 13 jobs at over a £12.50 average.....

My point with some of the guys on here is that they would turn the work away if it was a little under priced rather than take it on and develop it.....

Once I have spent time with people explaining what you can get away with they usually come round to my way of thinking....

or you would come round to our way of thinking   

[Sean Dyer]

get away with what?

doing a slap daash job for low prices?

[elite mike]

i cannot believe you lot have been up all night talking about this

does your wives snore 

[DaveG]

I dont have a minimum , but dont do anything for less than a tenner!!!!