[The Bear]

Who sets a minimum charge?

What is it?

[Sir Squeaky]

I always say £5 is the minimum I'll turn up for, but when it's some old dear with a bungalow with 4 windows near to other accounts I can't be that harsh. :

Full size house-wise, got to £6.50 minimum really.

Roger.

[www.mrgutters.co.uk]

i am at a minumum for a new customer of 12.50 only cos i get oner here one there ringing me up so now have minumum charge .. loads arent happy with this amount but a certain amount are and those are the people i want as customers .

shawn

[Thecleanerservice]

Hi Mr bear
I must be getting sloppy, I don't set a minimum charge specifically, if the job is next door or across the road from where I am I'll price it accordingly, but if it's a trip just to that one, even 10 minutes away I don't bother even going if it's less than a tenner.  not worth getting the ladder off.  Oops did I say ladder??  I meant helicopter and safety harness with crash helmet.
Pj

[Paul Coleman]

Who sets a minimum charge?

What is it?

I do.  It's a tenner for new customers.  There are exceptions though.  If a customer tells me of a next door neighbour who wants them cleaned, I can hardly charge different prices for identical houses.  Well, I could I suppose but I don't 

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

you do, it's as simple as that, but don't under sale yourself

[Perfectly Clean]

Im quite new to the business and have been trying to stick to a minimum, £10.00 for a house.  So far I have had only 2 people not go with it.  I had a lady the other day say that her old window cleaner charged £7.50 or what ever they rembered each month but she would rather pay £10 for a regular reliable service.  God do I need more customers like that.

Got caught out the other day but an old lady.  Quoted £10 fine but now its every other month, I thought ok she's old on a pention so I didn't quibble, now Im doing the inside of her kitchen window too...Im getting soft.

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

i was out yesterday and recieved a phone call from a lady
"please can you come a give me a quote i can't get a window cleaner for love or money"

as it happens i was working only 5 mins around the corner and told her i would be with her within 20 mins

i don't canvass anymore as i don't need the work, so when i arrived i overpriced it @ £20 knowing that if she said no i would not be bothered but she was so desperate she agreed to my price on a monthly clean

the job (1st time clean) only took me 20 mins and she was very happy with it

jay

[windows_chepstow]

Grafters, I do similar, for example I recently was asked to quote for a house where their previous window cleaner charged £12.00 (he just stopped turning up).  I charged them £25.00.  They seemed fairly affluent and were okay about it.

However, I've do a bunch of 'granny bungalows' for £4.50 each.  Each one takes ten minutes.  My concience tells me a £5.00 is top whack for this type of small bunglalow, taking into consideration that the old girls are on fixed incomes and the job is really easy.  And there's NEVER any collections as the ones who're in pay for the ones who're out.

[Davindo Cleana]

I took on board what the forum generally advised about not under charging, but I think my 15's and 20 quids were sometimes a bit steep - I had all biggish  houses but, when the new-builds were coming in, I should have knocked the price down cos they seemed to have a lot less glass - often no side windows
So tenner minimum except for the old biddies in flats or terraces - fiver tops

[Paul Coleman]

Grafters, I do similar, for example I recently was asked to quote for a house where their previous window cleaner charged £12.00 (he just stopped turning up).  I charged them £25.00.  They seemed fairly affluent and were okay about it.

However, I've do a bunch of 'granny bungalows' for £4.50 each.  Each one takes ten minutes.  My concience tells me a £5.00 is top whack for this type of small bunglalow, taking into consideration that the old girls are on fixed incomes and the job is really easy.  And there's NEVER any collections as the ones who're in pay for the ones who're out.

It's all very well charging £4.50/£5  a clean.  I've done it myself before.  What can happen though is that people drop out after a while (death, into care homes, move away, cancel for no apparent reason etc) and you can end up with visiting an area for just one or two jobs.  The rate that seemed OK when you were maybe cleaning 8 or 10 properties close together can look derisory when you have only one or two to do.  Therefore, when I quote, I think of jobs individually.

[windows_chepstow]

What can happen though is that people drop out after a while (death, into care homes, move away, cancel for no apparent reason etc) and you can end up with visiting an area for just one or two jobs. 

Shiner,

I have a bunch of granny bungalows that I did this morning.  I took them all on - en masse - last month.  Eight of them.

So I turned up this month and the first old dear didn't even recognise me.  She looked quite frightened.  I knew her name, called her by it and told her I was the window cleaner from last month.

She asked how much I charged.  '£5.50', I said. 

'Oh, that's way too much', she said.

I was a little cross as I had already cleaned the front part of her bungalow; but let it pass; bade her good morning and moved onto the next.

I asked the next neighbor if Mrs Parker was okay. 

'No, she's gone in the head', she says!

[AuRavelling79]

Hi Guys, back off hols - and I do a group of sixteen granny flats at £3 each, but the whole lot takes 1hr 30m and they all pay for each other. Other than this exception my minimum is £5 - but only for a "front only" clean.

I also have one old dear going doolally who pays me when I arrive, comes out with a drink 5 mins later and asks if she's paid (Yes you have!) and has even come out as I finish and asks did I pay you (Yes you have) and would you like a drink!(no thanks here's your glass back!) It's sad really. But amusing nevertheless

[Sir Squeaky]

I've actually got 3 old ladies at £3 each, but do them as one job and it takes ten minutes. They'll all happily pay for each other anyway.
Wouldn't want to call back for £3!

Two of them always ask me how much it is, even though it's been the same for about 2 or 3 years!

Still, I suppose I could put them up and they wouldn't notice.

I also got a once a month residential home at £3.50 a flat, for 3 big windows.
As a complete job it's usually around the £70 mark, and it's 2 hours(ish).

Sometimes these sort of places can be some of your best jobs....

Roger.(still got my marbles, just)

[Roy Harding]

My minimum charge for a bungalow is £10 and if its a house and done once every 4 weeks its a minimum of £15.

Picked up 3 new jobs this week one £45 every 8wks and 2 jobs at £25 every 4wks.

Gave one job of £60 to a fellow cleaner as it needed a lot of razoring first clean, and I could not be botherd.

Roy

[Paul Coleman]

Hi Guys, back off hols - and I do a group of sixteen granny flats at £3 each, but the whole lot takes 1hr 30m and they all pay for each other. Other than this exception my minimum is £5 - but only for a "front only" clean.

I also have one old dear going doolally who pays me when I arrive, comes out with a drink 5 mins later and asks if she's paid (Yes you have!) and has even come out as I finish and asks did I pay you (Yes you have) and would you like a drink!(no thanks here's your glass back!) It's sad really. But amusing nevertheless

Malc.  I've had pretty much the same thing happen to me.  She kept trying to give the money again and again.  Once when I turned up, she tried to pay me her milk bill.  I suppose it's a good thing I'm honest.  Sometimes it does my head in.  Sometimes it doesn't.

[rosskesava]

We take into account what work we have nearby, how regular it will be and any potential that will come from it.

Sometimes that potential is guess work. By that I mean that it may be an area that doesn't appear to have a window cleaner especially if the customer says they've been trying to find a w/c then it's a fair bet their neighbours have had the same problem. If it's a posh area, then we give a  high price and say why it's high.

Yesterday, Wednesday, we gave a really high price to a rich person on the promise of a quality job and he was happy to pay. Today a neighbour of his asked us to call by and give quote. People in wealthy area's sometimes are more social than us in the 'lesser' part of town.

Rich people aside, one lady a while back said if she could get us 3 well paying customers would we do her windows for a fiver. I would have priced her windows at £20. She was as good as her word and her being a daily planet, got us 6 jobs at a very good rate right near her flat.

Generally speaking though, £10 is our minimum if it's regular and on our route and if it fits in with existing work.

If not, then it's the price for the job plus traveling time.

Most decline.

Cheers