Pricing Up A Job

[Kips]

We do a lot of work for nationals so end up cleaning places like M&S, Lloyds Pharmacies, Curry's, BBC, Poundland, Boots, Specsavers, Thomas Cook, Thomson 1st Choice, Matalan, Comet, Wetherspoons, Argos to name a few. The money isn't huge, but when all the stores are close together - as they tend to be in shopping areas - they're OK. I'm not saying we'll be doing them forever if they get in the way of more profitable work, but they do add a few pounds to the bottom line. I wouldn't be so sure it was worth the effort for a one-man business as there will be more profitable work to select. The better paying jobs are Council work and housing associations where there are margins and volume.

How did you get on the books of these nationals??? Could do with a bit of that myself..

 

[Border]

In all the instances they've come to us - found us through our web site or they knew my dad personally - as we're in a rural area and it wasn't worth them sending down their own guys to do the cleans for little money when we're in the area anyway and cover a huge geographical area of over 1000 square miles.

There are only a couple of larger national window cleaning companies that I know of - Greig Avinou and Rentokil/Initial (or whatever they are calling themselves this week). They'll only sub-contract work where they don't have a local presence, but it might be worth contacting them telling them what area you work in.

Councils, Housing Associations, Universities, and NHS trusts tend to have fixed-term contracts of 1-3 years and can be worth chasing. You need to get onto their tender lists. Write to them or call them to find out more. Contracts with these people tend to be OK margins with 5-6 figure annual charges, so good for boosting business.

Big bodies like National Trust, Historic Scotland, English Heritage, and the Army tend to work at a more local level, but you need to apply to get onto their list of suppliers which can be a hassle as you have lots of paperwork to do, but you can get a lot of work from them and they are generally very quick payers.

Another one worth chasing is PFI management companies. They often run their own contracts for window cleaning for schools, hospitals, and other major buildings as part of their contract with whoever they built the building for.

One that's been mentioned before is nursing homes. Then there are propery management companies and estate management companies (often estate agents who look after the interests and properties of the landed gentry) where you can get some great buildings to work on. Don't forget domestic customers who can be a good and secure long-term base for your company's growth.

The list is endless really. You just have to have the gall to pick up the phone, find out who to deal with, and write to them. My diary is full of contracts to chase up over the next 3 years when existing contracts are due for renewal. There's tons of work out there if you want to go out and find it. Don't try to be anything fancy.

I always feel turning up in a clean sign-written van says more about you than turning up in a suit & tie in a car. If I'm going to do marketing on my own I'd prefer to borrow one of the work vans and use them while canvassing. Just be clean and tidy - and shaved. Be polite, and even if you don't get a chance to price on spec, at least come away with a name, title and address.. and send them something occassionaly to remind them. If you really want the work canvas, then canvas again, then again, and again. Don't just do one area and forget about it. Keep going back to remind them you're around - give them the impression that your reliable, regular, and always there. Don't worry if someone already does the work. We'd never knowingly undercut anyone (our price is what it is) but just because someone else cleans their windows is no excuse not to want the work for yourself. It's not a democracy or a charity you're running, it's a business, and you don't turn away business or don't chase it just because someone else already has it....just my thoughts.

 

[Smurf]

Good post border....some great info shared too /emoticons/wink.png

 

[harunh]

In all the instances they've come to us - found us through our web site or they knew my dad personally - as we're in a rural area and it wasn't worth them sending down their own guys to do the cleans for little money when we're in the area anyway and cover a huge geographical area of over 1000 square miles.

There are only a couple of larger national window cleaning companies that I know of - Greig Avinou and Rentokil/Initial (or whatever they are calling themselves this week). They'll only sub-contract work where they don't have a local presence, but it might be worth contacting them telling them what area you work in.

Councils, Housing Associations, Universities, and NHS trusts tend to have fixed-term contracts of 1-3 years and can be worth chasing. You need to get onto their tender lists. Write to them or call them to find out more. Contracts with these people tend to be OK margins with 5-6 figure annual charges, so good for boosting business.

Big bodies like National Trust, Historic Scotland, English Heritage, and the Army tend to work at a more local level, but you need to apply to get onto their list of suppliers which can be a hassle as you have lots of paperwork to do, but you can get a lot of work from them and they are generally very quick payers.

Another one worth chasing is PFI management companies. They often run their own contracts for window cleaning for schools, hospitals, and other major buildings as part of their contract with whoever they built the building for.

One that's been mentioned before is nursing homes. Then there are propery management companies and estate management companies (often estate agents who look after the interests and properties of the landed gentry) where you can get some great buildings to work on. Don't forget domestic customers who can be a good and secure long-term base for your company's growth.

The list is endless really. You just have to have the gall to pick up the phone, find out who to deal with, and write to them. My diary is full of contracts to chase up over the next 3 years when existing contracts are due for renewal. There's tons of work out there if you want to go out and find it. Don't try to be anything fancy.

I always feel turning up in a clean sign-written van says more about you than turning up in a suit & tie in a car. If I'm going to do marketing on my own I'd prefer to borrow one of the work vans and use them while canvassing. Just be clean and tidy - and shaved. Be polite, and even if you don't get a chance to price on spec, at least come away with a name, title and address.. and send them something occassionaly to remind them. If you really want the work canvas, then canvas again, then again, and again. Don't just do one area and forget about it. Keep going back to remind them you're around - give them the impression that your reliable, regular, and always there. Don't worry if someone already does the work. We'd never knowingly undercut anyone (our price is what it is) but just because someone else cleans their windows is no excuse not to want the work for yourself. It's not a democracy or a charity you're running, it's a business, and you don't turn away business or don't chase it just because someone else already has it....just my thoughts.

good read their mate /emoticons/smile.png

so im guessing u got a good few commercials ?

 

[Border]

so im guessing u got a good few commercials ?

Most of our work is commercial. In terms of turnover, residential work is around 25% of the total but it's one area that is growing very fast. I like residential work because it's a good solid base of work and easy to get - we usually add between 5 and 10 new residential customers every week (6 so far this week). Commercial work is more difficult to get but we have some good long-term contracts which help a lot.

 

[harunh]

Border how many customers u got mate n staff??

 

[Border]

Border how many customers u got mate n staff??

I couldn't tell you the number of customers because I don't actually know. Not trying to be smart - I really don't know. Lots of our customers have more than 1 job so it might only be 1 customer and 1 invoice but it could be 150 different locations with them, or it could be 1 customer at the same location with 4 or 5 different and separate jobs working on different schedules. There's also the way we record our work from a scheduling point of view where if we do, say, the outsides every month, but the insides every 2 months, then that would be recorded on the system as 2 jobs. The actual number of customer isn't known unless I go into the system and physically count them. What I can say is that there aren't enough as we're always looking for more business.

I've seen it happen too often that when a company gets to a certain size, or you make a certain income, you stop doing all the things you did when you were growing because you've reached that "goal" - whatever it was. It's almost a universal truth for all types of business. Nothing ever stays the same, and no matter how good a job you do, or how well you get on with your customers, you will always lose some - to competitors, they move to a new house, they die, they go out of business, the lose their jobs and tighten their belts, a new boss comes in with their new broom, their partner doesn't like the colour of your eyes.....whatever.. You need to keep looking for work even when you think you have enough, because one day you might wake up and realize you're no longer making money and you don't have enough customers.

It's not greed that drives you, it's the desire to keep your business afloat and growing in the right direction so you can earn for your family and keep your guys employed because they have families too. Just keep doing the right things, never stop canvassing, never stop looking for more work, and you'll be OK in the end.

 

[harunh]

true its been nearly 6 moinths now for me now im edging 150 customers