Cant believe how prices vary so much in the same area.

[mrtaytay]

I had to go and give a quote today for a 4 bedroomed detatched house, both internals and externals. Some of the windows are a little awkward as the house is on a slope. Their previous window cleaner hadnt been since christmas (they have no idea whats happened to him) so they are looking for a new one. I quoted £46.00. They were a little shocked and told me the previous cleaner charged them £25.00. They reluctantly accepted my quote even though I suggested that they might want to get another quote. I came away feeling quite guilty. I cannot believe the previous bloke was doing the house for so little. Prices certainly vary locally as well as nationally.

 

[Shiny]

Maybe the previous windy's prices has been his demise..? your still here and trading.. I ve learnt that it's what you need to do a job at price were you can work at a pace were you don'feel you have to rush and move on to the next one, far better taking your time, doing a excellent job. A saying that was once said to me many years ago from a very successful local business man ( not a window cleaner) but applies to any business

"Quality lingers, were price is forgotten" ..... no need to feel guilty mate

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[TolishAPurd]

Shiney is bang on with what he says. And it sounds to me like the windy seriously underquoted and just couldnt keep going, so rather then raise the price, he just gave up. If he has done the same on all his houses, then maybe he gave up the trade completely. Either way, its a win for you so well done.

 

[mrtaytay]

I forgot to say that the windy had been doing that house for 20 years and lots of the surrounding houses and now he has totally disappeared. Maybe he didnt put his prices up on a regular basis and so the value of his clean fell further and further behind the rate of inflation.

 

[cheapncheerful]

yes often happens they disappear because they haven't put up their prices...nice to see you charging smurf prices mrtaytay, it does vary by area but i ask what they used to pay and sometimes you just think ....really....

 

[TolishAPurd]

Lets face it though mate, if someone posed that question to them, they would be a fool to say the actual price- they will always say a cheap price just to keep yours down. I just prefer to quote what I'm happy with, and if I find out they were paying more before, then at least I know that they are happy with the price and won't go looking elsewhere.

 

[cheapncheerful]

well if given the chance i always put the price through the letterbox and do a runner. .

.no sometimes people are honest ,you can tell the fibbers...i did the mistake a while back under pressure to get a price through the letterbox she came in and it was absolutely p...lashing it down so i didn't take long enough looking and said £12...i soon realised it was worth more ...she knew too ..you could see it in her eyes....i missed two side windows....and a conny from the side which in actual fact went down to the ground in glass at the front and also up to the top of the roof as well, another lesson learnt...don't worry its £15 now ....yes that probably is too cheap ! but just about pays...i kinda snuck it up ...caught the hubby first and just last week got the £15 off her...she had it in her hand as she asked me how much?,,,,,,lesson learnt for the future....the only thing got in a hurry is kids../emoticons/smile.png

 

[mr shine]

as said mrtaytay dont worry about the old cleaner he was obviously way to cheap , my father recently retired after 51 years self employed and one thing he always drummed into me was get your price and he was right , one thing i notice is if im recommend to a new custy they always accept my price , but if i canvass strangers a lot of them expect the job done way cheaper .

 

[mrtaytay]

Lets face it though mate, if someone posed that question to them, they would be a fool to say the actual price- they will always say a cheap price just to keep yours down. I just prefer to quote what I'm happy with, and if I find out they were paying more before, then at least I know that they are happy with the price and won't go looking elsewhere.

Very true tolish.....I just got the impression that they were telling the truth......especially when I saw their eyes nearly pop out when I told them the price.

 

[mrtaytay]

as said mrtaytay dont worry about the old cleaner he was obviously way to cheap , my father recently retired after 51 years self employed and one thing he always drummed into me was get your price and he was right , one thing i notice is if im recommend to a new custy they always accept my price , but if i canvass strangers a lot of them expect the job done way cheaper .

Very true mr shine.....get your price right and maintain it (over the years) at the right price. I was recommended to this couple by their neice.

 

[mrtaytay]

well if given the chance i always put the price through the letterbox and do a runner. ..no sometimes people are honest ,you can tell the fibbers...i did the mistake a while back under pressure to get a price through the letterbox she came in and it was absolutely p...lashing it down so i didn't take long enough looking and said £12...i soon realised it was worth more ...she knew too ..you could see it in her eyes....i missed two side windows....and a conny from the side which in actual fact went down to the ground in glass at the front and also up to the top of the roof as well, another lesson learnt...don't worry its £15 now ....yes that probably is too cheap ! but just about pays...i kinda snuck it up ...caught the hubby first and just last week got the £15 off her...she had it in her hand as she asked me how much?,,,,,,lesson learnt for the future....the only thing got in a hurry is kids../emoticons/smile.png[

I can just imagine you legging it down the road cnc after posting the quote lol.

 

[Joshua D]

I often find this I went to a massive house previous window cleaner was £60 I said £50 lucky for me he said Ill give you £60 few months back. Last week I priced another biggun and I said £50 again smaller then £60er and he was shocked his old window cleaner only charged £20! We came to the agreement £45 to do all the windows apart from the out house he has then every other time £50 to do everything.

 

[Richard]

Prices will vary much more locally (countywide) rather than nationally, the difference between a million (plus) pound house and a £100k house is likely to be always greater than any regional differences in prices between North & South in the UK

Throw into the mix the window cleaner might still struggle with pricing, then it always easier to blame the (customer) prices they work, because of the ‘county’ compared to London prices for example. The simple answer is, wake up, value your own time and stop selling your services cheaply & learn how to price.

Take a greater step further local government window cleaning contracts can run into the hundreds of thousands of pounds both North & South so its no excuse to blame you locality. In Leicester we have one of the most expensive streets for properties prices in the UK; likewise we also have one of the poorest areas – you go where the best work is for you – if that means driving for an hour before you start work, so be it. Or even move house.

And if you still struggle with pricing, then its really in your own interest to solve that issue once and for all, because once you can price for profit it stays with, and stop listening to so called window cleaning experts go on about national price difference affecting there business (profits), complete rubbish unless they cover the nation for window cleaning; 90 plus counties (If you do service 90 plus counties in the Uk each month, ignore my post.)

Richard

 

[philzy756]

I bought a round and there were 4 exactly the same houses right next door to each other £8 £10 £11 £7

........ i mean wits going on there. Same windy cleaner priced them all

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[cheapncheerful]

I bought a round and there were 4 exactly the same houses right next door to each other £8 £10 £11 £7........ i mean wits going on there. Same windy cleaner priced them all

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now that did make me laugh....nothing annoys me more than not getting them all paying the same....but its just the way it goes sometimes....i mean you can understand today i was on a house which i have done for years and i put it up to £9 and next door did the ...."my husband usually does them but he doesn't do them often enough"

i bet you have all heard that and so i just said £9....and yet the conny on the house i was on was three times the size of theirs...but theirs was a new job....don't know if i got it yet.

.i did do the house before they moved in for £8 and that must have been about six years ago....oh well life can be complicated at times....

 

[philzy756]

I know crazy!

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[mrtaytay]

I bought a round and there were 4 exactly the same houses right next door to each other £8 £10 £11 £7........ i mean wits going on there. Same windy cleaner priced them all

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Lol ......I wonder If the £11 customer knew how much the £7 customer was paying.

 

[TolishAPurd]

Lol ......I wonder If the £11 customer knew how much the £7 customer was paying.

Exactly. I'm always concious of how much I charge neighbours, as they are guarenteed to talk.

 

[Smurf]

I don't worry about how much others charge in my area to be honest as long as I get what I want for each job as I do not sell my services on price.

If they don't like my price then they can look for some other muppet to do the work cheaper instead which doesn't happen very often may I add.

Also worth mentoning some so say prostects/new potential customers and other cleaners will tell you porkies aswell so take what they say with a pinch of salt /emoticons/biggrin.png

I'm running a business not a charity so I only want to take on profitable work.:thumbsup:

 

[mrtaytay]

I don't worry about how much others charge in my area to be honest as long as I get what I want for each job as I do not sell my services on price.If they don't like my price then they can look for some other muppet to do the work cheaper instead which doesn't happen very often may I add.

Also worth mentoning some so say prostects/new potential customers and other cleaners will tell you porkies aswell so take what they say with a pinch of salt /emoticons/biggrin.png

I'm running a business not a charity so I only want to take on profitable work.:thumbsup:

well said smurf