Pricing Advise

[Hunty]

Hi all, quite new to site and window cleaning but some great advice to help me on my way so thanks all.

My queery is that i am out this wednesday for the first time trying to drum up some business and i have a figure in mind that is my min (£10) but there are so many east europens in my area offering as little as £2 a front should i take what i can get whilst im starting out for a year or should i stick to my min fee?

 

[Newbie123]

It's personal choice but 1 x £10 job = 5 x£2 jobs could be easier to get but less tax I would rather stick wasps up me bum lol

 

[Newbie123]

Better to focus on the customers who want a decent service than the customer who is led by price as they all expect the same service

 

[Richard]

It's personal choice but 1 x £10 job = 5 x£2 jobs could be easier to get but less tax I would rather stick wasps up me bum lol

... /emoticons/biggrin.png

 

[Richard]

Hi all, quite new to site and window cleaning but some great advice to help me on my way so thanks all.
My queery is that i am out this wednesday for the first time trying to drum up some business and i have a figure in mind that is my min (£10) but there are so many east europens in my area offering as little as £2 a front should i take what i can get whilst im starting out for a year or should i stick to my min fee?

Hi Hunty, your minimum price can also be a safe guard. What is you cost price per job?

 

[Hunty]

Hi richard, im in london so i was looking at £1.50 per window with min 10 the point im more making is that where i am starting i have no custies and i see what newbee is saying but where i have none yet i was thinking would 1 x £10 job and 5 x £4 jobs is still £30 for now until i have more custies nd either slowly up the prices or ditch low payers as by the advice here the more windows im cleaning the more chance i have of new custies approaching me to clean there wondows?

See what trying to get at here?

 

[Hunty]

Thanks for the reply by the way!!!

 

[Richard]

Do it, you have to pay the bills. Just don’t keep hold of these customers at low prices for any longer than you have to.

You will gain more customers as the weeks/ months go by so do what you have to do. As soon as you have enough numbers to play with, start making changes. By that I mean number of customers, turnover, the time it takes you to service the current round etc

Good luck, but don’t ever charge less than it cost you do clean the windows, and try and make a least some profit.

Richard

( you will make mistakes, but so do I still /emoticons/smile.png )

 

[Newbie123]

Like your thinking hunty I'm from northwest and pricing differs place to place only building up equipment to make a start on window cleaning but resisting the urge to compete at silly low prices there are plenty about this is second time round self employed if you compete on price in the beginning and set the price unrealisticly low to compete with larger or cheaper rivals then the larger company wins as the area they price low is substituted with areas that pay well the small firm you battle with on price may have lower overheads and fewer personal costs and a stash of savings while you play the price war game equipment fails good work passes you by while you focus on the war if the area is under priced look elsewhere and then wait till it picks up again before returning it inevitably will because the cost of living out ways the cheap prices set a price you are happy to work for that will give you the living you. Want as if you price a job low then before you know that custy recommends you but tell your price then before you know it all jobs price themselves

 

[Doo]

I have bought six rounds off family well established , but I stay in the west of scotland, I paid 5,000 for my six runs they take in 1500 per 4 weeks, but most are bread n butter 4.00 per house , but have some nice work £15-£40 per house ....depends where you are cleaning for the high end of my market I must drive 15 miles min , the £4 stuff I could fall out my bed to clean.

 

[Newbie123]

I have bought six rounds off family well established , but I stay in the west of scotland, I paid 5,000 for my six runs they take in 1500 per 4 weeks, but most are bread n butter 4.00 per house , but have some nice work £15-£40 per house ....depends where you are cleaning for the high end of my market I must drive 15 miles min , the £4 stuff I could fall out my bed to clean.

Think doo has hit it on the head balance your work

 

[stevelewis]

yeah u have to be competitive but sensible with your prices, and remember if your first starting up window cleaning you will need time to get your speed up, you dont want to clean £10 houses for £2 as it may take u an hour to clean 2 or 3 and you def dont wanna be workin for £4-£6 an hour in this game bud!

Anyway best of luck in your future buisness, hope it goes well mucka!

 

[Hunty]

Glad u agree to a certain extent i take on board what ur saying richard as of course i dont want to work for nothing, for now im going to b trad nd work within 5 miles of my home so i will b keeping the costs tp a min.

I agree with you newbie and my worry is that jobs will start pricing themselves as if i do for no 10 i must do for no 12 but this i see as npt such a bad thing as if im doing two houses on the same street rather than as doo added driving a fair bit between then two house at £10 5 miles apart is worse than 5 house at £4 wothin two streets of eachother.

Maybe the min fee is not such a good idea and instead i should work on a min daily amount and if one day i do 10 house to reach that and another im doing 30 then that is how it is, do u think thats a good idea or am i trying to talk myself out of my original point?

 

[Hunty]

Takes me so long to write that i miss posts lol thanks for your input guys!!!!

 

[Newbie123]

Try pricing slightly higher than your comfortable with but offer a discount if the custy gets you another custy close by then your price will even but not fall too an uncontrolled level

 

[Hunty]

Yeah fair one an recco a freind type offer, u said u r trying to get ir equipment so r u going wfp?

 

[Newbie123]

Going with both wfp and trad as only got small set up slowly building up a good range of weapons practising away to get to what I consider acceptable cleans would like to buy a small established round slightly off patch I'm aiming for so can do work and travel back through required patch knocking and canvassing the work I want at the price I want will take time I hope to raise the price a little in the area as it as stood still too long everyone's scared to put prices up as economy gloomy know some windys haven't see a price increase in over 9 years but fuel and costs raise yearly

 

[Hunty]

Good on ya, sounds like u got your head well and truly screwed on, i think the problem is though a lot of people dont feel comfortable in putting prices up as they dont like confrontation, i think little and often with a price increase is going to be the way i go, because if u leave a few years they may be looking at 2-4 quid rise which may seem loads whereas 50p every 6-12 month is nothing and in time mounts up.

best of luck though newbie r u working elsewhere as well?

 

[Newbie123]

Full time engineer working 60 hours a week hate the job but the money's alright doesn't inspire a quick jump into window cleaning so benefit from some time to build up what I need now rather than later when money isn't always available the first year will be the worst which ever way you go. Main aim is to learn to walk then briskly pick up the pace I have worked in the window cleaning trade many moons ago for a windy wasn't old enough to be wise enough then

 

[Newbie123]

There is still plenty of work out there for everyone it's a matter of finding your place in the market and to fit in with the established showing respect where it's deserved and standing your ground when it's not your own respect in the market place will only be gained by what you do and how you achieve it pressures of life will push you but don't let it rule you

 

[Hunty]

Fair play to ya, see what ir saying and take on board, good luck with all newbie i will post agaim wed to let you all know how the touting went.