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Silly prices!!

ECLM
WCF

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:rofl: crazy init.

Play the long game and price well, is a nightmare when building in :turd: areas but it has to be worth it in the end.

The way i see it is if i get customers that will pay a decent price they are more likely to pay a decent price if they ever want there gutters cleaning or connys doing etc. If you are charging 3 quid a go how much will they pay for extras? conny for a tenner?

 
This is in Stafford. I'm trying to build a full round up and do everything by the book but no way I can clean for £6 a house. What made it even worse was the home owner showed me the quote and it stated they get there 5th clean free if they stay with them!
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Just ride it out and stick to your prices and good job. I'm slowly getting better at pricing correctly for work and sometimes that means I'm double what they paid before - but I get the work because I'm reliable and do a good job. There's always folk out there wanting the cheapest option but they'll constantly be trying to find another cleaner because cheap prices means cheap work.

 
I'm really lucky where I am, I service three small villages there is only one other wc and he gave his round to me when I started and just kept bungalows in a part of it as he was retiring. Nobody can be bothered to go to the areas so pretty much a closed market. The other part which I do is some park homes, out of 60 I do 42 of them. Again no one bothers there. The only thing I would say to customers who ditch for cheaper just tell them you will replace them and may not have room if they want to come back i.e. A waiting list!

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I don't bother with new builds there like smack hung out in front of a addict they can have them all for me thereally all gated too so half forget to open them as well .

No intrest in them

 
There's nothing wrong with £3.50 bungalows and £6 detached houses as long as they are compact. I'd say that's the average going rate up here in the north west of England. Alot of my domestic work is priced around that region but it helps that I'm not jumping in and out my van every five mins. Also I notice that most high prices are only every 5/6 weeks where as most of the cleaners up here work on a fortnightly basis. All my work is very compact with hardly any driving once I'm in my cleaning area. Maybe if I was driving about all day wasting time I would have to overprice my work. It seems to me that most guys that are slating cheap prices are either from down south or spend more time driving to jobs and setting up their equipment than they do actually cleaning. I suppose that's the benefit from buying established rounds rather than just knocking random areas and living off runabouts. I suppose it's better than doin nothin and signing on the dole though but you would never get away with them high prices around here.

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England really needs compulsory licensing like Scotland, that might get rid of the beer money guys. We could then all price from a level playing field.

 
England really needs compulsory licensing like Scotland, that might get rid of the beer money guys. We could then all price from a level playing field.
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How would that work in reality?

I honestly couldn't see how cleaners in London could reduce their rates... property (to buy or rent) is very expensive, you just wouldn't be able to afford to live there.

 
England really needs compulsory licensing like Scotland, that might get rid of the beer money guys. We could then all price from a level playing field.
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It wouldn't make much difference you need a licence for a taxi pepole still do it without you need one to drive pepole still do it without just put more cost on use just show your good and what you bring to the table as someone else said play the long game

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Plenty of beer monkeys in Scotland as well. The licencing is a joke. Not enforced. I am from the west of Scotland. Honestly, pricing will vary. Is not just about the different areas across the country. The level of experience the window cleaner has. There understanding of how to price. How compact their area is. How detailed a job they are doing.

Here is food for thought, if your charging less than £1 a window. In 2/3 year minimum wage maybe £9 per hour. If you spend 32 hours cleaning windows, 2 collecting, and 2 on paperwork. That's £16800. Per year on wages. Add say 7k on running costs. You need to make £23800. You are going to have to replace vans every once and a while also.

Say you do 20 houses a day. In 8 hours, 4 days a week. Take off 5% for down time, 2% for bad payers. To break even you need to charge £6.90 per house to break even.

Honestly that way too tight. You have to charge more, or you are under selling yourself. It's not overcharging. It's knowing what you are worth.

If your self employed. You should be able to afford all the normal benefits an employ gets. Take holidays, pay yourself the living wage, pay into a pension. Comfortably cover your costs and be able to sock away something for when that van needs replaced. Which is why it should be closer to £10 per house, for the new builds previously shown, and not £6.

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Valid point mate if your driving ten mins between each job but if your works nice and compact there's no reason why you can't do closer to 40 small semis a day (5 per hour)which doesn't make £6 per house seem too bad. That's 1200 per 5 day week minus messers, misses, expenses etc.


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Dave Shaw said:
Valid point mate if your driving ten mins between each job but if your works nice and compact there's no reason why you can't do closer to 40 small semis a day (5 per hour)which doesn't make £6 per house seem too bad. That's 1200 per 5 day week minus messers, misses, expenses etc.


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If you are doing 40 houses a day I am impressed. I have been cleaning windows for over 10 years, and don't do anywhere near that. 20 odd houses max for me, and I would say my work is fairly compact with that. My Average price is about £8.70.

 
40 a day.

Well if they were that compact you could do 5 an hour then yes you could. But at 12 mins a pop that's some good going. Plus that's 8 house a day graft woth no breaks. You would be absolutely cream crackered.

So thats 800 customers you would need on an 4 weekly cycle. Imagine the admin involved.

A better idea rather than do that for 6 quid double it and do them for 12 and do it 20 a day.

I average about 15 houses a day. Its enough

 
I'm not sayin I do exactly 40 houses every day. I was just saying that u can still make good money without charging a tenner for a house that even using trad method shouldn't take more than 15 mins. My prices range from £3 bungalows to £500 commercial jobs. As long as I'm covering £25/£30 per hour im laughing.
I wish I could just double all my work instantly then get rid of half of it to cut down the work load but i would probably end up losing most of it altogether.


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Dave Shaw said:
Valid point mate if your driving ten mins between each job but if your works nice and compact there's no reason why you can't do closer to 40 small semis a day (5 per hour)which doesn't make £6 per house seem too bad. That's 1200 per 5 day week minus messers, misses, expenses etc.


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I won't bother to turn up somewhere for less than a tenner

Got a handfull of £8 small flats etc but that is it ..everything else starts at 10

 
So your telling me that if an old lady asks you for a price to clean the front of a one up one down terraced house next door to one that you already clean that would take two mins you would say a tenner minimum?
I think I need to come and invade your patch. I'd be retired in ten years. Haha.


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A couple of things you have to remember - a cash in-hand labourer in the north works for 60 quid a day plus claims dole.

A lot of people out there can offer low rates due to working tax credits being there main source of income. 

A lot of people don't have a mortgage to pay. 

A lot of people have not gone and bought a new van or new equipment, they are running 500 quid motors with secondhand equipment which keeps there costs down.

 
I think the main issue herebis not what we charge as window cleaners but what the fair weather bloke who wants something to try for the summer and under cutting someone who is trying to earn a living all year round


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