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Systems for pricing up jobs

Why don't you have a price for each different size windows. Small, medium, large, bay leaded etc. Then walk around the house totting up and that should put you in the ballpark. Obviously the prices you assign the windows are down to you

 
£1 a window even the small ones when I started - now i just work out how long it will take me, is there much aggro and price by what I want to earn each hour. Still make loads of balls up mind you :)

 
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I always price for the time taken as apposed to a per window basis as you might have two property’s that are identical but one may have access issues or have those stupid external geo bars fitted which all add up.
I got my first nice size commercial job last year and didn’t have a clue how to price it. I ended up calculating it at 10 hours work at £50/hour so £500 in total then added a further £100 just incase I was a bit out. They knocked me down to £550 and I accepted. It now takes me 7 hours to complete including admin and travelling which isn’t much as its on my doorstep so happy days.


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Easiest way is to decide what you want to earn per hour , then think how long it will take you to do the job and you have your price , always allow a bit more than you think , the £1 per window I feel is now out dated and only works up to a point but again it will give you a general ball park figure then add a bit for unforeseen things  

 
Well this post started off as calculating advice and turned into a bit of a rant for some unknown reason, but I think I will leave it just as it is.  I think it needs saying all the same because it is important to understand and get the correct mindset when pricing jobs, and how devastating it can be if you underprice.

Just about to start up again, so thought I would give my thoughts on this having been there before.

grab a calculator if you want to work this bit out.

Your desired hourly rate, divide it by 12.

That will give you the amount you should be earning every 5 mins.

Then go around the property doing what padman suggested above counting the windows.

Now you should have some sort of figure in your head based on how many windows you are going to clean.

But this is where you can screw up, and it is why we worked out you 5 min rate earlier.

How long do you actually expect the job to take from parking up, to driving off again once you are up to speed, and by upto speed I DO NOT mean working flat out. I mean working at the pace you would hope to be able to work at all day, everyday if you had a full order book without knackering yourself up.

If you do not charge at least that rate, then you will be mugging yourself. 

So why bother pricing up per window first?

It will stop you making some huge but common errors and train you better at pricing.  Lets say you calculated £3 per five mins.  And you look at a house and think "I could be parked up, in and out and back in the van in 15 mins easily, that is £9"...  and then you realise that when you counted the windows the figure came out to a lot more than that.... 

Basically, the figure based on time should be your minimum desired rate.  But you should be looking for things that you might not have spotted, like the fact that a house of the same size can have different problems, different amount of windows, access and by that I do not mean climbing gates but constant repositioning, adjusting the pole and some types of windows taking more time. 

In other words, if you can find a reason to put the price up above your minimum hourly rate then you should do it, because if you do not then it will be that thing, whatever it is, no matter if it is the number of windows, adjusting the pole and the numerous other things that brings your hourly rate down.

I want to put something to you, if you were working in a job getting a wage. And the gaffer came out and asked you if you "wanted" to work twice as long but said he wasn't going to pay you for any extra hours... what would your answer be? 

Now imagine if someone said "can you clean my windows every month, but for free"... what would your answer be?

Now realise that once you start spending longer on a job than you priced it for, because you maybe felt the price was a bit high and so went in low, or you didn't bother even counting the windows or maybe you just felt that they wouldn't be able to afford your rate, you are working for free... every month. And you know what, if you spend 5 mins unpaid on that house every month, then you are working an hour for free every year.  Do that for 30 or 40 houses and you are working a week for free every year. Do it for every single one of you 300 customers and you are working two and a half months, for free.

And while I am on the subject of pricing, I will guarantee you one thing.

Some customers will baulk at the price, do not be offended, some people still think window cleaners should be on peanuts.

Some customers will bite your arm off and you will wonder how much more they would have paid.

None of it matters, it does not matter if they baulk, it does not matter if they bite your hand off...

what matters, and all that matters is you never work for free... and that is what you do for every second you spend on a job after your allotted time.

Understand this mindset and you will be fine, start looking for ways to drop the price and you need to re-read this post.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Well this post started off as calculating advice and turned into a bit of a rant for some unknown reason, but I think I will leave it just as it is.  I think it needs saying all the same because it is important to understand and get the correct mindset when pricing jobs, and how devastating it can be if you underprice.

Just about to start up again, so thought I would give my thoughts on this having been there before.

grab a calculator if you want to work this bit out.

Your desired hourly rate, divide it by 12.

That will give you the amount you should be earning every 5 mins.

Then go around the property doing what padman suggested above counting the windows.

Now you should have some sort of figure in your head based on how many windows you are going to clean.

But this is where you can screw up, and it is why we worked out you 5 min rate earlier.

How long do you actually expect the job to take from parking up, to driving off again once you are up to speed, and by upto speed I DO NOT mean working flat out. I mean working at the pace you would hope to be able to work at all day, everyday if you had a full order book without knackering yourself up.

If you do not charge at least that rate, then you will be mugging yourself. 

So why bother pricing up per window first?

It will stop you making some huge but common errors and train you better at pricing.  Lets say you calculated £3 per five mins.  And you look at a house and think "I could be parked up, in and out and back in the van in 15 mins easily, that is £9"...  and then you realise that when you counted the windows the figure came out to a lot more than that.... 

Basically, the figure based on time should be your minimum desired rate.  But you should be looking for things that you might not have spotted, like the fact that a house of the same size can have different problems, different amount of windows, access and by that I do not mean climbing gates but constant repositioning, adjusting the pole and some types of windows taking more time. 

In other words, if you can find a reason to put the price up above your minimum hourly rate then you should do it, because if you do not then it will be that thing, whatever it is, no matter if it is the number of windows, adjusting the pole and the numerous other things that brings your hourly rate down.

I want to put something to you, if you were working in a job getting a wage. And the gaffer came out and asked you if you "wanted" to work twice as long but said he wasn't going to pay you for any extra hours... what would your answer be? 

Now imagine if someone said "can you clean my windows every month, but for free"... what would your answer be?

Now realise that once you start spending longer on a job than you priced it for, because you maybe felt the price was a bit high and so went in low, or you didn't bother even counting the windows or maybe you just felt that they wouldn't be able to afford your rate, you are working for free... every month. And you know what, if you spend 5 mins unpaid on that house every month, then you are working an hour for free every year.  Do that for 30 or 40 houses and you are working a week for free every year. Do it for every single one of you 300 customers and you are working two and a half months, for free.

And while I am on the subject of pricing, I will guarantee you one thing.

Some customers will baulk at the price, do not be offended, some people still think window cleaners should be on peanuts.

Some customers will bite your arm off and you will wonder how much more they would have paid.

None of it matters, it does not matter if they baulk, it does not matter if they bite your hand off...

what matters, and all that matters is you never work for free... and that is what you do for every second you spend on a job after your allotted time.

Understand this mindset and you will be fine, start looking for ways to drop the price and you need to re-read this post.
I don't think the post turned into a rant just people giving their opinions, But my brain hurts after reading your post  :1f602:

 
I just look at the house and know whether it's a 10,12 or 15 quidder etc.

I suppose that's just from having similar property's to reference. I don't count windows or think about it that much.

 
Im usually 80p  a window regardless of size on houses  .Would like to think i could get £1 but dont want to push it, A house with 8 windys is usually £6  but i can do 5/6 an hour if no yapping .

 
Well this post started off as calculating advice and turned into a bit of a rant for some unknown reason, but I think I will leave it just as it is.  I think it needs saying all the same because it is important to understand and get the correct mindset when pricing jobs, and how devastating it can be if you underprice.

Just about to start up again, so thought I would give my thoughts on this having been there before.

grab a calculator if you want to work this bit out.

Your desired hourly rate, divide it by 12.

That will give you the amount you should be earning every 5 mins.

Then go around the property doing what padman suggested above counting the windows.

Now you should have some sort of figure in your head based on how many windows you are going to clean.

But this is where you can screw up, and it is why we worked out you 5 min rate earlier.

How long do you actually expect the job to take from parking up, to driving off again once you are up to speed, and by upto speed I DO NOT mean working flat out. I mean working at the pace you would hope to be able to work at all day, everyday if you had a full order book without knackering yourself up.

If you do not charge at least that rate, then you will be mugging yourself. 

So why bother pricing up per window first?

It will stop you making some huge but common errors and train you better at pricing.  Lets say you calculated £3 per five mins.  And you look at a house and think "I could be parked up, in and out and back in the van in 15 mins easily, that is £9"...  and then you realise that when you counted the windows the figure came out to a lot more than that.... 

Basically, the figure based on time should be your minimum desired rate.  But you should be looking for things that you might not have spotted, like the fact that a house of the same size can have different problems, different amount of windows, access and by that I do not mean climbing gates but constant repositioning, adjusting the pole and some types of windows taking more time. 

In other words, if you can find a reason to put the price up above your minimum hourly rate then you should do it, because if you do not then it will be that thing, whatever it is, no matter if it is the number of windows, adjusting the pole and the numerous other things that brings your hourly rate down.

I want to put something to you, if you were working in a job getting a wage. And the gaffer came out and asked you if you "wanted" to work twice as long but said he wasn't going to pay you for any extra hours... what would your answer be? 

Now imagine if someone said "can you clean my windows every month, but for free"... what would your answer be?

Now realise that once you start spending longer on a job than you priced it for, because you maybe felt the price was a bit high and so went in low, or you didn't bother even counting the windows or maybe you just felt that they wouldn't be able to afford your rate, you are working for free... every month. And you know what, if you spend 5 mins unpaid on that house every month, then you are working an hour for free every year.  Do that for 30 or 40 houses and you are working a week for free every year. Do it for every single one of you 300 customers and you are working two and a half months, for free.

And while I am on the subject of pricing, I will guarantee you one thing.

Some customers will baulk at the price, do not be offended, some people still think window cleaners should be on peanuts.

Some customers will bite your arm off and you will wonder how much more they would have paid.

None of it matters, it does not matter if they baulk, it does not matter if they bite your hand off...

what matters, and all that matters is you never work for free... and that is what you do for every second you spend on a job after your allotted time.

Understand this mindset and you will be fine, start looking for ways to drop the price and you need to re-read this post.








This hasnt hasn’t been a rant by anyone it’s just people’s opinion of how to price a job up and we all do that differently the op  is new and not sure how to do it no one has ranted just given sound advice if the op wants to listen to what anyone has said or not is his choice we can all learn from each other all the posts made do offer something posative to help him 

 
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