1st clean pricing? and procedure?

[Smurf]

The most I have charge as of yet for a one-off window clean on a 3 bed 3 storey small fronted terraced house was £75 (using wfp method)

As they say if you don't ask you don't get /emoticons/biggrin.png

 

[cheapncheerful]

the wise words of smurf....have you seen under his mattress..?..good job the tax man hasn't...its alright smurfy I don't like the tax man either....or his boss.. or the opposition ...or any f ookin politician ...except ...farage....coz...you gotta giv him a chance before you can knock him and the other lot

ain t exactly sticking to what they promise...

 

[TolishAPurd]

...except ...farage....coz...you gotta giv him a chance before you can knock him and the other lot

ain t exactly sticking to what they promise...

Cheers mate,I'll do my best to bring this country back on its feet... one window at a time.

 

[cheapncheerful]

sure you will do it ....coz it aint going anywhere fast at the mo...assuming you can be an mp ...ooops...maybe they have got it wrong....

 

[Smurf]

Just don't get me started on immigration and the fooking EU /emoticons/biggrin.png

 

[PTWC]

Back to first cleans.

Well I tried this method again today, Ive tried it before and it was good.

I priced a new job up. It was a 3 storey house with 12 windows, double patio doors and a half glazed front door.

So I said £16 every 4 weeks.

She said yes great, when can you do it?

I said I can do it today for you, and the regular day for this round is on the 10th Dec next. (2 weeks time.)

So I'll tell you what, I don't charge extra for first cleans, but I can can do it today and then again in two weeks time, to sync it with the regular round /emoticons/wink.png

This will get it up to scratch.

She went for it!

And it was off Facebook, which I just started this week while I was off sick.

Result! /emoticons/wink.png

 

[Danfire]

Tolish is 100% right. I have only been cleaning for 14 months and even though I explained to every customer how my work schedules operate I have been caught out three times on first cleans where customers agree to join the round only to say when it comes to the second clean "oh, they look fine, leave it for now". One liberty taker, a female army Captain had the nerve to phone my wife about four months after her first clean and left the message "I have guests visiting at the weekend, could your husband clean my windows tomorrow"? Needless to say she still doesn't have a window cleaner.

I've also made the mistake a few times of not looking closely at the windows before a first clean and thought they didn't look too bad and then get the sinking feeling when I come to clean them and realise my mistake.

The latest one was a neighbour of a house I was cleaning that asked if I could do hers, I asked when it had last been cleaned and she told me that her husband did them when they moved in a couple of months ago, accepting her story at face value I quoted her maintenance price and they were also filthy. This one also asked to skip her second clean, in usual circumstances this would be grounds for excommunication but when I did her first clean she was about to drive her daughter back to university and was wearing a lovely tight dress that showed off her wonderful rack to perfection and she had the generosity to talk to me while standing near the bottom of my ladder for ages so I could get the full benefit of the view. I think I might give her one more chance.

I now always have a good look before I quote, the prices are normally always double (unless I'm taking over from another window cleaner that's jacked it in) so when a customer wants to mess around I've made my going rate on the first clean, any customer worth having should understand it's going to take much longer for the first clean, (which I explain to them anyway).

 

[Smurf]

I class every job as a one off clean now then if they want them doing do say regular I see how it goes if I get what I want out of the job or just pass it on to someone else. Other window cleaners in my town love me as I mostly offer them messers that don't want to pay the going rate./emoticons/biggrin.png

 

[Tuffers]

I class every job as a one off clean now then if they want them doing do say regular I see how it goes if I get what I want out of the job or just pass it on to someone else. Other window cleaners in my town love me as I mostly offer them messers that don't want to pay the going rate./emoticons/biggrin.png

No poxy £10 and £15 jobs for Smurf :thumbsup:

 

[cheapncheerful]

hmmm just had one phone and disturb my weekend peace can you come and clean the windows....must be a year....

okay the daughter is er very er nice but ....I in a bad mood and sulking coz no tuffering this morning...so I told her the truth...the first week of the month is for anyone that wants monthly cleans and as such I may not be able to fit her and her mother...both in and out..in this week...after a long silence I told her next Monday unless I can fit them in ....

I am not ...taking anything extra in the run in...the days are too short and I am too knackered....its that bloody wfp...its hard work..

got caught on my cushdy Friday....I chose to go to the wrong house first....the first one was great no one in flew by then had to pass maccy d...so I bought a chicken chilli wrap.....and it even gives you instructions on how to open the box...very good. got to the second job he has been away for a month and I promised to do his gutters and windows for when he came back but...my memory seemed to think he said the 28th and it was the 28th....

a quick look around and I could tell he wasn't in but the paper stuck in the letter box said he was due back so I got stuck in....

went to get some water from the tap under the kitchen window and as I stood up...a face waving at the window.....

still they are lovely people....but they sit in the front room and I have to clean that window....and then the son came to watch me work too...

anyway I wanted to play with banana....he came around with my cuppa and said could I move my car as he had to go to the shops so as soon as he left I shot round and got banana going...just finished the front and he was back....oh that's new....it does look good..

I didn't bother to wfp the back as pure tends to hang around a long time...

so I got caught but....I checked em all and they looked okay .I had cleared all his gutters but went home depressed because I wasted ages trying to stop the joints leaking....I hate being defeated...I cleaned up the seals and replaced them ...swopped them over with another non leaker from off the garage and in the end...I even put a window squeegee rubber in....in fact I left it in...but they still leak...I plan to silicone them all but....the gutters holding water so I went home defeated...

still it all starts again on Monday.....oh and I have to drive past maccy d again..

 

[Smurf]

Like I said before you can only physically work so many hours so I like to earn as much as I can get

No poxy £10 and £15 jobs for Smurf :thumbsup:

 

[rjacandwc]

When I started I cleaned a lot of 1st timers at a regular rate. It was not until I found my way and got experience I had the confidence to tell the customer that 1st cleans will cost slightly more. If I take any new ones on now. I make it very clear that if I take them on it's regular cleaning only. It is important to know that most of us windows cleaners clean frames as standard and it is not incorporated into the piece. We do it FREE as we provide a service to people. We are WINDOW Cleaners. not frame cleaners. So, charging double first time round is justified. They pay say £8-£10 for the windows and £8-£10 for the frames. If I was a customer, I'd be happy with that.... One way of doing it is to charge a couple of quid extra and over the course of time the £'s add up and pay for the first clean... You'll get a few tips too. It's all swings and roundabouts as they say. If your prepared to work hard and charge fair. Your do great Scottie.

 

[boarcity]

i made a mistake by pricing some houses at 9.50 instead of 9 . then i clean forgot who was the 50p and who wasnt so i increased some to 9.75 just so i knew who had paid or not

crazy idea! now 2yrs later a big portion of my round has prices at 10.25 or even 10.35 after i did a price increase i always have to carry a pot of change in the van now .

 

[Smurf]

Well it's good practice for when you have to charge vat I suppose /emoticons/biggrin.png

i made a mistake by pricing some houses at 9.50 instead of 9 . then i clean forgot who was the 50p and who wasnt so i increased some to 9.75 just so i knew who had paid or notcrazy idea! now 2yrs later a big portion of my round has prices at 10.25 or even 10.35 after i did a price increase i always have to carry a pot of change in the van now .

 

[TolishAPurd]

Iwork on the principle that if its worth 9.50, then its worth a tenner. /emoticons/biggrin.png

 

[Smurf]

Myself I prefer just to round jobs up now to the nearest 100 squid.

I've even stopped giving out fivers for change as that is a pain in the arse too. /emoticons/biggrin.png

 

[Kennygggkent]

Hello Scottie, I'm pretty new to WFP window cleaning and get abit edgy when pricing, especially because I've got about 50 customers and need 180! so I don't want anyone saying it's too much and going elsewhere. So far I go about 5 quid more on a first clean(most of my houses are £15, so £20 for a first clean). but the other day I had a house to quote for that was about a £25'er really but the lady that owned the gaff was a proper tighty and basically said that she wouldn't even pay £20, so I basically swallowed and said well, I really need customers so I will do it for 15. I did the job which took 45 mins and included getting morter off one window! Anyway she saw that I did a good job and gave me £20 in the end! So I think from now on I'm going to price as I think it should be but if they say they are not happy then tell them to name their price. But once I have enough customers I'll say the price is the price kinda thing.

 

[Adams0211]

Scottie, I think I'm in a similar situation to you with regards to first cleans and how much to charge.

I've got a full time job and I started cleaning windows a month ago on my days off and once I've finished my regular job. I start very early and I finish at lunchtime so I spend every afternoon cleaning windows plus my two days off. I've only been going properly for just under a month but it's going well so far.

Every single job I've done in the last three and a half weeks has been a first clean. From next week I'll be back round to my first set of customers to do a regular clean if that makes sense.

I started off just charging my standard price but very quickly realised I was mugging myself off. After the first three or four jobs I started charging an extra 50% for the first clean. So if a three bedroom is usually £10 I'm charging them £15 for the first clean. I explain why I do this to the customer and have never had a customer say no. To be honest, I'd rather not get the job than do it for peanuts. I still feel like I'm being underpaid on occasion but I see it as experience and getting the hard work out the way so it will be easier on the next clean. I have also set a 'minimum price' . I won't take the ladders off the van for less than a tenner. I'm doing a first floor flat tomorrow which has three windows and I'm charging a tenner which is the same I'd charge for a three bed house.

I've got a bit of a system when I'm doing first cleans. First floor first obviously. I soap up the frames and sills using a soft bristled short handled car washing brush and give it a scrub. Then I soap up the window with my mop. I give the frame a quick wipe down and then blade the glass and detail if necessary. Finally I use a dry microfiber on the frames and sills. If I'm feeling extra generous I use a bit of cif cleaner and a scrubbing brush on any tough spots.

Hope that helps mate. Give me a shout if you want to talk to a fellow newbie.

 

[perfect shine]

hi, as a rule I always charge double the regular clean price for first cleans. as long as you explain to the customer that it takes twice as long on the first clean 99% of people will still sign up with you. and the other 1% clearly arent that bothered about having clean windows lol

 

[rugbywolf]

I class every job as a one off clean now then if they want them doing do say regular I see how it goes if I get what I want out of the job or just pass it on to someone else. Other window cleaners in my town love me as I mostly offer them messers that don't want to pay the going rate./emoticons/biggrin.png

I do similar, as in pricing jobs as if I was to do a 'Proper' wash, which would take me time, then, if I get the job and it does take more time for a first clean, I will get it back over the year.

 

[rugbywolf]

When I started I cleaned a lot of 1st timers at a regular rate. It was not until I found my way and got experience I had the confidence to tell the customer that 1st cleans will cost slightly more. If I take any new ones on now. I make it very clear that if I take them on it's regular cleaning only. It is important to know that most of us windows cleaners clean frames as standard and it is not incorporated into the piece. We do it FREE as we provide a service to people. We are WINDOW Cleaners. not frame cleaners. So, charging double first time round is justified. They pay say £8-£10 for the windows and £8-£10 for the frames. If I was a customer, I'd be happy with that.... One way of doing it is to charge a couple of quid extra and over the course of time the £'s add up and pay for the first clean... You'll get a few tips too. It's all swings and roundabouts as they say. If your prepared to work hard and charge fair. Your do great Scottie.

Nothing's free is it, this is coming off your time, which is off your earnings/profit.