Existing Customer:- "Your hourly rate is too high"

[Adman]

Have they got mixed up and or have you missed something, were they thinking the roof was going to be done on a regular basis which bumped the regular price up by £20.00 every 4 weeks.

I started off in the village I grew up in and came to regret it they didn't like price increases and the previous windys who were also local didn't increase the prices and the other guy hadn't increased his prices for years over the years my round dwindled away, I would start expanding as fast as you can and gaining better-priced work. 

I don't think so. I told them it was £10 for the windows and £20 for the roof when I asked for the money, and we discussed window pricing when he was moaning at me but I suppose it's a possibility.  The read guy never did the roof every time, and I never suggested it but he's clearly a moron so anything's possible.

My round is pretty much full with better prices stuff so now I have to increase prices on the old stuff.  I know I'm going to lose some, there's houses a £6 in there lol!

 

[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

If you don't give a quote first then the fault is all yours. 

You wouldn't engage a tradesman without wanting to know the prices first would you? 

 

[Bart90]

If you don't give a quote first then the fault is all yours. 

You wouldn't engage a tradesman without wanting to know the prices first would you? 

The tradesman is already engaged and the extra work is charged at roughly the same hourly rate as the outside of the windows.  The customers issue  was with my hourly rate! Not to mention I'd done both these jobs before and was only charging an additional £8 on the roof due to how long it had been since I last did it. People's perceptions are strange. I concede though, a quote before hand would have prevented any issue arising but for the difference of £8 you'd hardly think it necessary.

 

[Davy G]

The tradesman is already engaged and the extra work is charged at roughly the same hourly rate as the outside of the windows.  The customers issue  was with my hourly rate! Not to mention I'd done both these jobs before and was only charging an additional £8 on the roof due to how long it had been since I last did it. People's perceptions are strange. I concede though, a quote before hand would have prevented any issue arising but for the difference of £8 you'd hardly think it necessary.

I know what you mean. You would hope it wouldn't be necessary to have to spell things out. Unfortunately, from my experience with people in general, I've come to realise that what should be obvious, to some people just isn't. The guy I went to today ("Can you just nip up the ladder and pull a plant out of the gutter"), tried it on "I'm not paying twelve pounds" even though it was explained to him yesterday that I won't deploy the ladder without being paid for the emptying of at least one run. He didn't get away with it. He was told politely he had two choices... make one of them. I was less than five minutes on the ladder at a cost to him of a four metres empty £12, on top of his regular window clean. He was not happy. I explained to him that one mistake by me, one fall, and that could be the end of my career. That should not need to be pointed out but I did need to. 

There's almost never a day I don't have to stand my ground with someone. I'm well able to. But it does get tiresome at times. ?

 

[Tuffers]

I had one today, regular customer but very fussy. She phoned me on Monday asking if I could clear the gutters on her conny next time I was there. No problem I'll be with you on Wednesday. I had a figure of £30 in my head. I know from experience that she likes the inside of the gutter to be clear of any dirty water etc. I cleared them of the leaves and moss and cracked on with cleaning the windows. She comes out and asks if my brush would clean the inside of the gutter. I knew this was coming so I said it won't fit in and I couldn't physically get the dirty water out with my hands. She suggested using the hose pipe. The hose pipe only reached the gutter that was visible from her bedroom so I just cleaned that water away. Then she asks me if I could 'just wipe over' the glass conny roof while I'm there. I reminded her that last time I cleaned her conny roof it took over 3 hours and I wouldn't have time to do it. There was no way I was going to clean a few dirty panels on top for f@ck all extra too.

 

[Pjj]

I dint  give customers an hourly rate I give them a price for the job , I have had a couple of people over the years say that they weren’t happy with how long I took to do a job and what I charged , I asked are you happy with what I’ve done they said yes , just not happy with the price , I said it doesn’t matter wether Ime there for 5 muinits or 5 days the job is done to a good standard the price is irrelevant, also I  have invested in expensive kit to be able to do the job that has to be paid for , I had one guy asked for a price tk vac out his gutters on a 3 storey town house about 25 meters in total , I charged him £75 took about 20 muinits, he said I wish I could earn £75 for 20 muinits, I said yes it’s good isn’t it only problem is the equipment cost best part of 4K , I suggested he get a ladder and do it himself if he thought that was expensive , ???? , surprisingly he phoned again the following year to have them done again , he is now a regular customer , he suddenly realised that it wasn’t as easy as he thought it was and then realised that the price wasn’t expensive. 

 

[CleanEze]

I went carding a new housing estate 5 mins from my door Sunday, After carding about 30 houses a managed to talk to a woman just coming out of a new 5 bed house,i asked if she had a cleaner & her reply was a couple of guys with WFP do most of the houses for £15 per clean 6wkly, But included is fascia- Soffots -2/3 velux sky lights every clean ! i didnt bother with any more card drops after them prices..  Oh yes i didnt mention they was'nt local speaking windys ! Polish cheap labour.

 

[Davy G]

Yep, that sort of thing is possibly one of the biggest threats. 

 

[ks789]

I went carding a new housing estate 5 mins from my door Sunday, After carding about 30 houses a managed to talk to a woman just coming out of a new 5 bed house,i asked if she had a cleaner & her reply was a couple of guys with WFP do most of the houses for £15 per clean 6wkly, But included is fascia- Soffots -2/3 velux sky lights every clean ! i didnt bother with any more card drops after them prices..  Oh yes i didnt mention they was'nt local speaking windys ! Polish cheap labour.

Serious? Hope too many of em dont get to trying that everywhere. Is all we need. All I know is, if I tried similar in wherever it is they're from I would get seriously hospitalised or worse. Thats true, no matter what anyones politics.

 

[Davy G]

It's happening in the domestic indoor cleaning trade. One house I was doing today had two young foreign ladies working inside. One on the hoovering and the other doing the dusting. I have seen three people blitzing one of my customers houses once, a while back. However, we must hold the line and avoid panic and price wars. 

 

[ks789]

It's happening in the domestic indoor cleaning trade. One house I was doing today had two young foreign ladies working inside. One on the hoovering and the other doing the dusting. I have seen three people blitzing one of my customers houses once, a while back. However, we must hold the line and avoid panic and price wars. 

Exactly, the prices are low enough. If they're doing it that cheap, fascia etc too surely they'd discover it wasnt worth it. I dont think many of my customers would go over to them, but might make it harder to get the increase in custom I want. Think I better get me skates on quick (couldnt find any skates, but these skis will do)

 

[Adman]

If you don't give a quote first then the fault is all yours. 

You wouldn't engage a tradesman without wanting to know the prices first would you? 

Yes.  I have a boiler man, plumber and sparky and for minor stuff I call them out, they do the job and I pay them.

 

[noobwc]

I would just give the price to them up-front if they don't want it doing that's fine plenty of other places who need work doing 

 

[Craigmac]

Exactly, the prices are low enough. If they're doing it that cheap, fascia etc too surely they'd discover it wasnt worth it. I dont think many of my customers would go over to them, but might make it harder to get the increase in custom I want. Think I better get me skates on quick (couldnt find any skates, but these skis will do)

to me and you it may not be worth it. 

but what if their work is all cash and they claim benefits for being "unemployed". 

 

[CleanEze]

My Thoughts exactly Craigmac . 

 

[THL4KEL]

I wouldnt lose any sleep about them.

They will soon get burnt out doing free fascia. 

Not every customer is on the look out for the cheapest price. 

I would say most customers want a reliable regular service from someone they trust who has a decent reputation. 

 

[Rowan]

I went carding a new housing estate 5 mins from my door Sunday, After carding about 30 houses a managed to talk to a woman just coming out of a new 5 bed house,i asked if she had a cleaner & her reply was a couple of guys with WFP do most of the houses for £15 per clean 6wkly, But included is fascia- Soffots -2/3 velux sky lights every clean ! i didnt bother with any more card drops after them prices..  Oh yes i didnt mention they was'nt local speaking windys ! Polish cheap labour.

I've come across them and their ridiculous prices , one road i clean had flyers through saying, " window cleaning any size house £10 " , What The F.

 

[THL4KEL]

I would not let it stop you, theres only so many houses they can do anyway... Include fascia and your not doing 25 houses a day.

 

[Bart90]

Not every customer is on the look out for the cheapest price. 

I would say most customers want a reliable regular service from someone they trust who has a decent reputation.

Hit the nail on the head there  mate. I think this counts for a lot in this business when from a customers point of view, they're letting someone come onto their property and possibly into their home who they don't know.  People will pay a bit more for peace of mind and someone they can trust.

 

[RWCleaning]

It’s up to everyone at the end of the day. Some only go for price. Up to them, the thing is you can get the same OR EVEN BETTER quality at times with a cheaper price. Some people out there are on very tight budgets as well. But I’ve also had customers who admit that my quote was a few pound more than others but they preferred my approach & van etc. 

Reminds me randomly, A good friend of mine (and fellow window cleaner) 3yrs ago had serious problems on a Vw caddy engine, split pistons or something. As well as other things.

I remember being sat with him while he rang around garages several garages, as his small time mechanic said the job is too big for him. My friend bought a whole engine himself, so he was just looking for someone to basically take out most of his engine and put a new one in. Lots of labour time!! His mechanic said at a wild guess 6-8 days labour or something. But can’t remember what it took now. 

So he rang round a wide range of garages & mechanics, being quite straight and asking what there labour charges were, most where fine & up front, think one or two got defensive & funny.

I remember him saying small scruffy back street garages were £40-50ph, some more bigger & clean cut garages were £60ish+vat 

He then rang VW breeze (VW dealership) he kept putting them off but said he’ll see and if they’re same-ish price he’ll go with them. They were up front, obviously sounding very professional and said they charge: £115per hour + Vat!

I’m sure we’d all have different answers to what we would of done in that situation.  

 

[Poles Apart]

People never cease to amaze me.  I've been doing a big job for well to do folk for about 4 years.  Every now and then they'll ask for an extra.  Was there last time, and they asked for the inside of the conservatory to be done and a roof section which is only accessible from the inside and has two windows + a raised conservatory roof thing with no pvc just about 20 panes.  Hadn't been in done in 12 months but wasn't that bad.  Left them a bill, charged £30 extra for both which i thought was a bargain.  Get a text later in the day saying they think I overpriced and my hourly rate is too high?!  

I do quite a few extras for people and charge more than that on some but was really surprised because they've been great customers up til this point.  It's really strange how some people think as I'm earning the same or more p/h on the windows than i do on the extras on this particular job and they've never complained at that!  I love my job but some people really rub me up the wrong way at times.  

Any other similar stories out there?

How do they know the cost of your out goings?