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[scottish cleaning service]

To be honest, if you put on your van that your minimum price is £8 that could send the wrong message. It does, in my opinion, suggests that you're cheap and dodgy, which you aren't. 

https://preenandclean.com/

I'm looking at this crowd who seem to be the front runner in our game. If you can't beat them, then you have to join them. ?

 

[Master Jedi Alejandro]

I like the idea of having a minimum price on my van and my website to keep the timewasters away. £8 it will be when I get round to it.

*£10. ?

Personally I wasn't going to put on the van as I can offer folk who live in a compact estate a better rate than those I travel to. 

 

[scottish cleaning service]

*£10. ?

Personally I wasn't going to put on the van as I can offer folk who live in a compact estate a better rate than those I travel to. 

I do folk next to me for a fiver but they are only one bedroom homes. I do a lot of work for them so I'm more than happy to keep it that way. I think £8 is a fair price for an ex council two bedroom house, works out at £2 a week. I started one at a tenner then reduced it to £8 and after a year she quit. It was a nightmare because it was upstairs and downstairs was complaining I was messing their windows. In the end I had to put a board up so I'm happy she quit because it was the only house I did in the area. Probably won't take they jobs on anymore, not worth the hassle.

 

[Master Jedi Alejandro]

I do folk next to me for a fiver but they are only one bedroom homes. I do a lot of work for them so I'm more than happy to keep it that way. I think £8 is a fair price for an ex council two bedroom house, works out at £2 a week. I started one at a tenner then reduced it to £8 and after a year she quit. It was a nightmare because it was upstairs and downstairs was complaining I was messing their windows. In the end I had to put a board up so I'm happy she quit because it was the only house I did in the area. Probably won't take they jobs on anymore, not worth the hassle.

You're underpricing yourself man, seriously! We started at about the same time, yeah? Honestly I've discovered, like most on here, folk are happy to pay for a good quality job. Don't put yourself in line with the bob a jobs. £10 minimum is not an unfair price, not when you take into account expenses. Scottish, do yourself a favour. Figure out your profits. Something like this (I'm no accountant):

(using 36 as you've been going about 36 months)

Cost of Van / 36

Yearly Van Costs / 12

Fuel for a month

window cleaning equipment costs / 36 

Total = X

X / number of hours per month you spend window cleaning

Then, take your monthly window cleaning earnings (forget everything else you do, otherwise you'll need add the expenses for them also) / number of hours per month you spend window cleaning = Z (Net hourly rate)

Z - X = Your hourly profit from all your work. Honestly mate it should be minimum £15 an hour. 

EDIT: I'll add I still have jobs that are less than £10, but those are only the compact ones. And new jobs, unless right next to these other compact jobs, are £10 minimum.

 

[scottish cleaning service]

You're underpricing yourself man, seriously! We started at about the same time, yeah? Honestly I've discovered, like most on here, folk are happy to pay for a good quality job. Don't put yourself in line with the bob a jobs. £10 minimum is not an unfair price, not when you take into account expenses. Scottish, do yourself a favour. Figure out your profits. Something like this (I'm no accountant):

(using 36 as you've been going about 36 months)

Cost of Van / 36

Yearly Van Costs / 12

Fuel for a month

window cleaning equipment costs / 36 

Total = X

X / number of hours per month you spend window cleaning

Then, take your monthly window cleaning earnings (forget everything else you do, otherwise you'll need add the expenses for them also) / number of hours per month you spend window cleaning = Z (Net hourly rate)

Z - X = Your hourly profit from all your work. Honestly mate it should be minimum £15 an hour. 

EDIT: I'll add I still have jobs that are less than £10, but those are only the compact ones. And new jobs, unless right next to these other compact jobs, are £10 minimum.

Aye but one of those customers gave me a nearly new 3 seater and now I'm getting the two seater settee. They cost £2.5k and are less than a year old. I have furnished my home from customers next to me. So its swings and roundabouts. The funny thing is I only do less than 10 homes and there is 50 on the estate. That's the way I like it, I do all their PW and fences for them and I can pop home for tea break, toilet and lunchtime. ?  

 

[Iron Giant]

That’s what has always put me off, but I’m not worried about the competition like that anymore. A customer wants a cheap job they’re welcome to it. Time will tell of course. I may end up eating my words and taking it down ?

I'll let you be the proverbial guinea pig ?

 

[Pjj]

I like the idea of having a minimum price on my van and my website to keep the timewasters away. £8 it will be when I get round to it.

Think you should increase that it’s to low .

 

[NewGuy]

Aye but one of those customers gave me a nearly new 3 seater and now I'm getting the two seater settee. They cost £2.5k and are less than a year old. I have furnished my home from customers next to me. So its swings and roundabouts.

Are you running a business or a community support group? ?

 

[scottish cleaning service]

Think you should increase that it’s to low .

Probably right but £8 is good for Scotland. ?

Are you running a business or a community support group? ?

I'm like a social worker or Noel Edmonds Swap Shop. ?

 

[Pjj]

Probably right but £8 is good for Scotland. ?

I'm like a social worker or Noel Edmonds Swap Shop. ?

Your mate down the road doesn’t think so ?? @Master Jedi Alejandro?? you need to take a leaf out of his book .

 

[RWCleaning]

My minimum to older existing customers or next door neighbours to another job is £10.  
 

But the last year or so to new enquiries I’ve said my minimum is £12. Recently picked up a tiny 1 bed bungalow. 1 bay window, 3 normal windows and 2 doors. Apparently her last window cleaner was £8. I told her my minimum was £12 she said that’s fair enough and thought the last guy was too cheap. 
 

I don’t state my minimum charge anywhere on van or website nor leaflets . Just tell them in person/over the phone if needs be. 
 

Front only’s and very small jobs on your minimum can sometimes be the best paying.
I have a road where I cant do the backs, so I just do front terraced. 3 bed terrace houses. So 3 windows & a door for a tenner. One of them has 4 windows and a door.  Annoyingly I just lost one ‘for the time being’ so just got the 2 for now. But when I had the 3 of them I could do all 3 (£30) in 25 minutes working quite leisurely and moving the van once.
I fantasise about getting 9 or 10 on that road and earning £60 an hour, but a lot of them have window cleaners who happily book in specific times and go through houses etc.
One of the neighbours gets the front done for a fiver she told me a few years ago ??

 

[scottish cleaning service]

Your mate down the road doesn’t think so ?? @Master Jedi Alejandro?? you need to take a leaf out of his book .

I try and copy https://preenandclean.com/ and they are still £8.

I have won a contract with a big company so not wanting to increase my window side at the moment.

 

[Pjj]

My minimum to older existing customers or next door neighbours to another job is £10.  
 

But the last year or so to new enquiries I’ve said my minimum is £12. Recently picked up a tiny 1 bed bungalow. 1 bay window, 3 normal windows and 2 doors. Apparently her last window cleaner was £8. I told her my minimum was £12 she said that’s fair enough and thought the last guy was too cheap. 
 

I don’t state my minimum charge anywhere on van or website nor leaflets . Just tell them in person/over the phone if needs be. 
 

Front only’s and very small jobs on your minimum can sometimes be the best paying.
I have a road where I cant do the backs, so I just do front terraced. 3 bed terrace houses. So 3 windows & a door for a tenner. One of them has 4 windows and a door.  Annoyingly I just lost one ‘for the time being’ so just got the 2 for now. But when I had the 3 of them I could do all 3 (£30) in 25 minutes working quite leisurely and moving the van once.
I fantasise about getting 9 or 10 on that road and earning £60 an hour, but a lot of them have window cleaners who happily book in specific times and go through houses etc.
One of the neighbours gets the front done for a fiver she told me a few years ago ??

I always turned down fronts only , then read a post on the other forum about a guy who does mainly Victorian fronts and makes very good money , since then we have started doing the same mine are priced at £10-12 a go we regularly do 8 per hour to be honest I wish we had more of them very easy work no dragging hose round the backs  , don’t know why I didn’t do it years ago , ????

 

[RWCleaning]

I always turned down fronts only , then read a post on the other forum about a guy who does mainly Victorian fronts and makes very good money , since then we have started doing the same mine are priced at £10-12 a go we regularly do 8 per hour to be honest I wish we had more of them very easy work no dragging hose round the backs  , don’t know why I didn’t do it years ago , ????

Ah don’t worry Paul, You’ll get the hang of this window cleaning thing one day ?

 

[Pjj]

I try and copy https://preenandclean.com/ and they are still £8.

I have won a contract with a big company so not wanting to increase my window side at the moment.

Don’t worry what others are charging work smarter not harder , work to a better standard be regular and go the extra mile , we do some jobs at 3x the price of the competition and ones are more than happy to pay it .

Ah don’t worry Paul, You’ll get the hang of this window cleaning thing one day ?

Yes it’s only taken me 22 years , bit slow on the uptake ??

 

[scottish cleaning service]

I always turned down fronts only , then read a post on the other forum about a guy who does mainly Victorian fronts and makes very good money , since then we have started doing the same mine are priced at £10-12 a go we regularly do 8 per hour to be honest I wish we had more of them very easy work no dragging hose round the backs  , don’t know why I didn’t do it years ago , ????

That's why I like to try everything and get a taste for it. One soon stops the hard jobs with no money in it and jumps at the easy ones.

 

[harunh]

To be honest, if you put on your van that your minimum price is £8 that could send the wrong message. It does, in my opinion, suggests that you're cheap and dodgy, which you aren't. 

How do u know hes not dodgy ? never judge a person via an online forum lol

 

[harunh]

I always turned down fronts only , then read a post on the other forum about a guy who does mainly Victorian fronts and makes very good money , since then we have started doing the same mine are priced at £10-12 a go we regularly do 8 per hour to be honest I wish we had more of them very easy work no dragging hose round the backs  , don’t know why I didn’t do it years ago , ????

Your still a newbie and still learning ???

 

[RWCleaning]

@Pjj Lol yes.

On a serious note, what would you have done differently along the way to where you are today? I remember you saying last year you were thinking about downsizing again, what made you say that? At what point do you think/know when you’re ready to take on the first employee? 
i’ve been umming & urghing the last 4 months or so about a part time-3 day a week employee but never decide to fully commit to the idea. 

I like your business model. I prefer the idea of being someone who does a variety of cleaning services rather than just windows. I do the normal ones with a brush & pure, but do some exterior wall cleans and recently moss treatment.  I don’t like pressure washing. I like the idea of taking on a employee and them in their own van (well my van) just doing regular maintenance windows,  and I do all the add ons, one offs & first cleans. But don’t know if I would have enough my self? Feel a bit unsure and confused. But I guess the longer I wait the more my work can be refined I suppose so not an emergency’s 

if you prefer to speak privately then d.m me. ?

 

[swc1]

don’t know why I didn’t do it years ago , ????

We all say that at one time or another! ?

 

[Pjj]

@Pjj Lol yes.

On a serious note, what would you have done differently along the way to where you are today? I remember you saying last year you were thinking about downsizing again, what made you say that? At what point do you think/know when you’re ready to take on the first employee? 
i’ve been umming & urghing the last 4 months or so about a part time-3 day a week employee but never decide to fully commit to the idea. 

I like your business model. I prefer the idea of being someone who does a variety of cleaning services rather than just windows. I do the normal ones with a brush & pure, but do some exterior wall cleans and recently moss treatment.  I don’t like pressure washing. I like the idea of taking on a employee and them in their own van (well my van) just doing regular maintenance windows,  and I do all the add ons, one offs & first cleans. But don’t know if I would have enough my self? Feel a bit unsure and confused. But I guess the longer I wait the more my work can be refined I suppose so not an emergency’s 

if you prefer to speak privately then d.m me. ?

Ime quite happy to answer your  questions on hear just don’t want to be accused of boasting or self promotion , I’ll try and keep it as short as possible. 

I started window cleaning with a renault Clio the family car , and trad set up , didn’t have a clue about pricing there was only one other cleaner who was unreliable and did  a bad job ,he charged £3:50 per house regardless of size !!! worked  in the morning and pub all afternoon every day including Saturdays , so I charged £4:50 per house and found I could do 4 per hour , I quickly realised being self employed this was not enough so gradually put my prices up , but again still didn’t have a clue what I should be charging ,and to be honest still haven’t theses days , Ime not the cheapest but not the dearest either we get around 90% of all jobs we quote . After going wfp I grew rapidly as I was the only cleaner in my area with it and word got around I could do jobs others could not , we are still the go to firm by most in the area there are now loads with wfp some larger firms with multiple vans but most dint have a good reputation, unreliable,poor quality of work , etc , we are regular do a good job and go the extra mile for the customer and this has paid dividends . 

Taking on staff is a hard one finding  the right people is difficult, I have had to get rid of a couple over the years due to being constantly late or doing a poor job , or lazy  attitude , the ones I have now are all ex emergency services workers who I have known for a long time through the Fireservice, they all are self disciplined people used to dealing with people in a friendly manner this goes a long way .

Deciding  when to take on staff is difficult as most will want full time work not a few days hear and there , I initially had a youngster in 3 days a week guaranteed and if we had extra jobs 5 days , he didn’t cut the mustard so sacked him , then took on one of the guys from my fire station he was brilliant hard worker , trustworthy and got on with the job , I expanded rapidly from there I went from one van to 3 vans with in 8 months and I could easily have 6 -8 vans on the road  now , if not more but I want to start slowing down and not working 5 days a week there are more imp things in life than work . I cannot decide wether to sell the vans to the guys along with the rounds they do or to look at franchising , all my staff want to buy there vans and rounds and lay me fir new leads I have turned down over 275 leads since March last year as we just cannot take on any more work , I don’t want to sell them on to other cleaners as if the turn out to be unreliable it will reflect badly on me , it’s taken me 22 years to get ware I am and build the reputation we have and don’t want anyone to damage that . 

A lot of our customers are wealthy or famous people , or run large hotels , Manor houses , or estates , they want a company that they can trust to have keys and access codes to the properties do work to a high standard And  time scale , For all  types all cleaning , softwashing, pressure washing, plastic cleaning , gutter vaccing , etc they already know and trust us and have BACS set up so it’s just one call or email to get us do another job for them , this works well for us and them and us very lucrative fir us as we pick ul loads of extra work from these customers . 

We work 2 guys per van this isn’t always the most cost effective way of working but a lot of the stuff we do it would involve loan working in an area with poor or no phone signal so feel that’s the only safe option , plus I have found the guys are more motivated when there is two of them especially on the bigger jobs , we could earn more money with one per van but it’s not just about that for me . We have several jobs that we have 3 vans and six staff on for a couple of days , one of the vans generally does London stuff every six weeks although I do alternate the staff now and again so that they are all treated the same and all do all work this is beneficial if ones are of  sick or holiday as everyone knows all the work we do . 

This isn’t meant to be boastful but this is my personal experience and what I have done , I do appreciate Ime in a privileged position with minimal competition, and a lot of very well of customers . But feel it can be achieved by anyone I dont consider myself anything special and I hate paperwork , if I can do this anyone with a bit of get up and go can achieve the same , or build much bigger I made a decision I don’t want to grow the business any larger but could have easily  done so , I think anyone can do it it just might take longer in certain areas , any questions just ask ,