FSG newbie Pricing help - North West

[Barry Williamson]

Hi guys, looking for a bit of help quoting this job.  Never done FSG before and have had a look at some of the the forum topics, but welcome any suggestions.  Am in the NW.

Customer is replacing all the soffits/windows etc in the future so this is purely a tidy up rather than a restore.  I plan use customers outside tap to the hose reel, Gardiner flocked sill brush and screwfix degreaser either straight onto the brush or onto the plastic from a cheap hand pump chemical sprayer, then scrubbed off.  Don’t have access to a gutter vac, but have a Gardiner gutter agitator.  Customer knows I don’t use ladders either so will be whatever can be done from ground level.  She has done some cleaning herself at the front & back of the house using a brush and a chemical cleaner (grime-away?) and they came up ok, which is what she wants from me too - cleaned, not restored.  Nothing has been cleaned in years, most window frames got a bit of greenery.

Ideally I will split the quote:

1. Clear the gutter contents

2. Clean the soffits, fascia and gutter exterior

3. Normal monthly window clean (first clean done after FSG, included with quote for soffits etc).

FSG then windows done with pure afterwards.  Would suggest around £20pm for a normal monthly window clean.

Anything I might have missed?  Any potential problems? How would you quote for each part? 

Pics below! Thanks guys!  There isn’t a decent pic of the front of the house, but the windows with the louvres are at the front of the house, end of the wall where the door is.

 

[Incheck]

It’s easily a days work for one bloke this time of year , whatever your day rate is really. If you wanna break it down then do so but i wouldn’t bother. Cleaning the plastics is the most time consuming part.


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[Part Timer]

It’s easily a days work for one bloke this time of year , whatever your day rate is really. If you wanna break it down then do so but i wouldn’t bother. Cleaning the plastics is the most time consuming part.


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I would slightly rephrase the above, I think it would be an easy days work for someone this time of year. Gutters are an hour max with pro gutter tools off a large step ladder. I don't know what the prices are like in your area, I doubt I would get the windows for £20 where I live, not saying you won't get that there. I would be very happy with £150 for first job and if I could get £15 there after it would probably be  one of my better hourly rate jobs. Good luck whatever price you submit.

 

[Cristian]

Make a price your happy with and quote it, that's all I can say. 

 

[Lawrence Morgan]

I say about 150 for the 1st clean and gutter clear etc

4 weekly clean I aim for 16quid

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[Incheck]

With respect [emoji4] if he’s a newbie to it, there’s christmas lights all along the guttering which won’t help (i wouldn’t do it if they were still up) but if overseen until now & you show up finding out you’ve got to ask the customer to take them down on the day, it could mean an hour waiting for them to sort that out. if every downpipe happens to be blocked (which was the case on one we did recently) you could find yourself unscrewing the brackets pulling them apart and re-fitting them. One was blocked solidly all the way to the ground and further under. He hasnt got a gutter vac either and if the said tools dont do the job its a lot of ladder shuffling, what if the roof tiles come over quite far and you cant get the tools in? Plastic on all 4 sides including the roof window & there’s cladding under some of the windows. Looking pretty green in places too. Its a big bungalow, the windows haven’t been done for considerable time, there could be a fair few magic sponges/cream cleaner, Scraper blades involved. For someone who hasn’t done a FSG before it could easily take longer than anticipated. You can always drop a price but you cant raise it...


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[Part Timer]

It's a clean, not a restore and I would assume the work is done after the lights are off. No obvious signs of down pipes being blocked, plants growing out of them tends to give it away, or green marks, and on the photos downpipes don't seem to be screwed together. If he is a newbie then securing the work, so he can be paid whilst learning, would be the most important thing to do in my book. 

Worst case scenario is a newbie earns £150 to learn what to look out for next time. Not bad pay for an apprentice.

 

[Incheck]

It's a clean, not a restore and I would assume the work is done after the lights are off. No obvious signs of down pipes being blocked, plants growing out of them tends to give it away, or green marks, and on the photos downpipes don't seem to be screwed together. If he is a newbie then securing the work, so he can be paid whilst learning, would be the most important thing to do in my book. 
Worst case scenario is a newbie earns £150 to learn what to look out for next time. Not bad pay for an apprentice.

Yeah you’re right, it is a bungalow after all which is easier than a house for a first FSG. I restore as much as poss as well as clean, especially when it comes to windows, because the last thing i want is somebody going “uuughh that looks a bit grey” or having to make a repeat journey. It’s done then for when it comes to the repeat clean also. It is physical on the body, personally i’d be pretty knackered after doing that on my own and wouldn’t think about booking anything major in after it, maybe some repeat windows where reminders aren’t required if i had time [emoji2]


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[Part Timer]

The only fascias that are bad are the peaks, the actual part where the lights are, and the other side, don't look like they need chems, just a run over with water and brush. House would be a different kettle of fish as you say it is tiring. 

 

[Incheck]

The only fascias that are bad are the peaks, the actual part where the lights are, and the other side, don't look like they need chems, just a run over with water and brush. House would be a different kettle of fish as you say it is tiring. 

Yeah for sure. i’m so used to doing FSG’s as a pair, takes us half a day and then we carry on with something else. The thought of doing one on my own would be a bit daunting. I’ve got stamina but i am known for back problems see. I work through it though as we’ve all got to [emoji123]


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[Pjj]

Vac out gutters £80 , Clean all the gfs £150 windows £30 , mornings work for one man 

 

[Barry Williamson]

Thanks everyone for your input so far - very useful.  Will let you know how the quote goes...as commented above, I want to do it almost as much for the experience (good, bad or ugly) as for the wage, will help me decide what to do for future jobs etc.

 

[Part Timer]

Thanks everyone for your input so far - very useful.  Will let you know how the quote goes...as commented above, I want to do it almost as much for the experience (good, bad or ugly) as for the wage, will help me decide what to do for future jobs etc.

It's that attitude that will help you succeed. The more experience you can get the better you will become. You're far better off learning from your pricing mistakes, as you will still be earning £20 an hour, then missing jobs because you are erring on the side of safety time wise. 

 

[Pjj]

It’s easily a days work for one bloke this time of year , whatever your day rate is really. If you wanna break it down then do so but i wouldn’t bother. Cleaning the plastics is the most time consuming part.


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I dont don’t want to be rude but I would do two jobs a day like that on my own and Ime 55 , how on earth could that take all day it’s only a bungalow most of the gfs are 8 feet off the ground it’s a bread and butter job , if it was 3 story 5 bed detached with a double garage then I would agree . Prices will vary across the country but time taken should be the same where  ever you are . 

Oviously it will take someone starting out longer than than an experienced cleaner , but still shouldn’t take all day 

 

[Incheck]

 
 
 
 
I dont don’t want to be rude but I would do two jobs a day like that on my own and Ime 55 , how on earth could that take all day it’s only a bungalow most of the gfs are 8 feet off the ground it’s a bread and butter job , if it was 3 story 5 bed detached with a double garage then I would agree . Prices will vary across the country but time taken should be the same where  ever you are 

Fair play to you if you can do two of them a day & earn that kind of money, that is quick. no way would i book in two of those in one day. I don’t rush about anymore. I restore as i go and check over rigorously. I do go a bit OTT on things because i assume every customer is OCD. to the extent where sometimes i do think i take it a bit far, but at least in my mind i know i’ve done the best i can. I don’t think i could get away charging £270 for half a day, let alone do it twice. I inherit a lot of work from previous wfp cleaners, and there will be grey sills, paint blobs on window panes, one guy literally said to my face “oh no i don’t remove paint”. Maybe i go a hurdle too far, but customers notice it. work 8-5 normally. i would allocate about 6 hours the above job.. Which if you think about it, 8-15 til 2-15, in winter, That is the best part of the day gone. Given, it may not take me that long, but i allow for unforeseen circumstances. When i started out i had a really bad review (partly due to my own inexperience) also down to her expecting way over the odds for the price she was quoted, i didnt view the job before taking it also which was a big mistake as she had builders there making a mess, painting and plastering as i was there cleaning. They literally caked every window frame in plaster and paint. it was a complete disaster & i hadnt anticipated that or priced in for it. So just dont want it to happen ever again you know.


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[Dave B]

I dont don’t want to be rude but I would do two jobs a day like that on my own and Ime 55 , how on earth could that take all day it’s only a bungalow most of the gfs are 8 feet off the ground it’s a bread and butter job , if it was 3 story 5 bed detached with a double garage then I would agree . Prices will vary across the country but time taken should be the same where  ever you are . 

Oviously it will take someone starting out longer than than an experienced cleaner , but still shouldn’t take all day 

Definitely a bread and butter job

I would squeeze that job in if i had a quiet day on the windows

Couple of hours and then back to regular work

 

[Pjj]

Fair play to you if you can do two of them a day & earn that kind of money, that is quick. no way would i book in two of those in one day. I don’t rush about anymore. I restore as i go and check over rigorously. I do go a bit OTT on things because i assume every customer is OCD. to the extent where sometimes i do think i take it a bit far, but at least in my mind i know i’ve done the best i can. I don’t think i could get away charging £270 for half a day, let alone do it twice. I inherit a lot of work from previous wfp cleaners, and there will be grey sills, paint blobs on window panes, one guy literally said to my face “oh no i don’t remove paint”. Maybe i go a hurdle too far, but customers notice it. work 8-5 normally. i would allocate about 6 hours the above job.. Which if you think about it, 8-15 til 2-15, in winter, That is the best part of the day gone. Given, it may not take me that long, but i allow for unforeseen circumstances. When i started out i had a really bad review (partly due to my own inexperience) also down to her expecting way over the odds for the price she was quoted, i didnt view the job before taking it also which was a big mistake as she had builders there making a mess, painting and plastering as i was there cleaning. They literally caked every window frame in plaster and paint. it was a complete disaster & i hadnt anticipated that or priced in for it. So just dont want it to happen ever again you know.


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We wouldnt remove remove paint off the glass that’s a builders clean , removing or I should say trying to remove grey from plastics again isn’t a clean that’s restoring , I would do a test patch foc to show the customer what the finished results would look like , we don’t do builders cleans nor restoration as I have found that generally once plastic has gone grey it will go like it again generally due to degrading black seals then the customer isn’t happy if it’s thatbad and they are very fussy I explain that it really needs replacing , down hear a lot of the properties are very expensive and a lot are second homes generally people are happy to pay a reasonable price to have work carried out to a high standard , may be Ime lucky with that I do understand that other parts of the country it’s not possible to charge higher prices but we are always booked up at least 6 weeks in advance for this type of work and I have recently started putting up prices as usually we get 98 % of all work we quote for , I think that as an industry we greatly under value our services and sell our selves far to cheaply : there are window cleaners around me who are half the price we charge most do a very poor job , if you do a very good job get your company a good reputation people will say they do a good job but are expensive I don’t have a problem with that , most of our work comes through recommendation , just as an example we did the inside of a conservatory last week took under 4 hours price £400 the customer thought that was a bargain and said he would of happily paid considerably more , as you can see it’s nothing special , look at Thomas Sanderson prices why should we earn any less than what they charge for the same job ? 

 

[Incheck]

     
 
 
 
We wouldnt remove remove paint off the glass that’s a builders clean , removing or I should say trying to remove grey from plastics again isn’t a clean that’s restoring , I would do a test patch foc to show the customer what the finished results would look like , we don’t do builders cleans nor restoration as I have found that generally once plastic has gone grey it will go like it again generally due to degrading black seals then the customer isn’t happy if it’s thatbad and they are very fussy I explain that it really needs replacing , down hear a lot of the properties are very expensive and a lot are second homes generally people are happy to pay a reasonable price to have work carried out to a high standard , may be Ime lucky with that I do understand that other parts of the country it’s not possible to charge higher prices but we are always booked up at least 6 weeks in advance for this type of work and I have recently started putting up prices as usually we get 98 % of all work we quote for , 

That’s really good mate. Yeah we are generally booked up a month in advance but not all on plastics. Our work is quite varied as a rule of thumb. I am going OTT by restoring everything then. I’m just so terrified of bad reviews especially in this age where it goes online for the whole world to see. I’ve worked for people who really are hard work, i term as quality control inspectors, and now i just assume danger in every customer, so do my utmost to please them. They pay for it like but you get where im coming from. Where i am in Cardiff the traffic is absolutely horrific, it took us 45 minutes the other day to travel a mile. Didnt get to the job until 8 45. Also the roadworks have been going on in various places constantly for 3 years and the school run jeeeeze it gets bad man. Thats what i mean by unforseen circunstances. Spend half the day sat behind the wheel sometimes [emoji849] have a lovely christmas dude! [emoji4]


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[Pjj]

That’s really good mate. Yeah we are generally booked up a month in advance but not all on plastics. Our work is quite varied as a rule of thumb. I am going OTT by restoring everything then. I’m just so terrified of bad reviews especially in this age where it goes online for the whole world to see. I’ve worked for people who really are hard work, i term as quality control inspectors, and now i just assume danger in every customer, so do my utmost to please them. They pay for it like but you get where im coming from. Where i am in Cardiff the traffic is absolutely horrific, it took us 45 minutes the other day to travel a mile. Didnt get to the job until 8 45. Also the roadworks have been going on in various places constantly for 3 years and the school run jeeeeze it gets bad man. Thats what i mean by unforseen circunstances. Spend half the day sat behind the wheel sometimes

have a lovely christmas dude!

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Thanks you you are welcome as an experiment try pricing a few jobs higher see how it goes if you don’t get any of them then maybe you have gone to high , there’s an expression don’t work harder work smarter , it’s taken me 20 years to really appriciate putting this into practice : I know explaine to the customer exactly what and how we are going to do the job and explaine why it’s the price it is —- accessing over conservatory roofs , unblocking down pipes flushing them through , most work done from the ground , using environmental friendly products etc if you sell the customer the service and explaine it generally they understand why it’s costing what it does it also proves that you know what you are talking about , we use a portfolio of photos of other jobs we have done before - after pics this also works well , we use an iPad and then zoom in on difficult areas to get to very dirty bits to show the potential customers what we can do for there property I know it might sound ott but it workes the majority of times , give it a try , once you have just one or two very good customers they will recomend you to there friends and away you go , the opposite is also true do a cheap job and they will say ah but you did so an sos for ££££. Then they expect a cheap price   Try it out if you are busy it doesn’t matter if you don’t get every job but the ones you do get are very worth while 

 

[Incheck]

 
 
Thanks you you are welcome as an experiment try pricing a few jobs higher see how it goes if you don’t get any of them then maybe you have gone to high , there’s an expression don’t work harder work smarter , it’s taken me 20 years to really appriciate putting this into practice : I know explaine to the customer exactly what and how we are going to do the job and explaine why it’s the price it is —- accessing over conservatory roofs , unblocking down pipes flushing them through , most work done from the ground , using environmental friendly products etc if you sell the customer the service and explaine it generally they understand why it’s costing what it does it also proves that you know what you are talking about , we use a portfolio of photos of other jobs we have done before - after pics this also works well , we use an iPad and then zoom in on difficult areas to get to very dirty bits to show the potential customers what we can do for there property I know it might sound ott but it workes the majority of times , give it a try , once you have just one or two very good customers they will recomend you to there friends and away you go , the opposite is also true do a cheap job and they will say ah but you did so an sos for ££££. Then they expect a cheap price   Try it out if you are busy it doesn’t matter if you don’t get every job but the ones you do get are very worth while 

What part of the country are you in fella?


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[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

It's a clean, not a restore

I know thats what was said but on FSG there is no difference. Regardless of what the client 'asks' what they are expecting is nice white gutters again. 

You cant charge for a varying degree of clean it is simply clean or it is not. 

As a noob this will take you longer than a seasoned pro and I see that taking a minimum of 4 hours to do with my 10 years experience so for you Mr Noob (no offence) alloe at least 8 hours.  

I would also want at least £250 to do all that.  Minimum. Then you can relax, settle in take your time and do a job you're going to be proud of in the end. 

Start with the gutters, clear all downpipes first then channels, then start on the outside.  Work no more than 1 meter (1 clip to 1 clip) a time this way in smaller chunks it is more manageable and you have no chance of chems drying on the plastic as you try to do too much area at once.