AJ Fry
Well-known member
- Messages
- 51
- Location
- Southampton
This is such good information and something even though I'm in my very first few weeks of business have seen, and I'm appreciating straight away the importance of you own pricing system and ignore the rest.Hi Neil, as I said on the phone to you yesterday most of these £4 - £5 'bob a job' lads come out of hibernation in the spring, top up their beer money for the summer and come late autumn sell rounds on for 3 or 4 times a clean to tide them over till the weather thaws again then start building another junk pocket money round.
I've said it at least once (possibly more times) before, there has been an actual shift the past couple of years in the British Consumer, people are starting to value quality and reliability over the 'cheapest price'
This has been proven time and time again up and down the country.
When I first joined this forum I was doing 3 bed semis at £8 - £10 per clean (2010, 2011) now our minimum for a 3 bed semi is £14 (typical ex council style) I had loads of replies on here to posts about pricing even back in 2011 with people saying 'You won't get that round here, the going rate is......' Then something twigged in the old grey matter...... the going rate is WHATEVER you decide it is for your service.
If I listened to half the pricing nonsense I've heard on F'B and some forums I'd be thinking £4 a house or £5 with a conservatory was acceptable..
The one thing to avoid is thinking you need to close EVERY deal regardless and becoming a bargain basement window cleaner. Pick and chose the clients you want from the off and life runs much smoother.
8 years ago I was told £5 was the going rate for a 3 bed semi here in the Midlands even though I was charging £8..... Now today at a minimum of £14 I get comments on posts and Youtube vids with lads gone the other extreme of 'That's too cheap, that's £25 minimum up here' So you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.
Set a pricing structure early on that you're happy with and stand by and to hell with what anyone else thinks of the price, they aren't putting food on your table.
Now sit back and wait for the 'Oh yeah but if the works compact then those prices..... blah, blah, blah' Total nonsense. The price of a 3 bed semi should be the same as the price of a 3 bed semi weather you got one on the road or 10.
Remember, it all starts with just 1.
I live in middle class suburbia between Southampton and Portsmouth, people here are cash rich and time poor, meaning they'll pay for convenience. However trying to make head nor tail of what window cleaners charge in my area is beyond me. Ive got customers who own 2 bed bungalows telling me I'm too cheap at £16 a clean every 4 weeks to pricing a 5 bed detached at £24 and saying they've had quotes for £15 every 8 weeks! there are many more examples of inconsistent pricing and as i'm new and want to turn every enquiry into a job I'm quickly realising rather than trying to second guess how much people will pay or cut a deal, I'm simply gonna know how much a 3 bed is how much a 4 bed and so on. As my reputation grows and word of mouth spreads, turn up in a polite and professional manner, people will pay what you charge and the industry is definitely changing and people don't always go for the cheapest price, and if they do they soon regret it and get back in touch as the cheaper guy simply wasn't reliable or thorough.
However it certainly isn't easy letting enquiries go as they've gone with a cheaper quote but in the long run having a pricing system in place from day one is the way to go.