I'm new to the game- starting out end of january

[dave83]

hi everyone, i thought i would give you all an update on how it is going. After doing my own house and cleaning 15 years worth of dirt off the windows and regaining my confidence after using ubik 2000 on grubby windows, i've been talking to friends and lots of them would like a window cleaner. job 1 i cleaned an upstairs flat, 4 windows altogether for £10, whilst doing it job 2 i was approached by a local restaurant owner 4 windows upstairs again- next door, once a month £10. I would welcome your thoughts on whether i quoted too cheap. Both paid me on the spot.

Restaurant is established and doing well. Potential to clean conservatory once the place expands. whilst on job 1 i heard a lady walking past muttering i wish he would clean my windows. a missed opportunity- i was too focused on doing my 1st job, i didn't even get a chance to give her a business card- millwall steve (i've nicknamed you grandmaster flash due to your experience) will be livid with me!

i get along well with the local petrol station owner, i've attached a few pictures, i try and use green pros pricing method, how would you price this providing everything is moved out of the way? he did mention inside but no way do i want to be moving sweet stands and all the other **** out of the way.

View attachment 6825

 

[boarcity]

moving the sweet stands etc will be very worthwhile. youv made it as a credible windie in the eyes of joepublic by being there working and folk Will see you,who might enquire about your services. HANG AROUND LONG AS POSSIBLE drag out the job so youre seen by many. I personally would price that at "a fiver out and a fiver in if you ask". Any lower than that is a bit silly and any higher then old Mergatroyde who lives next door will smell big money and he will undercut you out of the picture and then the opportunitys gone

repeat the phrase "if you ask" so theyre clear its only if they ask on arrival that you do the inside

that way you are not commited to doin the ins everytime

 

[Jimroot]

dont worry about that woman too much, if she really wanted to pay for clean windows she'd have shouted up to you @dave83

 

[SkulBlaker]

Pricing sounds spot on to me mate. Glad to see your doing good like @Jimroot says if the woman really wanted you to do the Windows she would have stopped and asked. Make noise when your out cleaning, draws attention to you and gets you noticed.

 

[steve garwood]

Good advice that skulbaker, something I agree with. Sing or whistle whilst working around people. Not only will it attract attention, but it makes you look happy in your work so more approachable

 

[Duncs]

Good advice that skulbaker, something I agree with. Sing or whistle whilst working around people. Not only will it attract attention, but it makes you look happy in your work so more approachable

thats what I done when i was on the ladders used to make a much noise as possible, always happy and chatty

 

[Duncs]

mainly due to the work load i,m cleaning 6-7 weeks two guys me and my mate

but as soon as my mate is through his test going to kit van out and he will be out on his own

the work will come ,if your keen prepared to work hard

 

[Elliot]

It really is worthwhile just saying morning to people who walk past as your working . A lot will say morning back and carry on walking . But you will get some who maybe would not have approached you actually stop and ask for a price .

 

[Dave B]

I say hello to anyone who passes

Makes you seem the friendly windy

 

[steve garwood]

It really is worthwhile just saying morning to people who walk past as your working . A lot will say morning back and carry on walking . But you will get some who maybe would not have approached you actually stop and ask for a price .

But what if its the afternoon?

 

[Elliot]

Ha ha . If it's the afternoon you'll be in the boozer .

 

[dave83]

how much does everyone charge for fascias and/or soffits? Green Pro do you have a formula for pricing this work as well. £ per metre? Good friend of mine, didn't want windows done but cleaned two of them as thats where the dirt ended up going!

 

[SkulBlaker]

All depends what your wanting to make per hour mate, plus a little bit extra. I did a 3 bed semi, sofits/fascias/gutters and asked for £150 for the lot, took just over 3 hours and that was me taking my time as owners were in.

 

[David K]

Welcome ! :thumbsup:

Imo its important to get really good and spot on with the Windows . Focus on that ! When you get Good at that , then apply add-ons ..

 

[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

how much does everyone charge for fascias and/or soffits? Green Pro do you have a formula for pricing this work as well. £ per metre? Good friend of mine, didn't want windows done but cleaned two of them as thats where the dirt ended up going!

I got a formula for everything NaHCO3 + C6H12O6 + C14H45N5O8 + H2O + C22H42O2 = Happy window cleaner! << This formula is however no good for cleaning windows!

I aim to earn £1 per minute on the glass - so a job that takes 15 minutes is £15, a job that takes an hour is £60 and so on. These days I have a minimum £12 charge even if the job only takes 5 minutes. You have to actor in materials, time to get there and so on. Anyone around here that even hints at £12 being too steep for window cleaning will be a messer and I move on, simple. People realize that this is not 1976 where window cleaning cost £2 this is 2016 and if they are happy paying £10 for fags £15 for a McDonalds for two £10 for two Starbucks etc then they should have no issue with £12 for a window cleaner.

The next part of my comment will upset some but I truly believe that several on here try to take pricing to a whole new science )number of windows x number of frames x number of panes x width + ambient temperature - liters used) and that's just crazy the one and only honest answer to what you should quote is 'Whatever you like' If you want to quote £5 for a 5 bed detached with conservatory that's your business, if you want to charge £25 for a flat with 4 windows that's your business.

Honestly do whatever makes you happy.

Many on here that have played the game for a good few years will turn up to a quote, at a glance they know the price, and if the customer does not like that then the windy will smile and say.. 'you got my number, call me if you need me' and leave without a second thought. it can be frustrating when starting but only experience can teach you and eventually you will be at the level where you just know how much you charge per job.

I priced two jobs tonight and got them both, as I write this I am thinking that 5 years ago I would have charged £8 for the first and £10 for the second and (as many did back then) they would have bit my hand off. Today they were quoted at £14 & £18 respectively and neither one blinked as they accepted my price. Nothing has changed so much in the past 5 years as to affect my pricing so much with the exception of today I know without hesitation how much each of those jobs is worth to me and I am not going to do them for a penny less. Experience.

 

[Dave B]

I have my own formula to price any jobs that I am not sure of i.e. big house..style of house I've never done before etc but i usually turn up at a quote and know off the top of my head what it will cost

Especially in this town as each area here has it's own particular style of house

I can usually see the front on google maps and quote accurately even if they have a standard conservatory

If it's something out of the ordinary i would go have a look

 

[dave83]

grandmaster flash- Millwall Steve- I welcome your comments on fascia pricing. I like the idea of £1 a minute pricing. I need to fix in my mind that charging too little i'm selling myself short. Cost of equipment, chemicals, van/car, my time, rain days where no work can be done etc.

 

[dave83]

Just thought I would give an update as to how i am getting on.

i have around 40 customers so far, priced well and the round is organised I haven't lost one customer so far and i have just finished a website with gavs help.

I still have my other part time job which i think by the time i get to 60 customers, I will start to drop my hours to concentrate on the windows more.

re: advertising i have learnt you need abit of everything, leaflets drops- have an army of kids ready to do these. Paying £10 for 250 dropped which i think is about right, leaflets i leave on the side at a local hairdresser- somewhere where the customers sit before they get their hair done- have picked up two from this. Website- gav has finished this, facebook page and word of mouth where existing customers tag you in the for sale page when someone else is looking for a cleaner.

Equipment- very happy with the SLX 22, the backpack v3 the lid doesn't screw in completely so if full of water the lid can come off.

I have Gardiners 8 litre tank which i use to put UBIK in, I haven't seen any other local windies use anything like this, chemicals etc so i like to think i provide a service that is a level up.

Next purchase will be the univalve or gardiners aquatap when it is available.

Competition- quite a few window cleaners around here are 'underground'. What I mean by this is no website, no sign on vans, no logo on t-shirt so it was difficult at first to work out what areas are swamped with cleaners.

One particular cleaner i've took 4 customers from. (not Markyboy who lives near me who i have met!) He would cut corners, customers couldn't tell when he was cleaning. Only problem is I am going in after the cheap cleaner but i am impressing the customers because certain windows he couldn't do over conservatories.

Plan going forward is to keep organised, ask customers if they have any relatives that would like a cleaner.

Keep building slowly, and put new customers into days when i am cleaning that area.

Thankyou for everyones help so far.

 

[Clisty1989]

Good effort. One thing ive found is that canvassing when you feel like doing nothing i.e sundays and bank holidays are the best time, ive gained over £100 of regular work from 1 hour last monday, plus a couple fsg and conny roof cleans. Also keep an eye on the area and look for odd things., such as an old windy you usually see disappears. Then canvas the area you see him in. Most of the work ive gained is from windys disappearing and people needing a replacement.

 

[dave83]

Update required.

The round is building slowly but nicely. I haven't got 100's of customers but the work i have is well priced and it is now organised so that if i go to a certain village i am going there to do all of them rather than have them split over different days.

I have invested again in new equipment, I now have an extension for SLX 22. This enabled me to clean fascias and soffits over a very large conservatory.

On the same job, i used Adapter to use EZ Snap™ Pole on a Garden Tap Gardiner Pole Systems one of these so that i could use tap water first so i wasn't wasting so much pure water when getting all of the dirt from the fascias.

I have two bad payers that to be honest i am going to trust my gut feeling and drop them. First one he is always ill- long term condition, when i call round, i'm a pretty fair chap but he has my phone number and bank details and hasn't made any effort to contact me.

Second one, i'm more annoyed about, owes me 2 cleans, probably not going to do the 3rd, again they have my bank details i have left messages, no reply. They run a garden maintenance business and i see them regularly where i live so they could pay if they want to. Just going to drop them, and learn a lesson that you will work out who wants a regular window cleaner to the ones that don't.

I'm thinking of ordering some more leaflets but would like everyones opinion on whether it is too close to christmas to be dropping more leaflets.

I collared the local paper girl whilst she was out on her round delivering the free paper and got her to deliver about 200 leaflets for four quid.i'm on the hunt for other paper boys/girls, they get paid quite small amounts so if they are delivering anyway i think they will be happy to drop leaflets if it tops up there money.

 

[Chris33]

Davey, think you done the right thing with the bad payers. They'll only exhaust your time and expense or at least that's what mine ended up doing..

Nice letter through their door today,to 3 of them. Which I wasn't going to bother doing, but the letter makes it clear that no window cleaner should be waiting x amount of time for their cash..hopefully that puts them off messing others around.

Like you,I've done two cleans max and if no payment is made its ended there. Too much good work out there to waste time.