Job Pricing and minimum price . Am I too cheap??

[Yogi1872]

I wouldn't get too disheartened. When I first started 3 years ago I was quoting in an area where the previous window cleaner was charging them £6, my first job I got was £15 that was at a house that used to pay £6. I got several more, they were shocked but I stuck to my guns with my price. It was probably a good lesson to learn for me early on, that is just because 'that's how it's always been done' or 'that's the usual rate' well it doesn't mean that you have to follow the usual path. It's your business you can do what you want with it, charge what you want... People will pay more if you offer a better service.

You could easily do 50 of them a day on my own. I've just added up what we have done today in 5 hours so far and it comes to £340. If we were charging £15 for houses like that I'd be making around £1400 a day. For my 6 hours I work a day I usually make around £300. If I was going with the prices I see people saying they charge on here then it would be more £800 a day. I assume you all have ferraris to run about in too ?.

 

[Yogi1872]

I wouldn't get too disheartened. When I first started 3 years ago I was quoting in an area where the previous window cleaner was charging them £6, my first job I got was £15 that was at a house that used to pay £6. I got several more, they were shocked but I stuck to my guns with my price. It was probably a good lesson to learn for me early on, that is just because 'that's how it's always been done' or 'that's the usual rate' well it doesn't mean that you have to follow the usual path. It's your business you can do what you want with it, charge what you want... People will pay more if you offer a better service.

How much work do you have for your 4 weekly cycle ?

 

[Chris34]

You could easily do 50 of them a day on my own. I've just added up what we have done today in 5 hours so far and it comes to £340. If we were charging £15 for houses like that I'd be making around £1400 a day. For my 6 hours I work a day I usually make around £300. If I was going with the prices I see people saying they charge on here then it would be more £800 a day. I assume you all have ferraris to run about in too ?.

It sounds like you're very well established then. To do 50 houses per day 5 days per week you need 1,000 customers. That's an unrealistic expectation for anyone, to manage 1,000 customers would be a job in itself.

By charging higher it allows someone new to offer a different service to someone very well established like yourself. Or would you advise someone new to undercut yourself and have a race to the bottom? By pricing higher it's possible to both exist without affecting each others business.

 

[Chris34]

How much work do you have for your 4 weekly cycle ?

Not enough, but I'm getting there slowly but surely.

 

[Yogi1872]

It sounds like you're very well established then. To do 50 houses per day 5 days per week you need 1,000 customers. That's an unrealistic expectation for anyone, to manage 1,000 customers would be a job in itself.

By charging higher it allows someone new to offer a different service to someone very well established like yourself. Or would you advise someone new to undercut yourself and have a race to the bottom? By pricing higher it's possible to both exist without affecting each others business.

I've got enough work for me and the guy who works for me for me for the full month. Struggling to add anymore in unless I up my hours. We only do 6 hours a day. Currently I make £300 a day. With the prices I see on here it would be more like £700 a day.

Think a wee bit of a reality check is needed in some cases, we aren't brain surgeons, it's not even classed as a trade.

 

[Chris34]

I've got enough work for me and the guy who works for me for me for the full month. Struggling to add anymore in unless I up my hours. We only do 6 hours a day. Currently I make £300 a day. With the prices I see on here it would be more like £700 a day.

Think a wee bit of a reality check is needed in some cases, we aren't brain surgeons, it's not even classed as a trade.

It's just about maximising our income, we're not just 'window cleaners' we're business owners and the point is to make money and as much as we can. It's up to the people whether they think the price we charge is worth it.

End of the day it's not a desirable job for most people, but it's a service that's required and because they're are not many people willing to do the work it means we can charge good rates of pay. We shouldn't feel guilty about maximising our revenue, we could end up crippled with arthritis so we need to earn the money while we still can.

You sound like you're doing very well yourself, you must be on £60k+ turnover. That's the sort of target I'm aiming for, I think £75k to £80k is the limit working alone but wouldn't be surprised if a select few are getting a bit more.

 

[ched999uk]

It's just about maximising our income, we're not just 'window cleaners' we're business owners and the point is to make money and as much as we can. It's up to the people whether they think the price we charge is worth it.

End of the day it's not a desirable job for most people, but it's a service that's required and because they're are not many people willing to do the work it means we can charge good rates of pay. We shouldn't feel guilty about maximising our revenue, we could end up crippled with arthritis so we need to earn the money while we still can.

You sound like you're doing very well yourself, you must be on £60k+ turnover. That's the sort of target I'm aiming for, I think £75k to £80k is the limit working alone but wouldn't be surprised if a select few are getting a bit more.

Don't forget that the VAT threshold is £85K so if you are mainly doing domestics then you need to stay a reasonable margin below it as once breached you will have to give 20% of turnover to HMRC!!! The threshold is a rolling 12 months not within a tax year and once breached you have 30 days to register!

 

[Part Timer]

The threshold is a rolling 12 months not within a tax year and once breached you have 30 days to register!

Unless the rules have changed you should actually register when you know you're going to reach the limit, not after. Many years ago I was fined because I registered after my turnover breached the threshold. Fortunately the people I worked with were VAT registered so I didn't lose out.

 

[Elliott randall]

They houses would be £6 to £7 where I work

£20 seems allot, here in West Midlands/ Birmingham area your looking at £13 for something like that. Takes less than 5 mins with a pole to clean that

 

[Chris34]

Don't forget that the VAT threshold is £85K so if you are mainly doing domestics then you need to stay a reasonable margin below it as once breached you will have to give 20% of turnover to HMRC!!! The threshold is a rolling 12 months not within a tax year and once breached you have 30 days to register!

Yeah I'm well aware of the VAT threshold, can't see me getting that much, be looking at £500 per day and I've not figured out how to get that day in day out, so at the moment it's not on my radar.

I did panic a bit about a year ago I think it was, when they were talking about reducing the VAT threshold, think there was talk of £50k or there abouts? Would be an absolute nightmare to have to deal with VAT.

 

[Iron Giant]

You could easily do 50 of them a day on my own. I've just added up what we have done today in 5 hours so far and it comes to £340. If we were charging £15 for houses like that I'd be making around £1400 a day. For my 6 hours I work a day I usually make around £300. If I was going with the prices I see people saying they charge on here then it would be more £800 a day. I assume you all have ferraris to run about in too ?.

It's got to be £10 as a minimum is what I would charge other lads in my area are no doubt charging £6-7 I'd have thought you would need to be charging the same as me as you employ so have wages to pay and extra equipment to maintain and replace.

 

[scottish cleaning service]

It's just about maximising our income, we're not just 'window cleaners' we're business owners and the point is to make money and as much as we can. It's up to the people whether they think the price we charge is worth it.

End of the day it's not a desirable job for most people, but it's a service that's required and because they're are not many people willing to do the work it means we can charge good rates of pay. We shouldn't feel guilty about maximising our revenue, we could end up crippled with arthritis so we need to earn the money while we still can.

You sound like you're doing very well yourself, you must be on £60k+ turnover. That's the sort of target I'm aiming for, I think £75k to £80k is the limit working alone but wouldn't be surprised if a select few are getting a bit more.

That's the reason one must invest in equipment to make your business as efficient as possible. Then one can fly through the work. That's what I have noticed on the forum from day one.

 

[Chris34]

That's the reason one must invest in equipment to make your business as efficient as possible. Then one can fly through the work. That's what I have noticed on the forum from day one.

Yeah that's correct but you can overdo it ? There comes a point where buying 20 years supply of the pink stuff is no longer an investment, it's someone who's gone crazy ?

 

[Yogi1872]

It's got to be £10 as a minimum is what I would charge other lads in my area are no doubt charging £6-7 I'd have thought you would need to be charging the same as me as you employ so have wages to pay and extra equipment to maintain and replace.

There's people here who would do that in my area for 6 quid. I'd probably go £8, I'd have alot in a row though. Apart from 2 or 3 days my run is compact so much that when we used ladders apart from they 2 or 3 days you could walk from start to finish. We had to do it before as the van was getting fixed and we done it quicker that way instead of using the van.

 

[Cleanco]

There's people here who would do that in my area for 6 quid. I'd probably go £8, I'd have alot in a row though. Apart from 2 or 3 days my run is compact so much that when we used ladders apart from they 2 or 3 days you could walk from start to finish. We had to do it before as the van was getting fixed and we done it quicker that way instead of using the van.

You will find that a lot of modern window cleaners don’t understand the value of a super compact round and that they think you have to charge super high in order to turn a decent profit and can’t get their around being able to charge so low and still make as much profit as others that charge 2/3 times what they are. That said you are never going get that sort of work these days as most areas are well saturated with cleaners so going in higher to compensate travelling time is a must on this day and age. Some may even prefer working that way as they prefer the travelling to cleaning. What I will say though is in times like these the higher you charge the more you will suffer as people are goin to be looking at cutting costs across the board and every penny counts. That’s what I found working through the last recession any way. Most domestic cleaners that weren’t charging the earth hardly even got touched.

 

[Iron Giant]

You will find that a lot of modern window cleaners don’t understand the value of a super compact round and that they think you have to charge super high in order to turn a decent profit and can’t get their around being able to charge so low and still make as much profit as others that charge 2/3 times what they are. That said you are never going get that sort of work these days as most areas are well saturated with cleaners so going in higher to compensate travelling time is a must on this day and age. Some may even prefer working that way as they prefer the travelling to cleaning. What I will say though is in times like these the higher you charge the more you will suffer as people are goin to be looking at cutting costs across the board and every penny counts. That’s what I found working through the last recession any way. Most domestic cleaners that weren’t charging the earth hardly even got touched.

Why be a busy fool needing to get through a lot more work to turn the same turnover as someone charging higher prices, I have been in business for over 22 years and I want to earn as much as possible for as little work this is more relevant the older I get, so far I have lost just over 1% of my jobs I am down 6 jobs compared to a few weeks ago but have been gaining work at better prices,

It depends on the work area but the price isn't everything people want to see value for money as we all do, I went and did a job the other day the last cleaner had been ad-hoc with the quality of the clean that was plain to see by the trickle vents my price was higher and I offer a better service compared to some other lads that will always be a plus in the customer's eyes and the good ones will stick with me as they did through the last receesion

 

[Cleanco]

Why be a busy fool needing to get through a lot more work to turn the same turnover as someone charging higher prices, I have been in business for over 22 years and I want to earn as much as possible for as little work this is more relevant the older I get, so far I have lost just over 1% of my jobs I am down 6 jobs compared to a few weeks ago but have been gaining work at better prices,

It depends on the work area but the price isn't everything people want to see value for money as we all do, I went and did a job the other day the last cleaner had been ad-hoc with the quality of the clean that was plain to see by the trickle vents my price was higher and I offer a better service compared to some other lads that will always be a plus in the customer's eyes and the good ones will stick with me as they did through the last receesion

How is it being a busy fool when your only working the same hours? Whether I’m cleaning or driving it makes no odds to me. If anything I find it easier and less stressful to have your work in one place rather than driving here there and everywhere especially with our roads getting busier and busier. Trust me mate I’ve done my days running round like a blue ar5ed fly. I certainly am not aiming to drive prices down but in in times like these it pays to be competitive and if I can make the same money as someone charging 2/3 times in the same amount of time and offering the same service then happy days.

 

[Iron Giant]

How is it being a busy fool when your only working the same hours? Whether I’m cleaning or driving it makes no odds to me. If anything I find it easier and less stressful to have your work in one place rather than driving here there and everywhere especially with our roads getting busier and busier. Trust me mate I’ve done my days running round like a blue ar5ed fly. I certainly am not aiming to drive prices down but in in times like these it pays to be competitive and if I can make the same money as someone charging 2/3 times in the same amount of time and offering the same service then happy days.

I was getting at you personally, but here is an example my house would be £16 another bloke comes into our street and he charges £10 for the same houses in I'd make £32 in the time he makes £20 cleaning two houses side by side,

I fully understand about compact work as near enough all mine is but I don't pitch lower prices just keep compact runs I couldn't care a less about the ones wanting cheaper prices I know I am just a bit above some other lads so giving a 100% every time gets me the work and keeps me my jobs

 

[scottish cleaning service]

I'm the most expensive on a council estate but I fully clean the doors. Other guys Trad the windows and don't touch the doors. I'm picking up the old customers who have fell out with them. Customers like that I clean the doors and don't complain about the cost. I found any price under a tenner isn't much of an issue in window cleaning.

 

[Bigbird]

Too Cheap £20 and £15 every 4 or 6 weeks
Must have a minimum charge £25