Pricing for Domestic Homes

[Steve E]

I recently quoted for  and got a domestic job.  I was actually more expensive than the guy who was meant to be doing it. That made me feel better as i hadnt gone out and undercut. He was erratic and apparently only turned up occasionally. People generally want a reliable regular service. If you provide that then you are half way there.

 

[mike007]

Cheers mate. That makes good sense. My aim would be to try and get groups of houses close to each other (ideally on the same street) so I could do them in blocks, and spend a full day doing a block.
How do you go about taking payment? Cash in person, or business card through the letter box with bank details on each visit?

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Getting groups of houses close to each other is all our ambitions!!!!!

 

[mark lee]

Why not just shoot your self in the foot now [emoji23]


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[Dave B]

I'm always puzzled by 'the local going rate'.  You knock on a door, offer your services and give them a price.  Some will say "Oh, but my other window cleaner only charged....."  So what?  What someone did or didn't charge her is neither here nor there.  Why should the price someone else charged be taken as the 'norm'?

You knock on another door and they say "Is that all? My other window cleaner used to charge......"

Ask yourself this:  If you weren't a window cleaner and someone knocked on your door and offered to clean you windows how would you know what 'the going rate' is?

There's no such thing.  Window cleaners don't get together and discuss how much they're charging, it's each to his own. 

In your area (say within a 10 mile radius - that's 314.2 square miles!!) there will be perhaps a couple of hundred window cleaners.  Do you know how much they all charge?

Ignore 'the going rate' -  in my opinion it's just an excuse for people who are afraid to ask a decent price.  Decide how much you want to charge, sell your service emphasising the benefits of them using you and then give your price with conviction and confidence - if they want their windows cleaning they'll go for it.

I know what some other guys charge round here like @Adams0211 for example and he knows my prices as we are very similar in the way we work and i know what others round here are charging for example a local guy charging £8 for what is blatantly a £16 in my eyes 

It is however irrelevant as i will price what i want for a job not worry about what someone else is charging

I know what my time and effort is worth to me so i quote using that not what joe bloggs is charging next door

 

[Adams0211]

I know what some other guys charge round here like [mention=1526]Adams0211[/mention] for example and he knows my prices as we are very similar in the way we work and i know what others round here are charging for example a local guy charging £8 for what is blatantly a £16 in my eyes 
It is however irrelevant as i will price what i want for a job not worry about what someone else is charging
I know what my time and effort is worth to me so i quote using that not what joe bloggs is charging next door

I agree with Dave. Price it for what it’s worth to you and don’t give a second thought to what anyone else is charging. Keep it realistic though, if you’re aiming ridiculously high then you’re going to struggle to pick up customers. I have a minimum amount I want to earn each hour which i factor into my pricing. After a while it becomes second nature and you become more confident. With that confidence and experience you can command higher prices. A local guy lost (another) one of his customers to me the other day. I met the customer and asked what she’d been paying him. I told her i would charge double and she almost bit my hand off because she knew she was going to get a good service. When I was just starting out I’d have probably offered to match his price but these days I’m more confident and more picky when it comes to taking on customers.


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[mike007]

I know what some other guys charge round here like @Adams0211 for example and he knows my prices as we are very similar in the way we work and i know what others round here are charging for example a local guy charging £8 for what is blatantly a £16 in my eyes 

It is however irrelevant as i will price what i want for a job not worry about what someone else is charging

I know what my time and effort is worth to me so i quote using that not what joe bloggs is charging next door

Agree, see if the guy you think is undercharging is still a windie by next summer!!!!!

 

[PersilPete]

You will loose a few customers in winter . Generally the nanny brigade say "see u next spring"!! But plod on you will get there bud . Ive been going eight months earn a living have loads of free tea and cake!! and the work keeps coming. Get commercial work as you can earn a good wage before 9am . A must tho is facebook. U dont need any adverts any where else save your money.Facebook will keep you so busy if u aim for 5 star reviews. Like some one else said dont go in to cheap in 6 months time you will regret it!!! Last thing __ Buy a guttervac soon as, and you'll be laughing. Good luck buddy

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[Dave B]

Agree, see if the guy you think is undercharging is still a windie by next summer!!!!!

He's been doing it for longer than I've lived here which is 16 years lol

 

[cooperman]

You will loose a few customers in winter . Generally the nanny brigade say "see u next spring"!! But plod on you will get there bud . Ive been going eight months earn a living have loads of free tea and cake!! and the work keeps coming. Get commercial work as you can earn a good wage before 9am . A must tho is facebook. U dont need any adverts any where else save your money.Facebook will keep you so busy if u aim for 5 star reviews. Like some one else said dont go in to cheap in 6 months time you will regret it!!! Last thing __ Buy a guttervac soon as, and you'll be laughing. Good luck buddy

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I was thinking a gutter vac would be a good investment. Would then need a generator to run it?

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[adamangler]

Pricing is quite a tricky one as you can get two people in the same street with two totally different views on what they should be paying.

You will quite some low to get the job and not get them and then quite some high because you don't really want the job and end up getting it.

It's a good idea to find out what other windys are charging locally.

I put a post on a Yorkshire window cleaning group on Facebook asking how much everyone was charging for a typical 3 bed semi. 

The answers I got were quite an eye opener, answers between £4-£10 with average being 6-8. This was about as dozen window cleaners...

Now I would charge £12 on average for a 3 bed so obviously I'm right on the high end.

When quoting I typically of my get 20% of my jobs accepted.

I've experimented on Facebook and to get to about 50% conversions which is really a good indicator of your price point I would have to lower my prices to around 8 quid.

So basically do your market research and then base your prices on how quick you want to build your round.