Pricing please help

[Cleanco]

I would assume it was directed at people who exaggerate how easy and rewarding the work can be. I wouldn't put you in that category at all.

Also what a lot won’t realise is the overheads a business like pjj’s takes. He’s vat registered plus if payin his lads nearly a grand a week like he says then them doing £400 a day on there own aint gonna be leaving much of a profit margin meaning he has to charge very high rates in order for his business to work whereas a sole trader on his own could charge half them prices and still make a good wage at the end of the week.

 

[steve garwood]

I assume that comment is amed at me ? If it is when you are down next why don’t you come out with us for the day and you can see for yourself what we do and the time it takes and the prices charged , I can’t be fairer than that .

Now why would you immediately assume it was directed at you?
I’ve had 2 private messages saying the same thing, one saying it must be a guilty conscience?
I know you feel the need to have your say on every single topic on here, but lower your ego mate, not everything has to all about you ?

 

[dazmond]

Business expenses,income tax and national insurance comes to around 13k-14k a year for me and I'm just a part time sole trader window cleaner working 20-25 hr weeks....

This is all before I've even made a penny in profit so i need to be earning £40-£50 an hour every hour or its just not worth it IMO....

 

[Pjj]

Now why would you immediately assume it was directed at you?
I’ve had 2 private messages saying the same thing, one saying it must be a guilty conscience?
I know you feel the need to have your say on every single topic on here, but lower your ego mate, not everything has to all about you ?

Just assumed it was aimed at me if ime wrong then I apologise

 

[Cghwindowcleaning]

Also what a lot won’t realise is the overheads a business like pjj’s takes. He’s vat registered plus if payin his lads nearly a grand a week like he says then them doing £400 a day on there own aint gonna be leaving much of a profit margin meaning he has to charge very high rates in order for his business to work whereas a sole trader on his own could charge half them prices and still make a good wage at the end of the week.

50k a year employed window cleaners on Paye .They must be some of the best paid window cleaners in the country

Vat won’t come out of his pocket it’s charged to the customer and then he’ll be claiming vat on expenses for 3 vans etc.
His accounting bill will be higher as will insurance and running cost will be slightly higher but from what he says he runs it from his house out of his garage for a business with only 3 vans turning over 500k+ I would imagine his expenses to be reasonably low for a high profit return

fair play to him.I wish I could get nearly £800 a day out of workers.

 

[Pjj]

Also what a lot won’t realise is the overheads a business like pjj’s takes. He’s vat registered plus if payin his lads nearly a grand a week like he says then them doing £400 a day on there own aint gonna be leaving much of a profit margin meaning he has to charge very high rates in order for his business to work whereas a sole trader on his own could charge half them prices and still make a good wage at the end of the week.

Staff are paid between £125-150 per day on domestic and around £200 a day on commercial plus bonus and extra money when working away from home .

 

[Yogi1872]

I assume that comment is amed at me ? If it is when you are down next why don’t you come out with us for the day and you can see for yourself what we do and the time it takes and the prices charged , I can’t be fairer than that .

Or just pm him your companies name and he can view your accounts. That's probably the easiest way tbh.

 

[Iron Giant]

Yes I agree but doubt there will be any issues it’s very rare we get that happen, and they arnt short of a few quid and we’d do 6 others in the same area . But time will tell .

Until Mrs Smith talks to Mrs Jones and realises she is paying around £50 more for a similar property

 

[steve garwood]

Or just pm him your companies name and he can view your accounts. That's probably the easiest way tbh.

Why would I want to look at his accounts?

 

[Yogi1872]

Why would I want to look at his accounts?

then you would get a rough idea id he’s telling the truth or not, although they will be micro accounts you can still get information from them. there available to anyone.

 

[steve garwood]

then you would get a rough idea id he’s telling the truth or not, although they will be micro accounts you can still get information from them. there available to anyone.

So you’re jumping to conclusions as well assuming I was talking about him?

I have no interest in his accounts thank you ??

 

[Cleanco]

50k a year employed window cleaners on Paye .They must be some of the best paid window cleaners in the country

Vat won’t come out of his pocket it’s charged to the customer and then he’ll be claiming vat on expenses for 3 vans etc.
His accounting bill will be higher as will insurance and running cost will be slightly higher but from what he says he runs it from his house out of his garage for a business with only 3 vans turning over 500k+ I would imagine his expenses to be reasonably low for a high profit return

fair play to him.I wish I could get nearly £800 a day out of workers.

I was assuming that any figures/tunrnovers disclosed would’ve been inclusive of vat.

 

[Yogi1872]

50k a year employed window cleaners on Paye .They must be some of the best paid window cleaners in the country

Vat won’t come out of his pocket it’s charged to the customer and then he’ll be claiming vat on expenses for 3 vans etc.
His accounting bill will be higher as will insurance and running cost will be slightly higher but from what he says he runs it from his house out of his garage for a business with only 3 vans turning over 500k+ I would imagine his expenses to be reasonably low for a high profit return

fair play to him.I wish I could get nearly £800 a day out of workers.

I dont think he’s claimed his workers do £800 worth of work each a day tbf,

 

[Cleanco]

I dont think he’s claimed his workers do £800 worth of work each a day tbf,

2 workers @ £400 each I think he meant.

 

[Cghwindowcleaning]

I dont think he’s claimed his workers do £800 worth of work each a day tbf,

On this thread he says he priced the job at &125 after the first clean it will take 1 man one hour.

He also says this is an average size and that he cleans bigger as well as commercia.

£125 x 7working hours = £875.+vat

At Those prices his average would be at least a £100 an hour Per man.

 

[JohnDoeWindows]

You lot would argue over what shade of blue the sky is ?

 

[Pjj]

Or just pm him your companies name and he can view your accounts. That's probably the easiest way tbh.

On this thread he says he priced the job at &125 after the first clean it will take 1 man one hour.

He also says this is an average size and that he cleans bigger as well as commercia.

£125 x 7working hours = £875.+vat

At Those prices his average would be at least a £100 an hour Per man.

Yes on some jobs it’s considerably more than that , BUT it’s not that rate 8 hours a day 5 days a week, domestic on estate houses it’s more like £60 - 75 per hour per man .The £125 for a domestic job taking one hour is good money and we have a few in this range and a fair bit higher but again it’s not 8 hours a day 5 days a week , Commercial yes very good hourly rate but bear in mind we are travelling up to 300 miles from home doing jobs from Cornwall to London then driving home again , so it needs to be good money or it’s not worth doing when you look at the expenses.

 

[Yogi1872]

On this thread he says he priced the job at &125 after the first clean it will take 1 man one hour.

He also says this is an average size and that he cleans bigger as well as commercia.

£125 x 7working hours = £875.+vat

At Those prices his average would be at least a £100 an hour Per man.

He also said that hourly rate isn’t always achievable, id imagine most of the time it isn’t but the odd occasion it happens over the month, i have parts of my run i can do over £80 an hour, for most of the run im not doing £80 though.

 

[Jonseddo]

I think you have miss read what I put , I said if I was canvassing that property I would have priced it around £70-80 if I wanted or needed the work , I don’t need it and didn’t want it so priced it at £125 the point being the customer was quite happy to pay the £125 , if I was wanting the job I would have priced it a lot less and been happy with the price but what ime showing is you can charge a lot more and people are happy to pay it ,it’s not a stand alone job we do around 6 in the same area the closest being a few hundred yards away , we are talking big detached barn conversions not 3 bed semis

I am downsizing and yes have sold off a lot of work but still price up any enquiries at a much higher price if ones are happy to pay that that’s fine if not I don’t care , if I take them on then more of the cheaper jobs will be sold off it’s called good business sense .
I agree some areas it will be harder than others but as already stated I have friends in Newcastle that are charging a lot more than the competition they are expanding slowly but picking up work every week and rarely loose work despite being a lot dearer so it can be done .
I know commercial in your area doesn’t pay the same as all areas and you know what we charge for certain jobs as I sent you copies of the invoices from the customers so you know what ime saying is true .

I see both sides. But here’s a thing: if you price high, get the work, then your new customer starts chatting to neighbours or friends and find out the discrepancy… big trouble. Even your regular priced work might take a hit as current customers start to wonder if they too are being overcharged. The price-high method only works in my opinion if it’s not near your current work contracts.

 

[Jonseddo]

I have a good few that I under priced that need to go up a decent amount this year but I do have a few that I was a little cheeky with. I have an app I wrote that guides me on pricing to try and stop me 'guestimating' prices but even then I still manually tweak prices up or down a little - more up nowadays. I don't think I have priced 2 identical houses differently so even if they do chat I should be fine.
I do try and be as consistent as possible with pricing but it's not just about the size and number of windows it's access, parking, and the plant pot tax

I do a job on a very small newish development of 7 bungalows - I think they where the first to move in, the next door but 1 neighbour called and asked for a quote as her neighbour gave her my number. I quoted at £22 I think, and she asked why it was more than her neighbour! I was using my app and I could say to her that it was because she had 2 extra velux windows - she was fine and accepted the quote but I was glad I could easily justify the extra charge - I don't like awkward situations.

I do wonder sometimes if the 'cheeky' prices are where they should be and I have more that are under priced than I think!

Last statement makes you think! Pretty sure 30-40% of mine are now underpriced. When you’ve had a round for 25 years, same customers, you tend to justify not hiking the costs every year just to make sure they stay loyal. That’s probably not a good business model though, I admit.

 

[Pjj]

I see both sides. But here’s a thing: if you price high, get the work, then your new customer starts chatting to neighbours or friends and find out the discrepancy… big trouble. Even your regular priced work might take a hit as current customers start to wonder if they too are being overcharged. The price-high method only works in my opinion if it’s not near your current work contracts.

Never had any issues in 25 years , most of our work like this no two properties are the same so it’s virtually impossible for customers to say mine is the same as mrs x as they are all different so prices will varie . We do have estate work ware houses are the same and some are dearer than others due to access issues with shrubs , pools , flowerbeds conservatory’s very close to fences etc , on the odd occasions they have said anything about there price is more than next door we just explain the reason why and they are ok with it .