Pricing please help

[Chris Ashurst]

If prices are that low it might be worth driving a little to a better priced area, ok so you have a few miles to drive before you start work but it might well pay better overall.
I assume you look like you are going to provide a quality service? i.e. company name on uniform, sign written van and look smart, be polite, explain glass, frames and sills etc?

I only started less than 12 months ago with a generous budget of almost 25k and its been the worst decision ever. Got a newish van all professionally wrapped and all clothing printed and always mentioned when giving quotes that I clean the windows, frames, sills and doors using purified water that dries leaving the glass perfectly clean. My idea was to offer a "better" service at a slightly higher price. On a lot of quotes even though the potential customer wasn't happy with their current/previous window cleaner they weren't happy to pay any more for a better service. After 10 months and 80,000 leaflets delivered and many hundreds of doors knocked I'd only got 86 customers (Didn't really warrant the reelmaster )
Out of those 86 customers only 1 agreed to set-up a direct debit. Now 26 of these 86 customers have either constantly failed to leave gates unlocked for access despite me texting them the evening before or have failed to pay via BACS or over 2 months or keep wanting to skip a clean, so I've got rid of all 26 leaving me with 60 customers Out of these 60 customers the majority of them have awkward access or are awkward in some way or other. In other words they are jobs that a well established window cleaner wouldn't take on.
If an area is flooded with cleaners it's almost impossible to build up a round. It's certainly impossible to build up a compact round.
I recently did 9 x £10 jobs and it took 5hrs due to having to get back in the van and sit in traffic between each job. That's £18 per hour
You read on the forums about lads with hundreds of customers, all compact work, hardly needing to move the van all day, and all on GoCardless ...unfortunately that ain't happening where I am. To be honest I wouldn't want hundreds of customers if the prices are too low as there's no way am I standing there scrubbing windows on a 4 / 5 bedroom detached house with conservatory for £15 like most here are. Should have tested the water with just a backpack and worked from the car to start with instead of diving straight in.
Anyways light at the end of the tunnel...spent a few grand on a couple of triple motor gutter vacs, carbon poles and generator and the money is finally coming in.
These people who refuse to spend £20 having the windows on their 5 bedroom detached houses cleaned will happily pay £100 having their gutters vacuumed even though it takes roughly the same time as cleaning their windows, so that's the direction I've gone down.
A lot of these really good compact rounds were built many year's ago, often started as traditional gradually moving customers over to wfp. I guess some parts of the UK like Cornwall for example have a shortage of cleaners and building a good compact round there could be done rapidly with good prices earning over £60 per hour no problem, but there are other areas that building any sort of a round is near impossible. I tried various areas within 10 miles of where I live. The tank and the reelmaster have gone, the vans suspension is much happier for it, and I'll continue to do the few good paying decent customers I have with the Nano trolley just to give me a bit of a change from the gutters. I've only had 20,000 gutter cleaning leaflets delivered and they've given better results than the 80,000 I had delivered for windows and no more chapping doors!!

 

[THL4KEL]

Majority of my customers it's an essential service... Whole world could be going to 5hit... As long as the window have been cleaned they are happy... Lockdown proved that with them...

 

[THL4KEL]

I only started less than 12 months ago with a generous budget of almost 25k and its been the worst decision ever. Got a newish van all professionally wrapped and all clothing printed and always mentioned when giving quotes that I clean the windows, frames, sills and doors using purified water that dries leaving the glass perfectly clean. My idea was to offer a "better" service at a slightly higher price. On a lot of quotes even though the potential customer wasn't happy with their current/previous window cleaner they weren't happy to pay any more for a better service. After 10 months and 80,000 leaflets delivered and many hundreds of doors knocked I'd only got 86 customers (Didn't really warrant the reelmaster )
Out of those 86 customers only 1 agreed to set-up a direct debit. Now 26 of these 86 customers have either constantly failed to leave gates unlocked for access despite me texting them the evening before or have failed to pay via BACS or over 2 months or keep wanting to skip a clean, so I've got rid of all 26 leaving me with 60 customers Out of these 60 customers the majority of them have awkward access or are awkward in some way or other. In other words they are jobs that a well established window cleaner wouldn't take on.
If an area is flooded with cleaners it's almost impossible to build up a round. It's certainly impossible to build up a compact round.
I recently did 9 x £10 jobs and it took 5hrs due to having to get back in the van and sit in traffic between each job. That's £18 per hour
You read on the forums about lads with hundreds of customers, all compact work, hardly needing to move the van all day, and all on GoCardless ...unfortunately that ain't happening where I am. To be honest I wouldn't want hundreds of customers if the prices are too low as there's no way am I standing there scrubbing windows on a 4 / 5 bedroom detached house with conservatory for £15 like most here are. Should have tested the water with just a backpack and worked from the car to start with instead of diving straight in.
Anyways light at the end of the tunnel...spent a few grand on a couple of triple motor gutter vacs, carbon poles and generator and the money is finally coming in.
These people who refuse to spend £20 having the windows on their 5 bedroom detached houses cleaned will happily pay £100 having their gutters vacuumed even though it takes roughly the same time as cleaning their windows, so that's the direction I've gone down.
A lot of these really good compact rounds were built many year's ago, often started as traditional gradually moving customers over to wfp. I guess some parts of the UK like Cornwall for example have a shortage of cleaners and building a good compact round there could be done rapidly with good prices earning over £60 per hour no problem, but there are other areas that building any sort of a round is near impossible. I tried various areas within 10 miles of where I live. The tank and the reelmaster have gone, the vans suspension is much happier for it, and I'll continue to do the few good paying decent customers I have with the Nano trolley just to give me a bit of a change from the gutters. I've only had 20,000 gutter cleaning leaflets delivered and they've given better results than the 80,000 I had delivered for windows and no more chapping doors!!

I do a lot of gutter clearances for people who are not my window cleaning customers. There have been times I have looked at the windows and they looked like they haven't been cleaned but when I spoke to the customer they are have been, by their window cleaner who just does the glass and has done for many years.

But the customer although not very happy with the standard is happy to stay with the same window cleaner because they have served them for the last 10/20 years....

You have come into this at a hard time, cost of living crisis ect..

 

[doce]

Window cleaning is not an essential service it's only cosmetic. A lot of people are not interested in maintaining perfectly clean windows, frames, sills and doors. They just want someone to come and clean them once they're filthy for Christmas of if sitting outside in the summertime.

Exactly that. It’s very much a discretionary service, and one of the first to go when incomes are stretched - as they’re starting to be, quite badly, in less affluent areas. Very much not a case of charging what you want, but what the local market will bear. Or maybe travelling 100 miles south for the work, but avoiding living there because of the housing costs!

 

[dazmond]

I only started less than 12 months ago with a generous budget of almost 25k and its been the worst decision ever. Got a newish van all professionally wrapped and all clothing printed and always mentioned when giving quotes that I clean the windows, frames, sills and doors using purified water that dries leaving the glass perfectly clean. My idea was to offer a "better" service at a slightly higher price. On a lot of quotes even though the potential customer wasn't happy with their current/previous window cleaner they weren't happy to pay any more for a better service. After 10 months and 80,000 leaflets delivered and many hundreds of doors knocked I'd only got 86 customers (Didn't really warrant the reelmaster )
Out of those 86 customers only 1 agreed to set-up a direct debit. Now 26 of these 86 customers have either constantly failed to leave gates unlocked for access despite me texting them the evening before or have failed to pay via BACS or over 2 months or keep wanting to skip a clean, so I've got rid of all 26 leaving me with 60 customers Out of these 60 customers the majority of them have awkward access or are awkward in some way or other. In other words they are jobs that a well established window cleaner wouldn't take on.
If an area is flooded with cleaners it's almost impossible to build up a round. It's certainly impossible to build up a compact round.
I recently did 9 x £10 jobs and it took 5hrs due to having to get back in the van and sit in traffic between each job. That's £18 per hour
You read on the forums about lads with hundreds of customers, all compact work, hardly needing to move the van all day, and all on GoCardless ...unfortunately that ain't happening where I am. To be honest I wouldn't want hundreds of customers if the prices are too low as there's no way am I standing there scrubbing windows on a 4 / 5 bedroom detached house with conservatory for £15 like most here are. Should have tested the water with just a backpack and worked from the car to start with instead of diving straight in.
Anyways light at the end of the tunnel...spent a few grand on a couple of triple motor gutter vacs, carbon poles and generator and the money is finally coming in.
These people who refuse to spend £20 having the windows on their 5 bedroom detached houses cleaned will happily pay £100 having their gutters vacuumed even though it takes roughly the same time as cleaning their windows, so that's the direction I've gone down.
A lot of these really good compact rounds were built many year's ago, often started as traditional gradually moving customers over to wfp. I guess some parts of the UK like Cornwall for example have a shortage of cleaners and building a good compact round there could be done rapidly with good prices earning over £60 per hour no problem, but there are other areas that building any sort of a round is near impossible. I tried various areas within 10 miles of where I live. The tank and the reelmaster have gone, the vans suspension is much happier for it, and I'll continue to do the few good paying decent customers I have with the Nano trolley just to give me a bit of a change from the gutters. I've only had 20,000 gutter cleaning leaflets delivered and they've given better results than the 80,000 I had delivered for windows and no more chapping doors!!

I've been window cleaning since Jan 1993 (so 32 years next month)You just can't expect to build a good round in less than 12 months. It just doesn't happen that quickly.I decided many years ago to concentrate on just one very affluent area 15 mins drive from home. I now have around 300 jobs in this area with a mixture of 3 bed semis,4 and 5 bedders,offices,children's homes,a large church and everything in between...

My goal has always been to work part time for a decent income with virtually no stress and I've definitely achieved that now after all these years.

I'm also virtually,exclusively window cleaning with the odd add on UPVC clean(conny roof,solar panels for existing customers).

I don't offer gutter clearing,inside window cleaning or any job that requires me to climb ladders to access windows anymore.

The reelmaster is a fantastic bit of kit and makes my working days easier. Mines nearly 7 years old and still going strong!

 

[ched999uk]

I only started less than 12 months ago with a generous budget of almost 25k and its been the worst decision ever. Got a newish van all professionally wrapped and all clothing printed and always mentioned when giving quotes that I clean the windows, frames, sills and doors using purified water that dries leaving the glass perfectly clean. My idea was to offer a "better" service at a slightly higher price. On a lot of quotes even though the potential customer wasn't happy with their current/previous window cleaner they weren't happy to pay any more for a better service. After 10 months and 80,000 leaflets delivered and many hundreds of doors knocked I'd only got 86 customers (Didn't really warrant the reelmaster )
Out of those 86 customers only 1 agreed to set-up a direct debit. Now 26 of these 86 customers have either constantly failed to leave gates unlocked for access despite me texting them the evening before or have failed to pay via BACS or over 2 months or keep wanting to skip a clean, so I've got rid of all 26 leaving me with 60 customers Out of these 60 customers the majority of them have awkward access or are awkward in some way or other. In other words they are jobs that a well established window cleaner wouldn't take on.
If an area is flooded with cleaners it's almost impossible to build up a round. It's certainly impossible to build up a compact round.
I recently did 9 x £10 jobs and it took 5hrs due to having to get back in the van and sit in traffic between each job. That's £18 per hour
You read on the forums about lads with hundreds of customers, all compact work, hardly needing to move the van all day, and all on GoCardless ...unfortunately that ain't happening where I am. To be honest I wouldn't want hundreds of customers if the prices are too low as there's no way am I standing there scrubbing windows on a 4 / 5 bedroom detached house with conservatory for £15 like most here are. Should have tested the water with just a backpack and worked from the car to start with instead of diving straight in.
Anyways light at the end of the tunnel...spent a few grand on a couple of triple motor gutter vacs, carbon poles and generator and the money is finally coming in.
These people who refuse to spend £20 having the windows on their 5 bedroom detached houses cleaned will happily pay £100 having their gutters vacuumed even though it takes roughly the same time as cleaning their windows, so that's the direction I've gone down.
A lot of these really good compact rounds were built many year's ago, often started as traditional gradually moving customers over to wfp. I guess some parts of the UK like Cornwall for example have a shortage of cleaners and building a good compact round there could be done rapidly with good prices earning over £60 per hour no problem, but there are other areas that building any sort of a round is near impossible. I tried various areas within 10 miles of where I live. The tank and the reelmaster have gone, the vans suspension is much happier for it, and I'll continue to do the few good paying decent customers I have with the Nano trolley just to give me a bit of a change from the gutters. I've only had 20,000 gutter cleaning leaflets delivered and they've given better results than the 80,000 I had delivered for windows and no more chapping doors!!

Sounds like you have been doing the right things but it hasn't worked for you. Switching to gutter vac may be working currently but I wouldn't put all your eggs in one basket, once spring comes the work may dry up a bit.
Have you tried upselling from a gutter empty to gutter empty and gutter, soffit and fascia clean as you could probably double your income per job?
Might be worth trying an area a little further than 10 miles away, ok so none of us want to be spending hrs on the road but say a 30min drive each way for a more affluent or less saturated area might work. Personally I would say 1% return on leaflets is good, some areas can be virtually zero.
If you can gain customers for window cleaning they they become the ones that gutter empty and clean is an easy sell and become your break and butter jobs.
Finding good customers is the difficult bit, it does take time and building a compact round is very very difficult these days (well in my area it is) that said, all my work is within 3 miles of my house, I have a few where I can do 2 or 3 houses without moving the van but most I do move the van. Gocardless is nice but it's not liked by a lot of customers in my area. I think some parts of the country like it more than others.

They do say a huge proportion of businesses fail within 12 months but that doesn't mean you have too. By branching into gutter emptying you sound like you are keeping afloat.
Hopefully we have good weather when we get to spring as that should make it easier to pick up customers.
I assume you have google my business setup, facebook, nextdoor, local lists etc? Website takes a long time to get towards the top and I don't find very good for bring in customers but I think it shows you are more professional if someone looks you up.

Good luck and keep us informed.

 

[Chris Ashurst]

Exactly that. It’s very much a discretionary service, and one of the first to go when incomes are stretched - as they’re starting to be, quite badly, in less affluent areas. Very much not a case of charging what you want, but what the local market will bear. Or maybe travelling 100 miles south for the work, but avoiding living there because of the housing costs!

I've only advertised in fairly affluent areas mainly big detached properties. But the amount of hassle with customers not paying and not leaving access is ridiculous. Problem is by texting the customer the evening before to remind them to leave gate unlocked, you are also giving them the opportunity to text back asking is it ok to skip this months clean and that's what's happening regularly. Some of these customers have 2 Tesla's plugged in on the driveway. I gave one quote of £20 for a 4 bed with conservatory and she went pale around the gills and he started shaking telling me their previous window cleaner only charged £14. They then asked how much just for upstairs and I replied £10. They both just stood there on their driveway in-between 100k worth of German cars shaking their heads. Unbelievably, they then asked if they were to go ahead with the upstairs was it OK if they could miss having the windows cleaned during the 2 months they're in the Maldives each year Most of my jobs are 4 / 5 bed mostly with conservatory for £20. Every one of these customers said their previous window cleaner only charged £14 - £15. Even at £20 it's ridiculously cheap for windows, frames, sills and doors including conservatory. The service is worth £30 at least.

 

[Part Timer]

I've only advertised in fairly affluent areas mainly big detached properties. But the amount of hassle with customers not paying and not leaving access is ridiculous. Problem is by texting the customer the evening before to remind them to leave gate unlocked, you are also giving them the opportunity to text back asking is it ok to skip this months clean and that's what's happening regularly. Some of these customers have 2 Tesla's plugged in on the driveway. I gave one quote of £20 for a 4 bed with conservatory and she went pale around the gills and he started shaking telling me their previous window cleaner only charged £14. They then asked how much just for upstairs and I replied £10. They both just stood there on their driveway in-between 100k worth of German cars shaking their heads. Unbelievably, they then asked if they were to go ahead with the upstairs was it OK if they could miss having the windows cleaned during the 2 months they're in the Maldives each year Most of my jobs are 4 / 5 bed mostly with conservatory for £20. Every one of these customers said their previous window cleaner only charged £14 - £15. Even at £20 it's ridiculously cheap for windows, frames, sills and doors including conservatory. The service is worth £30 at least.

Have you tried selling them a 2 monthly clean for £30, much less likely to cancel and it won't really take you any longer to do the clean. When I first started we got a few enquiries via phone call. When they asked what we would charge we said we'd have to view it but our minimum charge was £10, 90% of the time they put the phone down before we found out where they lived

Invariably you're fighting a losing battle if the previous cleaner was really cheap

 

[Chris Ashurst]

Have you tried selling them a 2 monthly clean for £30, much less likely to cancel and it won't really take you any longer to do the clean. When I first started we got a few enquiries via phone call. When they asked what we would charge we said we'd have to view it but our minimum charge was £10, 90% of the time they put the phone down before we found out where they lived

Invariably you're fighting a losing battle if the previous cleaner was really cheap

In many areas it's just looked at as a cheap non essential service. Potential customers don't realise that you might have 5 - 10k worth of kit in the back of the van especially if you're using hot water. With me charging £20 for a 4 /5 bed with conservatory, by the time you've got back in the van and drove to the next job a full hours almost gone, so you're messing about on £20 per hour.

 

[dazmond]

You will pick up good customers it just takes time. For 4 or 5 bedders £20 is simply too low IMO. They should be at least £25-£30 and cleaned 8 weekly. You'll find more people will pay more for a longer frequency clean.

 

[Pjj]

Exactly that. It’s very much a discretionary service, and one of the first to go when incomes are stretched - as they’re starting to be, quite badly, in less affluent areas. Very much not a case of charging what you want, but what the local market will bear. Or maybe travelling 100 miles south for the work, but avoiding living there because of the housing costs!

I have found the total opposite ones have said they must have clean windows and would cut back in other areas to have clean windows crazy but that’s how many feel .

 

[ched999uk]

I've only advertised in fairly affluent areas mainly big detached properties.

That could be the issue. I find that sometimes it's easier to get decent prices from the smaller properties. I found leafletting the 'posh' houses returned a much lower response rate. Maybe try the middle income areas, what used to be referred to as blue collar workers. Don't get me wrong some of the big detached properties can be worth doing but I find the less affluent customers are the most appreciative.

 

[THL4KEL]

I think a lot of it due to trust, if you own house worth a fortune, just because you get a knock on the door or get a leaflet through the letterbox doesn't mean your going to trust that person to come round your property every month. If I was you I'd target the whole town not just the richer properties.

 

[Iron Giant]

I think this post highlights the stark reality of this industry and how low in the chain we are placed by others, I have witnessed the effects of the above quite a few times over the years as most of us have, with people expecting to pay peanuts and I have driven past house's for 12 years or so and people haven't had their windows cleaned since their house was built because they don't see it as something that's needed,

I was at a customer's house a few weeks ago, and their neighbour must have been in their house 12 years now from new, and the windows have never been cleaned they have a brand new 45-50k Skoda on the drive and are having one of those fancy garden rooms built at the bottom of the garden which will be in excess of 50k, the back windows upstairs that I could see the sills are green and so was the lower part of the frames.


I honestly can't fathom any of the above out at all

 

[spruce]

I only started less than 12 months ago with a generous budget of almost 25k and its been the worst decision ever. Got a newish van all professionally wrapped and all clothing printed and always mentioned when giving quotes that I clean the windows, frames, sills and doors using purified water that dries leaving the glass perfectly clean. My idea was to offer a "better" service at a slightly higher price. On a lot of quotes even though the potential customer wasn't happy with their current/previous window cleaner they weren't happy to pay any more for a better service. After 10 months and 80,000 leaflets delivered and many hundreds of doors knocked I'd only got 86 customers (Didn't really warrant the reelmaster )
Out of those 86 customers only 1 agreed to set-up a direct debit. Now 26 of these 86 customers have either constantly failed to leave gates unlocked for access despite me texting them the evening before or have failed to pay via BACS or over 2 months or keep wanting to skip a clean, so I've got rid of all 26 leaving me with 60 customers Out of these 60 customers the majority of them have awkward access or are awkward in some way or other. In other words they are jobs that a well established window cleaner wouldn't take on.
If an area is flooded with cleaners it's almost impossible to build up a round. It's certainly impossible to build up a compact round.
I recently did 9 x £10 jobs and it took 5hrs due to having to get back in the van and sit in traffic between each job. That's £18 per hour
You read on the forums about lads with hundreds of customers, all compact work, hardly needing to move the van all day, and all on GoCardless ...unfortunately that ain't happening where I am. To be honest I wouldn't want hundreds of customers if the prices are too low as there's no way am I standing there scrubbing windows on a 4 / 5 bedroom detached house with conservatory for £15 like most here are. Should have tested the water with just a backpack and worked from the car to start with instead of diving straight in.
Anyways light at the end of the tunnel...spent a few grand on a couple of triple motor gutter vacs, carbon poles and generator and the money is finally coming in.
These people who refuse to spend £20 having the windows on their 5 bedroom detached houses cleaned will happily pay £100 having their gutters vacuumed even though it takes roughly the same time as cleaning their windows, so that's the direction I've gone down.
A lot of these really good compact rounds were built many year's ago, often started as traditional gradually moving customers over to wfp. I guess some parts of the UK like Cornwall for example have a shortage of cleaners and building a good compact round there could be done rapidly with good prices earning over £60 per hour no problem, but there are other areas that building any sort of a round is near impossible. I tried various areas within 10 miles of where I live. The tank and the reelmaster have gone, the vans suspension is much happier for it, and I'll continue to do the few good paying decent customers I have with the Nano trolley just to give me a bit of a change from the gutters. I've only had 20,000 gutter cleaning leaflets delivered and they've given better results than the 80,000 I had delivered for windows and no more chapping doors!!

I personally don't believe it's easy to build a compact round in most places these days. As with most things these days, when someone sees someone else is making a success out of a certain business, others climb on the bandwagon and follow suit. Too many think that window cleaning is easy.

We purchased a compact trad round 20 years ago. There is another cleaner on the estate who has been there as long as we have. He still does the same houses as he did before. We lose one due to natural causes, and we gain one as he does.

We have found that customers tend to stick with their window cleaner even if he doesn't do the best job. The only time they put out feelers is if they are looking for a cheaper price. If their window cleaner has stopped coming, then chances are that he has found a better paying job and dropped theirs. Then they want the job done for the same low price they were paying previously.

I would hate to have to build a round these days tbh. It was much easier 20 years ago, when wfp was still in its infancy. We had estates trad window cleaners wouldn't touch due to the length of the front and back windows. Each window required two, maybe three moves with the ladders. When wfp came along, numerous window cleaners started canvassing these estates.

We had a lot of gutter clears this past year. I only offer this to existing customers. The last 3 jobs we did were at the beginning of winter. We had to run water in the gutters as the contents were frozen. I can only imagine that winter would be a difficult time gutter clearing. I remember one winter we did a gutter clear. The lad removed the gutter end cap and pushed the frozen contents out the end. But clearing gutters in winter isn't something I do normally.

 

[spruce]

I think this post highlights the stark reality of this industry and how low in the chain we are placed by others, I have witnessed the effects of the above quite a few times over the years as most of us have, with people expecting to pay peanuts and I have driven past house's for 12 years or so and people haven't had their windows cleaned since their house was built because they don't see it as something that's needed,

I was at a customer's house a few weeks ago, and their neighbour must have been in their house 12 years now from new, and the windows have never been cleaned they have a brand new 45-50k Skoda on the drive and are having one of those fancy garden rooms built at the bottom of the garden which will be in excess of 50k, the back windows upstairs that I could see the sills are green and so was the lower part of the frames.


I honestly can't fathom any of the above out at all

You haven't driven past our house then!

 

[spruce]

That could be the issue. I find that sometimes it's easier to get decent prices from the smaller properties. I found leafletting the 'posh' houses returned a much lower response rate. Maybe try the middle income areas, what used to be referred to as blue collar workers. Don't get me wrong some of the big detached properties can be worth doing but I find the less affluent customers are the most appreciative.

This is very true. We have a few street houses together in a couple of different areas. They are quite good earners at £9 each as it doesn't take long to clean them. One lady pays for her neighbour who is never in, so we don't have to go back and collect money in the evening.

 

[steve garwood]

This is very true. We have a few street houses together in a couple of different areas. They are quite good earners at £9 each as it doesn't take long to clean them. One lady pays for her neighbour who is never in, so we don't have to go back and collect money in the evening.

Surely no one collects in this day and age?

I do mostly affluent areas with big houses.
I prefer this as there’s less moving the van, less payments to chase and no chavs with dog cack everywhere

 

[spruce]

Surely no one collects in this day and age?

I do mostly affluent areas with big houses.
I prefer this as there’s less moving the van, less payments to chase and no chavs with dog cack everywhere

Yes, we still do on occasion. We do still have a few older ones who don't do or won't do internet banking. I go out probably once or maybe twice a month, but do make try to call when we are passing. We still have those who will only deal with cash, the way their mother's did before them.

We did and still do, have a few that had/have money jars for the milkman, the window cleaner, the gardener and any other bills. When they take money out to pay us, they put more money back in for next time. These habits will probably only stop when they die or when I die, whoever comes first.

I still do bump into cleaners doing collections every now and again, so it's not just me. At one time it was every Friday, but these days having to do it is an irritant. But it also keeps a tight reign on the debt list. The thing is that these few have been with us for more than 20 years and have been loyal to us.

We have never been able to successfully canvass in well-to-do areas. Our best work initially came from ex council house areas and middle income earners.

 

[steve garwood]

Yes, we still do on occasion. We do still have a few older ones who don't do or won't do internet banking. I go out probably once or maybe twice a month, but do make try to call when we are passing. We still have those who will only deal with cash, the way their mother's did before them.

We did and still do, have a few that had/have money jars for the milkman, the window cleaner, the gardener and any other bills. When they take money out to pay us, they put more money back in for next time. These habits will probably only stop when they die or when I die, whoever comes first.

I still do bump into cleaners doing collections every now and again, so it's not just me. At one time it was every Friday, but these days having to do it is an irritant. But it also keeps a tight reign on the debt list. The thing is that these few have been with us for more than 20 years and have been loyal to us.

We have never been able to successfully canvass in well-to-do areas. Our best work initially came from ex council house areas and middle income earners.

Friday evenings spent collecting!!!!

Each to their own

 

[Chris Ashurst]

Have you tried selling them a 2 monthly clean for £30, much less likely to cancel and it won't really take you any longer to do the clean. When I first started we got a few enquiries via phone call. When they asked what we would charge we said we'd have to view it but our minimum charge was £10, 90% of the time they put the phone down before we found out where they lived

Invariably you're fighting a losing battle if the previous cleaner was really cheap

I did initially offer choice of either 4 or 8 weekly cleans. I did one quote on a house consisting of 24 windows, 4 skylights and big conservatory.
She said her previous window cleaner charged £15 and it took him 15 minutes. I asked her was she happy with the service and she said no all the glass is streaky and he kept staring at me I explained that it would take me longer than 15 minutes to do a proper job and that I couldn't do it for less than £25.
She said that she would have to discuss it with her husband as it was £300 a year. For the next few weeks she text me 3 times to say she and her husband were still undecided and were still in discussions
Anyway they eventually agreed to the £25 clean. Anyway, I recently did their gutters with the vac and asked her husband could he plug the extension lead in. He opened the garage door and there was a stunning red ferrari inside a kind of see through tent which he explained kept the dust off and the heated garage kept "his baby" at the perfect temperature