What do we think?

[JackRP]

Not particularly happy to come home to this!

How can you compete with this in real terms!?

 

[JohnDoeWindows]

Do alright round here, we have the same type of offers except they do it for £5 not £15.

You simply can't and shouldn't compete with anyone

 

[Part Timer]

As @JohnDoeWindows said, that's a good price for some up here. If they're marketing is based on getting work based on being cheap they won't get far as there's always someone cheaper.

 

[Windowcleaningfleet]

The key is to concentrate on yourself and not on what others are doing.

 

[dazmond]

Not particularly happy to come home to this!

How can you compete with this in real terms!?

Don't even try.there will always be cleaners cheaper or more expensive than you.

Just keep ploughing your own furrow and put the leaflet in the bin and forget about it....?

 

[scottish cleaning service]

I don't think they can be doing the job right at that price. I wouldn't trust folk who are far too cheap.

 

[JackRP]

I am fairly new to all of this but I think I’m more angry that they have just blanketed every house, small or big, at the same price. It doesn’t sit well with me.

I’ve got a first clean coming up shortly but I’m sure they’ve received the leaflet too so wouldn’t be surprised if I got cancelled. Simply because the FC is triple that price and every time after that is double their blanket quote.
It seems a no brainier to the customer but it’s incredibly damaging to full time cleaners

 

[Chris34]

Although it's good to know what others charge and how others work it's best to focus on your own business and your own pricing. If you're getting work and keeping customers then that's all that counts, keep increasing your prices and as long as the work keeps coming in then just keep doing what you are doing.

There was a window cleaner in my local area, traditional, charged £6 per house and nice bloke, over 800 houses he had. I've had his ex customers contacting me for quotes as he's packed it in to go and work at Aldi. His ex customers live in houses that are £500k+, big detatched houses, he was charging them £10, my quotes are around £40 to £50 and not one of them has accepted the quote, they believe that £10 is the correct price. I'm not reducing my price to meet their expectations though. The last one I quoted I point blank told them that they've been spoilt with cheap prices and now this is the real price, take it or leave it.

The thing is though, if I wasn't getting any work, I would consider my prices, but I steadily get new work and I'm not losing any, so that's how I know the price is right. But you won't win them all and like others have said, there will always be somebody cheap out there. Just remember though, they can only clean so many houses, it's impossible for them to clean them all.

 

[ched999uk]

Only thing you can do is just crack on with your existing prices otherwise it's just a race to the bottom. They either wont last long or are doing a naff job. Make sure you sell yourself i.e. it would always be you at the customers property, reliability, you price to enable you to do a great job not to splash and dash!

 

[Iron Giant]

I wouldn't let it bother you they won't last long as anyone with any common sense won't pay £15 for a 2-bed semi if their neighbour is in a 4-bed detached with a big extension and would be paying the same price the owners of the 2-bed semi would look elsewhere @JackRP as you've not given your location it's hard to say anything about that price.

I've said it before on here it's well known in my street that another cleaner is charging £10 a house on my side of the street for larger 3-bed semi's when they should be £16 upwards I get more than £10 for smaller houses on the opposite side of the road people stick with me for one reason well two actually I do a better job and I ain't dodgy.

 

[JackRP]

I wouldn't let it bother you they won't last long as anyone with any common sense won't pay £15 for a 2-bed semi if their neighbour is in a 4-bed detached with a big extension and would be paying the same price the owners of the 2-bed semi would look elsewhere @JackRP as you've not given your location it's hard to say anything about that price.

I've said it before on here it's well known in my street that another cleaner is charging £10 a house on my side of the street for larger 3-bed semi's when they should be £16 upwards I get more than £10 for smaller houses on the opposite side of the road people stick with me for one reason well two actually I do a better job and I ain't dodgy.

My location is Sprowston, Norwich. Half my quotes are above £15. I live on a new build estate and there are a lot of variations in house size.
I have asked family and friends who pay more than that and not one seems taken by the idea of paying that much less.
As you say people would rather pay a bit more for someone they know/trust and they know can do a good job!
As a new window cleaner it’s hard enough to build up a round but this just makes it slightly harder!

 

[JackRP]

Although it's good to know what others charge and how others work it's best to focus on your own business and your own pricing. If you're getting work and keeping customers then that's all that counts, keep increasing your prices and as long as the work keeps coming in then just keep doing what you are doing.

There was a window cleaner in my local area, traditional, charged £6 per house and nice bloke, over 800 houses he had. I've had his ex customers contacting me for quotes as he's packed it in to go and work at Aldi. His ex customers live in houses that are £500k+, big detatched houses, he was charging them £10, my quotes are around £40 to £50 and not one of them has accepted the quote, they believe that £10 is the correct price. I'm not reducing my price to meet their expectations though. The last one I quoted I point blank told them that they've been spoilt with cheap prices and now this is the real price, take it or leave it.

The thing is though, if I wasn't getting any work, I would consider my prices, but I steadily get new work and I'm not losing any, so that's how I know the price is right. But you won't win them all and like others have said, there will always be somebody cheap out there. Just remember though, they can only clean so many houses, it's impossible for them to clean them all.

This is what has annoyed me quite a lot. People who do accurate quotes will be seen as overpricing when in fact that is what it should be!

 

[spruce]

This is what has annoyed me quite a lot. People who do accurate quotes will be seen as overpricing when in fact that is what it should be!

That's life. We once had a customer present us with a shabby handwritten quote on a piece of paper for £2.50 for fronts and £2.50 for backs for a 3 bedroom terraced house.
"Did you see him?"
"Yes."
"What did he look like?"
"Scruffy."
"Would you trust him to not be using this quote to eye out your property?"
"Er, no."
"There's a good reason to not take him on as your window cleaner, don't you agree?"
"I guess so. But can you match his price?"
"No, I'm not using window cleaning as an excuse to eye up your property."

Both @Part Timer and myself know, in the North East we still have a customer mentality of £5 a clean for a 3 bed semi. For @Part Timer it's some places in and around Sunderland. For me, it's areas around Loftus. We just stay away from those areas. We have a minimum price which tends to stop the odd requests for a single window clean the homeowner can't reach, expecting to pay 50p.

 

[Iron Giant]

My location is Sprowston, Norwich. Half my quotes are above £15. I live on a new build estate and there are a lot of variations in house size.
I have asked family and friends who pay more than that and not one seems taken by the idea of paying that much less.
As you say people would rather pay a bit more for someone they know/trust and they know can do a good job!
As a new window cleaner it’s hard enough to build up a round but this just makes it slightly harder!

Knocking doors will serve you best, hopefully you have a signed van so people on your estate can see also if it's an ongoing development you could be best placed to gain new jobs

 

[PC]

As others have said. Just concentrate on yourself. Try and make yourself look as professional as you can. Make your car/van look as good as you can. Keep it clean for example. Try and wear a branded top if budgets allow.
But most importantly always do a good job, be reliable and be friendly. Stick to the basics and you will find that most customers are not interested in saving a couple of quid. They just want someone who they can trust, who they know will turn up regularly and who will keep their windows clean. These houses are peoples homes and they would rather have someone come round who they know and will do all of the above things. Simples.
There has always been and will always continue to be new people appearing as potential competition. I’ve been doing this a very long time.
Simply don’t worry about them. Look after everything your end and you will be fine.

 

[scottish cleaning service]

You usually get these daft prices in the summer time when folk want to clean windows. In the winter they have jacked it in and moved on to something else. The dilemma a customer has is to leave a reliable cleaner and go with them then when they don't come back they need to find another windy. The old windy usually wouldn't return just for them to be dropped in the future. I don't see it about money but about trust, once you have gained a customers trust they will stick by you even if your price is higher than the opposition. imo

 

[Yogi1872]

I'd be pretty confident that I'd hardly loose any from someone going round offering it cheaper if any at all. Not because I think I'm the world's greatest window cleaner or something because I'm not. People don't like change. It's human nature. Sometimes a 3rd person will come out a few times a year to help us. He cleans the windows better than the person who's always with me cleans them. Il get atleast a couple of people saying they weren't happy with there windows that time though. I could draw a soapy happy face on the window with an applicator and alot wouldn't say a word. Bring someone they haven't seen before and it's "im glad it's just you 2 this time, that boy didn't do x y or z".

This scenario proves this even more tbh. When I changed over to wfp. The last 2 hours of the day we just done the frames of the houses so it was easier for the next day. I wasn't putting cards through like we do normally though as I hadn't finished. I didn't get one call from the ones that we finished the next day about the state of the windows. I even had to start chapping them to explain not to transfer the money as they were transferring it as normal. As you will know the first time there's alot of dirt comes out the frames and the windows were left in a mess. I was laughing with one guy saying why wouldn't you complain if the windows were left like that thinking that was them done. He said he was thinking to himself they didn't look quite right but wasn't wanting to complain. If your polite and make an effort with people then it goes a long way.

 

[mike007]

There are window cleaners in my area charging more than me, and some charging less than me. I do not try to compete with either. I just charge what I think it is worth for me to do the job. As long as I am earning a decent living I am happy. Why enter a pricing war when there is no need.

 

[scottish cleaning service]

I had a customer recently say don't do them today because the Trad folk did them yesterday. She was getting the two of us to clean the windows. She explained she liked me because I cleaned the front door so I told her I will only clean the front door then. It just backs up my logic that the front door is more important than the windows. ?

 

[cleaniac]

Don't let it bother you. Your new to the game, focus on your own show and don't become a spectator of others. Here in Surrey a well known "national" window cleaning company are constantly littering my customers and me personally with flyers, they are becoming known as the company not to use and that's not from me that's from members of the public. They don't have a great reputation, and they also don't seem to care about that fact either.

 

[Luke97]

Don't let it bother you. Your new to the game, focus on your own show and don't become a spectator of others. Here in Surrey a well known "national" window cleaning company are constantly littering my customers and me personally with flyers, they are becoming known as the company not to use and that's not from me that's from members of the public. They don't have a great reputation, and they also don't seem to care about that fact either.

I gusses that priors ?