Where Window Cleaners earn the most?

[Pjj]

£30k profit spread out over 52 weeks is £576 a week......i didnt say i worked 52 weeks of the year......more like 46 weeks a year taking off holidays,xmas,etc

Exactley so 30k divided by 46 weeks =£ 652.17 per week as you cannot use weeks when you arnt working ???

 

[dazmond]

Exactley so 30k divided by 46 weeks =£ 652.17 per week as you cannot use weeks when you arnt working ???

why not?MY whole yearly profit(IMO) should be divided equally over the 52 weeks of the year.it doesnt matter whether i work EVERY WEEK or not....its the profit after all expenses,tax and insurances have been deducted OVER THE WHOLE YEAR that matters.....?

 

[Pjj]

why not?MY whole yearly profit(IMO) should be divided equally over the 52 weeks of the year.it doesnt matter whether i work EVERY WEEK or not....its the profit after all expenses,tax and insurances have been deducted OVER THE WHOLE YEAR that matters.....?

Yes you can do it that way but you get a much more accurate figure if it’s divided by the actual number of weeks worked , this gives a true weekly average of £652.17 not £576 so your earnings , could be more if you had worked 52 weeks instead of 46 

 

[steve garwood]

Who cares! Terrible thread to start this in the first place in my opinion.

It’s nobody’s business what I earn, and I’ve zero interest in what others claim they earn.

Why not focus on what you earn and make sure that it keeps you happy.

That’s my little rant done ?.

Happy Friday everyone ?

 

[dazmond]

Who cares! Terrible thread to start this in the first place in my opinion.

It’s nobody’s business what I earn, and I’ve zero interest in what others claim they earn.

Why not focus on what you earn and make sure that it keeps you happy.

That’s my little rant done ?.

Happy Friday everyone ?

why dont you like talking about earnings?it is after all why we,re cleaning windows......if it wasnt for some of the guys talking about how much they earnt when i joined another forum 10 years ago now i would of never raised my prices,charged more for new work and have the nice little round i have now......id still be just about getting by earning £16k a year!?...not a good place to be.....

 

[Master Jedi Alejandro]

Who cares! Terrible thread to start this in the first place in my opinion.

It’s nobody’s business what I earn, and I’ve zero interest in what others claim they earn.

Why not focus on what you earn and make sure that it keeps you happy.

That’s my little rant done ?.

Happy Friday everyone ?

why dont you like talking about earnings?it is after all why we,re cleaning windows......if it wasnt for some of the guys talking about how much they earnt when i joined another forum 10 years ago now i would of never raised my prices,charged more for new work and have the nice little round i have now......id still be just about getting by earning £16k a year!?...not a good place to be.....

I will also ask that ‘no ones buisness what I earn’ is a very British/American view that unfortunately plays against use. Because we don’t talk about our earnings it makes it a lot easier for companies to pay different rates to different people on unfair ground. So you and the guy sitting next to you in a office, doing the same job, with the same experience, could be earning different sums purely down to the fact he pushed harder for a raise. Now if it was normal to discuss these things, the company wouldn’t get away with it. 

This also extends to us as it shows us what we ‘could’ earn. I know guys that are happy with what they make but charge a lot less than me and I’m try to reason with them if they match my prices they would either make more or, as much of them are happy with their income, work less!

 

[steve garwood]

why dont you like talking about earnings?it is after all why we,re cleaning windows......if it wasnt for some of the guys talking about how much they earnt when i joined another forum 10 years ago now i would of never raised my prices,charged more for new work and have the nice little round i have now......id still be just about getting by earning £16k a year!?...not a good place to be.....

In truth, I’m just being protective for this forum. I’ve been on the other one and it’s “oh I earn £400 per day and I only work 20 minutes a day” etc.

There are one or two on here that even if the topic was ‘Dalmatian dogs’ or ‘the great crested newt’, they would still manage to let you know how many vans they’ve got or how much they earn.

I just think threads like this help inflate certain ego’s.

Anyway it’s an open forum so I’ve given my opinion, if others disagree, good on them. You carry on ?.

 

[dazmond]

i used to think "how the hell do window cleaners make £200 a day cleaning windows" i was lucky to make £80 for many years when trad window cleaning...my prices were too low and i didnt have the confidence to charge more..in fact i was so hacked off i nearly packed window cleaning in altogether.......

joining "that" forum was the best thing i could of done......fast forward 10 years and my round and attitude is far far better than i ever thought possible and its all down to other lads posting how much they earnt an hour/day/week/year that gave me the confidence to up my prices and do the same.....?

 

[Neil.. Lancashire]

It's reminding me of the Brexit this topic  ?

Some really good points being made from slightly different points of view.

Thank god it's the weekend, always hard first week back after being away on holiday.

Give me ???

 

[Pjj]

i used to think "how the hell do window cleaners make £200 a day cleaning windows" i was lucky to make £80 for many years when trad window cleaning...my prices were too low and i didnt have the confidence to charge more..in fact i was so hacked off i nearly packed window cleaning in altogether.......

joining "that" forum was the best thing i could of done......fast forward 10 years and my round and attitude is far far better than i ever thought possible and its all down to other lads posting how much they earnt an hour/day/week/year that gave me the confidence to up my prices and do the same.....?

I quite agree with you hearing what others do and how they price jobs and seeing pictures is good for all of us I don’t think it’s boasting with most , it gives you an idear of where you are compared to others , I know when I started I didn’t have a clue about pricing I just came up with a figure , it was only when I joined the other forum a few years ago that I could see that I needed to adjust my prices as I was way below what others were charging , seeing theses posts gave me the confidence to gradually increase and dump problem customers, so I think it’s a good thing , Ime certainly not going to post my tax return on a public forum but I think we can all be an inspiration to others or learn from them to help increase our earnings and benefit our family’s , if this come over as boasting then maybe it’s taken the wrong way , sometimes words don’t convey the sentiment when written down that the poster would convey if speaking to them . When starting off ones arnt going to earn what an established buisness will , I used to get 100% of all jobs I quoted the reason for this was I was to cheap , lesson learned you are better off doing 10 jobs at £20 than 10 jobs at £10 that’s just simple maths but it’s having the confidence to do that and I think posts like this can encourage new ones to take the leap of faith with pricing .

 

[scottish cleaning service]

I got a text yesterday to do a first clean and a gutter clean. I have done work for the woman in the past but i don't clean her windows. Anyway i quoted £80 and she came back saying, you charged my friend £35. I did but she is a customer of mine and i did a small row of three for a ton. Anyway, she ended up getting me down to £55 and i went this morning. The moment i got the gutter hose out the van she wasn't happy and wanted me to use the ladder. I told her its the Vac or you can get someone else because i don't work at heights now. She relented when i said i will only be doing my window cleaning customers next year because i have over a hundred customers now. Really what i was saying was, if you are not my customer then i won't be back. After i had finished she changed her tune and asked me to clean her windows every month. She obviously realised that its not up to her to make the decisions on my work and my decision was made that i wouldn't be back. Folk don't realise that its a see-saw when starting out one will take any work just to get by. The moment your are established and you don't need their work they come down quickly to earth because you have got off their see-saw.

 

[Part Timer]

I personally think that people need to appreciate different areas have different prices. Some comments on here are starting to get so patronising it's getting like the Facebook page. It is very easy to lecture others, when you're established and earning good money. What people forget is that those that ask for pricing advice need to get the job and are excited with the enquiry. Those that are full and have very little competition shouldn't be firing in £100+ an hour prices and at the same time decrying others. 

 

[Part Timer]

used to think "how the hell do window cleaners make £200 a day cleaning windows" i was lucky to make £80 for many years when trad window cleaning...my prices were too low and i didnt have the confidence to charge more..in fact i was so hacked off i nearly packed window cleaning in altogether.......

The trouble is now we have people giving advice that if extrapolated would mean that they're earning £500+ a day. 

I'm not saying that the odd day at this level isn't achievable, for the well established, but it isn't on a daily basis and definitely not for a newbie. £50 an hour isn't under selling your self. 

 

[Pjj]

I personally think that people need to appreciate different areas have different prices. Some comments on here are starting to get so patronising it's getting like the Facebook page. It is very easy to lecture others, when you're established and earning good money. What people forget is that those that ask for pricing advice need to get the job and are excited with the enquiry. Those that are full and have very little competition shouldn't be firing in £100+ an hour prices and at the same time decrying others. 

I understand it’s different for well established ones to someone trying to start out hopefully the person asking the questions will get a variety of answers and he will choose what’s best for his situation , however charging cheap prices will not build a successful buisness it will just make you a busy fool , I have been there and done that , green pro has said on a number of occasions that he can charge the same prices all over the country when doing his lead generation , I have a lot of friends that are window cleaners all over the country and some areas definitely support higher prices than others , I think it would be good if window cleaners all over the uk had an avarage price for all different types of properties and we all stuck to our guns with pricing it would benefit us all , but it will never happen I know that . When starting out you might choose to charge less to secure work that’s understandable but it’s no way to build a business as you will end up with lots of work but little money that’s how I started , it was only from seeing how others had done things that I learned to increase my pricing structure  and get to where I am today that’s not boasting , or belittling others I say about it so ones can learn and not make the same mistakes , better to get less work but better paying jobs the round will grow slower but will be far more profitable , if you don’t try and better yourself no one will do it for you ,if ones don’t want to hear theses things they don’t have to act on what’s said if they don’t want to , but hopefully this forum is about helping ones progress .

 

[Pjj]

The trouble is now we have people giving advice that if extrapolated would mean that they're earning £500+ a day. 

I'm not saying that the odd day at this level isn't achievable, for the well established, but it isn't on a daily basis and definitely not for a newbie. £50 an hour isn't under selling your self. 

£500 per day is easily achievable on certain work not all jobs and not 5 days a week , but it’s easy on commercial work if it wasn’t why would some companies travel hundreds of miles to work it wouldn’t be financially viable ,as an example you posted about gutter cleaning in Gosport a while ago , that I think was good money ?..

£50 per hour is good money doing houses one or two storeys but when doing big commercial jobs at 6-8 storey when the pole costs 3:5 k it’s no good  and not sustainable the poles would never be paid for , so you need to earn considerably more this is what newbies need to hear and learn , not that that type of work is for inexperienced newbies. We pick up quite a few jobs where people have bitten off more than they can chew and then cannot deliver the pictures below are one house in point the guy quoted £100 to clean the conservatory and all the windows and plastics , hire costs for  scaffold tower came to £75 , people often don’t give realistic prices for the work in question , an experienced company would quickly realise this but the inexperienced don’t , the job took two people a whole day to do so total of 16 man hours but what price would most quote for this ?.. the answer is  well  into four figures , that’s not boasting nor is it expensive , but it’s a technical job , and why would you do that cheap when you could be doing easy two storey estate houses at the rate of 5-6 per hour @ £10-12 a go ? 

 

[Iron Giant]

I understand it’s different for well established ones to someone trying to start out hopefully the person asking the questions will get a variety of answers and he will choose what’s best for his situation , however charging cheap prices will not build a successful buisness it will just make you a busy fool , I have been there and done that , green pro has said on a number of occasions that he can charge the same prices all over the country when doing his lead generation , I have a lot of friends that are window cleaners all over the country and some areas definitely support higher prices than others , I think it would be good if window cleaners all over the uk had an avarage price for all different types of properties and we all stuck to our guns with pricing it would benefit us all , but it will never happen I know that . When starting out you might choose to charge less to secure work that’s understandable but it’s no way to build a business as you will end up with lots of work but little money that’s how I started , it was only from seeing how others had done things that I learned to increase my pricing structure  and get to where I am today that’s not boasting , or belittling others I say about it so ones can learn and not make the same mistakes , better to get less work but better paying jobs the round will grow slower but will be far more profitable , if you don’t try and better yourself no one will do it for you ,if ones don’t want to hear theses things they don’t have to act on what’s said if they don’t want to , but hopefully this forum is about helping ones progress .

I agree on this, I think 100's of window cleaners across the UK work on there own and they're in there own little bubble and without forums etc then yes we would all no doubt not have moved forward to modern day pricing, a perfect example the town I live and work in old pit village one window cleaner has been on the go around 15-20 years and only does trad has 1-2 lads working with him, I was talking to another lad I know who is pricing double what he was charging near enough and getting the work, a house over the road from me the trad guy was charging £8.50 for a 3 bed detached house with a bay at the front a porch at the side and conservatory at the back it's easily £16.00 but the other wfp lad got it at £15.00, out of 16 window cleaners in this little town there is most likely only 3 of us at most charging the top prices.  


So although I don't like to reveal what I am earning, yes it's beneficial on the whole to have some talking about what they earn as long as it's written in the right way shall we say, I don't think anyone within this post has gone off on one or is boasting( well some maybe a little ?) they are just proud of their achievements, which for a bunch of working class lads, we ain't doing to bad at all, although some might be posher than a pit yacker like me ?

 

[Part Timer]

When starting out you might choose to charge less to secure work that’s understandable but it’s no way to build a business as you will end up with lots of work but little money that’s how I started ,

Most new business fail through lack of cash flow. The industry we work in is a relatively low cost base start and for the first few years the main costs are wages. Once they have their cost base covered they will then be in a position to start to look at getting far better prices and the existing customers that don't want to pay can be replaced. I'm not talking about filling your boots with £5 jobs or fascia work for £20. Where we will agree is those that are doing 3 bed houses for £6-£7 need to up them to £10 minimum, even this in the big housing estates in areas around the country won't be that easy. This is what the industry needs to sort out.  

Where I feel some prices advised are far too high are on the bigger jobs. If you're doing £300 a week of work a potential £400 a month job is a huge boost. If this job is secured at £40+ an hour it will never be, in my mind, bad business. If you're established and doing £800 a week, firstly you won't be on here asking advice, and secondly it won't be a major concern if they get it or not. I don't believe I've seen any enquiries on here at 6 floors plus so the cost of equipment doesn't come into the equation, also these poles are used for a few floors and last a very long time. 

 

[Pjj]

Most new business fail through lack of cash flow. The industry we work in is a relatively low cost base start and for the first few years the main costs are wages. Once they have their cost base covered they will then be in a position to start to look at getting far better prices and the existing customers that don't want to pay can be replaced. I'm not talking about filling your boots with £5 jobs or fascia work for £20. Where we will agree is those that are doing 3 bed houses for £6-£7 need to up them to £10 minimum, even this in the big housing estates in areas around the country won't be that easy. This is what the industry needs to sort out.  

Where I feel some prices advised are far too high are on the bigger jobs. If you're doing £300 a week of work a potential £400 a month job is a huge boost. If this job is secured at £40+ an hour it will never be, in my mind, bad business. If you're established and doing £800 a week, firstly you won't be on here asking advice, and secondly it won't be a major concern if they get it or not. I don't believe I've seen any enquiries on here at 6 floors plus so the cost of equipment doesn't come into the equation, also these poles are used for a few floors and last a very long time. 

I hear what you  are saying and to a degree i I agree with you , but if you are earning let’s say £30 per hour on houses using a £400 pole , and then you start doing a job that needs a £1000 -1200 pole you have to charge considerably more to cover the extra costs of the pole , again working on bigger higher jobs why do it unless you will earn considerably more money it’s harder work , equipment costs are way higher , personally I would want to earn double the rate that I would earn doing houses  or it’s not worth doing . If you loose a £10-20 house job it’s no big deal it’s easily replaced if you loose a £1000 + job it’s a huge hit , I lost a 25 k contract with a big firm 15 years ago it taught me a valuable lesson don’t put all your eggs in one basket with one company , we are now doing all this work again for this company plus a lot more but Ime always cautious about not being totally reliant on them for my buisness income , if I lost the contract it would be a big hit but wouldn’t put us out of buisness .

After reading a lot of posts on hear I think Ime very lucky where I am I don’t really have any competition there is one firm that’s considerably larger than me that has about 12 vans on the road but they arnt doing much domestic , trying to get a window cleaner down hear who turns up regularly and does a good job is very difficult , so some are prepared to pay a premium for a good service , there is on guy on this forum I don’t want to name him but he has recently started up and has come out with us a couple of times to learn how to do various aspects of the job , he is doing very well building up well priced regular work he’s young and very keen this is in part to this forum meeting ones and learning from them , he has set a high hourly target and I didn’t think he would achieve it so soon but he is hitting it most of the time , so if ones are motivated it can be done .

 

[Part Timer]

he is doing very well building up well priced regular work he’s young and very keen this is in part to this forum meeting ones and learning from them , he has set a high hourly target and I didn’t think he would achieve it so soon but he is hitting it most of the time , so if ones are motivated it can be done .

Well done him, but you admit there is very little competition for good regular window cleaners in your area. If this was the case countrywide we all would be charging more, unfortunately you will see numerous vans and equipment for sale soon because there isn't well paid work everywhere.

again working on bigger higher jobs why do it unless you will earn considerably more money it’s harder work , equipment costs are way higher , personally I would want to earn double the rate that I would earn doing houses  or it’s not worth doing .

Again this is the correct attitude when you're full, I don't think anything up to 3 floors should really fetch that much extra. However those asking for advice on here are anything but full and, in my opinion, are better off securing the work at reasonable numbers. When they are getting close to full they will have the confidence and financial stability to quote higher prices.

I lost a 25 k contract with a big firm 15 years ago it taught me a valuable lesson don’t put all your eggs in one basket with one company ,

I've just had to go through the tender process up here for a £10k a year customer, fortunately secured it for another 2 years so appreciate that big contracts come with more stress and dangers than residential.

 

[Pjj]

Well done him, but you admit there is very little competition for good regular window cleaners in your area. If this was the case countrywide we all would be charging more, unfortunately you will see numerous vans and equipment for sale soon because there isn't well paid work everywhere.

Again this is the correct attitude when you're full, I don't think anything up to 3 floors should really fetch that much extra. However those asking for advice on here are anything but full and, in my opinion, are better off securing the work at reasonable numbers. When they are getting close to full they will have the confidence and financial stability to quote higher prices.

I've just had to go through the tender process up here for a £10k a year customer, fortunately secured it for another 2 years so appreciate that big contracts come with more stress and dangers than residential.

Dont you think though that newbies going in cheap on jobs is half the trouble forcing prices down ??? I have friends in Newcastle that are struggling to compete with some charging £3:50 for a 3 bed semi , most  of these are Eastern European’s , it’s killing the job for all concerned and I doubt they are paying tax or insurance , I wonder if being licensed like Scotland would help ? But it would need enforcing and again I doubt that would happen 

 

[dazmond]

dont start with the licencing thing again!no window cleaner wants that!.....there are old trad guys still charging £5-00 for houses near me.....dont worry about it....ive picked up work off these guys in the past at triple the prices they charge....they dont wash down frames and doors,cant clean the awkward windows and dont take card payments/online payments.....the customers are often sick to the back teeth of them and are happy to pay more when they see you do a great thorough job,they often call round too often too for the customers liking.....

Dont you think though that newbies going in cheap on jobs is half the trouble forcing prices down ??? I have friends in Newcastle that are struggling to compete with some charging £3:50 for a 3 bed semi , most  of these are Eastern European’s , it’s killing the job for all concerned and I doubt they are paying tax or insurance , I wonder if being licensed like Scotland would help ? But it would need enforcing and again I doubt that would happen 

eastern europeans just wouldnt get a look in where i work!?

its took me 26 years as a working class englishman to gain the trust of the locals!(its mainly an affluent area)some can be quite posh and up their own **** at times....