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A new option for customers

Green Pro Clean Ltd

Well-known member
Messages
8,103
Location
Nottingham & Derbyshire
We have all turned up to that paranoid customer that is convinced that their gutters need clearing and when you get up the ladder this is obviously not the case as they are totally empty.

By this point you have already agreed a price with the customer so do you:

A: Do 10 minutes work, pack up collect the money and say thank you?

B: Take the hit and say 'cant charge you I ain't done nothing'

C: LOOK busy for an hour or two then pack up and collect?

Well whichever you chose only B is the correct answer but the issue with that is you are out of pocket for time and fuel.

Now I am adding the new service to my resume, 'Gutter Survey'

Plenty of us now have a GoPro or similar camera that can attach to a pole to video the inside of a gutter and see whats what so I will be offering 'The Survey' for just £9.99

Instead of pricing guttering per job in future I will give an hourly rate and an estimate as to how long the job should take however prior to any of that I will come out and do a full video survey and written report for £9.99 madam, should the gutters need any further attention this £9.99 will be deducted from the overall bill at the end of the job.

I think there's some legs to that.

 
I've been using a £30 video phone on a pole. I don't think I could charge to survey, I'm not in a strong enough position to I don't think and I haven't been asked anyway (there's already a visible problem) But I'd still go with option B.

Does your gutter work come mostly off window custom or fresh leads/one offs @Green?

 
In the early days it would have been B, but now I take option A every time. I think youre making more bother for yourself personally. And no one should ever have to take a hit in this or any other trade. By all means don't heavily inflate, but definitely charge to cover time/fuel at least.

What happens when you put your camera up there and the whole gutters clear, except for the blockage at the top of the pipe? Any price you say will be too much and you've just done yourself out of a nice earner. The amount of times I have people tell me that its just one side that's pouring over, and "canyoujust check the other side". I always just charge for both sides to be cleaned, and if one is empty, tough. And if they are both chocker I don't charge extra, I just crack on. Gutter cleaning for me is like a plumbers call out fee- it will be expensive- simple. I don't risk my life or get dirty for pennies when I can stay on the ground for the same money.

 
All common sense^

I've only done one where it might not have been worth bothering really, but did it anyway, maybe a few cups of material in total but they want it done yearly for peace of mind.

Some people really will want just a few handfulls removed, just as some are happy with a torrent of rain flowing and a few trees up there I guess :rolleyes:

This is probably more important an issue for people doing gutters more frequently and further from their base

 
Mine is quite 50 /50 as far as where the business comes from.

Also remember Tolish I work a very compact area nowdays so any of the surveys I will b doing will be no more than a ten minute round trip from my house, I wouldn't do real mileage as that would not make sense.

For those I agree with you, I would charge my hourly rate to go see, and then of course for that they would get a full hour of service.

 
I have in the past always gone with B but I was called out to a gutter last week and it turned out it was completely empty apart from over the downpipe which had a hole drilled into the gutter and lay over the downpipe instead of being cut into two sections and clipped in and a leaf was just lay over it.

I charged £15 because I had to do a 18 mile round trip, get up a ladder twice to check the holes and it still took me maybe 20mins.

Before I wouldn't have charged anything.

 
theres Always something in the gutter [ even if it amounts to an eggcup] -

so be it , it takes time to sweep the crumbs out and thats what you are there for . only then can you say "your gutters are totally clean now " and thats what they want to hear

 
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I always agree the price based on the gutters being full, if they're empty it's a bonus for me. I always hose then out though so I can honestly say that they are clear when I'm done.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 
I had a customer with no TV signal. Last month she asked me to check her Sky dish while I was up on a very narrow roof (Joe public would have struggled to get on the roof). I noticed a cable had come loose and I slotted it back into the dish, she passed some tape out of a window and I wrapped it round to secure it. I said that she needed to get a proper connector so that the cable wouldn't slip out again. I said if she got the connector I'd do it next time I did the windows. While cleaning the front of the house she comes out with a £20 note (the house is £10) and hands me 2 ariel connectors at the same time. I'm thinking is she giving me a tenner to fix the sky cable or does she want change. I accepted the £20 and got my money pouch out to give her £10 change. She accepted the change! That put me in a bad mood! As I got on the roof I soon realised that neither connector fitted the dish fitting. I had ripped off the tape that I'd put on the previous month while trying to see if I could fix it. F@ck this I thought as I stuck the loose cable back in the slot and left the tape lying on the roof. If the cable comes out again then it's tough :turd:. As I was walking off the roof she pokes her head out of a small window and asks if I fixed it. I replied quite abruptly that neither fitted. As I got back to my van I told her that she needed a proper Sky dish connector and walked off. I'm thinking of kicking her into touch, I've cleaned for her for many years, but not even offering me a drink to fix her TV signal pi55ed me off. How much would she have had to pay a proffesional I wander?

Sometimes we risk our neck for these chunts and for what?

 
Ben who used to work for me was the master, me? I would lose my cool and end up telling pi$$ takers to do one in very foul language, that's why I sent in Ben, I really do not know what he would say to them, he all 'peace love and woodstock maaannnnn!' but after he had had words they were never EVER a problem again.

 
Well got the camera in from eBay this week, nice little set up for £39.

Comes with all sorts of attachments for attaching to almost anything. As well as recording to micro SD card it also transmits to via WIFW to my cell phone so I can still see whats happening from the ground. I have got it attached to a quick release adapter for my Gardiners poles so tomorrow I will test it out.



 
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That looks great what is it? Is it Bluetooth to the phone? Could put a clip on the pole to hold phone and a great little set up.

 
Awesome cheers, think I'll get myself one, thinking of putting it on gutter hoover pole to see what I'm doing.

 
How did the test go?

Been looking at gutter vacs and the camera systems are stupidly expensive but this looks really good

 
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