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Window cleaning Help

Gazz

Active member
Messages
327
Location
West Lothian
Hi guys i'v recently took over a window cleaning run in central Scotland. The prices of the houses all average at £5.00 each and they are close proximity to eachother. The houses get glass only cleaned and for the frames that would be charged for extras. 

Now while cleaning the glass only is notice how dirty the upvc are and it makes me think I do a bad job.

My question is what are your prices and methods of work. Do you clean the whole glass and uPVC or just do glass?

I'm thinking of taking on new monthly customers and doing glass and uPVC and not doing glass only.

I'm moving from house to house cleaning glass only, up and down ladders consistently to make £15- £20 per hour cleaning 3-4 houses an hour. 

Any suggestions would be great 

 
If you are going to offer a better service. Charge more. But remember you new potential client will not think about the level of service when they ask how much. Not many in my area clean the frames. So I do glass only as a standard clean. If customer want the frames cleaned i charge an extra 30/40p per window.

Think of it like this, if you make £20 per hour glass only. Cleaning say 160 windows a day over 8 hours. If you add frame cleaning, and it takes 20 seconds per window, that's an extra hour of work, £20 of work your not going to get done, if you don't charge extra.

£5 is a bit cheap. I don't know the houses, but my minimum is £7. It really means nothing on a forum to discuss pricing, because they will vary across the country. But Imo, if it gets you started in the business great. But take a serious look at your pricing, before you take on a load of adittional work.

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If you are going to offer a better service. Charge more. But remember you new potential client will not think about the level of service when they ask how much. Not many in my area clean the frames. So I do glass only as a standard clean. If customer want the frames cleaned i charge an extra 30/40p per window.

Think of it like this, if you make £20 per hour glass only. Cleaning say 160 windows a day over 8 hours. If you add frame cleaning, and it takes 20 seconds per window, that's an extra hour of work, £20 of work your not going to get done, if you don't charge extra.

£5 is a bit cheap. I don't know the houses, but my minimum is £7. It really means nothing on a forum to discuss pricing, because they will vary across the country. But Imo, if it gets you started in the business great. But take a serious look at your pricing, before you take on a load of adittional work.

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I'v been told plenty of times from the customers that I clean the windows better than the last cleaner. I take my time and I'm not as experienced or fast but I like to do a good job. I'v only just started and I have around 100 monthly cleans part time.

I know £5.00 is low but I can't just change the price straight away after gaining there custom. I'll raise the price when I become full time and or drop them from the run if it's not in my best interest. The houses at £5.00 don't have much windows probably 5 full windows and 5 small ones under them. 

Because I took the run from someone I don't want to change the price but perhaps every new customer I will charge higher. 

Do you have an estimate for when you price a house that I could take into consideration?

 
I'v been told plenty of times from the customers that I clean the windows better than the last cleaner. I take my time and I'm not as experienced or fast but I like to do a good job. I'v only just started and I have around 100 monthly cleans part time.
 
I know £5.00 is low but I can't just change the price straight away after gaining there custom. I'll raise the price when I become full time and or drop them from the run if it's not in my best interest. The houses at £5.00 don't have much windows probably 5 full windows and 5 small ones under them. 
 
Because I took the run from someone I don't want to change the price but perhaps every new customer I will charge higher. 
 
Do you have an estimate for when you price a house that I could take into consideration?
 

Hi Gazz, this is my first post on the forum although I have read many. What prompted me to reply to you is that I had the exact same situation when I started about 18 months ago and in a similar situation and area (North Lanarkshire).
I bought a round and the average price was £4, so I thought that I would keep the prices exactly the same until I got to know the customers a little better and they were happy with the service.
After 3-4 months I put the prices up to £5 on average although I still felt that was underpriced but didn't want to push it too much at the time.
At the current time I am reviewing all houses I go to and making a note of how much I would be happy to charge each customer, then I intend to inform them all of the price increase next month, which will give them one months notice of the increase which will come into force in July.
I figure that if they're not happy with it then I don't mind them cancelling as most of the customers know me well enough now to realise I don't rip them off, and most of them also tip a pound or 2.

Also I only clean the glass, and frames would be an additional charge as this is what the customers were used to. Ideally I would like to clean all frames as well but if it isn't broke don't try to fix it.


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Another tip is once you are up and running and after you have made your next increase tell them this is the last for 12 months.
I don't think you'll lose many but a regular annual or in my case biannual increase helps take the sting out and prove you'll be regular and reliable, this is what I find customers look for.

 
I'v been told plenty of times from the customers that I clean the windows better than the last cleaner. I take my time and I'm not as experienced or fast but I like to do a good job. I'v only just started and I have around 100 monthly cleans part time.
 
I know £5.00 is low but I can't just change the price straight away after gaining there custom. I'll raise the price when I become full time and or drop them from the run if it's not in my best interest. The houses at £5.00 don't have much windows probably 5 full windows and 5 small ones under them. 
 
Because I took the run from someone I don't want to change the price but perhaps every new customer I will charge higher. 
 
Do you have an estimate for when you price a house that I could take into consideration?
 


I hate telling people what to charge. It's better if you so the maths and get there on your own. Over the years, cost will go up, the minimum wage will go up, and other costs of employment will go up also. You have to stay ahead of it.

Pricing needs to be reviewed every year. By pricing, I mean how you price new jobs.

For existing clients I put my prices up £1 every three years.

If you have bought work at £5 per house for ten windows. Keep them, they will keep you making money to tick over. But focus on getting 300 new clients in the region of £1.25/£1.50 per window on average.

There is a reason that guy sold them off. Don't think because he charge £5 That's what you should charge.

Estimate your hours for the year.
Work out your salary.
Work out your running cost.

Add on things like payroll software, employers liability insurance, accounts fees, employers pension contributions. Bank charges.

You may not be paying them now. But if you employ down the road, you have to afford these things.

When calculating costs, add 20% So you can cover anything unexpected. Think about the cost of replacing all you gear, and dividing it up over the number of years you are going to have them, including your vehicle, to calculate a reinvestment cost that you will have to sock away each year to stay in business.

Everything will change but the number of windows you can clean in a day. You should come up with something like this.

Salary 17k
Running costs 5.5k
Tax estimate ?
Re-investment 1.5k

If you make 27k for the year
You will get a tax bill of about 3.5k.

So

Sales 27k
Drawings/wages 17k(pre tax)
Expenses 5.5k

Pre tax profit 21.5k
Sock away your reinvestment of 1.5k
Less tax of 3.5k

Leaving 16.5k for drawings/ your pay.

Someone getting paid 17k in a job will pay around 2k in tax. With take home pay of around 15k. You would make 1.5k more than that taking sales of 27k per year.

Say you clean 15 - 20 windows an hour. Up to 160 windows over 8 hours.

1380 hours per year working 32 hours a week taking off 5.6 weeks holiday. 5% down time and 2% for bad payers.

You have to make around £20 per hour. Or £1-1.40 per window.

Which is why I say £5 is low for 10 windows.

I try to get an average of around £1.25 per window. But if it's a large window 30ft up that needs the WFP to safely clean. I will go up to £3 per window. Or on the other side of it. If it's a small window cleaned from standing, I will go £1. I can clean 20 of them an hour all day long no problem.

I have a price for small, medium and large for each height. Standing, bottoms, tops, high 30ft jobs/ awkward windows that needs extension poles.

Hope that helps.








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Thank you very much guys. You've helped me clear a few things up. What I'll start doing is charging a £6.50- £7.00 minimum and it's £1.00 per window. 

I'll keep the original customers the same for perhaps 6 months to 1 year and eventually put the price up. But for each new customer I'll make sure the £1.00 rule applies. 

I understand were not out to please everyone and where there at the end of the day to make money. So that's what I'll do. 

The image I posted would be classed at 2 windows or 7?

Screenshot_20170515-195727.png

 
I'd class that as two windows mate. If I'm cleaning with wfp the frames and sills are included in the price as standard but if I'm cleaning using a traditional method I wipe the sills but the frames are an optional extra. I usually price new domestic work on the time it takes which is usually around 25/30 per hour per person. Commercial a little more. Obviously any work taken over that is already priced will usually get gradually risen over time if needed. Prices will vary quite a lot depending on the competition in your area.


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I quote by how much i want to earn ph divided by how long the job will take me

Or at least that is what i used to do

Now i just pluck a figure off the top of my head as i know what the house is worth just looking at it after so many years doing it

Personally i don't care where it is i couldn't clean a window without frames and sills whether wfp or trad but my prices take into account how long the job will take

I don't advertise and my work comes to me through recommendation as i always do a spot on job

 
Brilliant I'll try stick to the £1.00 rule for the time being and I'll set a minimum of £6.50. I'm at the very beginning of my window cleaning venture and it's going great. I cleaned 17 houses on Sunday at my own pace and probably 5 hours it took. I had today off windows because window cleaning is my part time job.

In a few weeks I'll go full time and spent all my working days trying to get customers. 

 
Brilliant I'll try stick to the £1.00 rule for the time being and I'll set a minimum of £6.50. I'm at the very beginning of my window cleaning venture and it's going great. I cleaned 17 houses on Sunday at my own pace and probably 5 hours it took. I had today off windows because window cleaning is my part time job.
 
In a few weeks I'll go full time and spent all my working days trying to get customers. 

If your going to charge at set price per window. Without going different prices for large higher windows.

Go £1.25.

Or even £1 bottoms £1.50 tops.

People having been mentioning £1 per window on forums for over a decade. It's honestly a bit out dated now. You need to go a bit higher.

You may have these customer for many many years. Once you do them for a while, it's difficult to get your customers to pay more.

Try get the price right from the get go.

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In my area alot of houses technically have 5 windows so that would be £5.00 although I'd put a minimum of £6.50 on them. I think when it comes to price I might look at the property itself and judge if the people staying there would pay the extra 0.25. Most of my area is council estates.

 
In my area alot of houses technically have 5 windows so that would be £5.00 although I'd put a minimum of £6.50 on them. I think when it comes to price I might look at the property itself and judge if the people staying there would pay the extra 0.25. Most of my area is council estates.

Go £1.25 your next 10 quotes. I bet you get a least 8 of them. That 25p is a difference of over 5k a year. Be brave. That 5k might be the difference between make a profit and making a loss as cost go up.



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I wouldn't have bought that round. I see loads like that round here totally worthless imo. 

15 quid an hour turnover if you are doing it legit is bordering on better off stacking shelves money imo.  

If you were given it for free double the prices and see what happens you've not lost owt. Canvass better work. Whatever you do don't work for peanuts.

 
I wouldn't have bought that round. I see loads like that round here totally worthless imo. 

15 quid an hour turnover if you are doing it legit is bordering on better off stacking shelves money imo.  

If you were given it for free double the prices and see what happens you've not lost owt. Canvass better work. Whatever you do don't work for peanuts.
My current job is pretty much the job you describe and it's no where near  £15.00 a hour. It would increase with the faster I get. I'm not a full time window cleaner yet.

 
My current job is pretty much the job you describe and it's no where near  £15.00 a hour. It would increase with the faster I get. I'm not a full time window cleaner yet.


Tell me about it. I had  never earned more than 8 quid an hour in a job before I went self employed.

I understand if you are starting out you can see what I'm saying yet as I had the same mentality. I thought to myself if I can do 80 a day I would be laughing. Wrong. Im talking 15 quid an hour turnover which if you are doing it legit might be closer to 10 after your capital expenses and yearly running costs etc. Still better off than a wage? Well perhaps but there is the stress,the non payers, messers, not todayers, van breakdowns, rain delays etc. At 15 quid an hour turnover you are running quite tight margins. Dont forget f you are collecting, canvassing and doing marketting and admin your hourly rate is dropping a lot lower. You won't really realise this until you get stuck in though.

 
Id bin the idea of 50p, 25p etc. and just stick to round pounds, make giving change a lot easier. When I started I used to do £1 a window & door £1.50 a bay & French doors then round up to nearest quid then add £2. Works a treat. Also do the frames, if no one there does them, there's you main selling point, and a reason to justify your prices.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi Gazz, this is my first post on the forum although I have read many. What prompted me to reply to you is that I had the exact same situation when I started about 18 months ago and in a similar situation and area (North Lanarkshire).
I bought a round and the average price was £4, so I thought that I would keep the prices exactly the same until I got to know the customers a little better and they were happy with the service.
After 3-4 months I put the prices up to £5 on average although I still felt that was underpriced but didn't want to push it too much at the time.
At the current time I am reviewing all houses I go to and making a note of how much I would be happy to charge each customer, then I intend to inform them all of the price increase next month, which will give them one months notice of the increase which will come into force in July.
I figure that if they're not happy with it then I don't mind them cancelling as most of the customers know me well enough now to realise I don't rip them off, and most of them also tip a pound or 2.

Also I only clean the glass, and frames would be an additional charge as this is what the customers were used to. Ideally I would like to clean all frames as well but if it isn't broke don't try to fix it.


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When I changed over from trad to wfp a couple of months back the biannual fell slap bang in the middle, I was tempted to postpone the increase so the customers could adapt, but I thought sod it and did what I always did and got on with the increase.

I never give notice of increase as it's always the same time and I think it can give them a chance to trawl around for a lower price so I "nail 'em at the door" so to speak.

I didn't really tell them about the wfp changeover I just had my van signwritten a month before and when they mentioned it I could show them how it all worked.

Anyway out of my 330+customer's I have lost 5.
2 on price.
1 who said her pvc frames leaked ( she was a bit of a pest anyway).
1 who didn't like "wet windows"
1 (the most bizarre), a guy who's flat I did who is also a trad window cleaner, who approached me last week and asked me to leave them because his wife said it left "marks". This was the one and only complaint on workmanship, I think he was a bit of a Luddite.
So in the couple of months out of 330+ customers I have lost 4, gained 6 + 1 commercial.
I couldn't really have wished for a better result.
 
Id bin the idea of 50p, 25p etc. and just stick to round pounds, make giving change a lot easier. When I started I used to do £1 a window & door £1.50 a bay & French doors then round up to nearest quid then add £2. Works a treat. Also do the frames, if no one there does them, there's you main selling point, and a reason to justify your prices.
From the advice here I got told to charge frames as extras. I know it would be a good selling point but less people would want to pay a higher monthly fee

 
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