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Hello newbie to window cleaning.

Hydie331

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11
Location
Kidderminster
Hello,

I have been looking to start window cleaning for a while now but not been able to pull the trigger over the fear of not getting enough customers as I see loads of window cleaners around my area I will be going WFP route, Also how do you price up a house? I have been quoted £5 for a 2 bedroom terraced house surely this isn't the norm.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 
A fiver is nothing now and many windys have a minimum of £8 now. Not worth the hassle for a fiver. If you WFP then you will be cleaning the frames also and most now clean the doors. I have found that cleaning a front door impresses the customer.

 
Yeah, I'm with the consensus here. £5 seems a bit on the low end


£5 for a terrace front (1 door, 3 windows) is easy money. Get a row of them & you'll be turning over £50 to £60+ per hour.

I worked out that including van costs, WFP costs, holiday, days off due to bad weather, filling up vantank, bookwork etc... it costs me roughly £5 per customer just to turn up at their door. That's why £5 is my minimum charge.

 
When I first started in 06 I bought a round that had a very compact street of 2 bed terraced for £4 and I could hit £30ph on there (rest of the work was about £15ph) That would be pretty nice at £12.50 each ?I'd probably be charging £6 each now if I still did them and getting £45ph.

I do some random terraced in my new area for £12 each but don't really earn more per hour.

That's the difference between compact work and isolated houses.

 
When I first started in 06 I bought a round that had a very compact street of 2 bed terraced for £4 and I could hit £30ph on there (rest of the work was about £15ph) That would be pretty nice at £12.50 each [emoji846]I'd probably be charging £6 each now if I still did them and getting £45ph.
I do some random terraced in my new area for £12 each but don't really earn more per hour.
That's the difference between compact work and isolated houses.
That’s a good explanation. I do loads at £6 and easily turn £30-40 per hour. Some lads just can’t comprehend that as their work is spaced out and can only do 2 maybe 3 small houses per hour. This is why you get so many variations on prices. It’s not that you are overcharging or have underpriced work. Then theirs the lads that are way out in the sticks where their may only be a handful of houses in a 5 mile radius and out of those you may only do a couple of them so have to price really high.


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It also gets me when lads say oh your too cheap and your driving prices down and spoiling the industry. In all fairness the oldschool pricing systems based on very compact work have been around a lot longer than they have so in reality have more right to dictate the prices for our industry.


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yeh see what you mean. would be lovely to have lots all nearby each other. Round here like lots of places I imagine, you got tom **** and harry etc all at it. My town, woodbridge, small population of 12000 or so, but lots of suburbia from Ipswich next door, and ive lost count of all the different windies ive seen here. Still, it is true that if you look hard enough you will find custom.

 
Last year I was cleaning my mates by2let flat. It was a first clean because he was reletting it. Woman on ground floor pestered me to clean hers. I eventually said ok, a fiver should do, expecting a smile because I was doing it cheap. I couldn't believe it when she took the opposite view and said the last guy charged £3. Aye, that's how he never came back, a fiver is the minimum now. She told me not to bother then. There is folk out there still living in the 80s and my mum is one of them.

 
Thats true, but then you get those that always insist on paying more. Ive got a few of them, and they aren't underpriced. When I wind down in older age they'll be the last i keep on. Oh f***, they are mostly ancient now so would have to live to their 100s ?

 
It also gets me when lads say oh your too cheap and your driving prices down and spoiling the industry. In all fairness the oldschool pricing systems based on very compact work have been around a lot longer than they have so in reality have more right to dictate the prices for our industry.


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I think it's the thing in the Northwest which I think is your neck of the woods or North Manchester where I live I still do loads of fortnightly compact work which is easy and you can earn good money on a tight run.
I'm finding now though that the younger end that are buying in as the old boys and girls die off want monthly cleans and when your books are full you can charge them more for the longer frequency for not much more time or effort.
It's evolving all the time.

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From a business point of view the only factor is ROI - especially on 'TIME'

Here's how i've always looked at it since day one (it was all cash collections back then) 

You have 10 customers in a terrace row at £5 each. You can crank them out in about an hour so an easy £50 for a steady hours work! 

Now here's my issue.. that's 10 lots of people you are hoping will be home to pay... ten lot's you are hoping will have left it in secret stash or in modern circumstance 10 lot's of admin to deal with.. don't miss the days of going on 'collections' only to be told 'can you stop back Friday when I get paid' or 'I'll pay you double next month' etc. 

Anyone that claims a large cash round and that collections always goes as smooth as silk (with possibly two exceptions on here) is a liar. 

At the other end of it you have only 2 customers on this street so that still takes up 20 minutes at £12.50 each.  Say a 4 or 5 min drive to the next street and 2 more jobs another £12.50 each and 20 mins. 

So here we are in 45 mins having earned better (as we saved 15 mins) money as the lads doing 10 in a row for an hour. 

BUT AND IT'S A BIG BUT - we have 60% less administration to do, 60% less doors to knock on to collect our money.  60% less chance of a customer moving house or passing away. 

In summary we need to do 60% less work and have a round that is only 40% the size of theirs to make the same money. 

Can you HONESTLY say you can't see the benefit? 

Long timers like our resident Ginge @steve garwood will have naturally evolved long runs of  houses over years of being on same streets for decades but don't delude yourselves that you can go out today and knock a row of houses anywhere and come back with 10+ on one street it just doesn't work like that anymore. At least not round here. 

**Edit.  'Above I said 40% to have a round the same as theirs.  I Should have said BETTER than theirs as you're doing 60% less graft for same money' 

 
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From a business point of view the only factor is ROI - especially on 'TIME'
 
Here's how i've always looked at it since day one (it was all cash collections back then) 
 
You have 10 customers in a terrace row at £5 each. You can crank them out in about an hour so an easy £50 for a steady hours work! 
 
Now here's my issue.. that's 10 lots of people you are hoping will be home to pay... ten lot's you are hoping will have left it in secret stash or in modern circumstance 10 lot's of admin to deal with.. don't miss the days of going on 'collections' only to be told 'can you stop back Friday when I get paid' or 'I'll pay you double next month' etc. 
 
Anyone that claims a large cash round and that collections always goes as smooth as silk (with possibly two exceptions on here) is a liar. 
 
At the other end of it you have only 2 customers on this street so that still takes up 20 minutes at £12.50 each.  Say a 4 or 5 min drive to the next street and 2 more jobs another £12.50 each and 20 mins. 
 
So here we are in 45 mins having earned better (as we saved 15 mins) money as the lads doing 10 in a row for an hour. 
BUT AND IT'S A BIG BUT - we have 60% less administration to do, 60% less doors to knock on to collect our money.  60% less chance of a customer moving house or passing away. 
 
In summary we need to do 60% less work and have a round that is only 40% the size of theirs to make the same money. 
 
Can you HONESTLY say you can't see the benefit? 
 
Long timers like our resident Ginge [mention=2664]steve garwood[/mention] will have naturally evolved long runs of  houses over years of being on same streets for decades but don't delude yourselves that you can go out today and knock a row of houses anywhere and come back with 10+ on one street it just doesn't work like that anymore. At least not round here. 
 
**Edit.  'Above I said 40% to have a round the same as theirs.  I Should have said BETTER than theirs as you're doing 60% less graft for same money' 
 
You would like to think so and in theory it sounds right but it doesn’t work like that. I do both kinds of work from the higher priced spread out stuff like yourself and the lower priced oldschool compact stuff and theres not much difference in turnover, admin etc. The only time I earn considerably more is on my commercial stuff and it’s always been like that. The only difference really is on the spread out stuff you use more fuel, wear and tear on your vehicle etc and if you lose one high price job it’s a bigger hit to your turnover than if you lose a lower price job.


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