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Crazy cheap prices.

Danfire

Well-known member
Messages
702
Location
Petersfield
Quoted a very large bungalow today, at least £600k property. Very large conservatory with a pyramid style roof and another very small lean to conservatory roof. They wanted clean done once every 4 months (including the roofs) I was £32 on the windows and £40 for the roofs so £72 (I was reckoning on just under 2 hours work) for the maintenance cleans.

They were horrified, told me the last cleaner did everything for £25. Glad I didn't tell them about the double charge for the first clean, old man would've had a connary.

Cleaners that start up and do these jobs for not much better than minimum wage create a bit of a legacy headache when they realise their balls up and drop the job. The thicko homeowners don't put 2 and 2 together to realise why they've been dropped and expect everyone to work for nothing.

Wasted an hour there.

 
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Quoted a very large bungalow today, at least £600k property. Very large conservatory with a pyramid style roof and another very small lean to conservatory roof. They wanted clean done once every 4 months (including the roofs) I was £32 on the windows and £40 for the roofs so £72 (I was reckoning on just under 2 hours work) for the maintenance cleans.

They were horrified, told me the last cleaner did everything for £25. Glad I didn't tell them about the double charge for the first clean, old man would've had a connary.

Cleaners that start up and do these jobs for not much better than minimum wage create a bit of a legacy headache when they realise their balls up and drop the job. The thicko homeowners don't put 2 and 2 together to realise why they've been dropped and expect everyone to work for nothing.

Wasted an hour there.
I feel your pain. I get so fed up of the "My last window cleaner only charged..." line, I feel like yawning each time I here it .  The last chap who did this to me after asking for a quote said " The last guy only charged £12"  - I quoted £20.  I told him that's probably why they stopped coming.  He never came back to me. But equally, some people are happy to pay more for a better service.  I quoted £35 recently for a previously £20 job for another window cleaner. They completely got it and have been great customers since. ?

 
I found the best way to stop or minimise this is to publish an idea of prices. Doesn’t have to be an exact price list as it’s practically impossible for most.

But a guide to give an idea. This way people pre-qualify themselves. Example. You put on your website or flyer. Average £18. The person looking for £8 clean probably won’t get in touch.

you get less enquiries but the ones you miss are the ones who won’t likely use you anyway so we’ll worth.

saves you and them time, effort and stress. 

 
I priced up a job a couple of years ago at £45 the woman said the last window cleaners charged £10 , I said why did he stop coming ? She says he’s retired , I laughed and said with prices like that Ime surprised he could afford to retire , luckily she saw the funny side of it and I got the job ???

 
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At this point, this has to be my biggest bug about window cleaning. The fu**wit dole wallers and or benefit cheats (that's not a generalisation round my area I know this for a fact) that start up and charge next to nothing. Then when serious business owners turn up to try and make a decent wage the customer is horrified. It's like finding a dodgy shop where they sell a can of pop for 20p (1980's prices) then going to a 'real' shop and being horrified that they're £1.20 (Today's price). Annoying thing is those same dole wallers are long gone leaving us with the scraps and shocked customers who think we're now just ripping them off when our prices are not the same as they were in 1985). I'm sick and tired of having to explain my prices to customers while they are picking their jaws up off the floor when I quote them ? 

Thankfully a lot understand but still...?

 
I feel your pain. I get so fed up of the "My last window cleaner only charged..." line, I feel like yawning each time I here it .  The last chap who did this to me after asking for a quote said " The last guy only charged £12"  - I quoted £20.  I told him that's probably why they stopped coming.  He never came back to me. But equally, some people are happy to pay more for a better service.  I quoted £35 recently for a previously £20 job for another window cleaner. They completely got it and have been great customers since. ?
Had similar the other day. Got a round that obviously was priced about 10 years ago (just renting temporarily thankfully!) and a lady wanted her conservatory roof done, I went in slightly low given the prices that were there (need the work) and she still tried to barter to half THAT price, her reasoning was "surely you can do a discount given coronavirus putting a financial strain on everyone"....a) she was working from home, so if anything had more money. b) I obviously didn't realise at the time that I'm a millionaire that does this just for fun and has money pouring out of my backside? I'm so glad she set me straight on that one!...

On the flipside, had a walk up the next street down who needed them doing before a house viewing and he couldn't get hold of anyone as his last cleaner had stopped coming (can see where this is kinda going). 3 bed detached, went in at £16 (which is about double what would be charged on the rest of the round) he was perfectly happy with it, also mentioned his dirty garage doors, said I can do them too at £2 each, so HE said 'call it £20 then'. Been a regular customer ever since who pays within an hour of me cleaning the windows??
I then asked him how much the last guy charged..............£8.50!! But he was more than happy to pay for the quality of work done he said?

 
Had similar the other day. Got a round that obviously was priced about 10 years ago (just renting temporarily thankfully!) and a lady wanted her conservatory roof done, I went in slightly low given the prices that were there (need the work) and she still tried to barter to half THAT price, her reasoning was "surely you can do a discount given coronavirus putting a financial strain on everyone"....a) she was working from home, so if anything had more money. b) I obviously didn't realise at the time that I'm a millionaire that does this just for fun and has money pouring out of my backside? I'm so glad she set me straight on that one!...

On the flipside, had a walk up the next street down who needed them doing before a house viewing and he couldn't get hold of anyone as his last cleaner had stopped coming (can see where this is kinda going). 3 bed detached, went in at £16 (which is about double what would be charged on the rest of the round) he was perfectly happy with it, also mentioned his dirty garage doors, said I can do them too at £2 each, so HE said 'call it £20 then'. Been a regular customer ever since who pays within an hour of me cleaning the windows??
I then asked him how much the last guy charged..............£8.50!! But he was more than happy to pay for the quality of work done he said?
THIS is the customer(s) we want. The ones who understand it's not 1985 anymore and will gladly pay for a good service ?

 
At this point, this has to be my biggest bug about window cleaning. The fu**wit dole wallers and or benefit cheats (that's not a generalisation round my area I know this for a fact) that start up and charge next to nothing. Then when serious business owners turn up to try and make a decent wage the customer is horrified. It's like finding a dodgy shop where they sell a can of pop for 20p (1980's prices) then going to a 'real' shop and being horrified that they're £1.20 (Today's price). Annoying thing is those same dole wallers are long gone leaving us with the scraps and shocked customers who think we're now just ripping them off when our prices are not the same as they were in 1985). I'm sick and tired of having to explain my prices to customers while they are picking their jaws up off the floor when I quote them ? 

Thankfully a lot understand but still...?
I've got whole areas where a local cheapie cleans traditional, customers are not happy with him so ring me for a quote.  You can tell they think my price is high but the windows he's supposed to be cleaning look filthy, frames are green etc.  They give the same line 'he's not been for months, we don't know when he's going to turn up...'  non of them have got his number so they cannot get hold of him, when they hear my price they suddenly decide to give him 'another go'.  So frustrating, I'm sure the guy is on the dole, you can't live on peanuts.  The problem is nobody has his number, so the whole area pretty much has **** windows and they put up with it because he's cheap.

 
Theres one of those on this same round im covering. He's doing traditional........without a ladder or squeegee. Just an applicator and a shammy leather. Seems to be doing downstairs only, I wonder if the customers even work it out at first??

 
Quoted a very large bungalow today, at least £600k property. Very large conservatory with a pyramid style roof and another very small lean to conservatory roof. They wanted clean done once every 4 months (including the roofs) I was £32 on the windows and £40 for the roofs so £72 (I was reckoning on just under 2 hours work) for the maintenance cleans.

They were horrified, told me the last cleaner did everything for £25. Glad I didn't tell them about the double charge for the first clean, old man would've had a connary.

Cleaners that start up and do these jobs for not much better than minimum wage create a bit of a legacy headache when they realise their balls up and drop the job. The thicko homeowners don't put 2 and 2 together to realise why they've been dropped and expect everyone to work for nothing.

Wasted an hour there.
I think your price is too cheap tbh if it took me 2 hours for £72.....I'd be gutted.....£36 an hour is too low.....I need to hit £45-£50 an hour minimum on all work or I dont take it on as I only work 20-25 hours a week so every hour must count....

The cheaper guy might clean the whole street and work twice as fast as you and make more money or he could just be making a bit of money on the side....

You win some and lose some!?

 

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