Another "you're too much" thread

Yes sir, that comes to $350.
Can you do better on the price?
Yes, that will be $375; better for me. :wink:

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I agree. Some of these mansion folks want low prices and I get 1500 to 2k single levels homes that I knock out in 1.5-2 hrs with no odd ladder/pole work. I sometimes am silently praying for the only single level homes in a community.

Goes back to the pick 3: Speed, Quality, Price. You have 2 but not all 3. I will never give in on quality.

If cost, quality, speed, relationships, (insert qualities or desired factor(s)) is all you care about, expect your clients to care to the same level.

I blessed to have great clients. Choose your clients like you would choose service providers.

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Booked a customer yesterday. Single story, side slide windows with screens. I quoted $180 exterior with screens. She said will you do it for $150, without skipping a beat I said $180. She chuckled and said - “You don’t dicker do you?” I said, no, especially on first cleans. Point is everyone wants to bring your price down.
I showed up in my van with ladder on top and magnetics on the doors (no wrap because it doubles as my personal vehicle). I wear a uniform shirt, mostly clean, fitting shorts (work clothes!), clean shaven. Point of that is I don’t outwardly give them a reason to feel they can just “dicker” on the price with me. I show up as - this is my business and not something I do on the side. A few times over the years people have asked if this what I do all the time. I’m thinking - um, yea, no different than any other professional service for hire - electrician, plumber ,Molly Maid, lawn service, pest control, window cleaner. Certainly some folks out there just do it as a side hustle and they may Drop the price down, but for us who do this day in and day out - the price is the price. Guess I could side hustle as a dog walker. :slight_smile:

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I disagree with this line of thinking. Why should the value of someone’s home be your business to know, let alone affect your pricing? We are in a service based business and we get to set our own rates. Pick your price and give people your quote, period.

I would be upset if any contractor that I hired was charging me more than my neighbors because (for example) he knew how much money I make in a year.

Why should someone in a “nice big” house pay “premium pricing”? That sounds like you are trying to take advantage of someone just because you think they can afford it.

You should treat each job with the same method of quoting, income or house value has ZERO effect on how many windows there are or how easy/difficult the job is to do.

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No way! I replied to his email that we understand there are different levels of pricing as well as different levels of service in window cleaning so we’re sure he’ll find someone that fits his budget. There’s no way we’re negotiating on price right now. For the most part we’re booked until March.

Could just rebut with standard clean and not a premium clean for less money. Your “Premium Clean” is a more concerted effort that shows value compared to a regular clean? House value and wealth have zero to do with pricing to clean windows. THE window and what it will take to get THE window clean considering access, scope of job, and amount of windows is the only variables for pricing a job; mobile home or mansion.

Oh boy…I don’t quote higher based on home value. I offer three prices: premium, deluxe and basic via responsibid. Everyone gets priced based on whatever factors we have determined. People on this forum often wear there hearts on their sleeves and get so worked up. Chill out dude. [quote=“DanTheWindowMan, post:24, topic:49224”]
I disagree with this line of thinking. Why should the value of someone’s home be your business to know, let alone affect your pricing?
[/quote]

County appraisal site, Zillow, trulia etc all list home value or recent selling price. Again, I don’t use that as a factor in how I charge. For the record, I posted this to highlight how cheap people can be and how they want to tell you what you ought to charge. I’ll also share that after this guy passed on us, someone booked for $1,400 elsewhere nearby. I post this to encourage others to not bend on their pricing when someone wants 20-30% off just because, especially on a first time clean.

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Garry, we offered him 2 prices. He wanted our "premium " service but didn’t want to pay it and didn’t consider our other price for our “deluxe” service.

Again, for anyone reading we don’t charge people based on the neighborhood they live in or what the value of their home is.

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I second that. I used to think “Man, I would love to clean the windows on that 10,000 sq ft house.” Then, you get one and you hate it. I rather the smaller one story houses any day!

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:roll_eyes: Who said we price based on home value or income? A larger home has more windows meaning more work so more money. Since we use Responsibid the prices are calculated using the same formula for everyone.

Proud of you! :grin:

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One thing I’ve noticed during my collective years in this business, it seems more competitive price-wise during these winter months. Meaning, I quoted a bunch of jobs onsite and online earlier and I got may be 20% booking. The rest all didn’t reply back or said I found someone that’ll do it cheaper. BUT in the thick of summer, they’re willing and able to pay full price plus tip if we can schedule them within 2-3 weeks! It sucks to potentially drop prices in the winter months, but to compete, it’s almost necessary (if you absolutely need the work).

Any Mercedes for a work vehicle is far from frugal. Your paying way more than needed, even in replacement parts.

You can set up whatever pricing factors you want in Responsibid. That’s one of great things about it.

I definitely charge different prices for different areas and even some based on income.

For example, I clean a lot of windows in a community where most of the people are elderly and on fixed incomes. I charge them a bit less becasue to me the work is still worth it (easy DH windows one floor only.)

There’s another super wealthy community I work in that is gated and it takes me forever to get past the security gate. Then I have to wait forever for the house managers to talk to me before I can even get started. I definitely
Charge more for that.

One of the first things I ever learned when I started cleaning windows was that every window is different. It took me a long time before I really realized what that meant.

You’re right in that aspect. It’s a killer fixing that darn thing when needed. On the positive side, the wifey’s company bought her a new business car and since my Nissan/work vehicle crapped out a few years back, I got this machine. My sorry-@ss married up😂

I’ve screwed myself several times on first times changes with the promise of frequent future cleanings… no more… just a little- little old ladies win me everytime

Oh, I’m a sucker for the little old lady grandma types!

I used to bend over backwards for customers when I first started. I said yes to everything just to get my name out there. I totally got screwed more than a few times. I don’t necessarily regret anything though.

Now that I’m well established and have a good reputation I set the parameters and don’t bend to anyone. Well, except those little old grandma types every now and then.

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If you gave a fair bid then nothing to regret. There’s a lot of different variables and no way to know for sure what caused it

He could be rich on the outside, but dealing with financial problems and he doesn’t have as much money as people think

He might have been price discriminated in the past and refuses to budge on what he considers “fair”. He might have even researched and looked into what a fair price would be for his home

He could view the negotiation process as a game and simply enjoys going back and forth trying to “win”. He could be playing the same game with multiple companies, predetermined to go with the lowest price

Or he could know nothing and he just doesn’t want to spend a lot on window cleaning even if it’s a fair price

And on and on

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