I wouldn’t give it the good ol’ college try since this is your first French pain experience and these are luxury homes. They want someone to do it right the first time and not have to pay for someone to fix it if something goes wrong. This will be very overwhelming for you. I would get a few houses under your belt before you tackle this.
Not trying to put you down, just don’t want to see you struggle at it.
This right here!
Never paint yourself into a corner. Hopefully it will be lesson learned. Edit your website after this job. 
It always seems to not be clear when things get worded as this, at least for me.
Is that 378 panes outside, and 378 panes inside? Or, 378 panes total inside and outside?
Discounts for first cleans? First clean is always the hardest; discount if they hire you again in the next quarter. The work will be a bit easier and you are giving them a break on the price for repeat business.
“Use my services again and you get X amount off; use someone else and you’ll likely pay full price again.”
It’s 378 + 378. I have a WFP for outside tho. And it’s a two house special, also its newer homes built within the last couple years. Windows didn’t look that filthy, but I do like that approach. Honestly at 2500 for two homes, I don’t think I could bid much higher.
I would definetly cut to fit for frenchies, saves a ton of time. Charge a fair price for you & him. I did a home on a golf course last fall, lots of French + premiere track scrub and screens for almost $1700. 2 guys 2 days in & out. He was happy & wrote a check for it.
How many panes of glass are you counting for this one?
Does WFP make the price go up, down, or stay the same?
“Honestly at 2500 for two homes, I don’t think I could bid much higher.”
I cleaned a house a few months back at $2300 1st floor, the next week I went back and did the 2nd floor for $2500 while they were on vacation. You can bid more.
In my opinion you are leaving money on the table with your 20% discount from the get go.
Work is work, and that one doesn’t look like an easy job.
10% incentive … after that you can offer 20% if they get on a maintenance program with you.
If they get it cleaned for 20% off and then want to do a regular maintenance, what cha’ gonna’ do then? Offer 30% off??
DO NOT CHARGE OUT OF YOUR OWN POCKET.
Worth repeating:
DO NOT CHARGE OUT OF YOUR OWN POCKET.
I think 2500 is spot on. I bid a job last year that took me and another guy 1 day. Was 1300. He said to me at the end of the day, “wow you over bid that job” I said, oh yeah? They’re happy with the price and so am I.
A couple of years a go I bid a job at $1,800 in and out. Huge home, lots of windows, many difficult to reach. The guy laughed at my price, but then last November ended up hiring me to clean exterior only because the last window cleaner he hired did a sub par job. I like my pricing for just that reason. They go with the low bid and regret it.
Advertising pricing on your website promotes price shopping without the customer ever speaking with you directly.
By advertising pricing you may have already lost a customer before them even inquiring about your services just by seeing a price chart like you say you have.
Just because the successful window cleaner you copied a price chart from is successful doesn’t mean you are yet.
Personally, I close jobs better once I am able to speak with the customer. I’m your case, I would suggest getting rid of the pricing so you can get a little experience from smaller homes and it also sounds like you don’t have a service minimum so you can also charge $100/200 for a smaller ranch style home without really taking a large financial loss, at the same time you get the interior residential experience as well.
Since not all homes and windows are “cookie cutter” ideal for blanket pricing, I prefer giving the quote in person. By phone or e-mail you can explain that you are only able to give a general idea of price if they are insistent, but also let them know that you have a minimum.
You can base that on square footage if you like to weed out “tire kickers”. I understand the argument against 45 minute plus drives to give a quote; that is when you give a suggestion of a ballpark figure based on your discussion with the potential customer. In that, you are able to build some rapport with them as you inform of what you do and why you are the reason they called you.
Like I have said before, sometimes you can paint yourself into a corner by posting prices because the customer sees X amount of windows for $XX, and you get there and are stunned by what you have to deal with. Now you either do it or get into a negative back and forth with the customer.
Exactly why I don’t advertise pricing, there’s a large price gap just from style of windows. Not to mention the landscape of the property, interior glass (ladder work inside, costs more than being able to walk up to them), is the customer a pain? (Yes, I do charge more if they’re being difficult or appear to be overly needy)
25 1/1’s with screens is more expensive than 25 1/1’s with storm units… more than double
50 casements w/interior screens will cost less than 25 12/12’s with exterior screens
Too many variables, with the package pricing advertised you’re leaving a lot of extra money on the table. As well as possibly losing out on that small home that may be in a lower price range. Seeing $850 for “luxury homes” may turn some people away. Whereas if that smaller home needed windows in/out for about $200 you could have possibly added ceiling fan cleaning (I charge $20 minimum to clean those) gutter cleaning ($99 minimum add on to WC jobs), mirror or shower door cleaning (starting at $10/each) chandelier cleaning (starting at $50 add on to WC jobs)
I’ve turned some $200 WC jobs into $500 jobs with a few sales pitches over the telephone… don’t miss out on all that add on $
Just a couple ideas, especially if you’re advertising “luxury window cleaning” services
You guys a brutal man…got me over here questioning everything I’m doing lol. It just seems to me like it kinda breaks the ice by doing the pricing chart. Example, I did a exterior only home the other day and I probably would have charged less if I counted just the windows, but my pricing chart actually helped me out and I got almost $100 extra bucks than I probably would have bid the job by counting windows. I can understand the downside of a pricing chart, but I also like the simplicity of it especially with being a new guy. It kind of seems like it might turn into a “win some loose some” situation
Also, @Garry I understand there are bigger homes out there and maybe I worded things wrong when I said “at $2500 for two homes I probably couldn’t get much more” I meant for these two homes I don’t think I could get much more, they are beautiful homes, and they are big, and there is some ladder work on the inside I’ll need to do, but I really think I’m maxed out at $2500. Now that I think about it I probably should have worded my quote different, telling him I’d do 20% off for two houses almost sounded desperate and unprofessional. If I could go back I would have counded how many different sized windows (width wise) and priced each group of panes accordingly.
I also don’t have as much anxiety giving them a quote when I tell them “if you look at my website I have a pricing chart on there, so you can get a ballpark estimate”. That way, they have an idea of what type of number I’m going to throw at them, and I don’t have to waste my time driving out there if they don’t like the ball park quote
I’m such a newb I don’t even know what you are talking about when you say “25 1/1’s”
I have a minimum of $89. That’s the exterior of a small home
If you guys want to see what I’m talking about, check out my website at Www.dekalbwindowcleaning.com
Basically just go with your gut. Either it’ll be nice or it’ll be a lesson.
