yeah i do all mine on the phone, can’t imagine having to spend the time driving. or all the repetitive steps.
hi yes, address, ok i come by, drive there look do quote, send quote, customer phones, set appt. go to job.
hi i want a quaote for doing my windows, look on line, it’ll this much we do blaha blah blah, whn can you you come, how bout thursday? one phone call done!
i love meeting new customers too, i meet them on the phone, by the time i come to do the job we’re already old friends
I wish i could nail down a system that worked. It totally is extra work that you dont really get paid for.
I guess i like to vet people though some jobs i really dont want. Whats your process for quoting over the phone? @cactus27
I think another challenge is i do a number of services and houses vary like crazy here. I know some guys on here dont even own a 32’ i feel like its a treat when i dont have to load it on the truck.
i have a base for square footage.
there are 4 main types of windows here:
aluminum sliders- i hate these and add at least 20 per window for these (if in & out)
wooden frame crank outs, vinyl crank out: i prefer the vinyl and include washing the frames for these but there is no adjustment to the square foot price
vinyl sliders: screens are on the outside: customer given options. you can remove the sceens before we get there, we can skip the glass covered by screens, you can pay us to remove the screens and replace them when done, you can choose in & out cleaning and we remove them at no extra charge.
newer construction her tends to have more glass and sometimes great rooms or grand entrances that have 18 foot ceilings, if so i find out how many of those they have and add money for each.
transom windows (higher than regular, you need a small step ladder) i add a bit for each.
here the city has a tax site listing the square footage and linking to google maps and ariel photos as well so i can usually have a pretty good idea of what the house is like. your area may have something similar INVESTIGATE
if i don’t feel i really have a good idea i will let them know i am giving them an ESTIMATE which is usually a range not a quote.
i try to do 70-110 per man hour, occassionally i am lower and don’t break 100 often.
I need to do more searches on here on over the phone bidding. I would love not to burn a day looking at jobs but i do feel like it is less strwaaful then going in blind. I would hatw to expecting a job to be one day and then have to come back the next because time expectation was wrong. But maybe people are totally okay with that.
where are you?
Pac NW
I know this is an older thread… And this will sound like a stupid question, but can you explain to me what the factor represents in this sheet?
Factor being that which represents your regular price.
Lets take $5.00 as an example as an average window cleaning price.
Factor 0.5 is $5 x 0.5 = 2.50, Minor moving of a couch = $2.50
(if you decide to charge for it on your factor sheet)
Factor 1.5 is $5 x 1.5 = 7.50
In the case of ladder windows and a no ladder windows:
Factor 1.0 x 12 windows @ $5 = $60 (no ladder needed)
Factor 1.5 x 8 windows @ $7.50 = $60 (ladder needed)
20 windows factored in this way = $120
(One side only, X 2 for both sides, or some folks charge more for one side opposed to the other, that is up to you).
Add any other Factors you feel that you need to to the overall estimate.
That’s great… Thanks for the explanation…I could have done a factor of 10 on my last residential… Nice little old lady who had way too much stuff displayed on her window sills and stuff in front of the windows… She moved what she could, but me being s nice guy couldn’t watch her so it all on her own lol
I have several times moved things without “factoring”. It just depends.
This is a good thread to revisit.
I try to keep things as simple as possible for the homeowner. I prefer them to be home (primarily so I can close) but I never require them to be. I do the outside walk-around to check the count, the dirt and the degree of difficulty. When I go back to the customer I explain my standard service, give the price and ask if they want to schedule.
I had a couple last week that invited inside and they wanted to chat for about 25 minutes. So I did that, they asked lots of good questions and I had answers for all of them. We built a little bit of a relationship. They booked me and told me how my price compared to my competition.
This week I went to one house. The wife called but the husband was the only one home when I got there. He answered the door, I did the walk-around, then back tot he door and delivered price. He wasn’t looking to talk so I didn’t. He said his wife would call the schedule. We shall see.
Keep it simple.
The way I have been doing this is,
I meet the client at their house, always on time and presentable, in uniform. I have two styles. My estimating polo shirts and I have t-shirts for the labour. I engage with them and talk about anything or just business. It depends but usually it’s always small chat first, during and or just after. I do my thing and I email them their quote within 1 business day. No one has rejected this so far and if they don’t want it emailed, then I would do it on the spot but this hasn’t happened yet. I like that they have it “on paper” and so do they of course. They get a .pdf file with the info. They like that I take the time to type the info up. Imo it has a professional touch.
One day a Wi-Fi stick and a mobile printer would be great for on the spot printing.
Oh and charm…
Good thread. We try to do all residential bids over the phone and send through Responsibid. Works great; I haven’t wasted much time meeting with customers this season.
I have noticed that 9/10 times when a customer wants to meet face to face… they just want someone to talk to, or they are ultra nit picky and have turned into a problem customer. I am not in the field at all anymore so I think when a customer meets me and then someone else (an employee) shows up to do the work, they get slightly upset. How do you guys/gals with employees overcome this? Is that type of customer just not your target market or do you just move on if they seem to want a RELATIONSHIP with their window cleaner?
This is how I do it too, but I have pre-made forms that I just fill in the blanks with. That way they can confirm right away and I put them on the calendar, or they can go over it with their spouse and call me later. It has been working well for me.
Hp 3755 is a tiny inkjet printer. Plug it into your inverter that plugs into a cigarette lighter. Creates it’s own WiFi hot spot. For less than a hundred bucks your set.
@Garry I like it! I do have to work on an estimate sheet. I use blank company letterhead sheets but that’s changing for sure.
@Trenchfeet dude…thanks for the link. I didn’t realise they were that reasonably priced! I imagined a few hundred bucks plus a Wi-Fi stick with a monlthy purchase. Much appreciated.
I bought a sweet mobile printer cause i was gonna type out all my estimates, but with my new trifold brochure estimate sheet i haven’t used it once! The brochure actually looks really good with the prices hand written in marker. If it weren’t for that, though, I’d definitely mobile print as you can’t beat how professional that looks.
