Pricing help

Hey guys,
I am new to commercial high rise, i was just asked to give a proposal on and large building in my home town. It is the old courthouse building, i am supposed to do it 4x a year and in 2 days each time.(below is pic.)

I have no idea how to price, all the interior glass in all the offices has to be done which is 261 panels, All the windows need to be done inside and out which is 790 panels. The building is 6 stories, the 5th and 6th floor have walkways for the windows, they require droping ropes from the top so when you go out on the walk ways you tie up. The remaining floors can be done with a lift, and on the back of the building can be done with ladders and wfp pole because there is a patio that connects to a parking garage.

Like i said i have no clue how to price this or how may guys i will need to accomplish it in 2 days. I know i will get this job because the property manager likes me and they are only taking my proposal. Should i give them a deal because i will be doing it 4 times a year?

I thank everyone for their input, i have came up with a ballpark price for $12,208 per service which is $48,820 per year. But again i dont know what to price.

Here is a picture of the building

noboby has a clue?

c’mon guys 40 views and nobody has input?
PLease :slight_smile:

Alright I will take a stab at it

Hey guys,
I am new to commercial high rise, i was just asked to give a proposal on and large building in my home town. It is the old courthouse building, i am supposed to do it 4x a year and in 2 days each time.(below is pic.)

You say your new… Have you actually done any yet? Are they requesting it be done in 2 days? Do you have the man power to get it done in 2 days? By looking at the picture If you work alone best case scenario I would say this would take a week or two by your self… The inside especially. There is also the huge safety issue to consider trying this by yourself.

I have no idea how to price, all the interior glass in all the offices has to be done which is 261 panels, All the windows need to be done inside and out which is 790 panels. The building is 6 stories, the 5th and 6th floor have walkways for the windows, they require droping ropes from the top so when you go out on the walk ways you tie up. The remaining floors can be done with a lift, and on the back of the building can be done with ladders and wfp pole because there is a patio that connects to a parking garage.
If you look at front of the building that is touching “3d street”. That area would be especially difficult because of its close proximity to the street. Lift and WFP seem to be out of the question. Also that tree on the left side appears it will cause a problem for the lift.

Like i said i have no clue how to price this or how may guys i will need to accomplish it in 2 days. I know i will get this job because the property manager likes me and they are only taking my proposal. Should i give them a deal because i will be doing it 4 times a year?
No no deals this appears to be a difficult job. Maybe wait to decide on it at least until you’ve cranked it out once and get a good understanding of what it actually takes.

I thank everyone for their input, i have came up with a ballpark price for $12,208 per service which is $48,820 per year. But again i dont know what to price.
[B]I think I would price it about the same maybe a tad less. If I was to get this job I would bring 12 - 15 people and crank it out in 1 day. Its hard for me to give a real exact answer with out a better understanding of the building. IE: Where lifts would fit. I would want to know more about the 5th and 6th floor ledge situation. I would want to see the condition of the glass and if my WFP 's would actually reach the top of the 4th floor… Some 4th floors are much taller than others…

Hope that helps… If you can get more specifics for me I can give you more detail. Good Luck![/B]

You are going to need a lot of guys like chris said in order to complete this. Two crews, 1 in and 1 out. Inside is the worst as you have so many things to contend with. IE worker cubes blocking the glass. Locked doors. The job I completed last week was for a few Air force hotels on base. The thing that slowed us down the most we the open windows. The people staying in the hotel did not read the signs telling them to keep the windows closed. So we had to find a janitor to do it. He did not move as fast as us lol. You can figure the outside alone is going to take you 2 days with a crew. I have no real idea how big that building is but from the look of the cars around it. It’s pretty large. Here is another thing to consider. Small but needs to be considered. Do you have the funds to complete the job? If you charge 12 grand and have to pay out 1/2 for workers and tools, thats all good. But do you have that 1/2 right up front? I like to make sure I have all cash required to complete a job. Also do you own a WFP? You will need at lest a 65ft to get that job done. 50ft might cut it but longer is better as you can shorten the pole. Can’t make a 50ft longer. Do you own ropes? Do you own ropes that can be used by law? OSHA has requirements for that. The building I gave a quote for last week was $30k, in and out twice per year. It’s not as high as this one, but large square footage. Where is your water access? As a first time clean. I would boom it all. Face to face is best. Then WFP for the remaining cleans. But face to face at least once per year.
It’s hard to do pricing for buildings like this because there are many things that you dont think about before hand. Pricing per window is how I base all the work. Then I start thinking of the other issues and price for them. The lowest I will go for an outside only clean, no razor, no junk (paint, stucko, plaster, etc) is $2500.00 on a 3 story building with roughly 10 windows per floor, per side, would make the building roughly 100 linear ft square. Thats the lowest. Everything after that get’s a tacky charge. What’s a tacky charge? Simple. If I have to access water 1000 ft from the building, thats a charge tacked on top of the $2500. IE tacky charge. lol

jugger so for any 3 story commercial building you charge 2500.00 just for the outside?

I am working on a 3 story with a couple hundred exterior windows, i think i will try pricing around that.

Jecodob>> any building that I have ever cleaned window on where a lift is required, the price generally runs over $2000 just for the exteriors. But then again, you alone can decide what you think its worth, look at the property and any potential issues you may run into.

this particular building you could never clean in and out in 2 days alone even working 24 hrs a day. You will need a crew for this one for sure.
I hope you can land this, as it will provide good income for you. But I also hope that you can figure out a safe and effective way to accomplish this in the time line given. good luck with it bro!

Yes thats what I charge. I looked over the window cleaning bidding book. In the book it states the pricing is around $2 to $4 per window. If you use that pricing and then start counting windows you will see the pricing is not much off from res work. But would if you take the building I mentioned here. Roughly 120 windows @$4 each. You are looking at $480. No way will I clean a large building for that money when I can get that money from res work. What I did was price per window at $10 each then I start tacking on the prices for the other issues. When all was said an done I found my pricing was equaling out around $2000 to $2400. So I just made it a minium $2500. This price allows me to take a helper, if not two and pay them very well to make sure the job is done correct. In the past month I have completed 1 air force contract and two doctors offices rental buildings. I paid out $500 for the day for my helper and he did 90% of the work. I dont lift anything heavy anymore, that’s the helpers job lol. But once you get a taste of work like this at these prices you wont want to do anything else. There is nothing like managing a job and making over $1000 per day doing it.

There is nothing like managing a job and making over $1000 per day doing it.

Amen.

I may add “making $1000+/day in your pajamas, relaxing in your home office or on the golf course”, but I agree wholeheartedly.

And this leap is possible for every single guy/gal on here that owns their own little WC company.

Sadly, very few will take the steps to make it a reality.

thanks for all your input everyone!

Chris, you mentioned you would price it less why? Why not higher?

Well just from what I see…The commercial market here is very competitive… Lowest bidder wins type of situation.