If your base price is $5 per window then that is X.
5 x 1.2 = 6; 5 x 1.5 = 7.50.
If your base price is $4, then
4 x 1.2 = 4.80; 4 x 1.5 = 6.00
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Donât over complicate the pricing. Charge more for tracks or donât. Charge less for casements or donât. Etc etc. Be fair yet competitive, and embrace the learning curve. I remember how we felt after completing our second residential job. It took the 2 of us about 5 hours for 35 windows plus screens. No tricky ladder placement or 3rd story. Just a lot of straight pulls and do overs 
. We left feeling exhausted, fed up, and our confidence was low. It sounds like that job you had will be your measuring stick. Youâll look back at it and chuckle as you wrap up a smooth sailing $500+ day.
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I donât know why you are chasing these large jobs if youâre new. The best way to learn and not get super stressed is to get some practice on smaller homes. Be careful man, youâve got all the signs of a rapid burnout.
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Bam! Welcome to window washing! We knew you could do it. Factoring from Garry, now I get it: 1.20 is x 120%. So the 5 dollar window turns into a 10 window with both sides, screen, tracks. That can get complicated. Play with it and learn it, then you have another bidding tool. Proud of ya Man. Hang in there, itâs gonna be great. 
I go all out on my estimate sheet that I leave the customer. Works great when they have to check with the spouse and they both look it over together later. I have received comments of my professional looking door hangers and quote sheet, and even some who said I was higher priced but they chose me anyway.
I did this on Adobe Illustrator and formatted to fit an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper.
It serves me well and the customer is actually presented with a kind of checklist as to what they get for their dollars.
FRONT:
BACK:
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Good lord you guys are over complicating things. My bid book and the work up on yesterday mornings job. Nice and easy, lemon squeezie.
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Pretty similar to my work up sheet as well.
I just choose to leave the customer with something for one spouse to discuss with another why paying me $400/$500/$700+ gets them more than a âsimple cleaningâ.
I used to have a 1/4 sized drop off that received a so/so response. Since this recent one it helped enhance sales. Over kill? Nah, fun to experiment and tweak results.
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I donât mean to criticize your methods. You know your clientele. Iâm just surprised a how much newer guys are overthinking things. How many windows are there? How many screens? Clean screens or wipe them? Awkward windows? Overly filthy? Get these numbers and boom! You have a price. Round up or down based on feel. This is where the experience comes in for them.
Iâm not going to bid jobs the phone - not my thing. But I canât waste time unnecessarily on bidding.
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I donât try dude. Door hangers are door hangers. Neighborhood is a neighborhood. Every house gets a door hanger on our wealthy neighborhoods. Not gonna pass up a job cause the house is huge. We have 18,000 people in my home town. Three higher class neighborhoods. If I didnât advertise in those neighborhoods my average cost of a home in the remainder of the city is 80,000$. In my research window cleaning is a luxury service. With a 80,000$ housing addition our average family income is prob 60k and that is considered middle class. I believe I would be wasting time advertising to those individuals. To all the other replies. Keep me coming but itâs our anniversary weekend so Iâm out! Headed to celebrate. Ps. Finished my 550$ job in 5 hrs. 90$ hour! Boom
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Love what you have. Very professional.
I dont know how I feel about the âcleaning up after your dogâ part but it was funny to read lol.
Hah! Gets the point across in somewhat of a lighthearted way. But come on, the least one can do when they have a worker over is to clean up the dog s#!t from where they have to walk and place equipment, no?
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The least!
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I call it ânumber envyâ itâs a very very bad place to be (I was once there )
Mind thought- (if they can do it so can I at that price they get)
These situations normally lead to trouble financially, mentally, or physical
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I still remember my first job; $96.00 in and out. (probably about $135 today if I remember the place right?)
Was actually a bit worried to give my first real bid of about $350.
Now I occasionally go below that for residential.
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Loved that part, I hate going to a job and doing a in person quote. Stepping into land mine after land mine every two feet. I asked the lady politely to remove all the poop or I would have to charge her for a new pair of carrhartt boots and possibly ladders. She chuckled (a lot) and said sheâll have her husband do it⌠I chuckled and said just like you asked him to wash these windows years ago??
Came back, poop still every where, I did the job, stepped In So much crap, I finished, wrote a $237 charge for new boots on invoice⌠she wasnât chuckling anymore⌠she also paid me my $950~~~ invoice.
Only time Iâve ever had to be a jerk like that⌠she has never returned my call or called me for return ⌠2 years ago lol⌠donât care donât mindâŚ
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I was there once too. It does nothing but get you in trouble, with yourself or with a customer. Yesterday I worked five hours and was paid 375. It was great and I felt like I could have done it for less.
I think the biggest lie among window cleaners on the internet is how long something takes and how much they make per hour.
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I am pretty consistent with my pricing. Much more often than not it averages out to my hourly goal.
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Sometimes it is. Some of us are telling the truth. Itâs the internet, so that brings out the braggart in some people. It really all depends on where you live, the type of work you do, the clients you chase, and how you sell. Some people canât reach the big tickets, because they donât believe in themselves or what they are selling. Sometimes people are selling something to people without the means of affording it, or they just donât value what they are being sold.
What someone here might think of me, means nothing to my business. Iâm just trying to help those who need it. But you are right. You should take anything you read here with a grain of salt.
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Well you could also flip that around, every newbie wants to make $100/hr after buying some gear and watching a few youtube videos.
Truth is unless your spending the time you donât have paid work practicing your technique then the $100/hr will be far away.
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Keep your pricing simple. That is the best advice I can give you. Makes things so much easier.
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