This was one of the three home that made me initially start this convo. Then I got turned down and got frustrated. I always charged more for second story cause thats what I thought everyone did. lol Booked the job and cant complain.
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When I first started I found a mixture of folks charged the same for 2nd floor and some charged more. I never saw where it was double for 2nd, usually a buck or two. For me, I just kept it the same price for both as I gained experience and speed and figured out a fair price for me and my closing rate. I wanted consistency in time so I could calculate a repeatable rate that would tell me estimated time by my job price. It took a while but I made it happen to where my dollar and time to earn it are calculable to me. If I had over priced one set of basically the same windows over another it would have screwed up my whole calculation.
This is mostly why you need to set a consistent formula to work from. After a short time you can tweak as needed where your averages get a wee bit askew. Do not expect to run perfect numbers from the get go. Your actually starting from no knowledge trying to be King. Walk before you run.
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Agreed.
Storm on it? One price in and out, all sides.
No storm on it? Whether a casement, double hung, bay, frenchies, whateverā¦ another price.
Over 10 feet up on the inside? Another price for Skylights and Palladians.
Outside only? 3/4 of the above prices.
Keep it simple. A per unit price allows us to do 90+% of our bids over the phone or by looking at online satellite maps. I never understood the need to count panes. Thats time taken away from actually cleaning windows and making money.
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This. Is. Incredible.
Awesome thread!
Ah whatever.
Lol
So what is the difference between this sheet and the previously posted one? Is this the actual estimate that you present and the other is simply for you to record all of your notes? I am just starting here in Florida. I washed all of my own windows for a general ānewbieā timing.
The Price Factor Sheet is a break down of how I figure the price to be determined by the different variables. The 2nd one is the actual sheet I give the customer after I have figured up what it will cost to get the windows cleaned based on variables from the Factor Sheet. By the way, I have the factor sheet in my head as I am figuring up the cost to do the job. The customer never sees either my mock up of their windows or the factor sheet, just the estimate sheet.
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Thank you for the reply. That makes sense. I am still trying to piece together how to price and all of the different factors that go into it.
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Do your prices shown reflect in and out cleaning? So where it says $10, is that $10 both in and out, or just one side?
Iām adding window cleaning onto my pressure washing, but Iām finding pricing to be the confusing/difficult part. Like what is too high and/or too low.
Lol Iām the opposite of the OP. I think I significantly underdid my first advertisement. Iām just starting out, running a āFlat House, Flat Rateā special to build clientele and save up for a fancy ladder for 2 story houses. 150 flat rate for any single-story house under 1600 sf. I figure it will get me practice and hopefully repeat clients. Iām worried now that itās so low that raising my prices to the fair market value will be hard! Oh well. The most important part is starting, right?
You will learn that per window pricing works best for you. Two 1600 sq ft homes can have vastly different windows. One may have 12 windows and another may have 18 windows. One could have simple double hungs with no screens and the other can have colonial cut ups with screens. Huge difference in the amount of work it entails.
Let us know how it goes.
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Iām on the same boat as you are. Southern California. Your pricing is the sweet spot & identical to me. At that price who wouldnāt want to get both inside and out and youāll definitely land the job.
I am in Lake Tahoe, CA and I have been averaging $40 an hour cleaning 30 sides per hour for years.
Based on the above discussions I am re-evaluating my prices. A house payment in my area is around $3,000 a month. At 25% of monthly income that means I need to be making $14,000 a month. If I clean windows 4 hours a day 5 days a week that means I have to charge $5.40 per side, raising my price 9 times what it has always been. That means most of my customers will be gone and I will have to market like crazy to get new ones willing to pay that much. I have no idea what my competition is charging but they do have crews of 3 -5 guys when I see them working.
What is the best marketing to replace my customers?
You make only $40/hour when youāre on-site and cleaning glass? Are you solo?
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Some people bark about resurrecting old threads ādo a search, blah, blahā¦ā
- but sometimes I love the re-read.
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Have all your current happy clients to leave you a review on google , then start pricing at current market with the new calls .
A seasoned window cleaner should be making $80-120 an hour.
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For an education go back over your customer count sheets of how you priced them then and use this attached guide to see what it should have been.
Nov. 1, 2021 do a 5% rate change for EVERYONE - and be confident about it. Everything is getting more expensive with no end in sight; sail with that ship or be shark bait.
Jan. 1, 2022 raise your prices again on everyone. Any new customers from this day forward charge them a correct price. Each year cost of living goes up, stay abreast with it.
People do not care about you or your livelihood. They will gladly pay less and then scratch their head about how you could go out of business, or how you could not fix your truck when it broke down. Life is short and it sure aināt cheap, so charge appropriately and earn your keep.
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