Should I be dropping a customer?

$3.00 one side is pretty low.

Figure up how much your insurance costs (both business and health), rate of pay that you need/want, cost to replace everyday tools, cost to upgrade tools, cost to have a sick day or two, cost for gas/wear and tear on vehicle, marketing, all else to stay in business for the month - then ask yourself if charging at the bottom is good for you or not.

Not trying to tell you your business, but you’ll go out of business at those prices.

Never let the customer tell you what you need to make to stay in business.

Find the customer that will pay you what you need in order to be profitable and to stay in business.

Volume pricing does not work in labor jobs.

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I agree. I bought the company from a good friend, who will make nearly nothing from selling ti to me after everything is paid in taxes etc. I don’t want to do that. I have been pricing similar to him. I need to up it. Many of the older clients have not had prices raised ever! I’ve lost 1 in3 that I’ve raised by only 5% and that has had me scared to move to a profitable margin. I know once I need to hire their pay needs to be $12-15 to get a new guy motivated but I’ll break even with that. but to get an experienced guy I’ll need more.
Slowly learning…very slowly.
Oddly I’ve always been very confident in business and management and teaching but never owned the business and it somehow has affected my cinfidenc

I don’t know man. 5% increase after several years of no increase isn’t unreasonable. People know COLA rates are about 2% yearly?
You need a good way to explain it to them so it comes across as part of life, not you just jacking prices.
Charge for the job not the window. You’re not telling the customer “I will clean your windows for $3 each”, say “I will clean all of your windows inside and out, tracks, and screens, complete job for $358.00”

Base that on 20 windows, 4 sliders, 1 door assuming that you up your price to:
$5 per window side ($10 in/out)
$2 per track
$3 per screen

You’re not telling the customer what the breakdown of your formula is, you are saying what the job will cost to do properly.

If you come across 45 windows, 8 sliders, stained glass front door, two large picture windows, and screens that all remove from the inside that need to be taken outside to clean - then your price better buy you a good meal and a full tank of gas after you pay yourself and pay your business. :wink:

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Man where do I begin ? But yes address the issue fast , don’t wait 2-3 weeks . You’ll end up doing all the windows again. Tell her you only did the outside , therefore we can’t guarantee a perfect window . Also , Homes that are 7k sqft have big windows that are hard to reach. You can’t charge $3 for an outside only and then take price down , you’ll be out of business fast .$3 outside only is ok them small one story 1800 sqft homes with no screens. You can call me if you have any questions 8186426622

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thank you sir.

In and out or outside only?

$3 per side is too low, please be nice to yourself and raise prices.

I’m in Alaska and I start at $5 per side, $1-3 per track, and was at $3 per screen but will raise that to $4 per screen. If the windows are second story I charge $7 to $10 per surface. Some big windows at ground level I charge $6 to $8 per side.

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it ended up being about 40 of the outside and 8 large-high windows the “housekeeper” hadn’t gotten to in 6+ years. I screwed myself.

I agree, just need to know good prices here in LV. I’ve heard of crazy high prices and then cleaned up the $50 whole house blizzards. I’m building my website now and will use responibid’s system to set the prices and quit doubting the value of our service. Speaking of Alaska, I nearly took a teaching job in Eagle River this last fall. It is beautiful up there. My best friend moved there after 40 years in Vegas and LOVES it. His photos of him fishing and hunting do not bring me nearly as much joy as he takes in sending them to me!

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If you need help with those prices let me know. We have an office in vegas as well. $3 is way too low on residential. If you keep your prices high, you’ll avoid situations like these.

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I believe you said you purchased this business?

When purchasing a business the biggest part you’re buying is the customer list. If the customers are priced so low there’s no profit the whole venture can be a loss.

Low paying customers are tough to convert into profitable pricing.

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That’s the absolute truth.
Beyond what the tools and equipment is worth (used), the real value is in the clients the business has. If you buy a list of clients that pay next to nothing, you will never get them to pay real world pricing. Expect to lose nearly EVERY client of that list.
Don’t be upset, it’s just going to be reality, IF you want to keep this business going. Present your new price. If they don’t accept it, move on. Market to your target audience (the kind of client that will pay your price).

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In and out. $10 a window outside only.

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After reading all of that I’m glad I live in the UK.

Homes are smaller, work is compact and if someone annoys you the house is clean in 20min normally and your away to the next house. Id hate to be stuck cleaning a nightmare customers windows for 5+ hours.

If your not good at pricing. Why don’t you work out what you need to live and price per hour. This works out great for me but like I said the UK is different.

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I get plenty of those!
Most run about 1 1/2 to 3 hours, sometimes I get the huge 2 day jobs as well!
Dang! 20 minutes hits? Awesome.
Most homes that aren’t the huge ones are similar to this.
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Wait until he tells you how little they get paid for this. In Ireland I knew of guys who came down from the North (UK) to work because they got more for the work. And it is still a pittance compared to what we get here. $100/hr on residential consistently over there? Not a prayer.

I went back to visit friends in Ireland last year. When they found out that one house at 9 hrs of work for the wife and I paid for two round trip tickets from dfw with change to spare, they were stunned.

The key is in the bidding. Once we know how to bid in our market, it’s all good.

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I agree. That’s why I’m here trying to learn from y’all. I learned from the previous owner and be made great money but with like a mad man and has nothing to show for it. I don’t want to be a slave to the job, that said I do enjoy working hard.
I’m also coming to understand that better pricing will only improve the market for and other cleaners.
The response has been great, thank you.
FYI the lady just friend requested me on Facebook!!! I’m a little worried.

You funny. :slightly_smiling_face: Buy a copy of E- Myth Revisited. Read it. (Unless you already did.) Class dismissed.

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Most homes in the UK have between 5-12 Windows and 2 doors. The houses are much smaller compared with homes in the US. The houses I seen you lot clean are worth millions where I’m from. The typical 250k pound sterling house here is a 3 bedroom and it’s not that big.

We typically only clean outside and don’t have any screens at all and we clean once per month on average.

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It really varies. I stay in Scotland and we have the cheapest pricing for work. Places in England can be £20 for a single house that takes 20-30 Mins.

Cleaners in the UK can do between 2-4 houses a hour.

I have had £40 hours in the UK which works out at 56 dollars a hour doing residential. I’m a very small scale company and there are nationals that make a crazy amount.

I do like the idea of cleaning 1 house opposed to 20 that I have to do. But my work is less than 5 miles away max and that’s all of my work. Takes 2 mins to drive to each job. Scotland is tiny compared with some of the state’s you guys live in.

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