So I know not everyone’s quotes are the same but I’m in the middle of setting up responsibid. I know my residential prices for windows are about the national average. Well I’m trying to set my gutter cleaning prices and David with responsibid told me my customers are not going to know their feet of gutter length. He said it’s easier to give them a rough quote based on the square footage of their home. In order to do this I need to know about how much to charge per square foot. Can any of you on here share your square footage price for gutter cleaning. I am terrible with square footage I would like to use your numbers and then see if it seems like about what I charge.
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I don’t know how you can properly pre-price gutter cleaning as square footage pricing. At least in my area a 2500 sq ft home might have 100 ft of gutter or it might have200 ft of gutter. It just depends on the design of the home. Linear ft pricing and let them know you will give an accurate price when on site. You can start with an average of say $1 to $3 per foot based on first floor, second floor, third floor.
The problem with that is people are not going to have a clue how many feet to enter. However most people do know the square footage of their home. However like you stated square footage could mean a number of things. To be honest this is kind of my concern with responsibid. I think for windows it can be pretty accurate as long as you have a disclaimer that the price will be confirmed on site. I am also raising my prices online to keep me safe for people who have furniture in the way, hard to access windows etc. However for gutter cleaning this seems like a nightmare
Square footage would never fly here. You can have a 1-story house with straight gutters and 2000 sq/ft, or a two story with many peaks and twice the linear feet.
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Maybe you can look back at your historical data. Pull up a spreadsheet of your customers addresses that you’ve done gutter cleaning for. Then start typing those addresses into Zillow.com, Realtor.com, and other sites like that. They will most likely give you the sq. ft. of the home.
Now you have a list of your gutter pricing AND the sq. ft. of that home. Calculate the average $/sq. ft. Now take that number and add 10%-20% as buffer. Again, you have to figure is it worth the time/gas savings to give people the pricing on the phone or on your website versus driving out to do an estimate. There are people who have built multi-million dollar businesses doing it one way or the other.
Gutter Cleaning is a hit or miss sometimes. You may get there and the gutters are practicly empty and you still charge the same price. Or you might get there and the gutters are packed and you still charge the same price.
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110% THIS!!!
For me, gutter cleaning is an add on service (while I’m there cleaning windows). I have had a few over the years where they call for gutters only - $100 minimum and $2 per foot once linear foot reaches $100. I also hammer gutter spikes back in that have come loose, bag debris, flush down spouts as needed, and on occasion have caulked leaking joints where gutters meet. Many times it just requires debris removal and I charge only for footage that I clean.
What would you charge per sq ft? 4¢? 2500 sq ft X .04 = $100. That’s fine if only a portion of gutters need cleaned out.
Imagine if there is 185 linear ft. 185 X $1.50 = $277.50
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Business or a hobby?
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Excellent points @Garry . I think it all comes down to volume of work. If you do enough work you have to think in averages. Our Gutter Cleaning minimum is $150. Mostly an add-on service but this year we should have 2 trucks doing only Gutter Cleaning during that season.
Think of a mechanic shop. They charge you $30 for an oil change. It may take them 15 minutes on Car A, 25 minutes on Car B, 47 minutes on Car C, 10 minutes on Car D. They may not know if the oil pan is hard to remove, the filter is extra tight and needs some elbow grease to get loose, or whatever mechanics do. The shop doesn’t change the price because they know they average out $XX/hour over the day, week, month, or year.
I admit it’s hard for me to give accurate input for a Solo Operation.
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I could use the response I’m about to give on so many threads about Responsibid.
I think people need to stop the excuse of, “that will never work in my area!”. Especially if they’ve never tried Responsibid. I will admit that I may have said the same thing before I started using it, but now that I’ve been using it for several years that excuse is bunk!
There is no need to have exact pricing with Responsibid. If the quotes are off by $10, $20, or even $50, who cares?! You should be pricing your jobs so that difference doesn’t matter. Also, like many have said, “Price will be confirmed upon arrival of job and before we get started.”
Residential window cleaning, for the most part, is a luxury service. It is not necessary. If you have customers that are so hung up on price, those are usually the customers we complain about. I know for myself I have built my business on quality, workmanship, value, customer service, etc… a lot of my customers don’t even ask me what I’m charging, they just schedule because they’ve heard such great things about me and my company and I send them an invoice when we complete the job.
Maybe my area is unique and I can get away with that. 
I use the square footage pricing for gutter cleaning and purposely set my prices a bit on the high side. Some jobs get bid higher than they should be and a few get bid a little lower than they should be, but it all works out in the end.
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I agree with Seth. Same boat, same story:) Many customers are looking for cheap, so I don’t get the job; and that’s okay to a point. My clientele isn’t those folks, it’s for those that know me or know of me through referrals that I’m not going to take advantage of them financially; bottom line.
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My fear isn’t a few bucks my fear is showing up to a $400 gutter cleaning in my online quote said it would be $220.
I totally get it and it may happen once in a while. Get over your fear! You may have to tweak Responsibid a bit here and there at first. As long as you tell people upfront that their bid will be confirmed once you arrive onsite, it’s not a bait and switch.
I find if you’re upfront and can communicate well most people are understanding and will pay your price. And the ones that won’t aren’t the kind of customers you necessarily want.
I understand, just like there is customers where you can do $200 worth of work in 2 hours and they’re ecstatic that you were in and out and did a good job but the next customer goes oh my gosh he just charged me $100 an hour. Lol customers we want and customers we don’t
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Don’t mean to be the guy who corrects stuff, but it’s not square foot pricing, its lineal foot pricing.
It’s also not fair for any party, you or them, to price it that way.
You might get gutters that only have 6 feet of gutter with mud to the rim, and the rest are clean as a whistle.
Or…the other way around. Either way, someone is getting screwed.
Responsibid does have the option to give a rough estimate I think.
That is what I am referring too. Responsibid has a square footage rough quote and a linear foot quote. The trainee suggested I do the rough square footage quote because more homeowners are going to be familiar with the square footage of their home than the linear feet of their gutter. Make sense? Also that is the reason for confirmation on site I would never charge someone my full responsibid quote if only a portion of the gutters needed cleaned.
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Online quotes get on site verified for accuracy before job is accepted.
Of course. Makes sense too, but how would the sq ft of the house help? It could have two levels of gutter.
I wasn’t trying to insinuate you’d overcharge at all. Sorry if it came out that way. I had responsibid and loved it, but never got any leads for gutter cleaning. Maybe because I didn’t understand it enough to make it understandable to people looking on my site.
I’ll step back on this one. I’m interested tho on the answer for sure.
My point is being made. Don’t get wrapped up in price with Responsibid. I’m not screwing anybody and nobody is screwing me with my Responsibid prices. Don’t think of Responsibid as spitting out a number to a potential customer. I think of it as a glorified business card or a way to attract your customers attention. The last thing I talk about with my customers is price.
I make it very clear that the estimate they are given through Responsibid is just a rough quote. It is subject to change. You will communicate with your customer between them being given a Responsibid and you showing up to do the job. There is plenty of time to communicate that your gutter prices vary depending on if they have covers, how full they are, etc… You have time to look up the house on Bing, or google street view or even go there in person if your near by.
My point is, don’t get hung up on price! Responsibid is so much more than a calculator. Im convinced, as long as you communicate to your customers it will all work out.
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Sorry there appears to be a misunderstanding. That was how this thread was started is I am confused myself. Lol, I was told by a responsibid representative to set it up by square footage. the problem with that is that does not determine the feet of the gutters but the thought process is more customers will know their homes square footage than their linear feet of gutters. So I am totally in agreeance with you, essentially your repeating what I started in the thread and am just as confused about
Absolutely! The problem is people get their mind set on a price they’re given even if told hey this is not your official price. It’s the same reason I don’t give prices through the phone because I could go to someone’s house and tell them $200 and they accept the bid no problem. However if I tell them $120 on the phone and get there and then it’s $200 in person now it’s shock because they were expecting $120. Maybe I am lacking confidence in my communication for the price increase or not skilled at doing so. I just know that human psychology is people get their mind wrapped up around a number. It’s the same reason why many people would probably accept a $300 window cleaning if they never had their windows cleaned before but if fish or some bucket Bob company has been doing it for $140 none of us can now land it for $300 because in the customer’s mind it’s $140 job. Similar to how once you put it in their mind on the phone the dollar amount now it’s a big blow in person to change it
