Hey guys, I went and Quoted a job today. Now I don’t want the job so I quoted it a little higher than normal, however I want to see how far off I am since I’m new to residential. So what would you have quoted? The house was 3 stores so high ladder work, and some would be hard to reach. The house was kind of run down, so the window were FILTHY. Not only were they filthy and would require a lot of scraping with a razor but a lot of scrubbing with steel wool. The windows were very old and in bad shape peeling wood frames, foggy glass, I’m guessing from blown seals. The house had 40 windows and three doors all of the windows and doors had cut up’s/ were French panes but to make things worse all 40 were storms I’ve never delt with storms before but they were the kind that go over the windows and screw to the siding/ window frame. Now being that I’ve never done a house before I felt that this house would’ve been a little much for me. I quoted the job at $1500. Am I crazy? Or was I in the ballpark? What would you have done?
In and out and screens
it’s really hard to say without actually seeing the house but just a ballpark guess based on your description we would be at $1,440
that is assuming that each window has 12 French pains and each storm window has 12 French panes
Usually the worse off a property is, the less the owner is willing to pay for it to be cleaned up.
Some people just don’t value cleanliness like they should.
Some people own more house than they can afford to maintain.
Your price is fair from the sound of it.
Who knows?
I charge cutups by the number of them.
Storms are a separate factor that must be charged for.
Peeling paint? Let the home owner know that the best that can be done is to clean the glass, the frames need to be refurbished and there isn’t much that you can do about them. Know a good painter that you can suggest to them?
Fogged glass is another aspect out of the realm of window cleaning.
You should use a Factor Sheet for jobs like that. Assign every factor a number to multiply your base rate by that makes the job worth it to you.
If you’re new to window cleaning passing is good, you probably couldn’t get that done in one day, there are probably other factors that you’re not aware of also.
If you’re in question on something like this take a photo at the time then we can see what type of storms they are and what type of windows to really help you.
Those storms could just be screens, glass, or a combination both a screen and two pieces of glass encased in each storm. Old home are very unpredictable. if you can even access all the windows if storms are painted shut they don’t function properly. Adds another level to just washing glass.
Definitely ballpark, but then again it’s a big park…
Some would not do this. I’m new too…in another thread I told how I visited an old friend and told him I have a window cleaning business…he asked me to paint the front of his house. I did that, not happily, but the pay was nice. Keep on bidding and calling on people, don’t stop waiting on this bid. The money may sound nice, but it would not be an easy or fun job. If you are brand new to this, it would be very hard. Press on.
Yes, and add a line that reads - “If unforeseen issues come up I will stop and bring it to your attention if it requires a price adjustment.”
Sounds about right, especially for an older house where you can spend 60-70% of your time trying to open and take windows apart. I did three estimates on 3 big old houses (hate them with a passion) this summer and only got 1 of them for about $300 more than the last guy who cleaned them.
i’ve never seen a storm window in my area lol
Old houses that are poorly maintained have additional risk. Be sure to get a signed scratch waiver before touching the windows. The screws for the storm windows might also snap off, could be time consuming to deal with lots of small things like that.
Can’t comment on the pricing because I’m not familiar with these types of storms… So you have to take them off with a screwdriver, from the outside, and they’re 3 stories? I’d have asked an arm and leg. Given myself 3 days just in case. I’d say 1500 is close to what I would have said.
BUT, that said, I’m wondering if any guys here have a magic number where they take half up front or something? No offense meant towards the home owner, but if its a run down POS I would feel at higher risk for a non payer. My highest paying job was about 800 but there was a Ferarri in the garage so I wasn’t worried they didn’t have money lol
I have never met anyone yet that told me “I love cleaning storm windows.” As mentioned earlier, nothing wrong with passing on a house you don’t feel comfortable doing. Even after close to 15 years of cleaning windows, there is still an occasional house I will pass on.
Heard of guys on the Forum talking how they get a percentage down mainly it seems that that’s due to their lack of funds to be able to get the work done without it.
In my area it is unheard of to get any money down residential or commercial. We do a few commercial jobs that are $30,000 or more and we’re not getting nothing down.
Large commercial here wants a reputable, established company, somebody that has a steady income. Credit checks on contractors, they want somebody who will finish the job, yes people will start and not finish.
I’ve never seen storms with French panes. If you guys are dealing with windows like that in you neck of the woods, I’m truly sorry. That sounds Terrible.
Can also be due to prima donna residential customers who are prone to cancel or postpone on a whim and make a mess of the schedule. Even a small deposit makes the appointment much more compelling.
