I agree with you. You charged what you felt was fair and didn’t low ball…just what you thought it was worth. For the storefront in and out yes 20 is fair. With mirrors I would have been 25/30. But hey you added a new client with prices your happy at . End of the day good for you! 
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Thanks man! And even if I did under charge there is going to be people staring out those windows while sitting in a chair for a long period of time. People refer good work to other people and you can’t put a price to that
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For an extra $10 I’d do the job right?
It was really a sad day for window cleaners.
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@ahamilton You charged what you thought was a fair price. Only you know the value of your time and what you bring to the market. Congratulations on getting that job! Keep up the great work.
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Plus one.
Personally, I see the idea of looking at what she was already (over)paying, and adding a couple bucks because you provide a better value, as kind of sleazy.
I can see the temptation, as you’re (@ahamilton) obviously worth more than what the other cleaner was doing… but what he was actually doing was only worth a fraction of what he was charging.
Here’s an example to scale it up a little bit, hopefully to help others see what is wrong with this method:
There’s a local guy who does decent residential work, charges what seems like a very low daily fee, but takes a dog age to get the work done. I found out that on one house he was doing, which had around 50 double hung windows, he was going to be there for 3 days with a helper and was charging $1,440. For me, this would have been a 10 or 11 hour job for a first time clean, and somewhere around $700-$800 depending on the level of soiling and possible obstacles inside.
If the homeowner approached me for a quote, would I have been right to bump the price up to $1,500, and sell him on the fact that I know what I’m doing?
If I managed to get away with that, what happens if I get the neighbors house at my usual rates, and they talk price to the other customer? It’ll be pretty apparent that I milked them because I knew they were already overpaying.
Or what would be the difference if I decide to arbitrarily bump up my rates because there are a couple really nice cars in the garage?
Apparent willingness to overpay should not be justification to overcharge. There is nothing wrong with charging a high fee to everyone. But arbitrarily bumping up prices on individual customers or groups of customers just because you perceive more willingness to spend, screams of sleazy salesmanship.
The way an ethical salesman uses this type of prior knowledge to their advantage, is through upselling. If you know the customer has been paying $1,440 for their windows, and your quote comes in at $750, then sell them on the value of having their house power washed for another $800. And having their gutters whitened for another $250. Etc.
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Consistency in pricing. If that job in/out is taking you 20 minutes to do and you are charging $20 ($1.00 per minute), then yea, a bump in pricing may have been in order.
$1.66 per minute ($100 hr business rate) @ 20 minutes = $33.20.
Covers equipment, drive time, marketing, vehicle, working time, etc.
You could probably knock that down to 15 minutes in/out with 4 mirrors; $1.66 per minute x 15 minutes = $24.90…round up to $25.
Edit: I did pick up a small golf shop on the edge of my area for $15, 1 large window and a door. I took it because of a residence that I do nearby and am already in that area, so it is an easy stop to grab $15. Normally if I had to drive there for that one stop it would have been more, but slow Summer and 1 mile out of my way? I grabbed it. The previous guy was doing it for $10 and was MIA.
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I have to agree with most people here. I’m a honest, humble guy and I charge what is fair. But, I personally would have offered 10-20 percent off. You can always up the charge next year. Then again…why do that and not charge either the same or 5 bucks more.
But.like Luke, others and yourself have said, you got the job and it’s good advertising. Money is money and your happy so in the end, you win 
Hope you get more in that area! Good luck
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is IF you are already doing work in this strip mall.
If you are not, how many minutes would you be driving just to get this one shop? 20 bucks in 20 minutes, can turn into a lot more than 20 minutes. Did they pay their old cleaner on the spot? Is it possible the bad attitude and poor work was because they were not getting paid?
There are a lot of what if’s that could make what seems like an easy 20 bucks pretty unappealing.
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So have a update for the account. She wants me to start cleaning her windows on December 1st. Agreement was for $25. I have 3 other accounts in the same couple blocks that can be done on the same day.
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So why haven’t you been cleaning them since August? For the last four months, are they not being cleaned?
Lol. I would have told here the price went up. If no one has been cleaning them, I can tell already she doesn’t value clean glass. If this is the case, I bet she dumps you next spring when a new guy comes along…
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Pump the breaks there kid. She had a contract with a different window cleaning company. Thanks for keeping the forum so positive with comments like
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aren’t most contracts broken when a vendor isn’t providing quality services? Also who would take someone to court over a broken contract worth $25/service? sounds goofy
I didn’t go off into the weeds at all with that. All I know is that she had a window cleaner that she wasn’t happy with, I gave her a card and a quote for job, and I got a call back for it today. And if the same thing happens with me in the future I will give her my business card and say if she ever changes her mind she knows were to find me. Until then my bank account still accepts cash or check
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doesn’t matter to me was just curious that’s all. new to windows
Good luck to you. Some time stuff happens and people move on.
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How did it come about that you’re charging her $5 more than your original price to her?
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this thread maybe lol
LOL. Be careful, your comment didn’t sound “positive”.
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He said maybe, can this be a way of covering you but? Perhaps end every conversation with my opinion or perhaps, or keep using maybe.
Anyway Dr. Venkman, just like when you were a ghostbuster, keep up the great work you’re doing. Don’t let the wanabe mayor discourage you and make you look like a fool… perhaps I’m right?
Haha this is fun!
