We don’t even market to the larger homes. We do them on referral but to spend time or money to try and get one when there are so many smaller homes to be cleaned just doesn’t make business sense from a liability point of view.
Well when the market is down so are their bank accounts. Most rich or wealthy people do not produce anything or even own a business. Most rich people live off of investments. They all can’t be Trump and pull in 3 mill a day and I’m being nice on that number. I had a lady who had a “Scare Face” home. HUGE. CCU job I estimated over 4 grand. I knew from her tone I was not getting the gig. But then every once in a while we run into the people who understand that you get what you pay for. When I land those gigs, I offer a 20% off multible booking discount. I love those jobs.
Hey bro hows it going? Did you call me a couple of weeks back? Anyway I have to disagree here. I market to everyone. I perfer the larger gigs because the profits are so much greater. I have a over 250 little accounts that in hindsight drive me nuts. The profit margin from the little gigs is so small I have very little wiggle room to pay helpers, insurance etc. I have to book 3 of those jobs per day to make money. If only 2 get completed I lose money. With the larger homes I set my price so high I can leave 2 helpers on a job for 2 or 3 days an still make a killing. Also the back office management of the smaller gigs starts to become a nightmare because of the small profit margin. If I want to work for $50 per hour minium I can’t spend too much time with these small customers cause it starts to eat away my per hour rate. Marketing to them for repeat business, calling them, scheduling them, rescheduling them all takes from the profit.
+1:cool:
Sounds to me like you need to set a minimum charge on those smaller jobs Jugg. We have a $75.00 minimum to show up. We had one just today that a lady just wanted transoms done and not the windows that had screens. Office girl told her that we have to do at least $75.00 worth of work to make it worth scheduling. She agreed to have us do just the transoms. My guy calls me and says that there are only a handful of transoms. We charged her the mimimum and my guy was done in about 20 minutes. I personally dont care for huge jobs (especially with old windows) that I cant complete in at least a day. I love the $300.00 to $400.00 per house jobs. Easy, fairly quick, good money and I move on.
Steve
I have a min of $100. That’s not the problem. The problem is the help. I have to make sure the jobs are completed in 2 hours or else things can get shaky. Also all those jobs are for a retirement community and some of these old timers can be major pains in the butt. I am slowly moving away from servicing the community but I don’t want to bite my nose off. These old people are my bread and butter. As much as I hate doing them, they do book in the colder months which makes life good during that time. I also agree the $300 and $400 gigs are great, but I prefer the $1000 gigs.
I prefer the million dollar gigs.
I see your point. I dont want to start the commission base pay debate but this is where I see paying hourly really sucks for small jobs. We are a little slower here in August than I want to be but the commission is keeping everyone legit and keeps my bank account from getting seriuosly drained of funds. I pay fat checks when we are slammed but when things slow down, So does my payroll as well. Hope I didnt hijack this one;).
Being that we are in the same territory, I have to say that I’m experiencing the same thing this year but my take on it might be different.
I’m finding that the larger, wealthier clients are quite ignorant as to what’s involved in cleaning some of their windows. Difficult access, old leaded glass, stained glass, and storms often come into play. Some homes are made up of nothing but French panes and WFP is the only way to go if you want to get the work done quickly and profitably.
So far this year, many of my residential bids above $500-600 have been met with jaws dropping and comments like “so how many new windows will I be getting for that price???” 
These home are 1-2 million and up!
I agree. My thoughts are that they look at window cleaning as a non-skilled job so it should be cheap. Most have mind set where they think a home with 200 windows is going to cost $100.00. I had a home two years ago that was a referal from a friend. His parents built a 9000 sqft home on the water and wanted a CCU. I stopped counting the glass when I got to the back of the home and hit 300 windows. I never made it to the left side of the house. My friends dad came out and I told him it was going to be close to 5 grand to have the entire home done in and out. He looked at me like I was nuts and said “are you kidding me? I just want to you clean the windows. What’s the big issue.” I told him “I did not tell you to buy this many windows. Do you have any idea how long this job is going to take? Do you want me to get the job done correctly and in a safe manner? If not I’ll hire 2 day labors and have them attack the home. But I want you to sign a wavier that if they fall off the ladders and break or scratch your glass you won’t sue me.” I got a call from my friend and he was upset there was no price break. I told him “I don’t discount friends cause they are the ones who will complain the most.” I spoke with his brother last year and they still have no had the windows cleaned. Every company that goes to the house is giving them “Crazy high quotes”. I told him. The quotes are not high. The amount of work is high. You dad is expecting a company to get the home done in 1 day with low cost. Not possible and tell your dad to stop being so cheap. His windows cost him over 100k and will hold 80% roi on the home if he takes care of them. The home is on the water, what does your dad think are going to happen to those windows by this time next year if he does not have them cleaned? He will have to have them replaced in 5 years cause they will be pitted. That’s 100% for sure. Still have not heard if they want the work done and I’m sure I wont.
^^^^
This is why I hate referrals sometimes. You do one guys house for $250 and he refers you to his friend with twice as many windows and of course you go in at $500+ and both your original customer and the referral are like, WTF!
I’m always amazed that so-called intelligent people can’t see the work involved.:rolleyes:
Had the job scheduled today and tomorrow. But its raining! UGH!
I have to agree with ya Mark! Many are very ignorant to the work involved. Especially when its cut-ups. they forget that even one window can have 16 panes of glass X2 sides and that is alot of work.
Finally got to this job. Almost finished the whole outside in 7 hours.We even got some of the inside done as well. I’ve got the flu which is not helping(working much slower than usual, but still making good time) Going back onFriday to finish up.
So far not as bad as I thought it would be.
Glad to here your getting it done. Sorry to hear your sick. I was battling a touch of illness here and you’re right about it taking longer to get things done. Did one job yesterday and thought I was going to die. 
Yeah , being dizzy 20 feet up on a ladder is really fun! Or man handling a wobbly 45ft tucker pole thats almost U shaped and threatening to crash through a bunch of leaded glass!(got the job done though) Fun stuff!
Jugg,
Sorry wasn’t me, but there are copy cats in my area, so maybe you have me confused with someone not so original. Again we do the larger homes, but really not my thing. We have our customers move everything away from the windows and have the blinds up befor we arrive. On the larger homes this can present a problem. We do a 13,000 sq ft home down by the river, and a few a bit smaller than that, but normally I like to stick with bread and butter window cleaning.
Largest residential job for me so far… 45 000 sq ft cottage! Yes i said COTTAGE!!! 3 floors with elevator, and a boathouse the size of an average Montana’s restaurant. Still mid construction. Was $3000 just to clean lakeside windows ground level and upper floor as well as boat house. Just about 4 days work just for that. I’m hoping to complete it this season if the construction is complete.
Holy cow, Eric.
Question: How did you come up with the price (number one), and how did the client respond to the $3000 price tag.
That is amazing.
AND…what are you going to do to LEVERAGE that job, since it passes the “Sinatra test” in such flying colors? I would love to help you with that.
Man, this could be a goldmine for you, if its played just right.
Got the job through [B]word of mouth[/B]…little thing i learned was that [B]wealthy people trust who their friends trust[/B]. They asked for a ball park figure and when i went to initially look at the place it had no windows. Also it was only basically the shell of a cottage. Talked to the lady of the house on the phone and told her it was hard to give a number as the windows were not in and construction was no where near done. All i said is is going to be at least a few thousand dollars. She said to just come and do them. The job was end of summer, and when I got there, the side opposite to the lake still had tons of work being done to it, and though the windows were in they didnt want those ones touched. So I just cleaned the ones specified…once again no discussion of price. When done, only the husband was around, and when he got the bill, he kinda looked surprised to say the least, but never said a word, just went got his check book and cut me one right there. I have tried to contact them this spring about returning to do the whole place, but have only got voicemail. It may not be complete yet as the weather last year really slowed down the building process and landscaping and all that.
contractor there told me that it was 45 000 sp feet, (15000 per floor) it was ridiculous in size, but yet still didnt look as big as that since the lower floor is not seen very much as its built into the rock. Crossing my fingers to get a call this year…i’m sure I will, and there is about $1000 or more window cleaning left that never got done last year. (windows mainly on lakeside).
As far as figuring my pricing…well i figured my gas, my hotel room, my food. then broke down a per pane price forget the amount now, but was at least double my normal rate or more. then figured out my hrs spent at the job, and found a balance in there. In any event 4 days of about 6 hrs each for near $3000 is pretty good in my opinion. (the owner was weird and would not let contractors start early, or finish late and one day told every one including me to leave because he was tired of seeing people on the property…)
Ive got a few big jobs out in that general area ($1000-$2000) It is a goldmine, but the season is so short for the cottagers. and they dont like to have you there when they enjoyign their holidays. For me its a perfect boost for June, as in North Bay there is always a slump (slight slump) for residential in June.
Funny thing is the daughter of this wealthy couple lives in Muskoka and has a big place but would not hire me because I was “too expensive” lol I dont bust myself up over it because i have to drive 2 hrs to get there, sometimes more once you get into the tiny cottage rds, so my minimum is high even for outsides. And the BLACK FLYS are horrendous…nothing like being out in bugs for hours day after day.
