For horizontal sliders with fixed screens that force you to remove the window from the track clean the outside pane? (Incidentally is there a specific name for those I’m unaware of?)
I’ve honestly only come across two homes down here with those kind windows, our pricing structure was completely different the first time so it was charged as a standard window… that job was horribly under bid.
Just got done with the second house I’ve seen with those windows and boy was it a surprise to see! Responsibid (by customer count obviously) had it at 27 windows with no special needs so we get to the home and the first thing my guy points out is two triple track storms on one side of the house… All the rest we thought were normal sliders with regular screens. Five minutes into starting the pole work he comes back and says ‘I can’t get the screens off!’ Naturally I just rolled my eyes and said you’re kidding right finished what I was on and went to look. Sure enough the screens don’t come off, I go inside to look and spend 10 minutes trying to figure it out when it finally hits me… Every single one of the sliders has to be pulled to wash, no way to remove screens without removing glass!
What should have been an hour, hour and a half, tops turned into three and a half between the triple tracks and pulling all the sliders. Explained to the customer the increase in price and told them the new total before we even got moving on it all and they looked at me and said ‘that’s it?!’
We have them here in CT. as well and can be common enough to find in entire condo complexes. Most here are made by a company that is long out of business named Acorn and the windows are garbage. Seals are almost always blown. The screens can only be removed by removing the one window that slides first. Yet before Peachtree went out of business their seals were blowing within 2 years.
That is the direction we are moving now. Previously, the price was the price and I’ve still got accounts on the books for prices you’d have a heart attack if you heard. Much is changing now that I’ve assumed control of the management of things…
As for the screens, the have exterior frames around the tracks… Think single hung with folding bottom sash. Just like on those where the only way to remove the screen is to, at least, tilt the bottom sash in if not remove it completely. In the same way these screens were blocked in by the frame from the outside.
Now we did a house yesterday where I enjoyed watching my guys figure out that you had to slide the screen over to pop it out (they had only seen those once before)… But unlike those the screens today were fitted precisely to their track, the ONLY way to remove the screen would be to pop the glass out first. I tried every thing I could think of but there was just no wiggle room.
This is either going to sound like I’m Dumb or arrogant, which trust me I’m not trying to be. If this job was exterior only, definitely a big upcharge ( when I do exteriors, I tell them have screens out, I’ll do and put an invoice in door. If int/ext.and I see them windows, I don’t waste time with a ladder or pole. I take out storm , pop screen, reach out and clean exterior and clean everything as I put back together. I also do upcharge about 2 bucks per window for the hassle. For doing 27 windows probably about 1/2 hour or 45 minutes longer than doing windows without the hassle of dealing w/ screens being stuck .
Only reason I was poling some windows was the husband was concerned the temperature was too low to walk on his roof to get to three of the picture windows over his porch. Easier to just pole 'em and go than debate the issue. Those three were the only ‘normal’ windows on the building.
[MENTION=3135]diamondridge[/MENTION] not even for the triple track storms? Only two of them but with all the obstacles we had to deal with around them it took nearly as long for those two as all the rest.
Honestly, if not for the massive amount of stuff we had to move and or work around it wouldn’t have taken so long and I probably wouldn’t have upped it much if at all…
Agree with diamondridge, storms windows aren’t an upcharge, they are a completely different window, separate price and to me it’s 2x the work so the price is doubled. Ranger , I look at upcharges as something out of the norm. Extreme pitting on glass, paint scraping ect. But I give 95% of my estimates over phone and where I live most windows are thermo or have storms. I give price per window to customer after they describe which one they have. If they tell me they have thermo’s ( no storms) I tell them Say $9.50 per window + or - .50. then ask if they are divided lite or not. ( if so , I tell them the extra charge per window ) Then i ask if any windows on the inside of house need ladders to reach ( if so , I tell them the extra charge ). What I’m trying to say is, like Diamond, I rarely have an up charge. To me an upcharge is like when you get to job and have add big bucks on to your estimate. I actually tell customers over phone that if they tell me what they have , we’ will be within 10 bucks either way and when I get their if it’s, a big difference I’ll let them know why, when I get there. If I have to pull out WFP, even for a few windows, it’s to save on time or safety ( carry a 5 gallon sprayer ). so no upcharge. I try hard to cover for upchagrges beforehand in the estimate lol. That way you have fewer problems when you jand tjem an invoice
90% of the houses i clean have windows like this where the screen is either screwed in or riveted in place, personally i would prefer to ‘pop’ the window than to mess around with screens. With all these wannabe window cleaners around here messing up the screens previously. . Even when the screens do come out most times the window has to be removed to get the screen out without damaging it, so i leave them in and dust them and wipe them down, saves the head ache of bending and breaking screens or the time in double handling. Unless the screens are really dirty, then i up sell a house wash.
same here with me, I know everyone runs their business a little different then others and you need to be adaptive to your area, type of clientele u are serving and the elements of nature. I make sure that my estimate is a little higher just so that if there are any unforeseen issues I have no problem covering it for free. I give my quotes over the phone and I tell them that my word is final (baring any extreme unforeseen issues) i have never had to upcharge
I suppose I could have been clearer in my wording. The way we price our jobs is based on the whole window. Regardless of what kind of window and up until recently permanent divide frenchies got counted as a normal window and so did storms. So what I mean when I say up charge here it’s that we are charging more than our base window price. Just like Larry we have a completely different price for storms now, French windows are their own category as well. Having only seen the types of windows in question here once before down here I hadn’t thought to create a separate category for them… Now I have.
We qualify our customers in much the same way and usually have a pretty good idea going in what to expect, very very rarely do we have to make drastic changes when we get on site. I think a company would have a hard time staying in business if they were constantly showing up and doubling prices or making huge changes after giving a rough bid on the phone!
