When is the last time you evaluated your price structure? Has it been a while? Did you estimate based on someone else’s prices? Just wing it for now? It’s more than last years prices, so how bad can it be?
Some window cleaning jobs are a breeze and you can cruise through it, calculating in your head your hourly cache. Others? Oh, others you can be scrubbing, wiping, detailing, and groaning over each pane until the danged job is done! Where did the day go?! When you did the bid did you expect it to take so long. Landscaping for the ladder was more brutal than expected. When you pulled the screens, the caked on dirt was WTF?! All of those French panes had years of dirt in the molding frame work that looked like crap after water hit them. Did you charge for that level of cleaning? No? Gotcha didn’t it?
I think we all have had those jobs, right? Sometimes the statue; sometimes the pigeon.
I did a quick bid on an older home with French panes on the top sash, and single pane on the lower sash. Cool, I got this. I make my bid and dart off to do the next quote. Come cleaning day the screens suck, the tracks are filthy, being an older home, chipped paint trapped dirt behind the screens so you know that crap wasn’t coming off. And just to brush it more old paint chipped off, after cleaning the glass to then wipe up cleaning solution the rag catches on every chip. No breezing through for sure. All of the sudden on a job like this normal price structure doesn’t quite fly.
I have read that some folks charge $1 to $1.50 per side for a French pane; $75¢ on a maintenance clean. Me? I’ve done flat rate of 75¢ per side. I will re-evaluate that.
Moral of the story? Take your time on the bid. It should only take maybe more than a few minutes to do a thorough walk around and take everything in. Even removing the worst looking screen and pricing according to that.
Looking for up-sales helps to ease the burden of an “oh crap, what’s dis here!” job.
Up-sales like: re-screening; track cleaning surcharge; gutter cleanouts (while you’re up there.) ;-); car windows…lol…just kidding - although I did grab a few dollars on that once! It was easy.
So, how’s your day?
Sorry but that is not how we bid french windows. Everyone has their own pricing for French. You are asking way to low btw. Unless you live in Texas!! 
we evaluate our pricing annually in winter and make adjustments as needed. This is our “core” or standard price.
We track time on every job. If, for whatever reason, we are not hitting our goal on each job we wipe out a bunch of collected data and make a huge note to our self for when they call next.
I charge $.50 a side and customers thank that’s alot but I loose every time on french panes. I will increase the price when I can afford to loose fp jobs
Sorry, But re-evaluting work should be only done in a few years in my opinion and us guys that been cleaning since for over 30+ years know what I am talking about. Sounds like the two of you low ball other window cleaners and then adjust accordingly to what you experience and find out what really it takes to do the job a first time. We bid a job and it is set for a long time that price and that is how you keep great clientele too.
I am curious to know what you two charge for glass restoration and do you use bio degradable products or straight acid?
Aviloria- where do you live?
Austin.
Glass restoration depends on what client wants to pay for. The last company I worked for charges the same as I do.
As for French panes start at $.50 a side but unless I price it by the hour I don’t make good money on them
Markets bare different pricing rates so like San Diego runs 9 dollars for every 4 french panes in and out. You don’t adjust pricing. It has been that price since 2006. Glass Restoration in San Diego and Las Vegas area runs 100 per pane depending on the severity of calcium buildup
I don’t have alot of stats on fp but that is seems really high for my area you are $1.125 a side. Restoration I price by the hr
is actually 2.25 a pane and living in the most expensive areas in the united states, I don’t thin k it is enough. But it is what it is.
Any one else care to tell what they charge for French panes
$1.125 per side and $2.25 inside/out is the same thing
That suppose to be humorous?
^ No. Thought provoking.
Just came thru your area two days ago. I really don’t miss the drivers their! Haha
try dry 0000 steel wool for small frenchies. works great.
So for this window inside and out you would get $27 correct? Thats $9 for every 4 panes…Thats great that you can get that amount for regular cleaning, and as you mentioned you are in one of, if not the most expensive demographics in the U.S. (your words). I live in an area where many people own a second and third “home”. Probably a few of your clients have a house in Michigan somewhere, There is a lot of money here too, i don’t ever condone low balling myself but i do not believe that the majority of members can get $27 for that same piece of glass on a regular basis, nor would i need That much for that window to make $100 per hour or more. I think the point is that you cannot bid your jobs in your market based solely on what others in different markets bid. Take the time to figure out your target PMH (per man Hour for you slow guys)
and then track your numbers and adjust accordingly till you are getting within 10 %-15% of your target PMH regularly. Thats my 2 cents.
It might be…
