so say on a storefront that has 15 windows plus 2 doors and you do just the outsides of windows and in n out on doors .at dollar a pane thats 19$ how would you price for every 2 weeks vs monthly? you would go little cheaper on the every 2 weeks? or sorry if im rambling been walking shopping centers all day passin out cards
There is no reason to discount in this situation. Keep the price the same.
Well first I start out by charging $2-$3/pane, not $1. That seems to be putting me at the upper-end of storefront WCers in my market. In exchange for the higher price I provide significantly better quality and a friendly disposition (at least I like to think so!)
Next I’m no longer even thinking about discounting for frequency. People aren’t going to switch from monthly to bi-weekly because you knock a couple of bucks off the price. They’re going to switch because they want their windows to stay cleaner.
Agreed every 2 weeks to monthly does not make a big enough difference to discount. Also $1 a pane is too low IMO.
thanks for input i was just using dollar a pane as example.are most getting 2-3 per pane on storefronts?
+1
I don’t discount going from monthly to every 2 weeks, unless they sign a 1 year agreement, and then I give them the last clean free
i agree. Its per cleaning. I will charge more for an initial clean if theyre really dirty tho.
i normally price at around a dollar per pane, inside and out, and if the window is higher than a walk up it doubles, real high stuff triples. Then if there are obstacles, things need moved or signed taken down, etc, i will increase the price accordingly.
pretty much i will come up with a set price, then figure in difficulty or additional time expectations in to the figure. as wndwgrl said, dirtiness of the window fits right in with that. if im blading every window it will def cost you more.
but people charging 3 bucks a pane, is that across the board? I mean if you go to a pizza shop in a plaza with 6 windows consisting of 3 rows of 2 walk up windows-- you would charge 18, plus tax?
maybe im charging too little. a job like that and id probably quote em at 9-11 bucks… and i still make sure that each window is perfect.
Josh, 6 walk up windows…I’d charge at least $15 for the outside only. The inside would be another $15 or more depending on accessibility. That puts me at just about 3x the price of the largest window cleaning company in the area, and I’m proud of it 
wow thats crazy!
im not aiming to be the absolute cheapest by any means, i’d prefer to be the best quality. But just starting out, no way i could charge that kind of price and expect to get any clients. i was even in so much disbelief i that i checked the candian dollar vs the us dollar.
I’m just starting out too, I’ve only been at this for the last month. But I quickly realized I wasn’t making what I wanted to make so I raised my prices and you know what happened? No one complained. Once I get my route built to a certain size you can bet I’ll be raising my prices some more. I think I’ll be raising my minimum to $20 (it’s currently $10) before long.
Now if you have crazy amounts of competition it’s going to be a different story. But for me it seems the limit to what I can charge is more a personal mental block and not so much a function of supply and demand.
TBH I think my competition is completely nuts to be charging so little, I don’t know how they can be making any money with insurance and gas and supplies and labour and trucks. Anyway, it didn’t take long for me to see that 9 out of 10 storefronts aren’t being cleaned by anybody around here, so the last thing I have to worry about is competition.
My biggest challenge is convincing store owners that having their windows cleaned once a year by the property management isn’t good enough.
very nice. im currently n an area thats plenty saturated by cleaners-- so 9 out of 10 times i am gaining business by having store owners replace their bucket bobs due to the quality of work not being there. i dont think many would double what they currently pay just to eliminate a drip or two…
I use the every 2 weeks frequency as my basis for pricing on storefronts. So I’d likely raise my price a bit for less frequent and lower it a bit, not too much if at all for weekly. I don’t have too many weekly, but I usually bank on the psychology factor for those who ask for weekly- namely that they really want clean windows and a great public image and don’t care too too much about the price.
If you’re charging too little it’s definitely not worth your time to lower the total cost just for increasing the frequency of cleanings from once a month to twice a month. If they move to weekly from once a month, maybe that’d be okay for you. Not okay for me though. I don’t do a lot of storefront because there are a lot of wc’ers out there doing in & out for $1. I charge $2 for out only and $3 for in & out. More if I have to raise my ladder over 6’ off the ground. I did a storefront the other day (at $3 per pane in & out, 25 windows) took me and my helper 30 minutes (that’s $150/hr.) Another storefront across the plaza called them asking if we’d come over and give them a bid. So, as I didn’t want to waste my time competing with some other cleaner who may come in there at $1 per pane, I looked it over and decided I’d give 'em a great smile, the best cleaning they ever had and the highest price they’d probably ever hear. I told the lady $50 for In & Out of 8 panes. She said “Sounds great”. Took my helper and I 15 minutes.
Isn’t that $75 per man-hour?
If you’d like to get technical, my employee makes $9 per hour, so in that case it’s $141 per hour,less taxes Larry. 
Shawn White
Streakless Windows Inc.
(520) 808-6635
Apples-to-apples is much more logical…
Sorry for the confusion.
Shawn White
Streakless Windows Inc.
(520) 808-6635
Your competition may not be making much money because they are being solicited. They do it to hold on
to their work. Didn’t you find out how low their prices were by soliciting their work? Evidently you are
not the only one.
