Please help price various business locations from pics uploaded. Give pricing according to whether it is a first floor, or second. Or if a bush is in the way for instance. Glass panes numbered for easy reference. There may be some redundancy in some of the pics. Or certainly there might be only a .25 or .50 difference in pricing of some. The more specific info you can provide the better. Thanks to all.
Ladder. Since I’m in the purhcasing phase, would 20’ do formost jobs? Or do you think I need 24’ to be safer? Or even 28’? However, I can see, that even with a 28’ ladder, it still wouldn’t reach all the way to the top third row of windows in the .053.jpg. I’ve also started off with a 12’ ettore extention pole. But can get whatever size I need to, on an as needed basis.
I don’t think your 28" ladder will be much good! Even with the big 12" pole! You may want to go with a 28’ ladder and a 12’ pole. I’m sorry, just being a smarty pants here.
Seriously though. In the first picture, are you doing just the one side of the building? You’re probably doing all four sides of the 2 story commercial building. Count the panes. How many on each floor? Or is that what the little numbers in the box’s are for? I counted 21 on the 2nd floor. Are you telling me that there are only 11 panes total on the other 3 sides? Probably not. Are you doing inside and out? That makes a difference. At any rate, I would use the WFP outside as much as possible. Maybe not around the entryways, but for big commercial buildings like this it’s faster and much safer. You’re probably looking for a per pane price for various sizes but there are other considerations that matter here. If I have to lug a ladder around to do the outside only vs using the WFP outside only, That’s a big difference! If I were expected to do in and out with ladder and squeegee vs WFP out and traditinal inside, it makes a differnce. Thats where using a WFP will help you in your bidding. The WFP is faster which means you can bid a bit lower than you would if you had to use ladder and squeegee. Your competitors may only use the ladders. They’ll have to pay thier guys more wages (hours) to get the same job done as you can with the pole.
All I want to know is a price that you would charge per window for the first floor, exterior only, and if “they” want both sides, then exterior and interior. And for the second floor the same, however with the use of a ladder, not WFP, as I don’t own one yet. I would imagine the second floor would cost a lot more because it’ll take longer because of having to climb up and down, and move a ladder from window to window. I don’t know how many windows in all there are. I am only asking this price question for scenario purpuses only. But I would imagine it wouldn’t matter whether it was 30 or 50 windows, because I figure it’s all calculated from a per window price. I can do the math.
In the future, I could see purchasing a WFP that extends like 40 or so feet. But for now they seem to cost several thousands of dollars to say the least. Unless someone knows a way to build one myself? Or purchase one at a discounted price?
Sorry Leo, but I think you may find another way of bidding more accurate and beneficial to you.
There’s a lot more variables that come into play with bidding window cleaning. I would suggest that you bid by how long you believe it will take you. Once you have more experience you can then average that information out and divide it by panes to form a “per pane” charge.
If I told you I charged 4 dollars a pane for exterior only, you would either lose jobs for being too expensive, or end up losing a ton of money on the deal.
You may want to invest in a 30 foot Unger pole. This will help you on some of those jobs. The Dicks store looks higher then 30 feet though, and I’ve never liked the idea of a ladder resting on framework like that, although I’ve seen it done before…
Depending on what your TDS (measure of water contaminates) is in your area, the WFP Package that WCR is currently offering may be a great buy. It includes a 17 foot pole. You’ll find that a setup like this will quickly pay for itself.
Bidding is just one of those things you have to jump into. Knowing how much you have to make per hour to operate is the most important part.
Bite the bullet Leo and get a WFP. Thats some serious ladder work for someone just starting out. You can get a 30’ fiberglass Xtel for under 300bucks and a 40’ Tucker pole for under 500. Call you local Culligan dealer and rent a D.I. tank or buy a new one here from WCR. you can do this all for probably under a grand. You will make the money back quick like. Doing commercial that size its really hard to be competitive these days with out WFP, in my opinion.