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.
~Leonard~
Premier Cleaning of Dallas
Anybody want to take a stab at pricing these? Would say, $3 per side be fair for the big windows in pic .058 for cleaning only? $9 per side if I have to use goo gone, or a scaper to take off window paint or tape from promotional info the company will put on them? And would say .75 cents per garage door pane be good in pic.061? How about the higher up windows in pic.092. example, window number 92C?
If you feel more comfortable answering this in a private messege to me, that would be great too. Thanks.
~L~
Leo,
Don’t take this wrong…I only have this to answer.
Paralysis by Analysis!!!
(been there done it)
Get out there and do it. You obviously have the persaverence and the urge to move forward and a considerable amount of time invested. I am new to this forum and have an existing glass service business, and appreciate the knowledge you must be seeking.
You will win and you will lose but that is how a business goes. You will learn and become better at winning with time, and then help others with your experience I hope.
There is no obvious $ number for window pricing except what you must have for your expenses and profit, and what the market will provide. Thats the fun part, building the business. It seems you will be a great detail person.
JEP
+1
+2
You’ll get answers everywhere from .25 a pane to $100 a pane. There’s way too many variables involved to give you an accurate price.
Imagine how long it will take you to complete a job. Figure out how much money you need to bring in per hour to stay in business and to turn a profit. Then average that out by how many panes you do. Eventually you will discover how much you need to charge per pane.
Start quoting people prices…they will tell you whether you are high or low or spot on.
Sometimes I make $50/hour - sometimes $25 - and when I’m real lucky $75/hour.
Think to if you were the business/home owner…what would you value this service at? Consider your demographic, location, competition…
I have bid storefront for $1/pane before, and still undercut by some bucket joe cleaning for 50 cents per pane. Way too many variables involved.
By the way - just from reading some of your posts, you seem to be getting wrapped up in the “details”, just go out there and clean some windows. You’ll figure it out. Sometimes you’ll win and sometimes you’ll lose, but at least you will learn for the next time. Good luck…
Your a very smart man. ;-)~ And thanks for the reply. And your right. Though I am just about ready to tear it up. Just a few more answers answered on here. And it would help if I just quite my other job already. I keep on hanging onto it. And it’s day has passed relevancy in my life. Window cleaning, and a few other cleaning services are what I have a passion for now. And I feel like I’m holding that passion back by just not jumping in. But another side of me likes to have lots of information about what I will experience out in the field. And there are some things I need to know to be more effective from the get-go. So I find myself here trying to reach out some. This is a great forum. And I’ve stayed up already countless nights reading through some of these other posts. And there is still lots more to read through. Some real good stuff. I need to create my own flier, so I can get into the business forms section soon. But don’t worry, I am starting before that happens. Like in a few days. In fact, if I get these jobs, I have to leave my other job. So there you go.
Your right. And I have started to quote some prices to some storefronts. I just need to get out there more. But I have popped the cherry so to speak. Next will be squeegeeing my way to successions end. ;-)~
PS. I quoted them at $1.50 outside. $1.00 inside. And they wont see a smudge, or a speck of dirt anywhere on that glass. 
But we’ll see if bucket joe is out there where I’m going.
Exactly my thoughts. I’m like that too, extreme attention to details and you miss the big picture. If you start thinking about how much would you have to add for a window with a bush in front of it, you’ll end up loosing more time calculating that than what it would take you to actually clean the glass.
Don’t lose sight of the forest amongst the trees…
You know… “One in the hand, is worth two in the Bush”. That’s what my father always told me. So how much extra DO you charge when two windows are blocked by a bush? A little bit extra I’m sure… Right?!?
No I won’t my friend. I’m counting trees. And taking numbers. 
Unless I’m in the wrong scene. And the correct one has lumberjacks cutting down all the trees at an alarming rate. And I am just wasting time counting the trees, cause I need to getta chopping too before the’re all gone? 
I don’t count bushes, I don’t add extra for hills or extra levels. I don’t add on for ladder work. I don’t charge more for a steeper roof (generally speaking). I don’t pay attention to the color of their house, how many children they have, or their political affiliation. Okay I lied about those last three - BUT don’t sweat the small stuff - because it’s all small stuff.
BTW - The way I would interpret the saying “one in hand is worth two in the bush” to mean: Take what you can get, fake it till you make it, use good judgement, come prepared, and take advantage of opportunity. These two birds in the bush would be scared off (or dead) by the time you got done counting the other bushes, and windows, and gutter lineal footage, and…
Hahaha!!! I am not that bad. Shut up. ;-)~~~~ I don’t care about gutter lineal footage. ;-)~ Yet. ;-)~ Hahaha!
Let’s say your goal is $50 per hour and you want to get paid for the extra time it takes to clean a blocked window versus an unblocked window. $50 per hour equals $0.83 per minute. Will it take you an extra minute to do the same work? If so, then charge an extra $1.00 for that time/window. And so on…
Simple yet effective method. I like it. Ok. I’m going to use it. Unless everyone else talks me out of it. :eek:
PS. I quoted them at $1.50 outside. $1.00 inside. And they wont see a smudge, or a speck of dirt anywhere on that glass. 
But we’ll see if bucket Joe is out there where I’m going.[/QUOTE]
Bucket Joe is always out there. There’s the student making some $ for summer and there’s the old guy propping up his pension. You’ll always loose the odd account to these guys. But don’t try and use the cheapest price as a marketing strategy. Because it’s a loosing strategie. The guy your trying to beat may be about to go out of business. What we do is windows and we do the best job in town but that’s just the profession we are in. The business we’re in is filling a need so find out what that need is and you’ll hold on to your accounts longer and at a premium price. On some jobs I will be more then twice what bucket Joe is and the shop owners still stick with me. In the retirement home I am 40% higher then bucket Joe but still I have almost all the work. The elderly want a little attention so they feel special, 
someone that they can trust in their homes, that’s reliable, considerate and of course clean windows. In about that order but everyone is different. Get talking to people, ask questions and really listen to what’s important to them. Price is just a smoke screen and although it’s often important it’s seldom the most important thing. Yes even with store fronts. 
Bucket Joe is always out there. There’s the student making some $ for summer and there’s the old guy propping up his pension. You’ll always loose the odd account to these guys. But don’t try and use the cheapest price as a marketing strategy. Because it’s a loosing strategie. The guy your trying to beat may be about to go out of business. What we do is windows and we do the best job in town but that’s just the profession we are in. The business we’re in is filling a need so find out what that need is and you’ll hold on to your accounts longer and at a premium price. On some jobs I will be more then twice what bucket Joe is and the shop owners still stick with me. In the retirement home I am 40% higher then bucket Joe but still I have almost all the work. The elderly want a little attention so they feel special, 
someone that they can trust in their homes, that’s reliable, considerate and of course clean windows. In about that order but everyone is different. Get talking to people, ask questions and really listen to what’s important to them. Price is just a smoke screen and although it’s often important it’s seldom the most important thing. Yes even with store fronts. :)[/QUOTE]
I dont believe I’ve thanked you yet for your response. But I think it may have given me just a bit of additional insite. If not just a slight emotional response shift when talking to store managers.
