So today I took the day off from my job to finally start cleaning windows. I’ve been passing out business cards two weekends now and I have 5 accounts now. Which isn’t bad at all except I under bid. Today I did a barber shop and a dog groomers in the same plaza. The barber shop was 13 Windows the door and the bottom little Windows. And the groomers was 6 with the door. Both inside and out I started at 830 although I got there at 745 since the shops open at 8… They were both late. I got out at 6 and only have 55 dollars to shop for 6 hours of work. I spent more on equipment this morning. Any help? Advice please and thank you
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Don’t let Day One’s results discourage you. What took 6 hours today will take you less than an hour soon. Keep working on your technique and efficiency. It will come.
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Thanks Davis I sure hope so. !
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Ya man dont let this get you down …
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thats $55 more then u started with and was it a 1 time deal or are u doing it moly, wkly, biweekly? just saying! and dont wait for them to get there. i get there early and be finished with the outside before the get there.
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You’ll get faster. The best thing about under bidding…is that you’ll learn real fast not to under bid.
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Try to get some residential work (use free local classifieds and flyers) on the side. And yeah, practice both your cleaning and pricing. Eventually you’ll find your groove and start making some nice change.
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Don’t you dare give up! Success is built on multiple failures. It how you learn and bounce back.
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Thomas Edison
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Don’t feel bad. I just bid a local store today. place was real dirty so I went in through my pitch , an she was like yes Definetly the last guy was horrible . I said ok know what let me think about it I’ll email you a quote.
Stupid move should of just gave her the price with out thinking about it only been doing this for many years. She told me who was doing it I know the company, an I know he doesn’t do any route work , so he was coming out of his way to do this one job. My gut was he is charging her a lot . Always go with your gut.
Dummy me gave her a fair price instead of just going for the really good price. It should of been 90 in/out. I went ther today , an spoke to her in person. Told her 60 in/out her eyes lite up. I wa like I know the last guy was a lot more right. She goes ya he was 100 just for the outsides. I almost threw up.
This is going to suck cleaning this thing now , but my whole train of thought was this is an hour at most. I also thought just go for it you could always bargain down,
Oh well I do 3 more right in the same area an just picked up another one also, so now it’s 5 stores at 225 each time I’m there .
So even veterans over think things an mess up bids , my mind was all over the place with this one. My last thought before I walk in was I want this job an the lowest I’ll take is 60.
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If I ‘took the day off’ to do another persons job for the first time…
- I would probably have a bad first day, too.
Force of habit, make me want to scold you,
as you sound like you come from the “anyone can do it” frame of mind.
But the empathetic side of me, says
“Keep pushing, it ain’t easy… but it gets less hard…” 
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Thanks man. Means a lot from you! Seen all your videos !
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The groomers is monthly the barber shop is bi weekly he also gave me his other 2 barber shops and barber school bi weekly
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Dang man. Feels like me today
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Not my mentality. It’s just I am in no position to quit my job to just pick up on this I need more accounts. But yea man just gotta keep trying
If you are doing a job for the first time, it’s very possible it will take longer than you hope. If you are doing A job for the first time and you have no window cleaning experience, it will most likely take WAY longer than you hope.
But…that is normal. Don’t be bummed out. You got paid on the job training.
Plus, you went out and created money from thin air! Your work directly created income. It’s an awesome feeling. You will never forget these jobs today!
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Practice all the time on your own windows. it’s the only way you will get faster. Don’t bid any houses yet. If those two storefronts took you all day. There is no way you would complete a house in one day. Once you can clean your house or friend’s in one day than go bid a house. I was bad my first day, but I had 40hrs a week to practice and after work I would clean my own windows after a month I could I could produce 40/hr and became the residential in 3 months. Point is work hard practice a lot and you will get better.
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You’ve got to get over worrying about not being able to squeeze more from each invoice.
If you are happy with what you are making, THAT is far more important than IF you could have padded the bill more.
We all want to make every bit that we can. However, stressing about it makes things bad for you. Your focus should be making what you desire to make an hour, then gaining the amount of clients you want to service, Then maybe growing your business to the point you sit on you ass in the office, while your workforce makes the house payment on your mansion in Tahiti.
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Welcome to the forum!
The most important thing is that you got clients and you will be getting market visibility as you continue to service their properties. Your speed will improve, particularly with the properties that you service regularly. At this stage just focus on being thorough and your clients will be satisfied and will hopefully speak of your diligence.
Like the rest have said practice and practice over and over again, from the way your initial post sounds, it sounds you bought the gear before you did the job, had you practiced before hand or just grab some gear and dive right on in?
anyway good luck with it, it will take many many hours to master a squeegee.
