For most of them, we did the work that they still wanted. It sucks, but its better than no money at all, right? Its either that or we have the pleasure of explaining why they aren’t getting their deposits back.
Something that this did lead to is taking larger deposits on larger jobs. Lets say a window/housewash combo comes out to $1200. A $100 deposit doesn’t seem to be cutting it anymore, considering it costs me more than that to send a crew out to get sent home. $100 for a deposit on a larger job is chump change. Now, any jobs that are going to take a half day or more are a 30% deposit. Its a lot harder to flake on something you have $400 down on than $100, right?
One of those customers was actually an all day job that I sent 3 guys to. Lady answered the door and said “its gonna rain today, I want to reschedule” The Weather Channel app said there was a chance of showers in the late afternoon, after we would be done. My lead tech said “I have to call the office about this”. As he called the office, this lady was backing out of the driveway and leaving. I can’t deal with shitballs like that… this is a business.
We have an NRA list, which means “Needs Right Away”. Usually people who didn’t book because they needed it yesterday. When this happens, we have been pinging that list to fill in some time.
These customers DONT get priority scheduling when they cancel last minute.
Last minute cancellations go to the back of the line, I gave up playing schedule Tetris a few years ago. I’m much happier with that decision.
This reminds me of our neighbor right next door to us he wanted a house wash we gave him a killer price of $200.
This was a couple weeks back.
Told him when we could do it, he was good for it. Then day of he says he doesn’t have the money and that he will let us know when he can.
Last minute cancellation right there and then we see he got some guy that was blasting pressure all on his garage lol…
Found someone that was able to beat $200? Lol, we didn’t even charge what we normally would have quoted it for like $350 +
And now the guy is trying to get us to pay him $$$ for his pool liner since our trampoline landed in his pool 2 years ago during a storm we had in 2020…
He made an insurance claim 2 years later…
Some people man, even your next door neighbors lol.
““You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,” (Matthew 5:43-44)
Much easier said than done, but imperative none the less and gives a mic-drop summary in my opinion. A lot more could be said, but my experience (to clarify, my window washing experience is brief and definitely defined as “nooby”) has been that for every one customer who gives you a kick-to-the-gut experience there are ten others who make the job feel like a paid vacation. I witnessed my boss (older brother) get ripped up a bit by some customers who pretty much tried to suck everything they could out of our service, and since I’m not the boss, I just took the equipment out the truck and waited since I knew my presence in that conversation wouldn’t be helpful. We practically slaved over their house (deep clean on the tracks, awful storm window situation), and they ended up playing a “We had million dollar houses back on the West Coast that only cost $250 to get washed” card to try and justify their demands for a lower price, previously mentioning that they had terrible experiences with previous window washers. (At that price, I wonder why…) My advice after that experience?
Keep your cool and be gracious.
Take responsibility if you made a mistake. If you didn’t, stand your ground, but don’t retaliate in kind.
As others have said, listen to your gut when your scheduling, etc. (This job had, looking back, a few red flags that popped up in conversation before we decided to do it) so you don’t put yourself in a position to have your gut kicked in the first place.
Vent where and when you need to after the fact. (Maybe on here? Haha) But don’t let that become a root of bitterness. I know I wasn’t the only one he talked to about it afterwards (addressing maintaining sanity and not exploding with rage after an “incident.”), but it definitely helped to process and joke a little bit about how awful it all was.
I was so proud to see my brother stand through that, and it definitely made us both the wiser. We most likely won’t be washing windows for them again, which I’m okay with, but the experience was a good one for me to witness for the time when I’ll be in the same position he was. . I think with something like window washing, it’s a bit of an unfortunate aspect of the job, but one that’ll make the better aspects of it so much better. Plus, you totally have the option to not work for them anymore, and you’ll come away from it the wiser. It’s my belief that the work and growth produced is more important than the money, and to me treating them like I want to be treated, and growing in being able to do that better, is worth more than getting paid what you want. If terrible experiences are happening at every job, I can’t speak to that since I haven’t seen that. And for the times when it does happen, just treat it as a blessing and opportunity to grow.
Had someone want to play scheduling tetris with me, reminded me of your post lol
Previous customer who I scheduled for this upcoming Monday, all the way back in April messages me last night at 9pm “Hi, June 3rd is a Monday, have to work, can you come tomorrow.” I said we don’t work weekends and that we can get started on the house wash and outside windows and if it’s possible for someone to be around in the afternoon time.
He says" No, Friday morning for interior." I said we don’t have any opening for Friday. If Monday doesn’t work we can reschedule to our next available date which be July 9th, or any day thereafter. Haven’t heard from him.
It’s much easier to move someone to Monday from the back of the line than to play scheduling tetris.
If anyone tries to tell me when they can get back on MY schedule I give them one chance at redeeming themselves from sounding rude and I give them my availability to let them choose what I have open.
I also mention “this is my availability as of right now” and that lets them know how fast the schedule gets full and/or updates.
When I do combo bids, I give the the house washing price. Then I say, “If that price is good, I will do the windows for $ XXX. Otherwise, just the windows will be $ XXX.”
Be very clear on your pricing. Put 3 lines on your bid. House washing, house washing plus window cleaning, or window cleaning only. You can weed out scammers and tire kickers quickly by being very clear in pricing with scope of work
I said we don’t have any opening for Friday. If Monday doesn’t work we can reschedule to our next available date which be July 9th, or any day thereafter. Haven’t heard from him.
