I was chatting with a fellow from across the pond and he said his window cleaner charges 10 bucks for 16 windows outside only…I told him that I would charge 50, he laughed and said I wouldn’t have a job there…and he said gas was about $7.65/gallon!
It is amazing at the difference between the two countries(UK and US). I hope he was telling the truth, but then again i don’t because that window cleaner is working for nothing
They clean those windows every couple of weeks. It’s maintenance cleaning so they can charge that. Plus most of the windows are smaller than what we run across most of the time. In addition they often clean several homes in that neighborhood.
And all they use is water and pole with a brush on it. No wonder:p
I have these neigbourhoods that have casement type windows and all the screens are on the inside. I charge $30 for outside cleaning on 1 story houses and extra $5 per storm door if they have them) I can whip them off in 20-30 mins. traditional window cleaning. If I get into the backpack thing like mr squeegee suggested…they have 12-18 windows.
Unfortunately the newest neigbourhoods going up have sliders with screens on the outside. So I’ll advertise $5 a pane in and out, screens cleaned for free if I do in and out. $2.50 a pane for outside only and a 2$ a screen… I don’t know. It seems to get complicated. I really like the small, medium, large ideas the best. I’ve use that on yard clean up flyers and it worked out… though I did get burned occasionally.
Tony is spot on there. Most of the work is only outside, very regular, though I tend to do mine every month, and you would work an area. There may be another window cleaner or even two in that area but your work will be together. So,if you drive onto a street with 20 houses, you would want to be cleaning 7 or 8… Its a bit like route work really, but the residenatial still pays better than shops and office work.
10bucks would be about £7 and that is cheap. I have this problem all the time, most other window cleaners are within a couple of pounds or so ($5) say, but often there is someone cutting the price in half. Its the same old old…I sell my service on quality, if you dont want to pay for that then go for the cheap guy. But I would not have to charge what you are in the U.S. because the work is very regular and only outside (which cuts the price in half by itself).
I think due to the culture of window cleaning here it would be difficult to set yourself up cleaning houses once a year and charging a lot more money. Most people I see dont want to pay extra for a first time clean when their windows have not been cleaned for years! There is an English guy on the forum who works in the U.S. and he says the money is much better over there, but I wonder how much better. I have no advertising costs, no mailers, no cold calling, no need for a website and relatively little worry…I am not waiting for the phone to ring because my business is set up and the work is there. Although it might be less than what you make, there is a lot to be said for security. Obviously, in times of recession we all worry about losing customers a bit.
Just as a matter of interest. I have picked up a few inside jobs recently. Twice yearly or on the quarterly. I am thinking of letting people know that this is a service I offer. As Tony said, its a maintenance clean and most people see the window cleaner as only doing the outsides and they are quite surprised when you tell them you can clean the inside windows… Obviously, with the way we work here, scheduling could be tricky and with all the work I have to do before Christmas already I dont think I shall be saying anything just yet, but maybe something for the New Year…
Yeah. That’s exactly how I think of my high volume $30 1 story houses. (outside only)
“Tony is spot on there. Most of the work is only outside, very regular, though I tend to do mine every month, and you would work an area.”
About a month ago, I realized that you guys clean residential windows on a weekly or monthly basis, outside only. So I decided to offer monthly, and quarterly cleaning of the outside of the downstairs windows to my existing customers with the annual or semi-annual cleaning remaining the same price. Already got two scheduled for quarterly cleaning $150 for one, $100 for the other and one monthly for $35. The monthly account is very near to some of our commercial accounts.
Chip May
i do my round every6weeks, i must do at least 12 houses per day to keep on top of the sheer workload . these are all outside only as a rule and roughly £1 per window, the photos are typical of my daily work, theres very little cream on my round , most of my customers are elderly or housebound .
its expected a 5 minute chat at each house,sometimes interesting. for example recently i was chatting to an old guy about a recent ladder fall accident i had and he told me about a plane he once crashed many many years ago,and 2 men died in the crash .
It is interesting to see how the two cultures think when it comes to window cleaning. I have a couple of foreign customers who are 4 times per year cleaning. Compared to most of my american customers who are 1 or 2 times. I had a customer from England who died last year. She owned a beach home that was priced out at $600. She had us come every two months. Of course I was super happy :). But she died last June and her American husband cut the job down to twice per year.
Hard lines Ray…tight fisted Yanks:D
It is interesting how we differ though, would be good to find out how things work in other parts of the world also…Australia for instance, or Germany and Spain, wherever…
Hey thanks for the replies…I have a few UK clients here and there so I was kinda checking them out and wanted a idea of how things differ…
What!!! 30$??
I’ll be learning about some of the differences and similarities on Monday. I just hired a new employee who is a 40year old born and bred englishman. He owned and operated his own window cleaning business in England for 7 years. His wife is from the USA so after 11 years of marriage and them living over there, his wife wanted to get back to her family and warm weather!! I’ve had a blast just talking to him lately, with the accent and all.
Of course when I called him Bubba, and said y’all, he looked at me a little funny. But he’s starting on Monday, so here we go!!
windowman
Yeah, $30 all out. 12 windows including the front and back doors, no screens. I also do spring and fall clean ups for $120, I mow it every week for $30, I put on the christmas lights for $50 and I do the snow for $90/month.
But I’m priced out ok for my area. Maybe a little cheap on the windows but if I charged $90 for less then 20 minutes of work I’d have like one house. Plus I’d rather do houses then commercial anyway, at least it’s easier to find parking in residential.
This guy gives me money every month, I like customers like that.
edit: I also painted that half moon thing over his garage:p
“Don’t talk about the war, I mentioned it but I think I got away with it.” Basil Fawlty.
One good joke you can say to the guy if he looks at you funny again when you say “Ya’ll” is, “In America we speak the King’s English… Elvis Presley being the King”.
Great show have the dvd set.
I never understood why they only made 13 episodes, such a classic.
Love me some Fawlty Towers!
If you watch shows on hulu.com, Black Books is pretty funny (newer show) 1st season is good 2nd and 3rd are not as good as the first. Peep Show is quite funny, very crazy stuff there are a few more on there that I watch as well as the dvd sets I have.
A question for the UK folks, I watch a lot of the British crime shows. Is typical UK street justice a bit of petrol through a mail slot followed by a flaming rag. I see it a lot on these shows
A question for the UK folks, I watch a lot of the British crime shows. Is typical UK street justice a bit of petrol through a mail slot followed by a flaming rag. I see it a lot on these shows[/QUOTE]
I would love to say, not round here. But a couple of months ago, one of the neighbours kids got into some trouble with the wrong kind of people and they petrol bombed his car! It was only a few feet from the front door…didnt go bang, just burned a bit. I guess they were lucky to notice it early. Thats what they call it, by the way…petrol bombing. I think it was really popular in northern Ireland during all the troubles there.
