Hmm, you will have to determine that for how it works for your area.
If I charge $5.00 for a window it is outside price only, screens extra. So therefor a complete inside/outside job, that would translate to $10.00 per window, tracks and screens extra for first clean. If they get on my Quarterly Maintenance Program then no charge on the tracks after the first clean but yes on the screens. (The tracks aren’t bad under maintenance, screens collect dirt/dust.)
Now, for me that is NOT figuring a “per window pane” price but a “per window” price.
I have come across some WINDOWS that have 4, 6, or 8 PANES in different configurations. THEN I resort to a “per pane price”, but now we are talking other than a standard window.
So hopefully you can see how a per pane price can differ from a per window price. I have bid on large windows with, more than you want to count, individual panes and it is hit or miss if the customer is willing to pay the price. French panes generally go for between 75¢ and $1.50 each side in some areas. So if you have 15 or 20 to make up one window that would be huge at $5 per pane! For that reason I do not do “per pane pricing” except as needed and with a fair adjusted price.
This is exactly why I quote per pane as 95% of the windows I clean are aluminum sliding windows, and I get customers call me every day asking for a quote telling me they have X amount of windows most times the configuration of the windows has 4-7 panes, now why on earth would I charge the same for a window configuration with 2 panes as with 7 panes, this is also another reason I do all quotes in person, that and most of my jobs are within 10 mins from my house.
Yep, and a simple disclaimer of “$X.xx for standard double hung, any other type of window and it will have to be determined when we get there.” Problem solved.
That would not work here as in a average week I probably clean 10 double hungs if that, they are not a popular window type here, most customers don’t see the difference between a 2 pane window to a 4-7 pane window.
i hate aluminum sliders, fortunately my area is large enough i can focus on newer homes. you not only have twice the glass you have the awkward handling and increased liability/risk. i have permanent nerve damage in my right thumb from an accident with an aluminum slider. it cost me a couple thousand in lost time plus a few hundred for glass replacement carpet cleaning etc.
I guess you need to decide what kind of money you want to make per hour and how that translates to cost per pane . For me if I charge 4.00 per pane it translates to roughly 50.00 hour depending …sometimes more.I found that people freak out if you give them a hourly quote. I do realize people hear are making way more then this. This seems to be the easiest to explain in my experience ( X amount per pane).
I’ve found that if I avoid a per-pane price completely and just simply give a total estimate people receive that better. One guy I told him that the job would be $255 and afterwards he asked me how much it was per pane. I said $5 per pane, he said that sounds like a lot and I said does $255 sound like a lot for the house? and he said no, no it doesn’t.
I do agree …but I price it out per pane and give a total cost. I could have been more descriptive. I’m more than willing to explain how I came up with the cost , honestly 90% of my costumers don’t really care.
right, our total price is based mostly on the per pane price, but i never start there with the customer and if i do i always put it in the context of the whole house price. “how much is it per window” “it’s $10 per window for a standard window so if you have 20 windows it would be $175-225 usually” and sinve the total number is last it usually has the largest impact and that total doean’t sound too bad.
I stopped giving a per pane, or per window price when a couple of customers wanted to calculate out a few windows to reduce the price, which mainly left me with the hardest windows to clean for an overall reduced price. Instead of jacking up the price for doing a few windows I just price and discuss the complete job.
Anyway - I tell the customer that I take into account the number and type of windows that they have, the amount of dirt and debris on the windows and in the tracks and on screens, plus access to the windows - from there I can formulate a price to get their windows cleaned.
I let them know that it is far more than just a window count to determine the cost of the job. That way they see that I am offering a very comprehensive cleaning service for them and not just some wet and wipe -BAM you’re done.
Now, in “my figuring sheet” - that I don’t show - I do a window count and per window work up, plus nominal fees for all of the things that will slow me down or add risk to the job that I come up with the job price with.
One thing I noticed is the success rate in landing the job is far higher when giving estimate in person. That’s why we use per pane pricing and service levels… ext only… in/ex… in/ex/screens. We do all our estimating from the outside of the house unless there is ladder work indoors, no need to count screens it’s already included in price.
It is included in the package price… the package with screen cleaning. If they didn’t want screen cleaning they wouldn’t get that package.
Then we will move it and move it back to right where it was afterwards. Never said anything about track cleaning now that is an additional fee big time.
