make sure I adjust my estimated time for the next job. I’m sure everyone has this happen.
I don’t think it lowers any “value” of my service.
but people sometimes have odd assumptions and might think I don’t know what I’m doing.
I guess it’s a fine line. maybe I’ll just stretch it out to 3 hrs. lol
it’s the same thing as a flat rate. if they have it at $200 and that assumes it should only take the guys 3hrs and but it takes them 4.5 hrs. do you up charge the customer?
also what about when you charge per pane and then 1/2 way through you realize the windows are way dirtier and it taking too long. do you say hey mrs.customer, I need to charge you more?
I was a remodeling contractor before I became a window cleaner.Our pricing model was very different in the contsruction business for several reasons.1st one being that most construction estimating is done via software similiar to what an auto shop uses. You can calculate jobs based on historical data. But even then we would in most cases bid on jobs by the SF of whatever thing to come up with a base price and then calculate hours of additional labor.
Mostservice plumbers and electrical contractors for example base on unit pricing and then add for additional labor.
In the model we are using for our little window cleaning business unit pricing is the only way to go, but in most cases the customer doesnt care how much per pane they care about the cost of the entire job and that is what we quote. As an experienced cleaner I can guesstimate time to complete a job but that is really difficult to train somebody such as a salesman. we are looking at the long term outlook for our business and having a standard unit price for all the things we do will make training in the long run alot easier.
EXAMPLE:We clean dryer vents as an add-on service, we charge say $79unit pricing, If we charged hourly I would only be able to charge 15-20 of labor and thats if they working super slow that day. So do the math $25 or $79. Because we are offering a $99 Value for $79… We win and the customer wins.I could go on.
Someone else said as well, not all the windows are the same unit price, but it allows us to gather enough information in most cases to do estimates over the phone which saves in time and fuel, even if my quote is a few dollars off the savings from not having to the estimate in person usually win out.
However you quote, whether it’s by pane or just by looking at the job, either one is fine. But if you’re talking by the hour thru the customer it’s not going to work for you. I’m not going to spend much time coming up with all the reasons why it’s bad. I’m just going to discourage you from approaching your customer asking for $60 - $90 an hour to clean their windows.
Let’s look at a different scenerio. Say you’re the customer that’s having some computer work done. The cost to fix your computer is pretty much all labor with no parts. The Computer tech quotes you $75 - You agree and he goes to work. He’s done in 30 minutes. If you were watching the clock (most don’t) it may leave you with a little bad taste in your mouth. But you’d pay it and not think too much about it and probably even call him back next time. Change this to hourly now. Computer tech says yes he can fix it and it’s only $150 an hour. If you did accept, it doesn’t matter how long he takes (most customers would be watching him like he’s an employee) you’re probably going to feel very dirty and not call him back. This isn’t the best scenerio I could of used, just took the first one to pop into my head… There are a dozen more reasons besides the couple I pointed out…
Granted I have run across customers that confront me after we are done, pointing out we just made $75 an hour. My simple response is - Yes you’re correct, I have a customer base of appx 800 and we make the same on every job. Running is business with all the insurance, taxes, licensing, etc… isn’t cheap. Also potential customers will ask after I quote them how long it’s going to take. Same response from them, same answer from me. Sometimes I’ll even throw in my carpet cleaning experience. We tried everyone, one day we gave this other company a try. One guy came in and was done in 2.5 hours. Charged us $260. I went and looked at the carpets and they were perfect. Best I’ve ever had. We still use them today…
EDIT for yamaha - Sorry man, I misunderstood thinking you were wanting to work by the hour for the customer. I don’t think either way is wrong (by pane count or by judging by how many hours). If you set your goal on what you want per hour, and you’re meeting the goal, everythings good right. By pane count however sometimes I make over my hourly goal. I used to tell the customer “Good news” and lower it, then I woke up
If you did accept, it doesn’t matter how long he takes (most customers would be watching him like he’s an employee) you’re probably going to feel very dirty and not call him back. This isn’t the best scenerio I could of used, just took the first one to pop into my head… There are a dozen more reasons besides the couple I pointed out…
