Hello everyone. Newbie to the forum. I am hoping to get some insight on pricing a particular job. I am the owner of a service company (do not currently do Windows) and have an account that would like me to quote their window cleaning. It is a chain and the area I cover for them is all of Northen Ohio. Toledo, Canton, Cleveland, Akron, Defiance, Coshocton, Wooster, etc. etc. Farthest location from me is about 3 hrs and 45 mins away. I do not currently offer window cleaning and am not really sure where to come in price wise. They currently use one company to service all locations but can’t get them to show up.
The work would be all single story with an average of 140 panes that would be cleaned and some are upwards of 200 panes. There are approximately 68 stores and they want one per store/stop price for doing all panes at each location once every 3 weeks. I realize I’m at a bit of a disadvantage price wise as I am not currently servicing other window accounts in these areas and passing by these stores anyway. I figure on average with drive time between locations that I would figure an hour per store. Not sure how truthful it is, but they told me the last company was charging $50 per store.
With that said I’d like some help on a per pain price I should charge for this type of bulk work. From there I can figure time and expenses to come up with a flat price to charge at each location. Your advice and help us greatly appreciated. Thanks
You have a lot of driving to do. Go count panes. Get a total for All the stores and base your pet pane price on that. Then just average the price. I don’t like doing per store prices. And every three weeks sucks too frankly. Try and get them every two weeks and hire a guy just for the Windows?
There’s a lot of variables here, and you may want to consider posting a picture. A couple thoughts:
-68 locations every three months would be very challenging from a logistical standpoint. Do you have a decent sized crew?
-What do you charge for an hour of work now? An hour of your crew’s time Should basically be the same regardless of what service you’re providing. What do you need to charge/hour to be profitable?
-What they are paying Now is irrelevant, because they aren’t paying enough for the company to show up. Charge what you need to show up.
Understood there are a lot of variables but average store has 150 ground level panes. Mostly large commercial type square with 2" ledges to wipe after cleaning. Also it’s every 3 weeks not months. Just trying to find a general idea on a commercial per pane price. At $50 per store with 150 panes that breaks down on average to $.33 cents per pane. That’s not very profitable and probably explains why the company they have now is unreliable but still shouldn’t be if that’s the price they agreed to. Any takers on ball parking a per pane price on what a fair per pane price might be?
That price sounds about right for the volume of work from a nsp/broker. Depending on the service requirements you might be able to get $75 per store. When your talking large chains from a nsp they normally want and look for rock bottom price.
An average price per pane normally runs from a $1-4.
Thanks for the correction. I was thinking “week” but typed “months.”
Is this exterior only? I can’t see any way this would work for less than 75-85 cents/side, and that’s only if you’re desperate (and already there). I think it’s going to take a fair bit longer than an hour/stop, especially if you don’t have anyone experienced cleaning the glass. I suppose if you have larger crews, that would make a difference with timing.
If you go anywhere near $50, you probably won’t be showing up for long either. Maybe $150 exterior only, but even that seems a tad low.
FWIW, we’re a primarily residential company, so some of the other guys like @luke3636 may have more feedback.
I’m really curious what kind of business this is.
This is fairly common with underbid window cleaning. Once the company has better paying work, they disappear. Or they get to it when they have time. Once they realize how bad the bid was, it becomes their lowest priority.
I know of a “very” large commercial window cleaning company (including store front) that charge right around .33 per pane in the midwest. It can be profitable if you have your ducks in a row.
Im not saying its for everyone just saying it can work.
