Hats off to you sir! 100 percent correct. Every word a gem. We are hard working business people, in charge of our own business destiny. The days of doffing our caps and accepting the price of a pint, a pasty and a flutter on the dogs is over, except for fools. Charge a professional rate and do a professional job.
Great video Darren, You're spot on with the pricing issues. It never ceases to amaze me on the psychology, of other window cleaners. I'm in my fourth year, as a self employed window cleaner. First, of all horses for courses!! You can NEVER, compare one customer to another one. I do jobs for people £30 or £40, I admit, most aren't this big. Some customers ( like mine have shown, they aren't skint and appreciate a good service) A business, should be treated as such.
I never usually comment on YT vids but after watching several of your videos recently I must say you do talk alot of sense. Some fantastic tips. Thanks for taking the time out to share 👍
Hi your in different industry to me, but everyone SHOULD see this its priceless having that buisness value mentality it is exactly how businesses should run wish you all the success because you're definitely worth it and it's all about that value you're talking about people take note👍
I started 3 months ago, i knew this was what i was gonna do but i have watched a lot of your videos and this one has been key. I don’t have a job that i do not mind doing because i have used your mentality for quoting and now after starting as trad i now have a wfp system in the boot of my car. I know not glorious but i am still picking up the work and building towards the van. Thank you for the great advice and i wish you all the best when you leave the uk onto your new adventure.
Good advice for any business! People don't realise the costs in running a business. If you go in cheap you'll never be able to charge their neighbours a more realistic price. I'm a decorator so people only want to pay for someone to paint : they don't want to pay for the logistics and operating cost of a business. It's almost like they expect it done as a favour at times. I'm just about to also offer an exterior cleaning service, so your advice and tutorials are much appreciated. Cheers!
As someone who has been window cleaning 25 years plus the aim is £30 - per hour if you have quoted on a new job and it took longer just be Honest and tell them you underquoted and it needs to be more most people appreciate your straightforwardness
This is why I am quite the advocate of the first clean charge - think how long it takes normally - add on some time for the first clean and then bingo - you should be at around the correct number.
Thanks for your video sir - Ive been cleaning windows for 8yrs + and im quite happy with everything but I might say goodbye to few of my customers due to odd location .. it really doesn't worth doing it if you drive 20min one way
Hi Darren, love you videos you are great man Can please send the link with the forum that you are on, so I can keep in touch with you and other window cleaner people? Thanks Marius
Trad - Man no video on that but here's an article I wrote on the forum a couple of years back. Hope it helps. windowcleaningforums.co.uk/topic/16807-small-claims-court-how-to/
Me and my work friend have bought two established rounds. One takes £57,000 and the othe about 35,000. Both businesses cost us £20,000 as they have been established for 15-20 yrs and my friend worked the smaller round for 15 yrs whilst working a fulltime job. We start the bigger round after xmas the guy is 68 and retiring...he won't finish until xmas as he gets around £7-8,000 in tips and gifts and hampers. Many of these homes are very wealthy people like famous footballers and sports people located in the posh Cheshire areas and the other round is in and around Marple a beautiful affluent area up north. We have several Schools colleges and houses and there will be three of eventually who I will be paying my Polish good friend cash until he has payed of his part of the business. We want to work 5 days for first two yrs and then 4 days when we have gotten our money back and built up some profit. I need to get my driving test through as the other two already have a licenses.
I think some window cleaners me included become too friendly with customers and actually think that they are our actual friends , theyre not theyre customers , i dont get invited to parties theyre having or asked out to important social events in their lives, you wouldnt see them if it wasnt for cleaning the windows so we all need to toughen up and never feel guilty for increasing the price and getting a fair amount... its bloody hard work , we deserve a big pocket full of cash by the time we get home knackered!
Couldn’t agree more why fill your day dealing with idiots who want it doing for pennies I told one guy who wanted a gutter cleaning out which was on a conservatory a basic 3 sides small ladder job 3 metres each side he offered me a £5 !! And said “ it won’t take you 5 mins” I replied when did you last do a gutter clean? “It’s your house and You don’t want to clean it!, so why should I want to do it for £5!!? I offered to let him use my ladder and just when he couldn’t say anything more insulting he said “ I want you to do it cos I can earn more money by not spending MY time up a ladder “ I said so can I , this job would be losing me money and left ... some people have an amazingly low opinion of window cleaners... that’s due to cowboy window cleaners charging way too low ...
I have £3,4 customers that I've maintained for 5,6 years. Now I've kitted my self out with wfp trolley system, how do I go about increasing their prices, I'm just too soft
Joel John You're just going to have to tell them straight. I would spend a month or two building a load of new work at modern realistic prices so that when you do shock the old customers with the new price it won't hurt when you loose a few.
Yep. get rid of current customers if they dont pay for the extra coz you got wfp system, its not cheap to run, tell them that, and it does a more thorough job, if they say no, then f=6ck them off and find new better paying customers. Thats what i done , and it works. If you act like a mug, then you will get treated like one.
People will typically pay more if they have more. I'd wager a bet (and I'm from Ireland so I'm only guessing here), that window cleaning is more lucrative down south. I imagine up north is historically poorer. Am I wrong?
David Kinsella people have used the north south divide argument for an age and then some and many still do. A customer, regardless of area will pay (within reason) for a quality service. It's that simple really. We started in Jersey and now work in the Midlands and actually charge more than several cleaners we know to the south of us. Believe in the product, believe in the service and believe in the fact that you're asking a fair price for the service delivered and they will pay. The biggest complaint we hear from people coming to us from other window cleaners is that the last cleaner was un-reliable and they never knew what his schedule was or when he'd show up. They are happy to pay more for simple things such as reliability.
Step one is organize. Get all your rounds organized into perfect order then you will see how much time available each day, week, month etc you have for new work.
@@Darren-Green thank you, another issue I’ve faced is cleaning high windows with my pole. I’ve been trying the cut in straight pulls using my pole on my window so as to get better at doing my clients bedroom windows. When experimenting on my window I used dishwasher soap and it works better than my hg cleaner for some reason. There were no streaks maybe due to the fact that I also did some pre-detailing and detailing which I’ve just learnt about. Upon further inspection of my window there were dried rain marks still on the window that didn’t come off even after a couple scrubs with my applicator and my pole. Do you have any idea why this could have occurred? It’s a bit annoying as this may have been how I’ve been leaving my clients top windows for a few weeks now! One thing I have seen, it’s way easier to clean ground floor windows without a pole!
@@EbnezerOdubanjo dried rain spots are a pain in the ass - you can't do them easily with a pole, you need to get up close and personal. The best fix I have honestly found is a lemon cut in half and then a sprinkle of bicarbonate of soda on top then keep rubbing it on the spots till gone.
@@Darren-Green thank you for the advice, because I am not able to access the top windows of houses unless I use a pole is it acceptable if there were dried rain marks left on windows after I charge somebody for a clean?
£15 that's exactly what I said before you stated, fair do's.just watched trad man price a bungalow for 15£! Rip off. Id love to move onto his patch and take the lot! He's young bless... I'm the best too, 20 years strong, customers love me, I do a class job, it's not hard to be courteous and professional in window cleaning, unfortunately dumb bastard's can't do it...so there work becomes mine!!! Cheers fools... I like you fella, we similar in how we run things...ps most of my customers I call friends!
I charge £6 for houses where i live, and can do £40+ per hour, all my rounds are compact and do most houses on rounds, i believe myprices are realistic and as a result i do most houses on my rounds. other window cleaners who do odd 1 or 2 charge your type of prices ie £10+ and get back in van and drive to another job all day long.. so my point is if your planning to achive most of the houses on a round keep your prices low, you can still earn good money.
How rounds are managed is always an individual choice. If you want to have to do 6.5 houses to make the same money as lads doing 2 or 3 houses in an hour that's your choice. Personally i'd rather have 100 customers at £15 per job than 300 at £6 per job.
you are one of those window cleaners that just splash water on and squeeqe it off and leave dirt marks all over the sills😂😂 cant complain i charge £25 a house and have 30 houses a month😂
This is for a monthly touch up mate. Takes about 10 minutes. We will crank out any where between 25 and 40 per day. As above all done every month. Not like in USA. Once per year perhaps. This is also just to WFP the outside mate.
I've watched a few vids like this and been w/cleaning for over 10 years - trouble is in theory people should pay more but mostly they won't. W/cleaner are not generally respected and ppl won't pay what other tradesmen charge. £1400 for one day's roof cleaning - you are a conman mate !
They always have the choice to say no. Business is about doing a good job for a price that both the customer and you are happy with. Can't see how anyone has been conned.
Your opinion mate and you're entitled to it. What you will find with us if you take the time to come and see is that we do exactly what is needed to leave each window perfect. For some that means a 'splash and dash' will do for others that means a deep scrubbing using TFR and rinsing several times before they'll dry perfect. Maintenance regimes, environment and more dictate what each window needs and that's what we give it, just what it needs. Why not share a video of how you do it mate?
Hats off to you sir! 100 percent correct. Every word a gem. We are hard working business people, in charge of our own business destiny. The days of doffing our caps and accepting the price of a pint, a pasty and a flutter on the dogs is over, except for fools. Charge a professional rate and do a professional job.
Great video Darren, You're spot on with the pricing issues. It never ceases to amaze me on the psychology, of other window cleaners. I'm in my fourth year, as a self employed window cleaner. First, of all horses for courses!! You can NEVER, compare one customer to another one. I do jobs for people £30 or £40, I admit, most aren't this big. Some customers ( like mine have shown, they aren't skint and appreciate a good service) A business, should be treated as such.
I never usually comment on YT vids but after watching several of your videos recently I must say you do talk alot of sense. Some fantastic tips. Thanks for taking the time out to share 👍
Im glad to see my prices, attitude & services are inline with your own Darren. Nice to have it reaffirmed.....
Hi your in different industry to me, but everyone SHOULD see this its priceless having that buisness value mentality it is exactly how businesses should run wish you all the success because you're definitely worth it and it's all about that value you're talking about people take note👍
I started 3 months ago, i knew this was what i was gonna do but i have watched a lot of your videos and this one has been key. I don’t have a job that i do not mind doing because i have used your mentality for quoting and now after starting as trad i now have a wfp system in the boot of my car. I know not glorious but i am still picking up the work and building towards the van. Thank you for the great advice and i wish you all the best when you leave the uk onto your new adventure.
Thank you for such positive information you have certainly toughned me up I now realise I'm to soft with my customers
Great video Darren, exactly how i work with pricing, once you let the customer dictate what they want to pay, its simply Game Over.
Good advice for any business! People don't realise the costs in running a business. If you go in cheap you'll never be able to charge their neighbours a more realistic price.
I'm a decorator so people only want to pay for someone to paint : they don't want to pay for the logistics and operating cost of a business. It's almost like they expect it done as a favour at times.
I'm just about to also offer an exterior cleaning service, so your advice and tutorials are much appreciated. Cheers!
Good luck with the venture!
Extremely good advise, so spot on. I'm trying to work to this kind of advice in my work practice, and it's working very well.
Dan Walter Hey I just subscribed to you would you please subscribe Thank you! 😊👍🏼
As someone who has been window cleaning 25 years plus the aim is £30 - per hour if you have quoted on a new job and it took longer just be Honest and tell them you underquoted and it needs to be more most people appreciate your straightforwardness
This is why I am quite the advocate of the first clean charge - think how long it takes normally - add on some time for the first clean and then bingo - you should be at around the correct number.
Good advise, i'm looking at starting up, been looking around for loads of advise, this must be the best i've found, thanks mate
I enjoyed this video to get an idea how UK and my experience in US differs. Especially job size
Can i like this vid three times, Darren?!😉👍👍👍 wise words, i look forward to more of this real streetwise talk vids.. Popcorn ready!
Plus... when that undercosted £8 job recommends you to others, you gotta do them for £8 too 🤦🏻♂️😄
Great video as always mate 👍
Thanks for your video sir - Ive been cleaning windows for 8yrs + and im quite happy with everything but I might say goodbye to few of my customers due to odd location .. it really doesn't worth doing it if you drive 20min one way
what a guy you are I have learnt a lot from you mate
thanks mate
Great content once again. What forum are you talking about. Thanks.
Hi Darren, love you videos you are great man
Can please send the link with the forum that you are on, so I can keep in touch with you and other window cleaner people?
Thanks
Marius
Straight to the point..... love it
My buddy here is Canada (1hr from Vancouver) has a minimum of $110 for a house. He's booked up until next March
Hello Darran
Just wondering how much you’d charge doing your house traditionally not wfp.
Cheers great vids you do keep them up. 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
Totally agree with every word. What do you do if customer's don't pay. Can you do a vid on that if possible
Trad - Man no video on that but here's an article I wrote on the forum a couple of years back. Hope it helps. windowcleaningforums.co.uk/topic/16807-small-claims-court-how-to/
Green Pro Clean Ltd thank you much appreciated
Very helpful video for a starter, thankyou very much! 👍👍👍
Yes I try to get £14-£15 minimum these days on all my new customers
Has to be done Aqua!
What happen when you need to add interior? is double price, 50 % more or what?
Spot on advice mate 👌🏼😎
Thank you Paul
Great video & Great comments 🙂
Great video.
Well articulated.
absolutely brilliant 👌
Excellent advice / video. Appreciate the upload:)
I charge £20 for 5 Windows, including doors and frame Terrace House, but I don't do rush is theke 1 hour to du everything properly
Sounds good. You do it the way you like.
Me and my work friend have bought two established rounds. One takes £57,000 and the othe about 35,000. Both businesses cost us £20,000 as they have been established for 15-20 yrs and my friend worked the smaller round for 15 yrs whilst working a fulltime job. We start the bigger round after xmas the guy is 68 and retiring...he won't finish until xmas as he gets around £7-8,000 in tips and gifts and hampers. Many of these homes are very wealthy people like famous footballers and sports people located in the posh Cheshire areas and the other round is in and around Marple a beautiful affluent area up north. We have several Schools colleges and houses and there will be three of eventually who I will be paying my Polish good friend cash until he has payed of his part of the business. We want to work 5 days for first two yrs and then 4 days when we have gotten our money back and built up some profit. I need to get my driving test through as the other two already have a licenses.
Thanks for this mate I've just set up in matlock I wud like to have more advice plz
Great vid very informative
Great video great advice keep it up 👍
Thanku for the info im just starting up and that help me so much
Lee Skillings You're welcome
Gold mate pure gold.. thanks for the advice :-)
Pane in the glass Y.W. mate.
Hi Darren I've loved watching your videos, I'm just starting in the business, which insurance company would be the best to go with.
many thanks
Splendid video 👍🏼
Thank you very much!
Really good advice but didn't u loose money by going to the job by just pricing the job?
No as you close more in person than you do over the phone or on text and a better margins too.
I think some window cleaners me included become too friendly with customers and actually think that they are our actual friends , theyre not theyre customers , i dont get invited to parties theyre having or asked out to important social events in their lives, you wouldnt see them if it wasnt for cleaning the windows so we all need to toughen up and never feel guilty for increasing the price and getting a fair amount... its bloody hard work , we deserve a big pocket full of cash by the time we get home knackered!
Couldn’t agree more why fill your day dealing with idiots who want it doing for pennies I told one guy who wanted a gutter cleaning out which was on a conservatory a basic 3 sides small ladder job 3 metres each side he offered me a £5 !! And said “ it won’t take you 5 mins” I replied when did you last do a gutter clean? “It’s your house and You don’t want to clean it!, so why should I want to do it for £5!!? I offered to let him use my ladder and just when he couldn’t say anything more insulting he said “ I want you to do it cos I can earn more money by not spending MY time up a ladder “ I said so can I , this job would be losing me money and left ... some people have an amazingly low opinion of window cleaners... that’s due to cowboy window cleaners charging way too low ...
Wise words, totally agree 100%. Anyone can be a busy idiot.
Yes they can, very true.
good advice mate
good info
great video, I wouldn't say it better :)
Not a truer word said Dazzer.👌🏻
Daniel Moore Hey I just subscribed to you would you please subscribe Thank you! 😊👍🏼
I have £3,4 customers that I've maintained for 5,6 years. Now I've kitted my self out with wfp trolley system, how do I go about increasing their prices, I'm just too soft
Joel John You're just going to have to tell them straight. I would spend a month or two building a load of new work at modern realistic prices so that when you do shock the old customers with the new price it won't hurt when you loose a few.
Yep. get rid of current customers if they dont pay for the extra coz you got wfp system, its not cheap to run, tell them that, and it does a more thorough job, if they say no, then f=6ck them off and find new better paying customers. Thats what i done , and it works. If you act like a mug, then you will get treated like one.
People will typically pay more if they have more. I'd wager a bet (and I'm from Ireland so I'm only guessing here), that window cleaning is more lucrative down south. I imagine up north is historically poorer. Am I wrong?
David Kinsella people have used the north south divide argument for an age and then some and many still do. A customer, regardless of area will pay (within reason) for a quality service. It's that simple really. We started in Jersey and now work in the Midlands and actually charge more than several cleaners we know to the south of us. Believe in the product, believe in the service and believe in the fact that you're asking a fair price for the service delivered and they will pay. The biggest complaint we hear from people coming to us from other window cleaners is that the last cleaner was un-reliable and they never knew what his schedule was or when he'd show up. They are happy to pay more for simple things such as reliability.
I'm a young person who runs a window cleaning business that I made a few months ago, how do I go about expanding my customer base?
Step one is organize. Get all your rounds organized into perfect order then you will see how much time available each day, week, month etc you have for new work.
@@Darren-Green thank you, another issue I’ve faced is cleaning high windows with my pole.
I’ve been trying the cut in straight pulls using my pole on my window so as to get better at doing my clients bedroom windows. When experimenting on my window I used dishwasher soap and it works better than my hg cleaner for some reason. There were no streaks maybe due to the fact that I also did some pre-detailing and detailing which I’ve just learnt about.
Upon further inspection of my window there were dried rain marks still on the window that didn’t come off even after a couple scrubs with my applicator and my pole. Do you have any idea why this could have occurred?
It’s a bit annoying as this may have been how I’ve been leaving my clients top windows for a few weeks now! One thing I have seen, it’s way easier to clean ground floor windows without a pole!
@@EbnezerOdubanjo dried rain spots are a pain in the ass - you can't do them easily with a pole, you need to get up close and personal. The best fix I have honestly found is a lemon cut in half and then a sprinkle of bicarbonate of soda on top then keep rubbing it on the spots till gone.
@@Darren-Green thank you for the advice, because I am not able to access the top windows of houses unless I use a pole is it acceptable if there were dried rain marks left on windows after I charge somebody for a clean?
Top notch advice🧼👍🏽
£15 that's exactly what I said before you stated, fair do's.just watched trad man price a bungalow for 15£! Rip off. Id love to move onto his patch and take the lot! He's young bless... I'm the best too, 20 years strong, customers love me, I do a class job, it's not hard to be courteous and professional in window cleaning, unfortunately dumb bastard's can't do it...so there work becomes mine!!! Cheers fools... I like you fella, we similar in how we run things...ps most of my customers I call friends!
I charge £6 for houses where i live, and can do £40+ per hour, all my rounds are compact and do most houses on rounds, i believe myprices are realistic and as a result i do most houses on my rounds. other window cleaners who do odd 1 or 2 charge your type of prices ie £10+ and get back in van and drive to another job all day long.. so my point is if your planning to achive most of the houses on a round keep your prices low, you can still earn good money.
How rounds are managed is always an individual choice. If you want to have to do 6.5 houses to make the same money as lads doing 2 or 3 houses in an hour that's your choice. Personally i'd rather have 100 customers at £15 per job than 300 at £6 per job.
you are one of those window cleaners that just splash water on and squeeqe it off and leave dirt marks all over the sills😂😂 cant complain i charge £25 a house and have 30 houses a month😂
A WINDOW CLEANER WITH A BRAIN.
Window cleaners and cleaners in general that work for themselves and run their own business are SMART. It's a very lucrative business!
20 pound for a house seems very very low at least compared to the prices here in the states.
This is for a monthly touch up mate. Takes about 10 minutes. We will crank out any where between 25 and 40 per day. As above all done every month. Not like in USA. Once per year perhaps. This is also just to WFP the outside mate.
Can a window cleaner earn good money ? Like 1k a week ?
£1k per week? If he works slowly. :)
@@Darren-Green now that's what I wanna hear haha
I've watched a few vids like this and been w/cleaning for over 10 years - trouble is in theory people should pay more but mostly they won't. W/cleaner are not generally respected and ppl won't pay what other tradesmen charge. £1400 for one day's roof cleaning - you are a conman mate !
They always have the choice to say no. Business is about doing a good job for a price that both the customer and you are happy with.
Can't see how anyone has been conned.
You say not a cow boy job 'splash the windows' but a video of yours iv watched you do exactly that lol. You don't even rinse some of the windows.....
Your opinion mate and you're entitled to it. What you will find with us if you take the time to come and see is that we do exactly what is needed to leave each window perfect. For some that means a 'splash and dash' will do for others that means a deep scrubbing using TFR and rinsing several times before they'll dry perfect. Maintenance regimes, environment and more dictate what each window needs and that's what we give it, just what it needs. Why not share a video of how you do it mate?
Green Pro Clean Ltd P
P