Maybe I misunderstood, but it sounded like they expected $5-10 for both sides. Even at $20 a window, for the time it takes and the hassle of going inside just doesn’t seem worth it when I can make more than twice that from a house wash in less time.
This is why online discussion on price devolve into borderline useless. I live in a high cost of living area and homes are worth a lot. I rarely work on what you would consider a “normal house” although I like to work on all types of homes no matter their monetary value, everybody deserves to have the dignity that comes with clean glass and clean siding.
$5-10 for BOTH sides sounds insane to ME but I don’t know your area or your costs for upkeeping your business or the volume you do…
I think you just have to set your parameters clearly. I advertise for exterior window cleaning and run specials for neighborhoods that I get a foothold in, I price all the homes the same in a certain neighborhood. Yeah, it gets me sometimes when the people have this or that custom mostly glass addition built but in general it all evens out. I don’t count windows almost ever unless we’re bumping up against my minimum service charge (which is $250), but again because of the value of the homes the minimum service charge almost never comes close into play. I usually just scope the house on satellite and then shoot back a price based on how it feels to me. It probably works out to $10/window on average (ok, maybe closer to $15) but size of window, height of windows, slope surrounding house, complexity (like do I need to drop ropes from balconies to pull hoses/guns up? possible ladder work? etc).
If you set parameters clearly to the customer then you’re bound to miss some jobs if they just don’t want exterior only or they want you to remove screens, whatever. Its fine. If you advertise enough then it doesn’t matter if you lose X% of jobs because you captured Y% and that’s enough to generate the target revenues your company is after. You just have to keep adjusting the variables under your control to achieve the target revenue and sometimes no matter what, you’ll fail there. But that’s OK.
I’m super happy to discuss more marketing stuff although I’m no sensei when it comes to that but I do get by on that aspect of the business.
Having window cleaning and gutter cleaning as a service draws in the house washing. About half of our house washing jobs include window cleaning…..customers like a one stop shop, around here anyways. We do make less window cleaning but still make a decent hourly 150.00 hr. So it does add up. Of course we do inside and out. We do very little outside only, most of the time they are so dirty inside it wouldn’t make much of a difference just doing outside. There’s only a couple of companies in our area that do washing and windows, so that’s great too. We’ve been doing window cleaning since 1994 and have a pretty big customer base and get referrals all the time from that. Our goal was to get on their property with a service they need and our other services they will need and use too at some point. We don’t spend on advertising……and only work 6 months out of the year and then go play. So adding window cleaning I feel has paid off in the long run. But I can see the simplicity in just offering washing.
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I have a dude that cleans windows, gutters and carpet. His wife does house cleaning. We refer each other to every customer and it’s a no brainer. I also have a tree company, lawn service, stump grinder, etc… that I recommend so we always have referrals going in all directions.
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Window cleaning is recurring, every 6 months is an easy sell. It may not pay as well as pressure washing, but there is value in building a list of loyal, recurring customers. I’m in Texas and pressure washing is rarely recurring. Very rarely more than once a year
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I will add, screen repair typically makes considerably more per hour than window cleaning in my area. It’s just one of those things that dovetails with window cleaning and I do everything on site so they don’t have to take it to the hardware store and wait two weeks.
I second the comment on not going inside the home. To me it feels like I’m venturing into being a house cleaner and dealing with what’s blocking windows, maneuvering ladders and such just doesn’t seem worth it ( at least for my areas pricing).
I hardly do outside cleaning too for pricing reasons.
Also seen so many windows here with bad seals that I have to cya lately it’s crazy.
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That’s valid and a good point. Luckily we get “the seasons” around here and organic growth on the north side comes back every other year or so.
We don’t have nothing in front of the windows we clean….its in our agreement that we need to be able to access the windows or we do not do those particular inside windows. Only thing you really need to be careful with is moving a ladder around for the vaulted type windows. You just price accordingly for those…..but I can see why guys don’t want to go inside a house. There is more liability……especially if you have employees.
The screen thing you mention Brock is one of those regional things I think. It does not come into play at all here. Screens here are flawless and new and clean. There’s nothing to repair here and no money to be made and even if there was I wouldn’t suggest repairing it, I would just suggest they order new ones and have a contractor (not me) install them, if they wanted my advice.
What do you do with screens on the exterior? I’ve just been saying in my terms before taking the job that I do not remove them. If they want to remove them, then I can clean the glass. If they don’t remove them then I clean the glass as best as possible through the screen with DI water.
most windows on the houses that I clean don’t have screens anyways but I like to mention it because they are around especially on some types of houses I clean.
If we are doing exterior only, in our agreement, they are to remove the screens since they don’t want anyone in the house and it’s a partial, bare bones cleaning. We don’t clean out the sills either, just glass. On inside and out we will determine if we need to remove the screens or not, a lot of times you don’t, just depends on the type of window.
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I’m more the ‘window cleaner’ side of things so if they just want outs only (which is extremely rare) I tell them I’ll need to come in and take them out first.
90% of my customers are over 65 so they frankly can’t take those PITA screens out themselves as half the time they are warped and locked into place with dirt.
it sucks but needs to be done. My joints aren’t happy about it.
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