Unsure of Pricing…
In Response to a recent newsletter sent…
Hi Steve,
thanks for the inspiring e-mail. I love to learn and your motivation keeps me going. Just knowing you are just a phone call away gives me all the strength i need to keep moving forward. I have a few questions and are as follows:
1. I’m assuming the only way to clean a huge picture window on a 2 story house is by using an extender pole but how do you scrap with a razor blade to get all the bugs? I’m attaching the blade to the end of my pole with tape and it works, not super great and probably not the safest so do you have any other suggestions?
2. I’m brutal at estimating(although i just started and i am starting to get a tad better). Apparently here in BC we make a killing. I just can’t seem to wrap my head around it. I estimated one house and i bid $125 the lady called me back and said i’d never get any jobs being that low cause people would be leary as to why. She said she got 3 other quotes and the next one was $175 then $250 then $275. I nearly dropped dead i can’t seem to grasp this. I also want the work so i knew i was a bit low. Any tips?
Thank you very much Steve,
Maria
My Response:
Hi Maria,
It’s good to hear from you and thanks much for your comments. I appreciate ‘em for sure.
–As far as scraping with a pole, I would advise against this. There is too much room for error which means that the scraper could end up on an angle that would end up digging into the glass. This could create some scratches. You should really only scrape if you are directly on top of the glass because then you have full control over the scraper.
Did you know that you can rest your ladder on a window/glass? If you use a ladder stabilizer bar (recommended) on your extension ladder, you can rest the ladder right against any window or glass. It’s perfectly safe because the weight is evenly distributed and you have rubber tips at each end of your stabilizer bar.
What this means is that with you resting your ladder against a large window, you should now have full access to be able to scrape without having to use a scraper at the end of a pole. If you need to move the ladder to be able to scrape the full window, then move the ladder around accordingly.
–It can be a fine line between wanting the jobs and the proper pricing. I understand what you mean though about wanting the work. However that lady was right. If you’re too low, folks will wonder why. They’ll wonder if you have insurance, what kind of shortcuts you might take on the job, etc.
You mentioned you estimated one house at $125. Was that based on $5 per window and $1 per screen? Did you add a little bump up amount to the estimate? I talk in my manual about adding an extra $30 to $40 to the estimate to cover any unplanned situations or extra time spent.
When you first start out, you’ll need to make adjustments in your pricing as you go. It’s important to listen to whatever feedback you get and make pricing adjustments accordingly. So this is good feedback that you received from that lady. If you were at the $5 per window/$1 per screen price and the house came out to be $125, then I would bump that up to $7 per window and $2 per screen when you estimate the next house. Keep in mind also that if it’s a two story home, the windows on the 2nd story are generally $2 more. So if you’re charging $7 per window, make sure to charge $9 per window for the 2nd floor windows.
Hopefully the above helps a little bit. The last thing I’ll mention is that when someone first gets started in the window cleaning business, it takes time to gain the confidence that you need in order to effectively present estimates for large jobs. But you deserve to get paid that kind of money. You’re professional, you’re properly insured, you have business expenses, and of course you’ll take the care needed to do a great job.
I remember when I first started. It was a bit difficult presenting an estimate for $200 or higher because these prices seemed high to me. But keep in mind who your target market is. Our market will gladly pay our prices if they can get clean windows performed by a professional. So hold you head up high when you present a big estimate. 
Be proud of your pricing and your prospects will pick up on that and agree to use your service time and time again.
If you need any other assistance, please let me know. Take care for now and have a great day today.
Regards,
Steve
256-546-2446
