started up a window cleaning side gig last week and landed two residential jobs and have a property manager asking for a bid at a shopping center with 15 store fronts! These videos are gold! Thanks!
Thanks I saw your video from three years ago. I hope more people are following these guidelines and not the ones from then. I’m not sure what people are charging for homes in my State.
One of my first jobs was a house a with 8 French windows . We had talked over the phone and when he told me it was 8 windows I agreed to come by and knock it out for 50 bucks. I thought it was double hung and plus I wanted to secure any work. The job took me about 2 and half hours and I definitely felt like I under bid it! In the end he was really grateful I came by and gave him a price “ he can afford” hired me for more handy man work around his house and is one my favorite repeating clients to this day!
I approach to pricing from both ways, pricing itself and anticipating the time I will need to finish the job. Then I go by highest. For example, if my window pricing comes up to $300 , but my time is about 4 hours (a lot of bushwhacking etc), I go by my time ($100 per hour).
I keep it simple. $5 per pane per side. Larger panes are 2 to 3 times more. Really dirty glass counts as 2. After calculation, I add on $20 to $60 depending on the PITA factor. I include screens in this price. I do a great but slow job and people always comment that I'm cheap. I get tipped a lot and average 50 to 100 bucks an hour. I'm still a newb.
@@TREBLEBOOSTER65Update: I have about the same window pricing but have been integrating soft washing in the bid. I'm now averaging $200-$400 more per job and selling more jobs. I haven't done any job less than 400 bucks in months and have completed jobs costing 1K. Soft washing has been the killer add on and it cost $20 to get into the game!
Awesome vid bro, thanks. Another thing about casements is that they have seals all the way around the sash (the part that moves) that need to be kept clean or the window won't seal right. Bad for the client in increased heating/cooling costs, and bad for us cleaners because it allows all kinds of debris to filthify both the sash frame and the surrounding area. I use those bad boys as a major upselling point.
I see your prices went up from your last video. Understandably. Glad i watched this video. I have an exterior only with screens and track. Double hung. Probably be around $11 per double hung being its exterior only.
Do you know of a man named Josh Tolley? He teaches on entrepreneurship. You’re the only other person I have ever heard that has said you need to have 10% increase of business income every year to actually be sustainable other than him. Cool to hear you share that.
We are similar in Central Phoenix. I typically do add more for initial cleans (not necessarily CCU) but jobs where they haven't been cleaned in a few years. Then, we try to set up a route with the customer with a future slightly lower price. We do also have quite a few doors and windows with "bigger" divided lites or panes. They are around 18"x24" instead of your typical 6"x12". For these we charge quite a bit more as well.
I so much appreciate his advice, wow, this has helped me a lot and not a lot of people take the time to go through all this. Would like to ask about the size of windows as some are very large, or priced the same? What about the area, you are in New Jersey, is it a big city? Want to know if I have to charge less according to where I am which is in Greenville SC…thank you!!!
Thank you! I started my business 3 weeks ago. On my 3rd job and just undercharged without realizing there was hard water stains. Watching your YT helps, thank you!
@Squeegeeking Charged $190 for the whole exterior, and thought they'd just come off. Took me 6 hours, but take it as a lesson. First time the homes been cleaned as well
@@ZIASportsCards oh my. Use winsol, mop straight solution on let sit for a sec then mop over with soapy water and squeegee it off. I always set expectations beforehand to avoid that.
Extremely helpful thank you 🙏🏼 If you ever find the time I would love a video explaining how to find out what the typical prices are based on my area. Making sure I’m not under or over bidding and staying within range of my competitors prices. Or at least a link to that information.
I’m in Phoenix and I think the market might be a little skewed too far to the cheap side thanks to so many people low balling jobs. I’ve been bidding tons of jobs and can’t even come close to this pricing without people laughing me right out the door unfortunately. I have to go as low as $3 per pane per side to even come close to being competitive. But even that people still think is too much.
I used to do scratch removal. I had a guy call me on a construction clean a couple decades back. He had just built 5 new houses. He hired an inexperienced window cleaner to do the job and they scratched every single window. I think they used a green pad. They were scratched so deep they were irreparable. He had to replace every window. I assume the cleaner was uninsured. You get what you pay for. You should ALWAYS charge triple for construction cleans. You should ALWAYS use a new razor when cleaning them.
Thank you so much for all the knowledge you share. I wonder about how to accurately bid window jobs nowadays where customers often use things like Yelp! and don't have a convenient way to convey all of the information necessary to make an accurate bid, especially when other companies are giving the customer bids at the same time. How do you work through this? Surely you can't visit every job to make an on-site estimate. Yet, asking for all this info could push away customers when other companies are giving out bids with less information.
Hi StevO, thank you for your great advice over the years, how do you factor in Travel cost per job, ie Petrol, Diesel, travel time to & from job ? Best regards Larry
Hi Steve, do you mind letting us know where is you area? I'm in the San Francisco bay area and I started my window cleaning business and I am still unsure how to price my work. Thank you for the awesome videos
Hey SteveO!!! I'm about to land my first residential job, but I was just curious, do you go to the house to do a walk-around and then give the customer a quote? Appreciate all the info!
I typically ask the customer for photos of the home, ask some basic questions and do a quote that way. Going out to the job site is more personable but also takes quite a bit of time
Im 15 years old and me and my friend just started window cleaning a couple days ago (we only clean the outside though we dont go inside but we clean windows sills tracks and screens). We have been charging about $5 per window but its not set in stone. My question is, you have mentioned in pervious videos that you charge extra for tracks, but im not sure if that would be benificial to us as we have only had 3 clients (which took ~7 hours to get); one for $70, one for $25(duplex so very little windows), and one for $145 which was our biggest client and it took about two hours. We have included tracks and screens in our window cleaning price and since we are kids i feel like people arent willing to pay as much even though we do a great job. Should we be charging extra for tracks or should we keep it included? We currently have Squeeges, Scrubbers, Towels, and a vacuum, and any basic equipment but nothing fancy. We have been going door to door and dont get many people to say yes and im not sure if the best plan would be to charge more for our very few clients. Is the reason that we get so few clients because we are young or because we have a bad pitch? sorry for such a long comment, just hoping to get some info. Thanks! Edit: forgot to mention, at the moment we are only doing single story houses as we don't have the equipment or experience to do 2 story ones yet.
Been doing this since i was 11yrs old w/ my dad. By 16 had my own truck and equip...keep hustling, do good work and don't be discouraged. For now, i'd say keep pricing low so you can get the work, increase as you get older and more experienced.
Aloha stevo, my wife and I have a cleaning business on maui. I do all the glass in our units and was thinking about doing strictly glass. Since these condos are mostly view friendly, clean windows are a necessity. With the high cost of living on island. How should I go about pricing. Your videos are awesome btw🤙🏾
Love your content. What do you charge for inside windows? If the price is 199 for outside windows do you just double the price when doing inside windows?
For second I do the prices I mentioned in the video and also what I mentioned is increase the charge if a window is going to take longer then normal to get to. So for third story if you want to increase the price by 25% then I suggest doing that
How and when do you approach the minimum charge conversation? Do you tell them it's the same price to do 10 Windows as it is to do just 2 or do you just tell them this minimum charge and do whatever they ask?
state that there are non negotiable expenses with the service. personally i find most of my time is in the transportation. set up, break down, and cleaning my equipment. these take the same time whether its 50 windows or 15. a minimum price means you are still clearing x amount of money per job and not running willy nilly for pennies on the dollar. also, cheaper jobs = cheaper clients for the most part. Hope this helps!
I just let them know if the window count is below the minimum, typically if they are just having a couple windows cleaned the customer will not go for it but depends
Hello SteveO, first, I want to thank you for this really good in-depth video; when you have a slider or double-hung window that has more than just a 2 X 2 grid (sometimes inside or outside), how would you go about bidding for them?
Love it! We’re spot on with this except for double hungs…we’re only charging $12 per. Sometimes $14 if they’re larger. But I’ve been thinking about bumping it. What do you charge for skylights and large geometric windows? Thanks!
Love your content SteveO. Wondering what your hourly target rate is. Have heard Jersey mention he is $85-$100/ hr. I have also heard you at $125-$150/hr. Ultimately, bidding individual windows should result in your target hourly. I was at $100/man hr but seeing that $125/man hr seems to be our target for 2024. Looking for your professional opinion. Thanks!
Construction cleans are just a pain and not worth it. After those jobs, mental and physical fatigue is worse than doing 20 regular window cleanings. Most builders do not want to pay a premium; they won't call you if the windows are not too dirty. However, if the drywaller did a terrible job, the window cleaner gets called out to pick up all the slack. At least my two cents stay away from construction cleans unless the builder did a good job protecting the glass, and in general, contractors are sketchy people
Shit, am I too cheap. I charge $10 per double-hung window or single window or simply $15 inside and out. I use a water fed pole so rarely need to use ladders as I do mostly high-end homes.
I know a guy who have one of the best crew in my state and always charge so little. It’s sad to see how this dude kills the market. Like for a house you will charge 1500$ he only charges 700$ 🤡🥊 17:0317:03
You charge considerably more to R&R combo storms. I cut my window cleaning teeth doing these in the Twin Cities, so they are not much of a challenge for me any more. Our pricing is almost identical. $3 - 4 is where I am at on screens that I put through the water-fed screen scrubber. I got a $110.00 tip on 03/14/2024 doing a full day job cleaning gutters and exterior of windows and screens. I was at $190.00 for gutters and $450 for exterior of windows and cleaning all the screens. It was a first time clean on an 8 year old house. th-cam.com/video/WOovQ8l8RIA/w-d-xo.htmlsi=9yE55Y_zVTquo-tI This customer asked if I would clean the exterior of the windows and clean the screens for $400. I said yes and then when they saw how good of a job I did, they gave me a $110.00 tip.🙂
This guy is a real window cleaner that has taught me a lot. None of those wannabe salesman window cleaners you see on TH-cam
We just do it for the money
started up a window cleaning side gig last week and landed two residential jobs and have a property manager asking for a bid at a shopping center with 15 store fronts! These videos are gold! Thanks!
How'd you land the jobs if you don't mind sharing
They def minded sharing 😂
Thanks I saw your video from three years ago. I hope more people are following these guidelines and not the ones from then. I’m not sure what people are charging for homes in my State.
One of my first jobs was a house a with 8 French windows . We had talked over the phone and when he told me it was 8 windows I agreed to come by and knock it out for 50 bucks. I thought it was double hung and plus I wanted to secure any work. The job took me about 2 and half hours and I definitely felt like I under bid it!
In the end he was really grateful I came by and gave him a price “ he can afford” hired me for more handy man work around his house and is one my favorite repeating clients to this day!
What is some extra handyman stuff you do for him if you don’t mind sharing?
I approach to pricing from both ways, pricing itself and anticipating the time I will need to finish the job. Then I go by highest. For example, if my window pricing comes up to $300 , but my time is about 4 hours (a lot of bushwhacking etc), I go by my time ($100 per hour).
Thanks for everthing you do for the community brotha!
Your honesty about the fact of life with quoting is refreshing. Thank you
You are so welcome!
Ok, so I need to charge more then. Thanks for the tips!
you can always price anchor and give a discount, but you cant accept a deal and then tack on an extra 50$, lol
I keep it simple. $5 per pane per side. Larger panes are 2 to 3 times more. Really dirty glass counts as 2. After calculation, I add on $20 to $60 depending on the PITA factor. I include screens in this price. I do a great but slow job and people always comment that I'm cheap. I get tipped a lot and average 50 to 100 bucks an hour. I'm still a newb.
That sounds like a great setup 👍
@@TREBLEBOOSTER65Update: I have about the same window pricing but have been integrating soft washing in the bid. I'm now averaging $200-$400 more per job and selling more jobs. I haven't done any job less than 400 bucks in months and have completed jobs costing 1K. Soft washing has been the killer add on and it cost $20 to get into the game!
Apparently my prices are really low, thanks SteveO!
Awesome vid bro, thanks. Another thing about casements is that they have seals all the way around the sash (the part that moves) that need to be kept clean or the window won't seal right. Bad for the client in increased heating/cooling costs, and bad for us cleaners because it allows all kinds of debris to filthify both the sash frame and the surrounding area. I use those bad boys as a major upselling point.
Thank you for sharing your first-hand knowledge. I'm biding my first window job.
I see your prices went up from your last video. Understandably. Glad i watched this video. I have an exterior only with screens and track. Double hung. Probably be around $11 per double hung being its exterior only.
Really cool background and lighting, thank you for everything you’ve taught me SteveO. 😁
Glad you enjoyed it
Thank you for sharing your helpful knowledge, it's much appreciated!
Good job! Knocked it out of the park!!!
Thanks!!
Great content! Thanks, SteveO.
Do you know of a man named Josh Tolley? He teaches on entrepreneurship. You’re the only other person I have ever heard that has said you need to have 10% increase of business income every year to actually be sustainable other than him. Cool to hear you share that.
I have not, but I will definitely check out his content or books!
Huge help- thank you! Pricing can be confusing.
Thank you Steve. This video really helped me out.
Thanks for all the info you supplied in the video 😊😊
You're welcome
Nice video quality 👍
Thanks!
We are similar in Central Phoenix. I typically do add more for initial cleans (not necessarily CCU) but jobs where they haven't been cleaned in a few years. Then, we try to set up a route with the customer with a future slightly lower price. We do also have quite a few doors and windows with "bigger" divided lites or panes. They are around 18"x24" instead of your typical 6"x12". For these we charge quite a bit more as well.
I charge $5 for full large screens. I use soap and the xero screen cleaner every day. I feel all that work is fair. I charge $4 for a casement screen
Extremely helpful thank you
Omg I need you! Pricing new construction old windows
New construction I do my normal prices for residential and x3
I so much appreciate his advice, wow, this has helped me a lot and not a lot of people take the time to go through all this. Would like to ask about the size of windows as some are very large, or priced the same? What about the area, you are in New Jersey, is it a big city? Want to know if I have to charge less according to where I am which is in Greenville SC…thank you!!!
If the windows are HUGE, price it as (2) windows
Thanks Steveo
Thank you! I started my business 3 weeks ago. On my 3rd job and just undercharged without realizing there was hard water stains. Watching your YT helps, thank you!
You got this!
What where you charging?
@Squeegeeking Charged $190 for the whole exterior, and thought they'd just come off. Took me 6 hours, but take it as a lesson. First time the homes been cleaned as well
@@ZIASportsCards oh my. Use winsol, mop straight solution on let sit for a sec then mop over with soapy water and squeegee it off. I always set expectations beforehand to avoid that.
I look at it as getting paid for training. This is the best way to learn
Thanks for your vídeos man..
Extremely helpful thank you 🙏🏼
If you ever find the time I would love a video explaining how to find out what the typical prices are based on my area. Making sure I’m not under or over bidding and staying within range of my competitors prices.
Or at least a link to that information.
call up your competition and ask for a quote
I’m in Phoenix and I think the market might be a little skewed too far to the cheap side thanks to so many people low balling jobs. I’ve been bidding tons of jobs and can’t even come close to this pricing without people laughing me right out the door unfortunately. I have to go as low as $3 per pane per side to even come close to being competitive. But even that people still think is too much.
😮
Thanks from Llanelli
I used to do scratch removal. I had a guy call me on a construction clean a couple decades back. He had just built 5 new houses. He hired an inexperienced window cleaner to do the job and they scratched every single window. I think they used a green pad. They were scratched so deep they were irreparable. He had to replace every window. I assume the cleaner was uninsured. You get what you pay for. You should ALWAYS charge triple for construction cleans. You should ALWAYS use a new razor when cleaning them.
Best kit to start with the one on your website is a lot to just start from not much.
I suggest this one for traditional tools
windowcleaner.com/products/steveos-employee-basic-starter-kit?sca_ref=3020242.k17l3JaEgS
And this kit for water fed package windowcleaner.com/products/the-ultimate-residential-kit?sca_ref=3020242.k17l3JaEgS
Thank you so much for all the knowledge you share. I wonder about how to accurately bid window jobs nowadays where customers often use things like Yelp! and don't have a convenient way to convey all of the information necessary to make an accurate bid, especially when other companies are giving the customer bids at the same time. How do you work through this? Surely you can't visit every job to make an on-site estimate. Yet, asking for all this info could push away customers when other companies are giving out bids with less information.
Thank you!
You bet!
Hi StevO, thank you for your great advice over the years, how do you factor in Travel cost per job, ie Petrol, Diesel, travel time to & from job ? Best regards Larry
Hey Steve O. Great video! What do you charge for glass railing. You should do a video on your technique for cleaning. Both water fed and trad.
Hi Steve, do you mind letting us know where is you area? I'm in the San Francisco bay area and I started my window cleaning business and I am still unsure how to price my work. Thank you for the awesome videos
What kind of towels do I need for window cleaning
Recycled surgical or microfibers
windowcleaner.com/products/recycled-surgical-towels?sca_ref=3020242.k17l3JaEgS
windowcleaner.com/products/xero-fish-scale-towel?sca_ref=3020242.k17l3JaEgS
Hey SteveO!!! I'm about to land my first residential job, but I was just curious, do you go to the house to do a walk-around and then give the customer a quote?
Appreciate all the info!
I typically ask the customer for photos of the home, ask some basic questions and do a quote that way. Going out to the job site is more personable but also takes quite a bit of time
I really appreciate the info. What about large picture windows?
Thanks in advance!
Welcome! Large picture windows $7.50 - $10 a side depending on size
@@SteveOthewindowcleaner thanks man, I appreciate it!
Im 15 years old and me and my friend just started window cleaning a couple days ago (we only clean the outside though we dont go inside but we clean windows sills tracks and screens). We have been charging about $5 per window but its not set in stone. My question is, you have mentioned in pervious videos that you charge extra for tracks, but im not sure if that would be benificial to us as we have only had 3 clients (which took ~7 hours to get); one for $70, one for $25(duplex so very little windows), and one for $145 which was our biggest client and it took about two hours. We have included tracks and screens in our window cleaning price and since we are kids i feel like people arent willing to pay as much even though we do a great job. Should we be charging extra for tracks or should we keep it included? We currently have Squeeges, Scrubbers, Towels, and a vacuum, and any basic equipment but nothing fancy. We have been going door to door and dont get many people to say yes and im not sure if the best plan would be to charge more for our very few clients.
Is the reason that we get so few clients because we are young or because we have a bad pitch?
sorry for such a long comment, just hoping to get some info.
Thanks!
Edit: forgot to mention, at the moment we are only doing single story houses as we don't have the equipment or experience to do 2 story ones yet.
Inspirational work guys keep hustling
Been doing this since i was 11yrs old w/ my dad. By 16 had my own truck and equip...keep hustling, do good work and don't be discouraged. For now, i'd say keep pricing low so you can get the work, increase as you get older and more experienced.
Aloha stevo, my wife and I have a cleaning business on maui. I do all the glass in our units and was thinking about doing strictly glass. Since these condos are mostly view friendly, clean windows are a necessity. With the high cost of living on island. How should I go about pricing. Your videos are awesome btw🤙🏾
Love your content. What do you charge for inside windows? If the price is 199 for outside windows do you just double the price when doing inside windows?
How should I quote a stand alone business. Not in a shopping center type deal but a restaurant
How do you adjust pricing for second or even third story?
For second I do the prices I mentioned in the video and also what I mentioned is increase the charge if a window is going to take longer then normal to get to. So for third story if you want to increase the price by 25% then I suggest doing that
Do you do in person quotes then? Or adjust when you arrive to do the work
Both, depends if there is a lot to the job but if its "basic" then easy to bid over the phone
How and when do you approach the minimum charge conversation? Do you tell them it's the same price to do 10 Windows as it is to do just 2 or do you just tell them this minimum charge and do whatever they ask?
state that there are non negotiable expenses with the service. personally i find most of my time is in the transportation. set up, break down, and cleaning my equipment. these take the same time whether its 50 windows or 15. a minimum price means you are still clearing x amount of money per job and not running willy nilly for pennies on the dollar. also, cheaper jobs = cheaper clients for the most part. Hope this helps!
I just let them know if the window count is below the minimum, typically if they are just having a couple windows cleaned the customer will not go for it but depends
Hello SteveO, first, I want to thank you for this really good in-depth video; when you have a slider or double-hung window that has more than just a 2 X 2 grid (sometimes inside or outside), how would you go about bidding for them?
If its only broken up into 2 panes then I usually bid that at $6 a side. So a double hung set would be $24 for in/out of the glass
@@SteveOthewindowcleaner Thanks a lot for your help!
Hi steveo . What about skylights??
$15-$25 depending on accessibility
SteveO, how much extra would you charge for tinted windows?
Nothing extra for tint, tint doesn't make the job take longer
Love it! We’re spot on with this except for double hungs…we’re only charging $12 per. Sometimes $14 if they’re larger. But I’ve been thinking about bumping it. What do you charge for skylights and large geometric windows? Thanks!
Skylights I charge $15 for inside and outside total, geometric typically are just $5 a side
Has anyone ever used a telescopic ladder.
Love your content SteveO. Wondering what your hourly target rate is. Have heard Jersey mention he is $85-$100/ hr. I have also heard you at $125-$150/hr. Ultimately, bidding individual windows should result in your target hourly. I was at $100/man hr but seeing that $125/man hr seems to be our target for 2024. Looking for your professional opinion. Thanks!
$125-$150 hr has always been mine
Hi. I’m new to all of this. Do storefront window cleaners clean only the exterior? I never see anyone cleaning storefront interiors.
I prefer inside and out, gives the customer the best product
@@SteveOthewindowcleaner Thank you
Can you please show how to clean a Juliette sliding glass door. One overlaps the other with a tiny gap between the two. There are no videos on how
If I come across one yes, but sometimes the window will open from the inside to clean easily or I used sprayaway and a microfiber to polish it
I have a service fee for driving depending upon the miles driven
My prices are like yours.
me n all my homies hate french windows
this vid would have been so much easier to understand if u referenced an example picture of the windows you're talking about.
Getting free information but everyone always wants more. Hilarious!
Has anyone ever used a telescopic ladder
Construction cleans are just a pain and not worth it.
After those jobs, mental and physical fatigue is worse than doing 20 regular window cleanings.
Most builders do not want to pay a premium; they won't call you if the windows are not too dirty. However, if the drywaller did a terrible job, the window cleaner gets called out to pick up all the slack.
At least my two cents stay away from construction cleans unless the builder did a good job protecting the glass, and in general, contractors are sketchy people
Shit, am I too cheap. I charge $10 per double-hung window or single window or simply $15 inside and out. I use a water fed pole so rarely need to use ladders as I do mostly high-end homes.
Nice, maybe raise it a bit. I bet customers will be fine with it
4th!
I know a guy who have one of the best crew in my state and always charge so little. It’s sad to see how this dude kills the market. Like for a house you will charge 1500$ he only charges 700$ 🤡🥊 17:03 17:03
Help
You charge considerably more to R&R combo storms. I cut my window cleaning teeth doing these in the Twin Cities, so they are not much of a challenge for me any more. Our pricing is almost identical. $3 - 4 is where I am at on screens that I put through the water-fed screen scrubber. I got a $110.00 tip on 03/14/2024 doing a full day job cleaning gutters and exterior of windows and screens. I was at $190.00 for gutters and $450 for exterior of windows and cleaning all the screens. It was a first time clean on an 8 year old house.
th-cam.com/video/WOovQ8l8RIA/w-d-xo.htmlsi=9yE55Y_zVTquo-tI
This customer asked if I would clean the exterior of the windows and clean the screens for $400. I said yes and then when they saw how good of a job I did, they gave me a $110.00 tip.🙂