Bid on Powerwashing & Windows

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PressureClean

New member
I've got a building we are working on right now that is two stories high that we are power washing the exterior of.

The question I have is on the window washing side of the bid. This office building has 205 4 ft x 4 ft windows, half of these are on the second story. We've done windows before but we usually charge about $10 a window to clean them after we power wash an office building like this. Is this an excessive amount on a large window like this for this volume of windows? I'm assuming I should be looking at different prices for 1st and 2nd story windows, but like I said, this isn't our area of expertise. This guy likes our work so much he wants me to start cleaning these windows once a quarter. If I do this he says he wants us to look at doing the rest of his buildings in this commercial office park, which is like 22 buildings about the same size as this one. If that's the case I'm thinking about setting up a crew just to do commercial window cleaning since I'll have about 4,500 windows to clean a quarter in this office park alone.

Talk about falling into an a new business add on, huh? Any ideas on how I should go about pricing this per window?
 
First, let me say I have limited knowledge of window cleaning........I usually try to stay away from it...........but, this sounds like a good deal!

From what I know, I dont think someone would pay more then $4 or $5 per window..........even that might be too high. Exterior only, right?

I have a window cleaner that I work with, I sub him out sometimes.

You could use a Tucker pole and do the second floor windows from the ground.
 
LANCE. I GOT A BRIDGE FOR SALE FOR YOUR CUSTOMER. A GOOD WINDOW CLEANER CAN CLEAN A 4X4 IN LESS THEN 30 SECONDS. I'M NOT A CLEANER BUT I JUST DID A DRY RUN ON MY WALL IN 40 SECONDS. DO THE MATH. MOST CLEANERS HERE SHOOT FOR $40. PER HOUR. EVEN AT $2 PER WINDOW AND ONLY CLEANING 1 PER MINUTE THATS $120 PER HR. EVEN WITH DEAD TIME THAT AIN'T BAD. FIND A WINDOW CLEANER TO CLEAN YOUR WINDOWS AT HOME AND TIME HIM. MIGHT GIVE YOU A BETTER IDEA OF WHAT HE CAN CLEAN AND IN WHAT TIME FRAME. YOU DON'T WANT TO LOOSE THAT KIND OF A CLIENT BECAUSE YOUR PRICING IS OUT OF LINE WITH THE MARKETPLACE. DAN COSGROVE 925 2881911
 
Guys, when are you going to learn? Market price is what the market will pay. If your customer is willing to pay $300 an hour on a job, guess what the market rate for that job is? $300 an hour. Pretty simple.

My customer on this project loves our work. The only reason I posted this was to see if my idea of pricing on these windows was within a reasonable range. If $10 is too high, then maybe I'll come in at $8 each, but I'm not in the window business. So you can damn well bet that I'm not going to be washing windows for a buck or two each. That is insane. If he doesn't like the price, no sweat, he'll still use us on the pressure cleaning work on his buildings. But now that I have an idea of what our competition might be charging, at least I'll know it's going to be slightly harder to get this job for $8 or $9 a window.

But, at least if I come in at that price, he'll still end up negotiating with me down to $7 or $8 instead of $2.

Thanks for the help guys. I'll let you know how it goes in about a week... :)
 
Well said Lance. A lot of guys wash cars for $1.00 each. We don't wash any vehicle for less than $10.00 and have been charging that price for the last seven years. Like you said we are in the pressure cleaning business. We have way too much investment in this busines to work that cheap. We have a $100.00 minium per jobsite period. Everyone needs to respect the wisdom of others in the pressure cleaning business. This is our business and not an afterthought like some of the people advertising pressure washing are doing. We do not do this part time. Part time is a great way to start but there is more to it than meets the eye. That is why I have people asking me quite often if I want to buy a pressure washer. Just because you can buy a pressure washer doesn't mean you can run a business and they found out the hard way.
 
LANCE. I UNDERSTAND WHERE YOUR COMING FROM. MY 25 YEARS IN THE MAINTENANCE BUSINESS HAS THOUGHT ME TO TRY NOT TO LET THE COMPETITION GET A FOOTHOLD WITH MY CLIENT. IF HE IS DOING A GOOD JOB IN ONE AREA HE WILL ASK TO BID OTHER SERVICES.THE BIGGER WINDOW CLEANERS IN THIS AREA ALSO DO PW. MY 2 CENTS. DAN COSGROVE .
 
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