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Starting a window cleaning business - Equipment you need, suppliers to use and trade organisations to join, etc.

advice if your buying a round

Posted by matt (matt), 25 September 2003
as you will have seen, ive been at this for 3 months or so (you can get the whole story from a diff thread Smiley

anyways, we decided we needed a little more work

so my mate contacted this old guy, who sold him part of his round 2 years ago, he is slowly retireing

Last month we went around and did the work with him, he introduced us to the customers etc etc (who mostly are retired and OAP, still living in 4 bed detached houses worth 300K), we parted with a little money, and the guy parted with some more of his round, so we were all happy

This week we did the round ourselves for the first time, so i take out the printed out list, address's, names and prices and what gets done Sad

the prices were in general real funny, no 2 prices were the same, even though all the houses were Sad, some were £5 ranging upto the £9 , the prices differnece was due to some were OAP's (im all for a little break for the OAP's, but a 4 bed detached house for 5 quid, not on your life, i have a little girl to buy Xmas gifts for

so it was my job to go and explain, some were ok and realised the prices were too cheap, others argued that pensions didnt go far etc etc, 1 of them kept me there for 20 mins, in the end i said, its either 8 quid or they dont get done, he said 7 quid for 3 months then it can go up (just enough time for him to find some1 else i thought  Grin), the next day while cleaning the windows of the house nextdoor who pay 9quid, they tell me the couple have just come back from a 3 week cruise on the Orinano (yea they are that poor)

so a word of advice, make sure you see the prices of the jobs, as i could have lost half of the round this week, as it happens i think i only lost 3 (1 of them was a 4 bed with a full conserv at the rear, the whole width of the house all for 8.50  Embarassed Tongue Undecided, i only wanted to put 2 quid on the price
Posted by STEVE71163 (Steve Lowe), 26 September 2003
Hi Matt,
          Thats one of the reasons i would not buy a domestic round. A few years ago a chap that lives near me asked me if i was interested in buying a domestic round from him and i said that i had plenty of work but i may know someone who would. Cheesy When this other guy went to look at this work their was still houses for £5.00 and flats for £2.00  Cry and i said to him it would be better to just canvass for your own work.

Steve Lowe
Posted by gibbouk (gibbouk), 26 September 2003
had the same problem a few years ago. a mix of prices dirt cheap on some right on a few. it got money coming in to pay the bills but in hindsight it set my business back. i ended up dumping them all and then i started to make money.
Posted by matt (matt), 26 September 2003
i didnt do bad really, 3 out of about 30 odd

could have been a lot worse
Posted by STEVE71163 (Steve Lowe), 26 September 2003
Hi Matt,
          I bet most of them know that they have been getting it cheap up to now Grin

Steve Lowe
Posted by matt (matt), 26 September 2003
i am sure most did

but you had the older 1's who whinged and whinged

this old lady, she's 93 was paying 5 quid for her's, it was worth 9 anyday of the week, anyway, she said "what its going up again, it used to be £3", i say how long ago was that, "not long" she replied, it turned out to be 13 years ago  Grin Grin Grin, sure thats not long in her life time, i was still in college  Undecided Shocked
Posted by Londoner (Londoner), 4 October 2003
Don't you find that you get a range of prices in any round. Some of the old girls you have had for a while you just leave at the same price because you know that you are never going to get any more.

Its just that the round goes a bit stale. If you were trying to sell your round the person who bought it would say the same about you.

Thats why you have to keep adding new addresses to the round and quietly drop the old ones
Posted by matt (matt), 4 October 2003
i agree

BUT

5 quid for a 9 quid job.....i have a family to feed Wink
Posted by Londoner (Londoner), 5 October 2003
Your comment about the whinging customer in the big house is very common.
I usually find that the big houses are toughest customers on price.
Thats how they got the money to buy the big houses in the first place.
Give me small houses every time.
In my area there are some private roads with massive houses and I have never had any desire to go near them.
Best are MOD houses near RAF camp. small windows and good payers.
Posted by STEVE71163 (Steve Lowe), 6 October 2003
I agree with Londoner,
                                   Its ok until you start getting above £20 and then its can you leave it this month and do it next. Cry I would rather have smaller jobs sometimes as you very often earn more money and they are regular. Cheesy

Steve Lowe
Posted by fez (fez), 9 October 2003
on 10/05/03 at 08:26:19, Londoner wrote:
Give me small houses every time.


You've hit the nail on the head there. When I started out, I thought that large houses were where the money was. The trouble is, the customers in large houses usually are not prepared to pay the going rate. A large house could take up to an hour to do on your own. I can do 4 small semis or bungalows in that time, but I'm not able to get four times the money for a large house.
I've now learnt my lesson the hard way. If an owner of a large house asks me to give a quote, I give a non-negotiable, realistic price. Take it or leave it.

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