[Clean Cloth]

Started my window cleaning business in January. Lots of competition in this area (east midlands).

I am getting quite a few bungalows, their old cleaner used to charge £7 for a detached but they were not happy with how the windows were left and apparently he also missed windows out, I charge £12-£20 depending on size.
I work quickly but clean the frames, mop and squeegee the windows, wipe the beading to get soapy water off, wipe sill, detail with a micro fibre.
My round is not compact so I worked in 3 villages today and only managed 10 Bungalows working until 4:30p.m as the light was fading. No rain today, lovely actually.
I do not see me being able to clean more than 10 unless I get a more compact round but I live in a small village and most have other window cleaners.
How many properties do you aim to clean per day?

[nathankaye]

Started my window cleaning business in January. Lots of competition in this area (east midlands).

I am getting quite a few bungalows, their old cleaner used to charge £7 for a detached but they were not happy with how the windows were left and apparently he also missed windows out, I charge £12-£20 depending on size.
I work quickly but clean the frames, mop and squeegee the windows, wipe the beading to get soapy water off, wipe sill, detail with a micro fibre.
My round is not compact so I worked in 3 villages today and only managed 10 Bungalows working until 4:30p.m as the light was fading. No rain today, lovely actually.
I do not see me being able to clean more than 10 unless I get a more compact round but I live in a small village and most have other window cleaners.
How many properties do you aim to clean per day?

With you being relatively new to window cleaning, it might be best not to overly compare to what others are doing at this stage but to continue giving quality cleans as you say you are doing.
If these have been first cleans, expect them to take some time but depending on their frequency they will get easier to clean.
Also what soap do you use, as you want to stay away from the likes of fairy (in my opinion) as some of these actually leave a soapy residue on the glass which can attract dust n grime to it.
I quite liked titan gg4, it took many attempts to get the right mix but when you do, it makes the job easier. 
Also keep pushing yourself and your technique, especially on bungalows.   After several more months of doing so, you may look back and see such an improvement on ten bungalows in a day.
👍

[Soupy]

None

Zero

Nil

Nada

Zilch .

[Smudger]

None - wfp at least 20

bungalows are easy to underestimate in size and time - they usually have larger windows than a house.

everyone targets bungalows because they look easy and generally keeps the prices lower than they should be

Darran

[Cookie]

I think it's better to concentrate on turnover per day rather than number of houses (or bungalows) cleaned  - because they all differ in size and complexity.

[NWH]

Exactly it’s not how many it’s how much m8.

[dazmond]

i clean the odd one or two but wfp not trad.....when you get into the swing of wfp you ll very rarely trad ANY windows!

you ll be able to clean more when you compact your round a bit more.......

[Missing Link]

I work quickly but clean the frames, mop and squeegee the windows, wipe the beading to get soapy water off, wipe sill, detail with a micro fibre.

Don't be too fussy.  Cloth anything frosted.  Frames don't need to be cleaned every time.  The job doesn't have to be immaculate.  Most customers aren't fussy.   Detail as little as possible.  Leave fussy customers for other window cleaners. 

[Stoots]

10!

You need to move to wfp or get more compact work

26 jobs I did today 8:30 -2 mainly semis

A typical bungalow would take 10 mins wfp.

Dump the trad off it has no place in modern window cleaning except for Internal work.

[Walter Mitty]

There is only one bungalow left that I clean the traditional way and that is because it's quicker that way due to its very small size.  It's one job on its own and by the time I would have set up the WFP equipment, I can be half way around it with a squeegee.  Also, I'm not so sure the resident is equipped to realise that WFP is fine.  Due to her advanced years she's unlikely to be a customer much longer anyway, so I'll let her reach the end of her life without stressing about the windows being left wet.

[Johnny B]

I work quickly but clean the frames, mop and squeegee the windows, wipe the beading to get soapy water off, wipe sill, detail with a micro fibre.

Don't be too fussy.  Cloth anything frosted.  Frames don't need to be cleaned every time.  The job doesn't have to be immaculate.  Most customers aren't fussy.   Detail as little as possible.  Leave fussy customers for other window cleaners.

When starting out, don't worry too much about how many you can do, but concentrate on doing a thorough job for a realistic price.

Reputation is key in my book, because a good one will spread and your delighted customers will recommend you to family and friends. As you gain experience and confidence you will get quicker too.

John

[dazmond]

I work quickly but clean the frames, mop and squeegee the windows, wipe the beading to get soapy water off, wipe sill, detail with a micro fibre.

Don't be too fussy.  Cloth anything frosted.  Frames don't need to be cleaned every time.  The job doesn't have to be immaculate.  Most customers aren't fussy.   Detail as little as possible.  Leave fussy customers for other window cleaners.

only do this if your charging £3-50 a bungalow......in fact just do the letter S on the front window and put a ticket through if their not in.....

[John Mart]

I work quickly but clean the frames, mop and squeegee the windows, wipe the beading to get soapy water off, wipe sill, detail with a micro fibre.

Don't be too fussy.  Cloth anything frosted.  Frames don't need to be cleaned every time.  The job doesn't have to be immaculate.  Most customers aren't fussy.   Detail as little as possible.  Leave fussy customers for other window cleaners.

only do this if your charging £3-50 a bungalow......in fact just do the letter S on the front window and put a ticket through if their not in.....

I agree with Tosh on this. Especially if you employ. Some you will never please in a realistic time.

[Smudger]

Personally I think that’s bad advice - always work to your best

If you have a bad day then your clean will still be an acceptable standard - if your clean is marginal then your going into the realms of poor and will lose customers

Darran

[Splash & dash]

Personally I think that’s bad advice - always work to your best

If you have a bad day then your clean will still be an acceptable standard - if your clean is marginal then your going into the realms of poor and will lose customers

Darran

Totally agree you want to stand out from the competition  you won’t do that by taking toshes advise all that will do is get you a bad reputation and lose customers

[John Mart]

Personally I think that’s bad advice - always work to your best

If you have a bad day then your clean will still be an acceptable standard - if your clean is marginal then your going into the realms of poor and will lose customers

Darran

Just to clarify, I agree on leaving fussy customers to other customers. That said, if I was trad and only managing 10 a day I'd be looking to see how I could speed up. Trad, frames don't need wiping every time.

[Johnny B]

Personally I think that’s bad advice - always work to your best

If you have a bad day then your clean will still be an acceptable standard - if your clean is marginal then your going into the realms of poor and will lose customers

Darran

Agree 100%. If you take pride in your work I see it as showing customers how much you value them. Cutting corners shows how little they mean to you.

John

[NWH]

You won’t see the speed benefit really of WFP until you start cleaning medium to big houses with it,a house that used to take me an hour and a half trad  can be done in as little as 25 minutes WFP if it’s a maintanance clean. You can get forgetful on some jobs when you get back to he van and reel in,you think that’s taken a bit longer today only to look at the clock and then think that job used to take me another 45 minutes to an hour up and down a ladder lol,
We all just want to go quicker,when your going as quick as you can on your work WFP you then need to look at your prices and type of work you are doing in order to improve from that imo.

[Stoots]

As for quality

What I will say is the busier I've become the faster I've become and the less fux given. No one has said owt, so I must have been over cleaning before.

I agree with tosh and 8 weekly. Some customers the fussy ones will moan, most don't really care that much about the odd imperfection

I can do a 95% job a lot quicker than a 100% one and 99 out of 100 customers won't complain about it.

[Johnny B]

As for quality

What I will say is the busier I've become the faster I've become and the less fux given. No one has said owt, so I must have been over cleaning before.

I agree with tosh and 8 weekly. Some customers the fussy ones will moan, most don't really care that much about the odd imperfection

I can do a 95% job a lot quicker than a 100% one and 99 out of 100 customers won't complain about it.

Interesting point made here. I have OCD tendencies regarding my work, so I take a long time over making sure the windows are as near perfect as possible.

I have tried speeding up, but tend to check my work even more, thus negating any time saved on cleaning.

I am overrun with work, so I may need to try the '95% clean is good enough' approach and see what happens, but in my case it will be a challenge to change my mindset because of my perfectionism.

John