[Nathanael Jones]

Ian, Reputation is important only up to a point after that it’s all business.

If you are referring only to having a good reputation,.. then yes I agree with you.

But get a bad reputation an word will spread very quickly,.. and even the best marketing and advertising will give disappointing results.

I think a balance is needed,.. a professional job and a quality result,... but business is business, some clients want the quick/cheap/slightly below your normal standard clean and are unprepared to pay for anything other than that. Give the client what they want, so long as it doesn't give you that bad reputation.

[L.J.Thorpe]

it is important that he gets the round done in five weeks(maybe six at a push)
it is important that customers think they get vfm
it is important that he still works to live
thats it for him

[windowwashers]

Ian, Reputation is important only up to a point after that it’s all business.
You are never going to please all the customers all the time.

I would say what’s more important are adequate insurance and all your other administration in placing, for example.

All this goes towards you being reputable anyway.

I personally cover a wide area, if I did have a malicious group of customers tying to ruin my good reputation they won’t make a dent in my business. I would be more at risk if anything serious should happen and I didn’t have my administration in order which I would imagine applies to most on here. That would surely dissolve this idea of a good reputation.

 

We cover a 40 miles square from base Ewan, and reputation works very well for me m8, I have very good customer services in place, staff do the same any problems get passed to me, I am nice even if they are bad but I am hard lined with payments as all clients are told from the start. I do not want unhappy customers and would bend over backwards to stop this happening, to think this is not a good thing to do is madness, reputation in this line of work is a very good thing to have, there are many bad window cleaners out there m8, trust me I have been doing this long enough to know I hear it month in month out as will many will have.

I have quantity I go for quality always, i buy rounds trim and keep quality work only and any that do not convert to terms I set out, I cancel the servic, low quality customers (bad payers/nightmare access) and leave for others to pick up so I think i do my bit for all the pub cleaners and starters and also the bad canvassers that like an easy day  .

[ftp]

I thought customers just want their windows cleaned? Hardly a work of art is it? So most customers want two things - their windows cleaned and reliability. I think people read to much into their business - this has to be the simplest most basic form of business there is?

[bluez]

If I am not mistaken the topic is "how to compete with the big boys" and weather a good or great reputation is entirely necessary is a very valid discussion point. I dont see anywhere that Ewan has said HE does a poor job or cheap shoddy work but as usual lots of you lot go off on one instead of adding your opinions and discussing the issue.

I do not think that a good reputation and only doing what the customer requests or mutually exclusive.

ISS operate in my area and have a crap reputation but yet they still thrive (I regularly lose out to them on big work), that does not mean that I will begin to do work as badly as them to compete but it does make it a valid point for discussion.

[ftp]

All i'm saying Ewan is don't complicate things, don't run before you can walk, get a good base first, then start thinking about competing with the big boys. You've only been going a short time and so have i but i don't have my sights set on the massive contracts because i know i'm not in a position to do them. In my opinion your going to need to expand a hell of a lot first. 

[mark dew]

All i'm saying Ewan is don't complicate things, don't run before you can walk, get a good base first, then start thinking about competing with the big boys. You've only been going a short time and so have i but i don't have my sights set on the massive contracts because i know i'm not in a position to do them. In my opinion your going to need to expand a hell of a lot first. 

I agree with this. I'm only now looking at doing commercial work. I have been approached before but turned it down as i didn't have the kit or the knowledge in pricing up. I bought a sl2 recently that has opened up a new world of possbilities for window cleaning, so now i'm more receptive to the idea.
The good point about commercial work is that it can be done regardless of weather and it can be lucrative.
The trouble with it is that if my round was built on commercial alone i would be vulnerable in a recession. Something i am not with domestic work.
I don't want to bandy about prices either but 1 of the commercial jobs i do has a value of approx £50 per hour while another is around £35. My domestic work will bring me per hour worked, £35 - 40.
The difference with commercial pricing is that if you are adept at your work, you are onto a winner if you are working directly for them. The trouble is alot of work has been absorbed into the general cleaners quotes and gets subbed out to us.

As to how to compete with the big boys, i believe you would have to either be like them regards manpower and wage structure. Or as a smaller business we can compete and better the level of service provided by the big companies simply by selling the personal service we can offer.
The way i see it though, high streets and the like are not where there is any money. Unless you have it all. Better money is with other businesses such as property management etc.

If you look on the pros forum, i think it is steve lowe who has posted about trying to get into domestic work again as he has lost a sizeable contract. He's established and can probably absorb the hit, but for many of us concentrating on this golden goose work, i suspect not. 

[Kevin R]

Ok I agree its all about volume, most of the quotes I see on here for £1 a window no matter how many windows there are, are simply ridiculous and posted usually by people that just dont have a clue.

Can you explain what you mean please?

If there are 4000 windows £4000 might be a little over the odds if the windows are all next to each other 

[Oakley Windows]

Cheers, just wasnt particularly clear.

To me anyway.