niceandclean

  • Posts: 1897
Re: WFP...safety or profit?
« Reply #20 on: February 01, 2007, 08:45:55 pm »
Defo profit!!!!

spotless2000

  • Posts: 442
Re: WFP...safety or profit?
« Reply #21 on: February 01, 2007, 08:50:48 pm »
Quote
my main concern is that a lot of people are now becoming window cleaners that before wfp wouldnt have lasted a day and this in the long run will drive prices down.

Prices will only be driven down by the WC quoting or offering to do a job cheaper than it is currently being done.

It doesn't make business sense to invest a lot of money in a new system only to then work for peanuts!

Yes, there will be some that do.

But the £5 brigade with ladders have been doing this already.

Steve

Ian_Giles

  • Posts: 2986
Re: WFP...safety or profit?
« Reply #22 on: February 01, 2007, 09:18:01 pm »
for me it was neither of those two options, to be honest after over 20 years I'd got totally arsed off with the job, doing big offices off big ladders was such hard work, I was fed up with Georgian work, and just fed up of climbing ladders in general.

safety was an issue, but it was only part of the story for me.

Profit didn't really come into it, I was told about the potential of course, but wasn't entirely sure i believed all the hype.

However, if it meant working at a slower rate than Trad then I'd dump it and become a van driver.
What the hells the point of spending all that money and still earning no more at best than you did before?

And of course as it takes off more and more, many more will come into window cleaning the WFP route, and as a result will not understand the correct pricing structure, or rather how work is priced up using trad methods.

Those that do price too low will eventually find they are earning less than a decent trad cleaner (overheads and running costs) and they will lose out in the long run...
It should balance out in the end though, even if some work is driven down in price.

I'm now earning more than I've ever earned in my life, not a snowballs chance would I ever go back now...

so my perspective now is profit first, safety second...though it is a close second.

Ian
Ian. ISM CLEANING SERVICES

KarlJones

  • Posts: 394
Re: WFP...safety or profit?
« Reply #23 on: February 01, 2007, 09:24:42 pm »
Quote
thats a good point, ive had FIVE leaflets though my door since christmas from window cleaners

Jeez!!!  Is it just me that is supprised by this?

were they mostly WFP?

Oh and to the subject.  In a few months I will get a back pack.  This is partly for safety, but mostly because there is work that I just can not do at all without it. 

I do have some nightmare houses that require a lot of ladder work even for low windows.  I would use WFP for them purely because it would save so much messing about.  Apart from that, I actually quite enjoy using traditional methods, I find it very relaxing,  I just do not think I will get that when I go to WFP.

To sum up, some jobs can not be done safely, so I will get WFP.  I think it is a profit thing though,  I just do not want to lose good customers to some idiot with water on a stick :P If you can not beat em, join em.
You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind.

matt

Re: WFP...safety or profit?
« Reply #24 on: February 01, 2007, 10:20:54 pm »
Quote
thats a good point, ive had FIVE leaflets though my door since christmas from window cleaners

Jeez!!!  Is it just me that is supprised by this?

were they mostly WFP?



i dont know, they never put in on the flyer

though i saw a new guy doing a house a few doors from me today, he was on a ladder YET had a 06 plate Mitsubishi L200 as a ladder stop ( most of the houses here have a proch and a garage that needs the ladder to be 45 degree's ( scarey )), i would have stopped for a chat BUT was on my way to pick up my daughter from preschool


Pj

Re: WFP...safety or profit?
« Reply #25 on: February 01, 2007, 10:23:40 pm »
I took up wfp because of safety first.
Some days I would change it all back for me bucket and blade!  But I can't be bothered.

S.A.J

  • Posts: 2162

david68

  • Posts: 865
Re: WFP...safety or profit?
« Reply #27 on: February 02, 2007, 12:03:27 am »
I have only been going for 9 months, But changed to wfp as i was working on my own and ladders and conditions can be real dangerous.

I went to a trolley version freedom trolley. But setting this up was a slower operation than ladders so i was losing profit.

Then i brought a good van system of ebay so now i just pull the hose out and wash.......well or i need now is plenty of house for my fire engine.

So trolley was slower for me but i stuck with it due to saftey.

The van i with pull out hose is safer than ladders but speed as doubled.

So i would always appreciat the safty way first even if does take longer.

If wfp never worked out for me i would have combined ladders with also using extension pole with applicator and squeege attache to it.


Dave

David

www.ccwin.co.uk

My learning hobby
www.dbritweb.com

John Peters

  • Posts: 20
Re: WFP...safety or profit?
« Reply #28 on: February 02, 2007, 02:47:28 pm »
When thinking about the change it was 50% safety 50% for profit.

Now that I'm a window washer rather than a window cleaner its 100% for the money, because now we work from the ground the safety hazard has gone away!

John

dai

  • Posts: 3503
Re: WFP...safety or profit?
« Reply #29 on: February 02, 2007, 05:56:46 pm »
I changed to WFP for the extra earning potential, safety wasn't an issue.
But it has become an issue now.
I was doing the job off ladders for many years without giving it a thought.
It was only after I stopped using them, that I found I didn't want to use them anymore.
There must have been  stress pesent when I was using ladders, that I pushed to the back of my mind.
I read in my local paper this morning that an electrition had died after falling 6ft off a step ladder. He ruptured his spleen and delayed treatment.
I leave you with this thought.
If working off a ladder never bothered us, why is it we feel so much better/ safer, now we are WFP. Dai

mark dew

  • Posts: 2901
Re: WFP...safety or profit?
« Reply #30 on: February 02, 2007, 06:12:11 pm »
profit all the way.... ;)

H h20

Re: WFP...safety or profit?
« Reply #31 on: February 02, 2007, 06:14:26 pm »
50/50 for me as i can earn more and work so much safer at the same time,
Gaz

mark dew

  • Posts: 2901
Re: WFP...safety or profit?
« Reply #32 on: February 02, 2007, 06:25:57 pm »
i was only trad for 2 years before wfp so wasn't that quick with a squeegee, but i fly round now on my jobs with wfp.
So much free time now.

ps
there were always a couple of quids worth of windows at most jobs that i couldn't clean off a ladder. Not now.