[David OCuilleain]

Hi, been window cleaning since June. Going ok but i`m having problems with customers being out. I try to keep on time but as you know its not always possible. some days all is ok but some are a nightmare. One day last week I had almost £40 of work booked for the day wasted time and fuel driving around and came home with £6. any ideas how I can change this. Thanks Dave.

[britishwill]

Email them all on a Sunday evening saying you are coming a particular day weather permitting. Also on the email as them if there is anything else that needs looking at lie gutters etc.
This gives you a few days to book someone else in if they are busy.

Good luck

BW

[Paul Coleman]

Hi, been window cleaning since June. Going ok but i`m having problems with customers being out. I try to keep on time but as you know its not always possible. some days all is ok but some are a nightmare. One day last week I had almost £40 of work booked for the day wasted time and fuel driving around and came home with £6. any ideas how I can change this. Thanks Dave.

Try to get work that you can do regardless of whether they are in or out.  Most of my customers are out when I clean.  They (mostly) either send a cheque or do a bank transfer.  It can take a fair while to fine tune your round like this though so, in the meantime, just pre-arrange the ones with poor access the evening before.  If you dislike pre-arranging (as I do), you can pass on/sell/subcontract this work once you build a bigger round

[dazmond]

sae or bank online transfer.but to be honest mate as you get a bigger round your debt will get bigger and bigger!!im usually owed at least £300 at anyone time.sometimes as much as £700.some guys on here its a £1000 or even £2000!! : : :


the trick is to earn and get paid every day so you have a steady cashflow to live on from day to day but earn far more than you get in when you clean so either collect at the end(or the start of the week)and cheques arriving in the post or in your bank via online banking.and get ahead with your finances so your not needing EVERY PENNY that you earn cos youll never get it all in!!!its the nature of the business were in!!!


best wishes


dazmond

[outdoor restore]

Hi, been window cleaning since June. Going ok but i`m having problems with customers being out. I try to keep on time but as you know its not always possible. some days all is ok but some are a nightmare. One day last week I had almost £40 of work booked for the day wasted time and fuel driving around and came home with £6. any ideas how I can change this. Thanks Dave.

Is the problem that you couldn't do the clean because they were out or you couldn't collect payment?

[David OCuilleain]

Is the problem that you couldn't do the clean because they were out or you couldn't collect payment?

Most have gates locked or only access through the house someare front only so I do them. I have done the fronts on some then gone back to do the backs but then Im doing twice the the miles for the same price.

[outdoor restore]

How do you let your customers with access issues know when you will be coming?
If they know you are coming and have not left access, then I would just do the fronts and charge 2/3rds of full price (some will charge the full price), not go back to do the rears.
If they don't know you are due, then you need to sort out a way to tell them! If the gates are padlocked will they let you have a key?, I have supplied padlocks to a couple of my elderly customers (you can get key alike sets of 3/5 from the DIY sheds).  If gates only bolted, make yourself an opener!

[rosskesava]

Hi Mate

Been there and done it albeit years ago.

Get phone numbers and phone the night beforehand for the jobs where access is via a locked back gate etc and ask to leave the gate etc open or ask them to hide the key in the garden somewhere. Then leave a pre printed letter and SAE saying you've done their windows and to please send a cheque.

For jobs you can only do when the customer is in as you need access through their house, you obviously can only do those jobs when they are in. The same applies re phoning them. Make a note of when they say they are generally in and do the windows then even if it's during the evening and dark.

The fact that you say about £40 a day means you are at that point where every job counts. £6 is disherartening so work smart.

Ignore the £600 or whatever debt list. In the main for where you sound you are at, I don't think you'll get much more owed money than a few quid. If they don't pay, ask them next time you phone. Usually most people have just forgotten and if they them still don't pay, just write it off and don't go back.

Window cleaning is an odd trade. You'll find that the work will start to find you when when you wear the job like an old familiar coat and you think of yourself as a window cleaner and not someone trying to get work. Stick at it - you'll get there in the end.

Cheers. Ross.

[bobby p]

that post above is so very true.     

its a mistake with domestic to start off agreeing  phoning the night before because they Always slide into forgetting to open the gate/forget to leave the money .  i put up with that malarkey then once my round grew big i dropped every one of these houses in one sweep. this decision made me relax because then im free to go clean where i want on impulse the next day and i recommend it

at the beginning its easy to agree to all manner of bowing and scraping  cos you need the work but a few months later it feels GREAT to cast off the messers once you are known on the streets

[Paul Coleman]

Is the problem that you couldn't do the clean because they were out or you couldn't collect payment?

Most have gates locked or only access through the house someare front only so I do them. I have done the fronts on some then gone back to do the backs but then Im doing twice the the miles for the same price.

The few I do where the gate is left locked, I text or phone the previous evening for it to be left unlocked for the day.  If they won't do this then I'm afraid they just don't get the service - at least not from me.  I do offer an alternative of letting me have a gate key where the lock is reachable from a stepladder.  Or even sometimes suggest a combi lock and tell me the code. Where access is only through the house, I decline to quote.  Occasionally there might be a job with front gates for security.  These jobs have to be done when they are in usually.  Such a job generally has to pay well and/or be of a decent size to compensate for inconvenience in scheduling.  I try to work the occasional job like this as first call of the day and do no more than one a day.  Otherwise, if you are trying to give a time part way through the day, you're having to guess how long the earlier work will take.
Generally (though there may be the odd exception) if the customer feels unable to trust me with access to the outside of their house, then I regard the job as too difficult to schedule and don't quote.
It will come together eventually.  As time goes by you will gradually fill your round with decent access properties and/or build up a collection of gate keys.

[Paul Coleman]

that post above is so very true.     

its a mistake with domestic to start off agreeing  phoning the night before because they Always slide into forgetting to open the gate/forget to leave the money .  i put up with that malarkey then once my round grew big i dropped every one of these houses in one sweep. this decision made me relax because then im free to go clean where i want on impulse the next day and i recommend it

at the beginning its easy to agree to all manner of bowing and scraping  cos you need the work but a few months later it feels GREAT to cast off the messers once you are known on the streets

Pretty much how I have found it.  I reached a point where I wouldn't even quote for a job if I had to pre-arrange it.  I have relented a little bit recently though as I would have missed out on a few goods jobs.
On the odd occasion I need to phone, I feel it is important for the customer to realise that I'm not phoning up to ask to clean their windows the next day.  I'm phoning up to inform them that the work is due so that they can leave access.  It's a bad idea to have too much work that must be pre-arranged like this.  Apart from the inconvenience, in the holiday season you can end up losing a fair bit of money as they won't be home to do the unlocking.

[barry mallett]

Hi, been window cleaning since June. Going ok but i`m having problems with customers being out. I try to keep on time but as you know its not always possible. some days all is ok but some are a nightmare. One day last week I had almost £40 of work booked for the day wasted time and fuel driving around and came home with £6. any ideas how I can change this. Thanks Dave.

another new guy been given crap advice by guys on )here . whats all this booked in rubbish. and e mailing the night before .when you get a new custy agree a price , agree a clean frequency . you dont have to stick to a set day of the week  , i text prob 1% the night before - locked gates and thats it . when you pick up a new custy you are just making it a lot more stressful for yourself by offering to give notice of the clean /,  : :

[Londoner]

I am finding more and more customers have to be phoned the night before to say leave the gate open as people get more security conscious and fit big padlocks. Its not a big problem and if it means keeping a good customer.
More and more also I find people don't want window cleaners who just turn up unannounced. Gate or no gate.

[Paul Coleman]

sae or bank online transfer.but to be honest mate as you get a bigger round your debt will get bigger and bigger!!im usually owed at least £300 at anyone time.sometimes as much as £700.some guys on here its a £1000 or even £2000!! : : :

Indeed, I'm always owed between £1k and £2k.  It used to be less but WFP has allowed me to take more commercial jobs.  The important thing IMO is that there is a reasonable flow coming in.  That might be a few cheques via the post each week, some bank transfers and perhaps even a bit of cash.

[Pureclean Essex Services]

Most have gates locked or only access through the house someare front only so I do them. I have done the fronts on some then gone back to do the backs but then Im doing twice the the miles for the same price.

cant you just ask your customers for a gate key,or climb over,I have a fair few keys on my round,others I climb over,no probs,and always owed around £200-£300 each month.

[SB Cleaning]

Hi, been window cleaning since June. Going ok but i`m having problems with customers being out. I try to keep on time but as you know its not always possible. some days all is ok but some are a nightmare. One day last week I had almost £40 of work booked for the day wasted time and fuel driving around and came home with £6. any ideas how I can change this. Thanks Dave.

This is the reason i ring all my custys the night before the clean!!!

[ant french]

do you have a website mate, try and get some kind of payment system added onto your site where customers log in and pay there bill in advance, i might try this and say if you pay in advance ill knock 10% off the bill. 

[clearlyclean]

I mostly climb over locked gates and put SAE through door,I use cash payments as a float.And looks like if you only have £40 a day you need to canvass pop back in evenings and canvass the streets you already have and collect money at same time

[David Kent @ KentKleen]

GOD!!!!! some on here dont arf make life complicated for themselves!!!!!!!
Use ya ladders to climb over gates it real easy!!!!!!!
houses that you need to walk through to clean leave for someone else!!!!!
texting phoning the night before?? WHY......
Dont let your customers run  your business, RUN IT YOURSELF.
I dont ring any, they all know i will get in and clean them.
If your wfp make sure you have 100 m of microbore so any long drives with big gates can be cleaned leaving ur van outside.
Am i speaking sense??
Make it easy for yourself

[Jackal]

GOD!!!!! some on here dont arf make life complicated for themselves!!!!!!!
Use ya ladders to climb over gates it real easy!!!!!!!
houses that you need to walk through to clean leave for someone else!!!!!
texting phoning the night before?? WHY......
Dont let your customers run  your business, RUN IT YOURSELF.
I dont ring any, they all know i will get in and clean them.
If your wfp make sure you have 100 m of microbore so any long drives with big gates can be cleaned leaving ur van outside.
Am i speaking sense??
Make it easy for yourself

i couldnt agree more phoning every custy night before not a chance,iv got 2 i text and thats enough