[CJcamCJ]

Hi, my names cameron and im new to this fourm and ive gotten fed up of working in tesco stacking shelfs, its demoralising and i want to be self employed and making more money. Anyway ive been looking at window cleaning as an option. i go to collage 2 and a half days aweek leaving me with about 2-3 days cleaning windows by myself with sundays free. im 18 and passing my driving test just after new year (ill do it :-D). Anyway if i go along with this idea ill buy a little van and start window cleaning. Im looking at about 10 houses aday charging £10 each (is that reasonable?). Anyway thats my situation, if any of you guys could tell me things that i should know or what to look out for i would be hugly grateful.
Thank you.
 

[Dave Anderson]

Hi and welcome...it looks like you'll have a thousand and 1 questions...I am relatively new on here...been going 4 years...and still learning...

The best thing to do is read loads of the back posts these are filled with loads of useful info and a fair load of nonesense too...a bit like life really.

Thats the best I can give you....

Good luck..

Dave.

[Panorama]

Hi cameron, welcome to the forum. Have you cleaned windows in the past or are you totally new to the game?

[woody1]

i wouldnt bother as it aint as easy as you think

[CJcamCJ]

im totaly new, and ive never cleaned windows in the past, its ok though im not looking to start up anytime soon, maybe in 4 months, that will give me time to learn the correct way to clean and do a profession job and also get abit of money togever and learn new things involved.

to the otherguy who said it aint easy, i dont think anything is easy when it comes to making money.

thanks

[leights]

yo cam ooo.

your idea would give you £100 a day, and thats starting out, that would be great if you could do that, i wouldn hold your breath though, its never as easy as 10 houses for 10 quid each...just dnt work like that..

try cleaning your house and your familes for free to pick up the basics, but hey your already on the right road, you never know you might just be cleaning tesco's one day. i am   

[rg1]

yo cam ooo.

your idea would give you £100 a day, and thats starting out, that would be great if you could do that, i wouldn hold your breath though, its never as easy as 10 houses for 10 quid each...just dnt work like that..

try cleaning your house and your familes for free to pick up the basics, but hey your already on the right road, you never know you might just be cleaning tesco's one day. i am   

Is that the shelves before you stack them

[HIGH LEVEL WINDOW CLEANERS (scrimmy)]

My advice is dont listen to a word anyone advises on here.......take my advice.

[ant french]

welcome, are you going trad or wfp? its never as easy as it sounds at the start. like anything starting off is the hard bit but once you get moving it picks up speed like a car rolling down a hill. be prepared to come to a crash at the bottom ( winter ) lol    im new to it all and i went and posted just over 900 flyers today and gave up but came out with 2 jobs.
Aim for old people they talk and need clean windows to nose out of lol  :

[HIGH LEVEL WINDOW CLEANERS (scrimmy)]

Just kidding mate...you will get some good advice on here......i will start it off for you.

1. Knock some doors (then run away)

2. Put some flyers in the area

3. wait till winter is over.

[CJcamCJ]

Hi, i think ill be going wfp. unless im talked out of it ofc . witch one would you recomend?
thanks

[Panorama]

i would go wfp if you can afford it, also have a look on youtube for some sound advice . type in mywagga for some top tips

[ant french]

buy a trolly system mate and go wfp. if you can afford it that is. im going wfp after xmas i decided what cash i can get is going on that. sick of ladders and cold hands going up and down and also sick of poles all the blinking time

[CJcamCJ]

how much would a good one of them cost?
thanks

[erithwc]

£869  http://www.purefreedom.co.uk/complete-pure-freedom-25-litre-trolley-package-p-288.html

[Roy Harding]

Welcome to the forum.

I've just started my 28yr as a window cleaner, and have seen and done most things.

My advice is "You only get out what you put into a business."


Roy

[CJcamCJ]

thanks all =D

[DavidWright76]

I wouldn't charge £10 for every house. I doubt they all the same in that street. It all depends on how many windows, the size of each and the style, and the gridded "georgian" windows take longer to clean!

[awcs]

Ive done the shelf stacking bit too. Took the pressure of while I got the business up and running. If you ask nicely someone local to might take you out to show you the ropes. Where do you live ?

[CJcamCJ]

im think that £10 a house will be my minimum, also how do you guys collect payment? do you just knock on the door and say "gimme some money!"?   or do you guys do it some otherway?.
thanks

[CJcamCJ]

i live in west midlands

[lee09]

where abouts in the west mids

[richard jagger]

I would just nspend some time on here and learn from all that goes on also read past posting for a few months youy will then have a fair idea of what goes on.All the questions youy might want to ask will have been addressed already.

[clearlyclean]

im think that £10 a house will be my minimum, also how do you guys collect payment? do you just knock on the door and say "gimme some money!"?   or do you guys do it some otherway?.
thanks

I use a sawn off and say give the money!
most pay on the day,ones that are out leave a note to post check,bank transfer or call back, the last is time consuming but you get the cash in your hand.

[CJcamCJ]

yeah, thanks Wizkid thats what i was thinking to and lee i live near stoke, thanks  

[Blue Frog Systems]

Where abouts near stoke ? im from Castle originally and my brother is a w/c up Longton way

My advice ....

Work out the price of the following individually

Backpack setup
trolley set up
van mount

then price up vans

then price up the following

poles
ro
di
basic trad kit
water storage (ibc or water butt)
work wear
leaflets

once you have done all that, then you can see what you can get for your budget.

I reckon £600 would get you the backpack set up then add the van ontop of that

[ant french]

try ebay mate theres a few backpacks on trollys for about 200-400 quid which are ideal for starting off. i think its pointless spending lots of money at the start when you never know how it will turn out. they claim 75% of new businesses never work out within a year and fail.
go to vistaprint and get some free business cards aswell, its always nice to have some in ya van or back pocket to dish out to anyone you get chatting to aswell i find.

[CJcamCJ]

thanks Blue Frog, i live very close to longton =D, about 2 miles away

[CJcamCJ]

cheers ant. i have alot of time planning this and getting abit of knowledge and money for a van/insurance, thats gonna kill me the most

[ant french]

insurance isnt that bad, i passed my test in october and bought a mazda eunos ( mx5 ) the ins was 1600 fully comp and then i thought bout selling and going window cleaning and got the berlingo and now i pay just under 600 a yr fully comp 

[Jackal]

i live in fenton (stoke) so not far from you,my round is in the local area,what area you thinking of trying?id say if starting from scratch go straight to wfp but learn trad aswell,you will do well to get £10 minimum for basic houses round here mate but good luck if you can get away with it

[Blue Frog Systems]

My brother says its £4 a house (3 bed semi).... £6 with a conny (trad 2 weekly)

Priced my brothers house up at my prices i charge in worcestershire and it came out at £12.... though i'd do it for £10 seen as though he's my brother.

[CJcamCJ]

thanks ant, that looks like a nice little van. and £600 a yr? you kidding me or somthing? if thats ture its amazing, however im sure it would be higher for me as it would be my first vehicle.

hi jackal, how much do you charge around here? im not sure if ill stick with local or travel some yet im realy still at the basics . thanks m8

[Jackal]

depends if its in the nice estates il charge more even if they got the same amount of windows,

i charge normally 0.75p per window with new work now and £3 or 4 with conny iv tried the £1 window thing but you cant pick work up as fast round here,as alot of the windys still charge less than a fiver a house,

for example 2 people in my street get charged £2.50 2 bed semi and a fronts only £1.20 its laughable 

[cozy]

All you need to know about getting started is on this site mate.

http://www.windowcleaningcoach.com/default.html

The guy who owns the site knows what he's talking about.

[leights]

rgi lol


no windows before the baccs

im alright 

[CJcamCJ]

yeah, ive read that site, its good. Thats the site that brought me here infact 

[JoeMax]

There might be TONS of competition.

The number of people out of work in Britain rose by 35,000 in the three months to October, pushing the unemployment total up to 2,502,000. This raised the UK's unemployment rate to 7.9%, from 7.8% in the previous quarter, the highest rate in six months.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/dec/15/unemployment-rises-unexpectedly

A lot of public sector positions going over Xmas as well - a friend of mine is losing his at the job center after working 5 years there - he is even considering this profession 

[CJcamCJ]

yeah Joe, i understand and thats why infact if i start this up sooner the better really, im at collage doing an electrical instalation course (hate it ) but when i finish i wont have to go into that trade ill have this to fall on =D and who knows if im succsesful enough with this then i could start a electrial bizz up =D ( well maybe thats dreaming but you never know )

[careless.david@gmail.com]

Go WFP - a Pure freedom 25ltr trolley is a good start & earner - you should be able to set yourself up for around 2k. Don't underprice your work - plenty inc me get tempted to pay to work.
Best of luck.