[jonah]

well so far everyone has payed after me cleaning their windows ! cant belive you are so closed minded !

[L.J.Thorpe]

ignore and just do it you might get a few who mess about but that can happen anywhere and you soon get a nose for the messers there will be plenty who will pay fine and if not ....well its not like you built a house for em and they didnt pay is it we are talking 5 to 10 quid max surely so what go for it mate you cant make sweeping generalisations based on the type of house someone lives in

[jonah]

Mr thorpe if ever you are in yorkshire please drop in .

[groundhog]

The reason most people live on council estates is that they don't have a lot of money, so therefore it makes good business sense to me to stay away from them and target more affluent areas!  

[jonah]

groundhog you really need to get a balanced view of life !

[groundhog]

groundhog you really need to get a balanced view of life !

I'm in business to make money, so I go to were the money is! your welcome to the low paying council estate jobs if thats what you want, but its not for me.

[jonah]

who said the council houses were low paid ?

[L.J.Thorpe]

The reason most people live on council estates is that they don't have a lot of money, so therefore it makes good business sense to me to stay away from them and target more affluent areas! 

no offence : but that is the biggest load of old toss i have ever read in my life

[jonah]

weve all done it ! brovado and all that macho stuff .

[TennetClean]

Why avoid them? plenty of reasons.

1. you may not want a tribe of kids following you round your round singing george formby and trying to steal things out of your van

2. Council estates are dog poo city

3. the people (in the main) are scruffy work-shy dole-claiming layabouts and it offends me to have to be near them

4. they wont pay high prices becuase they do not have much money (but somehow manage to chan smoke and play the lottery every week)

5. They try to get you to do either more work for no more money, or at least haggle on price

6. you may not want to come back to your van to find the window smashed and the radio missing

7. the areas are grim and depressing

8. the people are grim and depressing, and often stupid

9. council estates attract chavs like poo attracts flies (I hate chavs)

10. Most important of all: there are plenty of customers to be had in areas with none of the above negatives, so there is simply no need to bother with them

nuff said

[jonah]

are you for real ? 

[L.J.Thorpe]

i was going to say something similar but profile says coventry so it may be different there...I can only speak about council estates in my area and generally we have a lot less crime round here however its still tarring every one who lives on a council estate with the same brush which seems a bit harsh

[geefree]

The whole point of being in any business is to better yourself, be successful and make money,

we all clean windows and get paid for it, some council estates will work for some but not others,

The bottom line is if your round is paying well, wether your customers are black, white , rich or poor, then you should be happy ,and you are doing something right.

Council estastes make up a large prorportion of our clientel, some of us avoid the worst ones , some dont.

There really is no arguement here, if you are being paid in an estate wether its council or private then you are doing well,

Also may i add one more thing, customer relations kicks in at some point,

so what works for some characters may not work for others,

in other words, if you are an approachable person with a decent sense of humour, who gets on well with his customers, and works to a high standard you are , by far more likely to generate custom,.. keep it.. and get paid.

i personally targetted large houses from day one so i dont work in any council estates, but over the years i have worked them doing other jobs, and i always , always found, no matter how people live their lives, be fair be polite win people over and work to the best of your ability , and you will succeed anywhere.

[supernova77]

Why avoid them? plenty of reasons.

1. you may not want a tribe of kids following you round your round singing george formby and trying to steal things out of your van

2. Council estates are dog poo city

3. the people (in the main) are scruffy work-shy dole-claiming layabouts and it offends me to have to be near them

4. they wont pay high prices becuase they do not have much money (but somehow manage to chan smoke and play the lottery every week)

5. They try to get you to do either more work for no more money, or at least haggle on price

6. you may not want to come back to your van to find the window smashed and the radio missing

7. the areas are grim and depressing

8. the people are grim and depressing, and often stupid

9. council estates attract chavs like poo attracts flies (I hate chavs)

10. Most important of all: there are plenty of customers to be had in areas with none of the above negatives, so there is simply no need to bother with them

nuff said

I'm sorry but that's a very narrow minded post. I grew up on a council estate and it was nothing like you've mentioned above.

Andy

[mattywig]

I think the whole thing revolves around whether or not the customers have chequebooks.  If they have chequebooks then at least some part of the financial system finds them creditworthy which means they are more likely to be creditworthy to you and your window cleaning services.  More importantly if they owe you 5 times which might be 40 quid they will be able to write you a cheque when you find them in as the majority of people quite often don't have cash in the house.
This is the only reason I find council houses less disirable than private estates, i.e finding a chequebook is harder than locating bin laden!!!

[Paul Coleman]

Why avoid them? plenty of reasons.

1. you may not want a tribe of kids following you round your round singing george formby and trying to steal things out of your van

2. Council estates are dog poo city

3. the people (in the main) are scruffy work-shy dole-claiming layabouts and it offends me to have to be near them

4. they wont pay high prices becuase they do not have much money (but somehow manage to chan smoke and play the lottery every week)

5. They try to get you to do either more work for no more money, or at least haggle on price

6. you may not want to come back to your van to find the window smashed and the radio missing

7. the areas are grim and depressing

8. the people are grim and depressing, and often stupid

9. council estates attract chavs like poo attracts flies (I hate chavs)

10. Most important of all: there are plenty of customers to be had in areas with none of the above negatives, so there is simply no need to bother with them

nuff said

I do very little work on council estates but I think your post is over the top.
I did blocks of work on council estates for some years.  Quite simply, I find that I earn more money with a smaller number of customers in larger properties.  I didn't have my £10 minimum charge back then either.  Also, if I did get the odd one or two who messed me about, it was harder to get rid of them as they all seemed to know each other.  So my reluctance is nothing to do with snobbery or false stereotyping.  It's to do with my need to maximise my income.
I do live on a council estate and was brought up in one.

[Londoner]

I do council estates and have some lovely customers but they are in a minority on the estates these days.

Council estates are not what they used to be and the people who live on them are the first and the loudest to complain. They used to have the odd rough family but the rest were ordinary respectable folk who worked for a living and paid their way.

Today they are dumping grounds for all sorts of problem families that Social Services don't know what to do with and people that live totally outside the usual way of life that most people would find acceptable.

The best estates are ex-council where most of the houses are in private hands

[windowwashers]

Why avoid them? plenty of reasons.

1. you may not want a tribe of kids following you round your round singing george formby and trying to steal things out of your van

2. Council estates are dog poo city

3. the people (in the main) are scruffy work-shy dole-claiming layabouts and it offends me to have to be near them

4. they wont pay high prices becuase they do not have much money (but somehow manage to chan smoke and play the lottery every week)

5. They try to get you to do either more work for no more money, or at least haggle on price

6. you may not want to come back to your van to find the window smashed and the radio missing

7. the areas are grim and depressing

8. the people are grim and depressing, and often stupid

9. council estates attract chavs like poo attracts flies (I hate chavs)

10. Most important of all: there are plenty of customers to be had in areas with none of the above negatives, so there is simply no need to bother with them

nuff said

was you born with a silver narrow minded spoon or did you post this for reaction? well here is mine:

 I grew up on a council estate then in a very nice area.
I also bought my first house which was an ex council house as is the one I have just bought.
many people on council estate have alot of money, most are nice people but you do get the odd tw*t.
1, look at the areas where mums and dads in so called high powered job neglect there children you will find chavs there also, some people in council estate cannot afford expensive clothes why knock them for that (hate the name chav)

2, no dog poo in my road at all, nor in my last place, most look after their houses, as I said before you get the odd T=== that doesnt, thern again you get that in any area, even where you live.

3, in the main they are all workers, again you get the odd few that dont, they dont offend me as they are normal people some have no outlook I agree that is true.

4, I pay a good price for a good job and do ok for my family
I also smoke and play the lottery everyweek 

5, I tend to find that the more money people have(or was given to them) the tighter they are and haggle on price. have quite a few people  on a few council estates that pay higher price because they increased it and look after there house.

6, van window can get smashed anywhere (even where you live)

7, some are some not, then again same as some villages and town  (that are not council estates)

8, I am offended by that, I dress nice have ambition happy and no way am I stupid and many are the same where ever they live, and to label people like that just because they live on a council estate, you may want to have a word with yourself.

9, I am gussing you are talking about children and young people, do you have any yourself, if you do look at what they wear it will be either the same or near on. council estates do tend to have alot of kids on as they are family homes (normally means with kids)

10,
Whatever.

Nuff said

[groundhog]

Why avoid them? plenty of reasons.

1. you may not want a tribe of kids following you round your round singing george formby and trying to steal things out of your van

2. Council estates are dog poo city

3. the people (in the main) are scruffy work-shy dole-claiming layabouts and it offends me to have to be near them

4. they wont pay high prices becuase they do not have much money (but somehow manage to chan smoke and play the lottery every week)

5. They try to get you to do either more work for no more money, or at least haggle on price

6. you may not want to come back to your van to find the window smashed and the radio missing

7. the areas are grim and depressing

8. the people are grim and depressing, and often stupid

9. council estates attract chavs like poo attracts flies (I hate chavs)

10. Most important of all: there are plenty of customers to be had in areas with none of the above negatives, so there is simply no need to bother with them

nuff said

   Well said!! I'm fed up with all this political correctness, this post tells it like it is, well done!! Although I would like to add that there are some very decent people who live on council estates, unfortunately the scummy element is now becoming the majority!!

[LWC]

tell you what, i do a really really nice estate in town, the one is where that idiot with 2 conservatories is like "sorry how much is it again" their next door neighbour hasnt sent me payment for the last 2 cleans, the one next to them are never in and are always late for sending out payment, and the other house she comes out and says "not today cheers"

all with BMW's and expensive 4 x 4's in their drives, double garages, 2 conservatories!

they are far from short of money, but they are my worst ones for paying. my old council estate paid there and then, or at least on the night. i never begrudged doing my council estate as im no snob, money IS money, the onloy reason i sold it was as i said awkward to get round the back with pipe.