[drive surgeon]

all you pressure washing guys beware as all the window cleaners and gardners are advertising the service and using cheapo machines off ebay and not doing half as good job as us professionals.  they seem to be handymaen advertising all services, probably gypsies too!  there all knocking around everywhere on the sniff for work.  one of my old custies said they knock on your door, then before you get chance to say anything they spray your flag to show you how clean it should be, then they say a price.  she had to beat them off with a stick and she was fuming cos her flag was a difeerefnt colour to the rest so i fixed it for her.   cheeky buggers!!

[Bill1903]

Play them at their own game and do your customers windows and gardens

[Mike Halliday]

I did a job 3 weeks ago, 4 doors away was a group of men doing another drive, one was  P/W and directly behind a guy was sweeping in sand!  my customer said they had knocked down the full street offering a demo and a big discount if they had it done the next day because "they had finished a big job for Tescos early so had a day spare"

I see this drive every day its a right mess I keep meaning to knock on the door and ask if they want it doing right ( I'd even do it cheap to help them out)

[trevor perry]

all you pressure washing guys beware as all the window cleaners and gardners are advertising the service and using cheapo machines off ebay and not doing half as good job as us professionals.  they seem to be handymaen advertising all services, probably gypsies too!  there all knocking around everywhere on the sniff for work.  one of my old custies said they knock on your door, then before you get chance to say anything they spray your flag to show you how clean it should be, then they say a price.  she had to beat them off with a stick and she was fuming cos her flag was a difeerefnt colour to the rest so i fixed it for her.   cheeky buggers!!
[/quote

 im a window cleaner but do powerwashing and i can tell you for sure mine isnt a cheap machine and i am very proffesional

[Milltown Cleaning]

some people can multitask successfully!!

but htose people do sound like gypos!!

[drive surgeon]

they were gypsies!! but all these handymen seem to blitzing everywhere trying to do anything for as cheap as poss taking all our work!!

[Milltown Cleaning]

if they are purposly undercutting then that is not on.

[drive surgeon]

there are so many vans going around now with windows, conservatories, jet washing, gardening, any work considered on, 

[Milltown Cleaning]

what is wrong with mulitasking?

if you do a good job, with the right tools at the right price for both parties then where is the problem?

[drive surgeon]

cos they are taking all of us locals work and they dont even live here.  they are not from our area and us locals have worked solid to build up our business's over many years.  these are undercutting us and cold calling on every door.

[drive surgeon]

i even saw two diferrent vans pulled over the other day having a scrap over who was on each others patch, its becoming nasty.  some were quoting £20 for a driveway whch which would normally take me well over an hour. they are buying these cheap and nasty chinese jet washers with crappy rotary heads on. they look pathetic.  people think us professionals are dear when these are quoting silly prices.  they must be just keeping the cash with no overheads/  the government need to start clamping down there are so many vans knocking around illegally and bet they are not paying tax.

[Milltown Cleaning]

£20 per hour for powerwashing is a very decent price. If you do a good job at the right price then you will have nothing to worry about with these flash in the pan people

[colley614]

I understand his opinion to be fair. The amount of window cleaners that have come out the wood work this year is daft. I thought that the Government said that 2.6 million were unemployed. They want to get them fraud investigaters round my area. Infact they want to get the fraud investigaters going round them mp's before anything else!

(on no I'm getting political)

[drive surgeon]

the drive was around 80 or 90 sq metres and they charged 20 quid!!  thats ridiculous cos they werre there for around 3 hours.  i dont over charge i factor in all my overheads to run my business and a lot of my custies have told me i am cheap for the quality of my work!  i know a lot of guys who charge £80 an hour or £2 to £3 a sq metre so a 90 sq metre drive would be £180 for some guys.  or £20 to the gypsies who have no liability insurance etc.

[drive surgeon]

well in colley614 i understand what you mean, there are more window cleaners than ever and they are all doing anything else they can, i feel sorry for the guys who have been doing it a long time as these newbies are undercutting them all its just crazy.  bet they are not even insured.  i saw this guy following a gutter cleaning van and was telling custies that he would clean gutters out for £5 a length when the gutter guy was charging £10 a length in his nice gutter cleaning van.  they will do him out of business.  you all need to keep your eyes open as people will steal your business.

[vacman]

Drive Surgeon, you talk of 'probably' and 'bet' what people are and aren't doing. Well why don't you find out what the 'facts' are, before your own imagination drives you to any early heart attack? You could well be right, but the point is, you don't actually know. Look back at what you've written; if you take out all the stuff you don't actually 'know' about, then you're left with very little. You are making it worse for yourself. It makes me sad (fact) to see people winding themselves up.

But please, also consider this; whatever you think about the people you are refering to, they are ultimatly supplying a demand if it is that they are getting the work. So, instead of laying the blame for the (percieved) poor workmanship soley at the feet of the people doing it, why not attribute some blame to the people who are paying for it? They are the ones who are fueling the situation.

[trevor perry]

drive surgeon i am sure you are right some people do go in ridiculousy low but if they are too low and  do a bad job then they will soon go out of business,just focus on your own work try to price reasonable and always do a brilliant job word of mouth soon gets round and you will get work on recomendations this is the best way to build your business.
 at the end of the day some of these people are just trying to provide for their famillies in difficult times others are as you say just scam artists, as said earlier its the customer who decides so make your results superier as customer satisfaction is the best business builder.

[karygate]

i have a foreign machine that is 4500 psi max pressure,15 litres  i bought for around 500 quid . took it to sweepfast to get the odd connection changed and set up with a fsc and a turbo nozzle. i tend to do the smaller jobs and charge a minimum of 40 pound but most small block paved drives come in at around 60 quid and take me about an hour and half. this does not include sanding as most of the customers do it themselves afterwards. i do not advertise and get plenty of recommendations and do perhaps 1 to 5 jobs a month . this is a nice add on but i would under no way see me as a threat to anyone that does it full time , but i do not see myself or give any less of a proffesional service than anyone else. what catagory am i classed into . and i am covered by public liability. 

[drive surgeon]

i have a regular customer base who use me each year but im finding they are starting to ask me to give them a good price or lower my prices due to these other guys.  should i lower my prices in this recession or stick to what they usually pay me each year?

[John Kelly]

Have your bills gone down, don't think so. This ever decreasing price lark is just a recipe for disaster.

[drivewasher]

I don't worry about any competition.
I do an exellent job and look after my customers. Most of my work is recomendation anyway.
If I had to resort to undercutting piky's I'd just let the van rot and give my gear to the kids to play with. (thats a joke by the way) But.... the 13.5 horse (genuine Honda) would make a cracking go kart!!!

[Milltown Cleaning]

i have a regular customer base who use me each year but im finding they are starting to ask me to give them a good price or lower my prices due to these other guys.  should i lower my prices in this recession or stick to what they usually pay me each year?

in the boom times people didnt care what things cost, the just wanted the best of everything. But now as money is tighter people are starting to remember that lost skill of haggling!! not good news for us, but we will do it ourselves.

just look at your prices, your overheads and all that i see if the price you are charging is reasonabe to both you and the customer.

[Len Gribble]

I’m relatively new to this game and there was me think of offering a hire service under costing the hire shops and their extra equipment, was thinking £50 half a day all inclusive.

Any one got a leaflet 

Len 

[Nathanael Jones]

I quite enjoy doing a job near to a house that's just been washed by the gypo's. Last one I did took me till about 6pm (fascia/soffit/gutters/footpaths/driveway/windows on a big 4 bed semi) and loads of ppl were coming home from work. Three ppl stopped as they walked past and told me how good it looked compared to "the other one", and I picked up a new job on the spot from it!

[drivewasher]

Well there you go. While washing a drive off yesterday I noticed a bloke posting leaflets. I assumed ot was for pizzas, he didn't go to the property I was cleaning at. (thought it was to wet for a pizza leaflet person). 20 mins later a bloke snuck up behind me and asked if I'd just put a leaflet through his door. No says me! Then we got talking and he saw the job I was doing and he was impressed. Anway he asked for a quote and the lad I wa washing this job for got that one.


ALL OFF SOMEONE ELSE'S LEAFLET

[drive surgeon]

i had a window cleaner stop me and ask if i wanted to do his jet washing as he had not got his equipment yet even tho he was advertising jet washing. i said no mate as its happened lots of times, they just want to see how much you charge and what equipment you use,  i never do anything like that for anyone!! im not soft! :

[Pristine Clean]

i had a window cleaner stop me and ask if i wanted to do his jet washing as he had not got his equipment yet even tho he was advertising jet washing. i said no mate as its happened lots of times, they just want to see how much you charge and what equipment you use,  i never do anything like that for anyone!! im not soft! :

He was silly then! If that was me I would'nt say I was offering the service. Or I was even in the cleaning business.

I would have approached you as if I was a everyday customer who had'nt got a clue.

Anyways its not hard to find out what equipment to use or what chemicals to use.

Infact its simple! And the cost will vary to everyone. Most companies or sole traders can undercut. Its just a case of wether you are prepared to or want to undercut or not.

People are going into washing, cleaning etc as it not that expensive to startup. Depening on the jet wash you can start out at the low end £600 or the expensive end £3000 or more.

Just because its more expensive does not always means its a better machine. Probably might just be for the name.

And if they are a startup they will just want a WAGE at the end of the day. Then progress to more expensive work,  If they are a company then they are in it for a profit. 

As for the gypsies, well there people too and they have bills. Yes some are cowboys. Some are actually good. Just like us at the end of the day. Human. Just a different culture! Pikies are completely different!   

Dave

[trevor perry]

i had a window cleaner stop me and ask if i wanted to do his jet washing as he had not got his equipment yet even tho he was advertising jet washing. i said no mate as its happened lots of times, they just want to see how much you charge and what equipment you use,  i never do anything like that for anyone!! im not soft! :

i would of done it for him and try to come to an agreement that any work he passes your way he gets a percentage commision that way he doesnt have to lay out money for machinery and he can carry on window cleaning but still make money on the pressure washing side this could of worked out well for both of you and would of thought it was worth taking a chance on.

[johns window kleen]

Drive Surgeon ive just read your comments, and find it a complete load of nonsense. No window cleaner I know is going into powerwashing,were all too busy. The undercutters and widely disrtibuted leaflets from Newbies are no threat to people with established rounds.
Window cleaning is base one for highjackers from other trades when times are hard,ie builders,plasterers plumbers and the like, and good luck to em, but not many get anywhere with it.
So you make a big and wrong assumption cos some guys have peed you off. Infact looking at it you went on the window cleaning section asking for advice about Gutter clearing, which you wanted to expand into,including flyers, so come on mate dont be a total hypocrite. And yeah you got lots of help from us didnt you.

[stephen s]

cos they are taking all of us locals work and they dont even live here.  they are not from our area and us locals have worked solid to build up our business's over many years.  these are undercutting us and cold calling on every door.

ha ha ha your funny

[Nathanael Jones]

Drive Surgeon ive just read your comments, and find it a complete load of nonsense. No window cleaner I know is going into powerwashing,were all too busy. The undercutters and widely disrtibuted leaflets from Newbies are no threat to people with established rounds.
Window cleaning is base one for highjackers from other trades when times are hard,ie builders,plasterers plumbers and the like, and good luck to em, but not many get anywhere with it.
So you make a big and wrong assumption cos some guys have peed you off. Infact looking at it you went on the window cleaning section asking for advice about Gutter clearing, which you wanted to expand into,including flyers, so come on mate dont be a total hypocrite. And yeah you got lots of help from us didnt you.

Thats a bit harsh isn't it?

Round by me nearly all the window cleaners offer pressure washing, gutter cleaning etc etc,.. more and more are diversifying as the economic downturn worsens. If you're good at your job, don't undercut, and run a professional "above board" business, then what could possibly be the problem?

[drive surgeon]

its ok actually now.  the police moved them all off as they were camped in fields and woods locally. they were blitzing the the area with flyers and cold calling!  phew!!

[johns window kleen]

So I take it they weren't window cleaners then, just travellers doing powerwashing.
I didnt mean to be harsh but I thought you were just being too generalistic in what you said.

[drive surgeon]

no mate, they were window cleaning mainly but they were power washing, gardening, wiping arses etc etc, the locals got fed up of doors knockers and leaflets by the seconds.  you must think the same as me?

[johns window kleen]

Yes mate it can be annoying, a while ago it did bother me, as I thought my business would suffer from these types undercutting, but in reality it has little impact.

Custies often, almost daily bring out flyers to show me that have been put through their doors, or tell me about aggressive types door knocking and not taking no for an answer. Some of these are elderly and get intimidated. That kind of thing really P's me off cos it's out of order.

These are desperate times and some people are well desperate and resort to any tactics to get work. It's all a bit sad really. Bloody Banks eh!

But just hang on in there at least youve got a customer base. These goons havent.

[kenaltobelli]

  as a window cleaner i thought this would be a nice little earner it broke my back
  wont do eny more ps bq spesh not recomended