I've got the same feeling as SeanK. You can spent thousands of pounds trying to get the best setup and only save yourself a few minutes every day. As Sean says, having fixed hose reels in a van is not always the perfect solution and could actually slow you down. I have many customers where is easier and far quicker to wheel the hose reel to the furthest point and walk it back to the van, laying down the exact amount of hose I need around obstacles that takes much long leaving the hose reel at the van.
Do you also time the conversations you have with your customer?
Saving time is not usually down to having expensive equipment. A lot depends on the job you have to do. I know one cleaner locally that took the action of dumping every customer that had windows with two openers above a full pane of glass underneath. He always had issues with those type of windows that cost him time so he refuses to do them now. That saved him plenty of time as each house he cleans now has standard easy to clean windows. He also refuses to clean the backs of customers with locked or bolted gates. It takes too long to get access. All dumped. He will only clean the windows he can get immediate access to, the fronts.
Do I agree with this; no. But he's also earning a lot more than I am.
How many customers do you have where you clean two 'identical' semi detached house joined to each other. Ones a pleasure to clean and the other is a pain - the type of windows, obstacles in the garden etc. Its not your equipment that is at fault, its the job you have to do.
My son hates working with hoses and prefers to use a backpack. It has a much faster setup time when compared to me reeling out my hose. But I catch up as I have a better water flow and rinse quicker. In the end there isn't much difference in cleaning time, especially when he has to go back to refill his backpack. Its not all about the equipment.
Whilst we should all do a periodic review of our cleaning methods and look for time saving improvements, we can also make the job less enjoyable. One of the reasons why I love this job is that I don't have the sales targets and pressure of achieving them each day. I do what I reasonably can. Yes we can set small targets every day that we need to achieve to motivate us.
If I have an interesting conversation with a customer, I'm quite prepared to sacrifice a little of my time to involve myself in it.
The cleaner I mention also won't wait around for a customer wasting his time whilst they scratch around for money to pay him. He walks off and gets going to his next job. His customers have learnt to have the money ready when he knocks.
