Not notifying customers is all well and good and in an ideal world my round would be made up of these people , however by doing this what you are effectively doing is cutting your potential customer base in half (possibly more depending on the area) as a previous poster has said people are security conscious in this day and age and lots of people lock their gates , simple solution is text them the day before i do this because i have to as my aim is to have a BIG window cleaning firm and it does not make business sense for me to turn my back on LOTS of good custies. I have done this from the start and i dont notify customers for the sake of it but only for access issues. I agree that voice calls can be a PITA so a tip is for custies that dont have a mobile to text the landline and if they have a voicemail (which nearly all do) then an automated message will be left on their voicemail. No Problem , though if you want a stress and hassle free round that you may or may not fill then that is up to you. Though IMO the idea of having to turn your back on a good custie because they lock their gate is nuts 
Hi Matt
I take your point Matt and I have been a little easier on this issue recently. However, if the messing about starts then it really does become unviable.
I think the big difference between our situations in this regard is doing all the window cleaning yourself vs. paying people to do it and making a profit. As you know, when you do it all yourself (i.e. as a sole trader) then any messing about has a much larger effect on the cleaner's income. Not only is it money not earned but it is also a loss of time that could have been better spent servicing another, more reliable customer. However, when you perhaps, subcontract work out, you don't suffer the fallout of unreliable customers in the same way because although a bit less profit may be made, it doesn't directly impact on the time issue. Also, I imagine that there is more merit in keeping a customer when a canvasser has been paid for getting the job. I do indeed have some good customers who need to be texted/phoned first but for the reasons that I outlined, I don't have too many of them. I don't actually turn a job down these days due to such an access issue but I will drop such a job more quickly if the messing about starts. Also, if I see a probable access issue like this, it does add to the price. However, one thing I am pretty insistent on is that I will only do days, not times i.e. if it's a case of "only clean when I'm home" this will not be done unless (a) it's a decent sized job with a decent sized price and (b) there is no problem with doing it as first clean of the day with a reasonably early start time.
Nothing wrong with either way of working but I think a sole trader maybe needs to work to a different business model from an employer/contractor.
