Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: KLEENAWAY on May 14, 2011, 06:41:17 pm
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Alright gents, i need some advice please. Their is a new housing estate being built near some work iv got and i want to get on there but the show homes are only just being built. Any advice on the best approach and who i would need to talk too/pay to have a decent chance of getting on there ;) ??? Oh and im trad if that makes any difference, thanks in advance.
Danny
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site manager & ask if u can see the building plans m8, worked for me ;)
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Haha i like it! Im seriously thinking about giving the site manager a "cash incentive" but i dont want them to be a jobsworth, take it the wrong way and then tell me to p*** off!
Danny
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What i found with new build estates is no buggers home during the day as mummy and daddy has to work to pay all the bills so the best way to tackle new builds is price the first 5 or so low so noone is going to come in and undercut you once you have the first 5 houses to yourself then its yours as most window cleaners will come by ask if they have someone see that they have and let it go,secondly and most importantly clean them on a saturday as like i said before this is when ppl are most likely to be in and you will pick their neighbours up most likely without even chapping their doors,follow this advice and the estate is yours,good luck m8.
ps ask the pretty lady in the sales office if they want the showhomes cleaned they will pay you be cheque but more importantly it gets you seen.
The first 6 months doesnt seem worthwhile but once the estates finished you should have the monopoly in a compact estate and its well worth it.
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danny keep off my new builds
or il set ste m on ya ;D ;D ;D
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Oh and if they are white Upvc tell the first 5 customers you will give their frames n doors a quick wipe down as they get quite mucky with all the building going on.
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get a few canvassing may take a while and ask the marketing suite lady when they are moving in they know got one last month. working the area around. got a further 3 on there.
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Cheers EWC i will keep all that in mind when they start popping up mate. Would you clean the show homes for free if it meant it got your foot in the door for the rest of the estate, just another angle i thought could work?? Haha gav hows things pal?? Not been on here proper in ages because iv moved house! As for ste m iv never met him but from what iv seen on here hes got enough work as it is ;D
Danny
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Have I understood this right? If you pay a site manager, he forces all the people who buy one of the houses on the estate to take you as their windy?
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dan dont mess wiv ste he a mad
scouser proper mad him fella lol ;D ;D ;D
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Haha no cozy i dont have enough money to try something like that but its a good idea! I mean maybe the site manager could send other wc's on their way and just say someone is already cleaning on here! Like i said mate i dont know so im just thinking of ideas
Danny
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If i was cleaning anyone for free it would probaby be the first customers who moved into the estate and even then id only offer 2 free cleans to let them sample your service,speak to the lady in the office if she says no then phone head office,they can well afford it.The Upvc wipedowns is the clincher i reckon let them know most other window cleaners would charge for it and youll do it for free till the dust dies down.
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Right now i would swap all my new build work for council houses or estates that were built in the 70s,80s where most have their mortgage paid off because when the interest rates rise im expecting to lose quite a few,people think things are hard the now wait till the Bank of England raises interest to the likes of 3%.
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If i was cleaning anyone for free it would probaby be the first customers who moved into the estate and even then id only offer 2 free cleans to let them sample your service,speak to the lady in the office if she says no then phone head office,they can well afford it.The Upvc wipedowns is the clincher i reckon let them know most other window cleaners would charge for it and youll do it for free till the dust dies down.
If you had 350 custies, would you still do that?
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I havent thought about that mate but by the time these are built the interest rates will be up already so i think they should be able to afford them if you get what i am saying, i get what you mean though. My thoughts are price them cheapish and have lads working for me cleaning them.
Danny
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Cozy i think its just the first few custies that he was talking about and abit of a sales spin to the people working in the marketing suite
Danny
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Well that's one way of looking at it mate, but I don't think interest rates at the BoE really make that much difference to whether they need a windy or not. We are a semi important luxury in that they need us really to stop their windows getting dirty and staying like that, but if what you're saying is the BoE rates make a difference. If that's true, flower shops and hairdressers would all be broke by now.
A recession is not so bad, it means people think twice before buying a bigger TV or better PC, but because of that, they have a few quid in their pockets. That's where we come in.
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Cozy i think its just the first few custies that he was talking about and abit of a sales spin to the people working in the marketing suite
Danny
Yes I see what you mean, but if you wouldn't do it when you had 350 custies, why do it now? My work is worth what I charge for it, how will custies see you when you start to charge for what was free before? At best you would have to be cheap. No thanks, but it's up to you guys.
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Agree with both comments mate that why im not sure what way too approach it, i jus keep going round and round in circles in my head! Thanks alot buddy
Danny
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When the interest rates go up and customers have to find an extra £200 a month to pay their mortgage on top of rising petrol,gas,electricity,food prices that are on the way i can assure you that we will one of the first to go and the free Upvc cleans ok cozy you offer your service and i will come in 2 weeks later and offer free Upvc cleans lets see who gets the business. :-)
I would only offer it to first 5 customers for a limited period till the building work stops caking their Upvc in dirt.
I have an estate nr me there was about 30 houses built and another guy got in first he had the majority of them theres now over 300 houses built and guess who has the majority ill give you a hint...its not him :-)
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Do the show houses for free in return for them putting your business card in the pack of info they give to each new home owner. I tried to break into a new estate a few years ago and the guy already there was doing this. I couldn't get a foot hold in there and I don't usually have a problem with that.
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What im saying EWC is that the interest rates will have already gone up by the time the houses are up and i knock on to see if they want a wc so rather than them cancelling they will just tell me that they dont want one ;D! Ye that sounds like a good idea david, thanks alot pal!
Danny
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18 months average for a 300 house estate to be built mate up here anyway,i hope im being overly pessimistic regarding how tight purse strings are going to be for ppl with mortgages as i dont want anymore cancellations myself,its just what ive been reading in news about rising energy prices to come and rising interest rates plus ive had a few recently who have cancelled and when i enquire as to if its the service their unhappy with they tell me no its just things are a bit tight,just saying how i see things i hope im wrong.
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No i know exactly what u mean buddy, scary stuff aint it!
Danny
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Speaking from experience best time to clean on new build sites is sat or sun.As you will generally find nobody in monday to friday before 6pm.Worked for me. Also you say your trad so you may find
site manager won`t let you on site as ladders unless fixed are banned on building sites.There are ways around this though such as cleaning after 12.30 pm on sat or sun as building sites are then closed.
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Hi Danny
Is it the estate near the school?
I would get some business cards and get them in the office and put some on display in the showhome. I did it a few years ago on an estate where my mates mum worked and i did fantastic. I nearly had all of the work on the site and as new customers moved in i would say because of building work should i book you in for 6 months time when the building dust wont dirty your windows right after ive cleaned them and that soon took care of competition
Danny
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Alright gents, i need some advice please. Their is a new housing estate being built near some work iv got and i want to get on there but the show homes are only just being built. Any advice on the best approach and who i would need to talk too/pay to have a decent chance of getting on there ;) ??? Oh and im trad if that makes any difference, thanks in advance.
Danny
As for the actual site once the homes are built and ready to be sold/occupied the homes wont be under site managers control as the homes are signed off and released. The only section of the building site open to the site managers control is the construction site where public access is prohibited.
Just go on there and canvass
Good Luck
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Speaking from experience best time to clean on new build sites is sat or sun.As you will generally find nobody in monday to friday before 6pm.Worked for me. Also you say your trad so you may find
site manager won`t let you on site as ladders unless fixed are banned on building sites.There are ways around this though such as cleaning after 12.30 pm on sat or sun as building sites are then closed.
whats it got to do with the site manager ?
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Sneaky sf and i like it haha! Have you ever tried this mate? Alright danny, no the building work near my house is a new school. I think im just going to mither and mither and maybe even beg a little and hopefully ill get the work ;D What happened to the work you got danny, did you just sell it?
Danny
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I started on a new estate 2.5 years back and I was not the first but am now the most popular.Out of 300 odd houses I current do 86 houses.I next best does 21. I had a well planned strategy to achieve this result. I dropped leaflets every month so they new who I was, regardless. Every month I made a different leaflet to suit were I felt I was in my marketing plan.I would go every Saturday and blanket leaflet the area. the area I regularly drove in that area so people would see me .I took every opportunity to chat to people if they were outside. Even if they were just got out of there car. I would do first cleans on Saturdays and chatted to the neighbour when I was cleaning over the fence.I watched other windys clean and did more for my money. When I chatted with custies there I would find out what these fellows were charging and see if my general pricing was better.My idea was if I get them on I could up the price in a year. I did not in anyway have a price war just a more value pricing.All I wanted was to dominate in this area. At this time referrals are coming in unmotivated.I have made a point of getting to know this patch very well. As I said its worked.I am at this point working to dominate my next area.
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Quite inspirational that comment wizkid ;D! I just hope i can get a foot in asap
Danny
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Private house has nothing to do with site agent, not his concern.
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Sneaky sf and i like it haha! Have you ever tried this mate? Alright danny, no the building work near my house is a new school. I think im just going to mither and mither and maybe even beg a little and hopefully ill get the work ;D What happened to the work you got danny, did you just sell it?
Danny
yes and it works, out of 60 new builds 1 do 21 at moment. the rest clean their own as windows are double openers and can be cleaned from inside.still picking up 2 new cleans on this site a month.Noone else has got a lookin ;Dlol
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danny keep off my new builds
or il set ste m on ya ;D ;D ;D
hey keep me out of this, ive got enough trouble as i took a new house on friday where apparantly the last fella got a phone call and threatened, i wasnt interested in it at first until he told me this news, i only took it on as a bit of a challenge haha.
whereabouts do you clean Kleenaway?
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All over St helens pay...abit spread out but mostly in sutton mannor. You do rainhill dont you mate? Dont know if iv seen you knocking about on rainhill road??
Danny
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give him a bung to get the clients. saves you doin the work.
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All over St helens pay...abit spread out but mostly in sutton mannor. You do rainhill dont you mate? Dont know if iv seen you knocking about on rainhill road??
Danny
yes i do loads in Rainhill, i wqas on Rainhill road Friday, what van have you got? ive got some in St Helens as well, not a lot to be honest but bits an bobs
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My bird if from rainhill, near the coach and horse pub. Its a while since mate but the van i seen was a white vivaro (or similar) with wfp system, iv got a blue fiat doblo. Im the same just bits and bats all over st helens but iv moved over to nutgrove now so not as much travel and more work hopefully!
Danny
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no mine is a new shape transit, used to have an old shape, there is a good few about to be honest but if you ever see me stop an say hello, my van is sign written with 'clean as a whistle' you may of seen the other bloke who lives off rainhill road and his name is 'simply window cleaning' he's a nice bloke.
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i can vouch for ste he's a gud guy ;D ;D
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Danny
I know which one your talking about because i clean in govert rd. My customers constantly complain about the noise. Ive seen your van parked on the corner a few times. I clean in florance st too! Do you want your windows cleaning?
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I havent sold any work for over 18 months. I have roughly £4k a month of work and im still picking up every week. I should be selling work over the next 12 months as i put more time into my property business
Danny
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no mine is a new shape transit, used to have an old shape, there is a good few about to be honest but if you ever see me stop an say hello, my van is sign written with 'clean as a whistle' you may of seen the other bloke who lives off rainhill road and his name is 'simply window cleaning' he's a nice bloke.
Hi Ste
Ive been meaning to get in touch regarding the canvassing we chatted about in St James Rd. I will get my canvasser out for you in the next few weeks. I will text you tomorrow sometime.
Danny
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sound danny, you know the score mate, ill speak with you tomorrow
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Danny the building thats going on im my street at the bottom is a new school mate not houses! And as for you cleaning my windows....i dont trust you ;)! Ye ste if i see you ill stop and say hi. Off subject abit...have you been on that estate where the flats used to be in rainhill?? Look's like their could be quite a few houses on there soon!
Oh and thanks gav, nice to know me and ste have your blessing mate haha ;)
Danny
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Which estate is that Danny? the one by the coach and horses?
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Ye mate..looks like they are putting a load up there
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Yes i went past it the other day, 2 and 3 bed houses, not sure on what the score is with them though mate as usually you have a show house and they dont seem to so im not sure if they are some sort of council house thong as there fairly unusual, ill check them out next time im near as ive got some houses in the next street,
do you clean up in haresfinch Danny?
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Let us know how you get on! No mate iv never even heard of the place (im from atherton further down the lancs near leigh so dont know many places round here really) any reason why??
Danny
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no reason mate, ive just picked up some work there from recomendations andf i was just asking thats all mate
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Yes i went past it the other day, 2 and 3 bed houses, not sure on what the score is with them though mate as usually you have a show house and they dont seem to so im not sure if they are some sort of council house thong as there fairly unusual, ill check them out next time im near as ive got some houses in the next street,
do you clean up in haresfinch Danny?
I clean up there ste. I will txt you after tea mate
Danny
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The mrs has just told me where abouts it is mate, no i dont go anywhere near there but if your picking up a few custies i might do abit of canvassing around there myself ;) ;D Is that where the guy that rang you up threatening you is from..1 from earlier on in this thread??
Danny
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The mrs has just told me where abouts it is mate, no i dont go anywhere near there but if your picking up a few custies i might do abit of canvassing around there myself ;) ;D Is that where the guy that rang you up threatening you is from..1 from earlier on in this thread??
Danny
Who was it danny did he say? I clean up there but there must only be 2 WC`s i know of in st helens who would threaten someone and ive dealt with them both
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knowone has threatened me!!! they threatened the last cleaner apparantly, ive only taken the job on due to this as im yet to be threatened and its something i can tick off then as part of the job haha
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No idea mate.....only wc iv got a problem with in st helens is that muppet called tony! 1 that wears an orange hi vis vest, rigger boots and hes a p head...absolute tool!
Danny
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No idea mate.....only wc iv got a problem with in st helens is that muppet called tony! 1 that wears an orange hi vis vest, rigger boots and hes a p head...absolute tool!
Danny
I dont know tony lol. Stes just text me his name. I know him because he tried to get me off an estate in blackbrook near to where you clean and he failed. I now have the majority of the estate and maybe one of his workforce too!
Danny
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knowone has threatened me!!! they threatened the last cleaner apparantly, ive only taken the job on due to this as im yet to be threatened and its something i can tick off then as part of the job haha
You can subby some off me, that'll give you plenty of ticks!!
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knowone has threatened me!!! they threatened the last cleaner apparantly, ive only taken the job on due to this as im yet to be threatened and its something i can tick off then as part of the job haha
You can subby some off me, that'll give you plenty of ticks!!
haha you do manage to get some mad people dont you mike haha
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knowone has threatened me!!! they threatened the last cleaner apparantly, ive only taken the job on due to this as im yet to be threatened and its something i can tick off then as part of the job haha
You can subby some off me, that'll give you plenty of ticks!!
haha you do manage to get some mad people dont you mike haha
Yeah,normally other window cleaners !! ;D
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The mrs has just told me where abouts it is mate, no i dont go anywhere near there but if your picking up a few custies i might do abit of canvassing around there myself ;) ;D Is that where the guy that rang you up threatening you is from..1 from earlier on in this thread??
Danny
Who was it danny did he say? I clean up there but there must only be 2 WC`s i know of in st helens who would threaten someone and ive dealt with them both
Danny, you made the news!! I'm guessing this is you mentioned here?
http://robinson-solutions.blogspot.com/2011/05/grim-window-cleaning-news.html
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b loody hell, im sure Danny was asking how to remove paint from a car not long ago either
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Oh and mike i will call you tomorrow with regards to that text the other day, sorry mate it totally slipped my mind bout getting hold of you as ive been a bit up the wall mate
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http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=123247.0
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Ste do you clean over in sutton mannor mate? Or do you know anyone that cleans in that area called crystal clear?
Danny
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no and no mate, why?
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Nothing really mate but i canvassed a few houses around there a week ago and got a cancellation yesterday because she went with a different cleaner called ste....thought you was nicking my custies ;) ;D haha
Danny
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That was me mentioned but my car was an electrical fire it wasnt torched but it was pretty much destroyed. The fire started in the dashboard and worked its way back.
Thats the guy who works for me. Dont know if hes upset someone or if its mistaken identity. I was thinking of buying the car off him myself and selling it but hes repaired it now and is keeping it. It looks worse on the picture than it was.
I spent £5k on a car the day after mine caught fire so i didnt miss it much and the insurance paid out the same week.
Danny
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Ste do you clean over in sutton mannor mate? Or do you know anyone that cleans in that area called crystal clear?
Danny
Danny there are two companies in st helens called crystal clear! Its seems to be very popular. Another lad who cleans sutton manor is rob from RnR Window Cleaning
Danny
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Theres also irish connor and kerry his missus. They live somewhere up there but i dont know if they clean many
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How much work do you need danny?
I know most of the window cleaners around here and can find out if there is any work for sale if your in a position to buy.
Danny
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Cheers dan! Im not really looking to buy mate but if something cheap poped up who knows. Im doing well without even canvassing mate, picked up 12 jobs over the past 2 days through word off mouth, people wanted a good reliable cleaner that was trustworthy and gorgeous looking so they came to me ;D !
Danny
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That was me mentioned but my car was an electrical fire it wasnt torched but it was pretty much destroyed. The fire started in the dashboard and worked its way back.
Thats the guy who works for me. Dont know if hes upset someone or if its mistaken identity. I was thinking of buying the car off him myself and selling it but hes repaired it now and is keeping it. It looks worse on the picture than it was.
I spent £5k on a car the day after mine caught fire so i didnt miss it much and the insurance paid out the same week.
Don't do the bonus ball Danny, or the lottery, either of you !!! Thats a pretty bad run of luck. WHere do ya reckon the hammer came from, mistaken identity again?