Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: H2O TECH on June 16, 2011, 10:49:32 am
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so today i was going to go out and canvass but its pouring down in essex, im sitting here waiting for it to stop, however once you have built a round up, and you get a day like this which is more than just moderate rain, what do you do?
Do that days customers the following day? i.e if say today your in x srea and tomorrow your in y area, does a day like this mess it all up. or do you just catch it up.
Just wondering what you guys do, and if its ping down all day what do you do to be pro active about business? do paper work, make calls?
Regards
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Was due at 1st job 8.30 but texted her to say will call later. Been very heavy here (Hampshire) This jobs all about being adaptable!
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lets say it rains all day, would you just do that job tomorrow? then be a day behind?
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so today i was going to go out and canvass but its pouring down in essex, im sitting here waiting for it to stop, however once you have built a round up, and you get a day like this which is more than just moderate rain, what do you do?
Do that days customers the following day? i.e if say today your in x srea and tomorrow your in y area, does a day like this mess it all up. or do you just catch it up.
Just wondering what you guys do, and if its ping down all day what do you do to be pro active about business? do paper work, make calls?
Regards
One day here or there shouldn't make a great difference. You can catch up on a Saturday and through the summer months you can always put in extra hours per day to catch up.
Remember you really should be gauging your days work on how much you can do during the shorter winter days.
Longer summer days are for extra's on top of normal work and catching up and canvassing.
There is always something to do behind the scenes so to speak. Figurework, paperwork, equipment/van maintenance. Look at your schedules, could they be done in a better way to make you more money etc etc etc :)
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Helen has valid point. Dark by 4 in winter not light till 8.30.There's always something else to be done.
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so today i was going to go out and canvass but its pouring down in essex, im sitting here waiting for it to stop, however once you have built a round up, and you get a day like this which is more than just moderate rain, what do you do?
Do that days customers the following day? i.e if say today your in x srea and tomorrow your in y area, does a day like this mess it all up. or do you just catch it up.
Just wondering what you guys do, and if its ping down all day what do you do to be pro active about business? do paper work, make calls?
Regards
One day here or there shouldn't make a great difference. You can catch up on a Saturday and through the summer months you can always put in extra hours per day to catch up.
Remember you really should be gauging your days work on how much you can do during the shorter winter days.
Longer summer days are for extra's on top of normal work and catching up and canvassing.
There is always something to do behind the scenes so to speak. Figurework, paperwork, equipment/van maintenance. Look at your schedules, could they be done in a better way to make you more money etc etc etc :)
I don't do it that way.
I gear my work up for Summer hours and supply a less frequent service in Winter - for most domestic customers anyway. I tell them this when I take the work on. Paperwork only takes a few minutes in the evening usually. This is unless something exceptional is happening like end of year books. If I geared my work up for Winter months, I would earn too little in the Summer. As for equipment maintenance, there's not much goes wrong that a dollop of good glue won't sort ;D . I tend to do that sort of thing very early in the morning or maybe on a free Sunday. It would be unusual for it to take very long.
I don't employ people (nor do I intend to) nor do I have an alternative income stream so that may be why I adopt a different way.
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Window cleaning can, for a lot of the time, be a case of all or nothing. Some days you find yourself working flat out to make up for those days when you're stuck in watching Jeremy Kyle on the telly ;D
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if you find your self behind mate you go to work in the rain , rain wont effect the cleaning process.
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Where abouts in Essex are you?
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i mainly work my round from A-Z so any work that doesnt get done because of rain that working day gets done the next day.ive got 340 customers and work on my own and gaps have started appearing here and there due to WFP and van mount so its easy to catch up.
i wouldnt want to window clean 5 or even 6 days a week every week anyway!i can earn a good amount averaging 4 full days a week.
im off until monday now to help my missus whos not very well.all work up to date.i have got some work thats due bang on 4 weekly today but ill leave it until monday.
i might work 6 days next week and 3 the week after.swings and roundabouts in this business.
rain has to be prolonged and heavy for me to have the day off when im in work mode.
ive worked 830am-1pm today(4 commercial jobs)and made £160.
the flexibilty of this job is why i started window cleaning in the first place!! ;D ;D
ive got a bit of collecting to do tomorrow evening then im relaxing for the weekend!
best wishes to you all
regards
dazmond
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Rained most of the morning here in Kent. I just kept going - tee shirt was a bit soggy but soon dried out. Customers know my work is guaranteed but never had a call back through cleaning in the rain in over 8 years.
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Sat outside first house today, heavens opened, then stopped, heavens opened etc...., made a decision, start engine, come home, cuppa...lol. live to clean another day ;D
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I run a 8 weekly scheduled service...so each customer knows which day I'll be around next....
Plan on 4 days a week giving you Friday & Saturday to play catch-up...plan on 200 days a year...working 09:00 to 15:00.
Get all their email address's and when you have to make changes...email them.
It will rain, snow. sleet, freeze, volcano's will erupt and tsunami will strike somewhere around Bridlington...weather will do what it wants...you just have to adjust.
Cheers
Dave.
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Give them a rain guarantee and work in/around showers if you need to.
Don't write off a whole day necessarily - if you can get a two hour slot - work a bit faster and earn £50/£75 it's better than nowt. Having some work within a couple of miles helps if you can only bang in an hour or so.
Today I had heavy commitments in the am and only had 1.30 til 4pm where I could work so I zipped along and prolly did 4 hours normal speed work because I knew I had limited time.
But yesterday I worked 6.30 am til 5.00 pm and did about a day and a half's work as I knew I wouldn't be working this am.
Organisation and self-discipline can transform this job from a steady income to a good one.
This time of year I "could" work into the early evening but I don't want to.
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just stay a week in front
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It rained heavily on and off here in Hampshire today, so I was subsequently restricted to scraping £240 together. Its a bummer this weather isn't it.
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It rained heavily on and off here in Hampshire today, so I was subsequently restricted to scraping £240 together. Its a bummer this weather isn't it.
You might get tax credits earning small change like that ;D
yes I am joking no I dont claim to earn 400 plus a day but of course i might? but i wouldnt tell you lot! :P
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Some years ago I did a big job (smallish hospital) for a friend, it was over two grand and lasted most off the week. The friends son asks, "so how much do window cleaners earn then". My friend answers instantly a hundred grand a year, he was being serious. He did the maths.
My point is, you get good weeks and bad weeks. I try to continue in bad weather, but sometimes you just have to let it go. Don't have the idea that you'll always be earning £50/hr 8 hrs a day 5 days a week. In the winter last year I knew guys who didn't work at all for weeks at a time. Window cleaners are statistically one of the poorest paid people in the country. They either lie to the tax office or they lie on this forum, not wanting to appear too cynical but I think that a percentage do both.
Simon.
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well no-one's working tommorow, u seen the forcast! ::)
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i am :) :)
it has to be blowing a gale coupled with horizontal rain
and thunder and lightening before i stop :)
i actually enjoy being out when the weathers crap,much
prefer it to blazing hot sunshine :)
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well no-one's working tommorow, u seen the forcast! ::)
looking good for rainwater harvesters this wknd :o
i might just get done tomorrow only got about 4 hrs work left
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Got four commercial jobs to do so i'm out regardless
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I've given up looking at the weather forecast. They get it so wrong so often, I just carry on as mormal. I work in light/medium rain and no customer has complained. If it is very heavy, I just find it miserable being out in it, so sit in the van for a while and if it lasts for more than 40 mins with no sign of letting up, I go home :)
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Had a few spits of it trying to rain this morning but it brighten up and was a good day but by late afternoon there was a downpour in which we took cover in the car for 3mins, then it stop and we finished the street and two new customers and when we left the street at 5.10pm it started to hammer it down 15mins and then it brighten up again with blue skies and sunshine.
But I dont always stop work when it start raining just keep the stiff upper lips and get cracking. ;D ;D
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weather forcast for where i am this morning was heavy rain then thunder/lightning later on,got a full days work in no rain,well we did get 30 seconds worth of it