Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Rich A on January 04, 2012, 11:25:55 am
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Hi Guys
I'm looking to start Window Cleaning as a second job. I have a 9-5 job and would be looking to do this at the weekends and evenings in the summer. When/If I get enough business I would like to employ someone and continue my FT Job.
Can anyone point me in the right direction of a good guide to get started on a small PT basis? I have never done proffessional WC before so would like to know the full process. i.e. do you guys treat the water, do you do windows that have lower level roofs that you would need to stand on etc. A complete beginners guide would be great.
Cheers all.
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resurch the old posts much quicker
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I agree research your customers. Website has to be your best bet......75% of my work comes through my website....
hope it helps
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I've found a site http://windowcleaningcoach.com/ is this everything I need to know? I don't like to go into a venture unprepared.
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Where are you looking to build youre round?
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Good on you.
Don't underprice; you'll regret it later and resent doing the underpriced jobs. If you're in a part of the country where people have cash, charge more; they'll pay it. Customers you gain in winter will stick with you like glue.
Leaflet and canvass together. Work out what frequencies you're going to offer and stick to them. Decide now how you're going to get round your customers and how you'll add new ones (much easier than reorganising later).
Get a notebook. Read through fifty pages of posts on here and make a list of who posts sense. Go back into the past to find good posters. Ian Lancaster might be a good start, though he doesn't post too much now. Then use the search facility to find all their posts and read the lot. Note what they do and take the best of their ideas. However, don't be afraid to improve what they are doing if you are sure you know better - that's how people beat the opposition. Ignore any posts that look like they are just a whinge. (not just when you start, keep up the habit - people who whine about weather and van problems on here just sap your willpower)
Surround yourself with optimists.
Expect to work twice as hard for everything than you initially expect.
When you start cleaning, make sure you're eating enough. It's hard work at the start and when you're low on fuel, your morale will drop. Keep well fuelled by eating and drinking enough.
Finally, the simple bit. If you keep on turning up and you keep on getting their windows clean, you'll not lose many customers and they'll recommend you to everyone they meet.
Vin
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I've found a site http://windowcleaningcoach.com/ is this everything I need to know? I don't like to go into a venture unprepared.
This is a good source of info to read, I haven't started my round yet, but have gained valuable information from that site. Also reading posts on here and using the search tool will also help you loads ;)
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Hmmmm,your end goal is probably not very feasible due to margins etc.If you build up enough to afford to employ someone then as soon as this occurs you`ll almost certainly be no better off than if you did an odd day yourself.Admirable thing to do though if you were wanting to help someone as the long term benefactor is unlikely to be you.
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This is what i do already,and it's well worth it,really hard work at first,really easy to run now
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This is what i do already,and it's well worth it,really hard work at first,really easy to run now
Do you mean you employ and still have a full time job unconnected with window cleaning?
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window cleaning in the evening?? starting in the summer??
this job is all year round sunshine, stick to your 9-5 job if your plan is to employ someone to work for you because by the sounds of it your plan has fail written all over it
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Yes,it took 2 years to get a full round,all I really do is do the work sheets and the quotes,me and my wife I should say,we couldn't have done it with out each other
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Nothing is impossible as lyndy proves but it will make it very hard, employing the right person is the key, both to get the work and clean it. Sounds like alot on top of a nine to five
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window cleaning in the evening?? starting in the summer??
this job is all year round sunshine, stick to your 9-5 job if your plan is to employ someone to work for you because by the sounds of it your plan has fail written all over it
Can I give up a job on £30k per year then? I don't think so. If I build it up evenings and weekends and then employ someone FT. Surely when I get a small team of guys I'll be able to quit my job, go FT at the WC with a team of lads working for me too? Or is £30k unachievable with any amount of guys?
Lets be clear, I want to make as much as possible here. If I have a guy working for me on a wage of £7p/h 9-4. Thats £50 per day for the self employed contractor. Even if they are only doing £10 worth of WC p/h I would still take £20p/d for running the business. Now lets say I have two lads working for me (self employed contractors) that £100 wage p/d with me taking £40. Lets go to as far as I see reasonable 4 lads £200 p/d still only doing £10W/c each p/h that's £80 per day to me. Now I sack one of these lads off, go FT myself and what do I take home guys? £33,800p/a.
I'd hope that they would get quicker and take on commercial jobs e.t.c and do more than £10p/h after a little practice.
I'm looking to the future here guys and not this year of course I know it takes time to build these things up. Does this all sound ridiculous to the optomists around here?
edit: I'm based in the Coventry/Nuneaton area
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Good luck finding the £50 a day self-employed contractors ???
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Good luck finding the £50 a day self-employed contractors ???
And heres me thinking that £7 p/h was a reasonable wage. Is it not?
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Don't take it the wrong way because im not trying to get your back up. But are you or have you ever been self-employed?
I would guesse no?
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I suspect this is someone looking to have a bit of sport
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I suspect this is someone looking to have a bit of sport
A mask wearing sweaty wrestler with a mexican accent?
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window cleaning in the evening?? starting in the summer??
this job is all year round sunshine, stick to your 9-5 job if your plan is to employ someone to work for you because by the sounds of it your plan has fail written all over it
Can I give up a job on £30k per year then? I don't think so. If I build it up evenings and weekends and then employ someone FT. Surely when I get a small team of guys I'll be able to quit my job, go FT at the WC with a team of lads working for me too? Or is £30k unachievable with any amount of guys?sou
Lets be clear, I want to make as much as possible here. If I have a guy working for me on a wage of £7p/h 9-4. Thats £50 per day for the self employed contractor. Even if they are only doing £10 worth of WC p/h I would still take £20p/d for running the business. Now lets say I have two lads working for me (self employed contractors) that £100 wage p/d with me taking £40. Lets go to as far as I see reasonable 4 lads £200 p/d still only doing £10W/c each p/h that's £80 per day to me. Now I sack one of these lads off, go FT myself and what do I take home guys? £33,800p/a.
I'd hope that they would get quicker and take on commercial jobs e.t.c and do more than £10p/h after a little practice.
I'm looking to the future here guys and not this year of course I know it takes time to build these things up. Does this all sound ridiculous to the optomists around here?
edit: I'm based in the Coventry/Nuneaton area
sounds a bit greedy to me
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You haven't got a hope in hell in what you are trying to do,we have one man one van,we may push it and have two men one van
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stick to your 30k a year job it will never happen, anyone smart enough to clean windows will take all your customers and just do it themselves i mean lets face it what could you do about it if they did? turn round to them and so NO i'm your window cleaner?
La_Lucha your dreaming
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Hmmmm. I know a local guy who purchased a business; asking price was £30K, but he got the business much cheaper. This guy has a good job and was employing four lads that already worked the business.
I don't think it's impossible; not easy; but nothing is impossible.
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Yes and pigs can fly.......if you put them is a jumbo jet. IT SOUNDS LIKE A PIPE DREAM.
There is so much you seem to miss out on.IMO. ??? ??? ::)
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A couple of pointers:
1. If staff are working for you for the majority of their income then they have to be classed as employed not self employed and you'll need to pay NI and holiday pay for them. Unless you're going to be a cowboy and try and fiddle the taxman!!! :o
2. To employ someone full time, trusting them with the money and hoping that they are going to be honest with declaring all the work to you, you'll need to be paying them a decent wage.
3. In order to pay a decent wage then you'll need to have a decent round, minimum £2K/4 weeks/person which will not fall on your lap from day one.
4. After paying a wage, the money that's left isn't your profit, you'll have insurance, equipment, fuel, van, accounts, tax, etc, etc to pay out of all of that.
5. Due to the current economic climate, EVERYONE who has been made redundant in the past 5 years now thinks they can be a window cleaner, many are investing £,000s in vans and WFP equipment. I spoke to a guy just the other week in Darlington who'd spent £22,000 of his redundancy money on a new Thermopure van and he hardly has any work for it, because of the hype the manufacturers put on selling he expected to be flat out from day one................eh, no, get real!
Tosh is right, it can be done, but more likely only if you buy a business that is already established.
You can have mine if you want..............£300,000
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Thanks for all the positive responses Gentlemen. Really encouraging. I have stated that I don't expect to build this up overnight. I have owned a bouncy castle hire business and did quite well with it. I sold it for a good profit the year before last as I had a lot going on last year.
All I can say to you lot is thank god Henry Ford didn't have you lot around to discourage him.
Where's your ambition?
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We cleaned on sats and in the evenings,put flyers out on Sundays,bloody hard work with a full time job,took
Someone partime,good staff is the key I've had to
sack 4 guys in 2 years,it is hassle and wonder if it's
Worth sometimes but then look at the money that it's
Making
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Thanks for all the positive responses Gentlemen. Really encouraging. I have stated that I don't expect to build this up overnight. I have owned a bouncy castle hire business and did quite well with it. I sold it for a good profit the year before last as I had a lot going on last year.
All I can say to you lot is thank god Henry Ford didn't have you lot around to discourage him.
Where's your ambition?
Don't take this wrong, but a lot of these guys who have answered ( and a lot that haven't) didn't have the luxury of getting "cheap" knowledge from a forum and built up their businesses from scratch, with trial and error learning along the way, so don't knock people about their supposedly lack of ambition :)
If you didn't have forums and the good old internet on hand what would you do to start up a window cleaning business?
You did it for bouncy castles, so you obviously are not new to start up situations.
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We cleaned on sats and in the evenings,put flyers out on Sundays,bloody hard work with a full time job,took
Someone partime,good staff is the key I've had to
sack 4 guys in 2 years,it is hassle and wonder if it's
Worth sometimes but then look at the money that it's
Making
This is the way that I look at it. I will start off just me, myself and I. I think now may be a good time to start because come Spring when people like to clean, I can be in the right place at the right time. If I build this up this year and next then maybe 2014 I may be in a position to take someone on? At the end of the day I just want to provide for my newborn daughter and thinking that just working for myself at weekends I may be able to take £150-£180 per weeend from W/C and I plan on going back into Bouncy Castles so thats £40-£80 min per week.
At worst in the middle of Winter I would be expecting £190 per week additional income. In two years time like I say I hire someone on a self employed basis ala Builders and Carpenters and they can do both the castles and WC.
I've done the math and I'm sure it can work. I know a guy whose an electrician, he started up as a 1 man band 20 years ago. He now has a team of 20 or so guys and is earning a decent living. At the end of the day for me, I think once you have some collateral you can expand into many businesses.
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I think you would be better off at least giving window cleaning a go first to:
1: See if you like doing the work
2: Can offer a good standard of work to paying customers
3: Can be consistently reliable and fit the window cleaning around your current work/life situation
Before planning world domination ;)
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I think you would be better off at least giving window cleaning a go first to:
1: See if you like doing the work
2: Can offer a good standard of work to paying customers
3: Can be consistently reliable and fit the window cleaning around your current work/life situation
Before planning world domination ;)
This is my plan tbh. That's why I want to give it a go and build it myself instead of buying an established business and then finding I don't like it. If I like it then I think you need to have a proper plan for the future. No point sailing along working for uncle Sam when I could become my own boss with no deficit.
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its more a case of being realistic rather than defeatist!
the problems that you will encounter are that you just simply wont be able to keep an eye on your employees.newly canvassed work can be "shaky"at best.standard of cleans needs to be high if your charging a good price.
a guy who bought a part of my round a few years ago.full of ambition.working it as a "sideline" at weekends with dreams of employing and taking over the north west.
he just couldnt work every weekend due to bad weather
some customers didnt like him coming round to clean their windows at 8am on sunday morning so sacked him there and then.
he had no experience of window cleaning and made a poor job of them and was very slow so hardly made any money.
he was scared of heights and had a dodgy knee so missed out a lot of upper windows!
needless to say he lost the whole round and had thrown in the towel after 2 months £1200 out of pocket.
employing can be a nightmare for full time window cleaners.there is usually a high turnover of staff until you find the right guy.
regards
dazmond
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its more a case of being realistic rather than defeatist!
the problems that you will encounter are that you just simply wont be able to keep an eye on your employees.newly canvassed work can be "shaky"at best.standard of cleans needs to be high if your charging a good price.
a guy who bought a part of my round a few years ago.full of ambition.working it as a "sideline" at weekends with dreams of employing and taking over the north west.
he just couldnt work every weekend due to bad weather
some customers didnt like him coming round to clean their windows at 8am on sunday morning so sacked him there and then.
he had no experience of window cleaning and made a poor job of them and was very slow so hardly made any money.
he was scared of heights and had a dodgy knee so missed out a lot of upper windows!
needless to say he lost the whole round and had thrown in the towel after 2 months £1200 out of pocket.
employing can be a nightmare for full time window cleaners.there is usually a high turnover of staff until you find the right guy.
regards
dazmond
Cheers Dazmond I will take heed. At the end of the day. I plan on starting small and seeing how I get on.
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Come on guys, this is a wind up thread by someone who has recently 'left' the forum.
We have had many 'world domination' posters before. Dont bite.
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is it only me that thinks it was the window cleaning coach, I could well be wrong and if the guy is on here then I am sorry for thinking it, just seemed a little odd that they posted that link then didn't speak about it.
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Come on guys, this is a wind up thread by someone who has recently 'left' the forum.
We have had many 'world domination' posters before. Dont bite.
Yeah could have a point.
Wasn't there someone who used to post on here before who had a bouncy castle business?
He used to go by the name Window Gynaecologist or Doc Windows or something?
The plot thickens........
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Yes, that would be the one that you don`t go on and describe the posters as "you lot".
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Yes, that would be the one that you don`t go on and describe the posters as "you lot".
I didn't think I had? Thanks for your help anyway. You did give me some good advice.
How many guys would reccomend George for the small scale startup stuff or would you just do it on paper?
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now he does sound like a wum :)
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now he does sound like a wum :)
I have never been a WC before and I need to know everything. Like I've stated earlier I don't want to go into the venture uneducated on the subject.
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Right I'm not a WUM. I have asked for genuine help (see my first post). Is the site that I posted a good place to start, is there anything else I need to be thinking about? I am planning on starting small scale and then seeing how it goes from there.
I thought this was the place to ask old hands for help, obviously not. Can anyone point me in the direction of a proper forum where people are willing to offer me some real help and advice.
I am absolutely fuming with you guys who have accused me of being a WUM right now. To those who have offered me advice then thanks I appreciate it.
Yes it is you obviously missed my 1st post, that site is a good one to start and don't forget this is a public forum, everyone is entitled to their opinion.
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There are no "regular" customers left now. Since about a week ago anyway and i`m not sure if anybody has quit since.
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John, are you taliking to yourself again?!
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John, not sure why you've had a conversation with yourself, but if you want to WUM please do it on someone else's thread. I'm here for genuine help.
Thanks to all have been of assistance thus far.
??? ??? ???
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Thanks for the advice so far guys.
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Thanks for the advice so far guys.
have you thought about opening a different business to window cleaning. like bouncy castle hire perhaps? ;D
Not sure why you would ask that, when I have clearly stated that I used to hire out castles. I'm not here talk about Castles anyhow, I'd like to get into WC as per the first post in this thread. Cheers
yeah. good luck with your wind up. ;)
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Can anyone point me in the right direction of a good guide to get started on a small PT basis? I have never done proffessional WC before so would like to know the full process. i.e. do you guys treat the water, do you do windows that have lower level roofs that you would need to stand on etc. A complete beginners guide would be great.
You are asking for an awful lot and being rude to the people who will give you the answers.
If you want to know the FULL process you cant expect an answer on day 1 of posting.
It would show good will if you could do your research and THEN start asking questions to see if you have it right.
If you really want to get into the business you would do well to spend the day with someone outside of the area you intend to work pick their brains and ask all the questions you can.
This would be the fastest method as even on here we dont all do things the same.
I would suggest you pay for this advice. I'm availiable for £300 for the day.
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I'm availiable for £300 for the day.
i'll over cut that! £350 for the day here
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I like the bit that sais 75% of his work comes through his website,id say about 2% of work comes through my website.
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Lol il show you the ropes for £300 a day to.
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good offer. that will give him a lot of info on how to earn more than he does now. thats got to be worth 300 at least. mind you its a lot to pay for a wind up. ;)
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good offer. that will give him a lot of info on how to earn more than he does now. thats got to be worth 300 at least. mind you its a lot to pay for a wind up. ;)
Maybe it's not a wind up, if genuine then I thinks its a fair rate to know the ins and outs of the business.
Helped a guy from Stoke 18 months ago and he's doing great now, the info is worth much more than £300.
If they are a mate then I don't charge! ;D
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George! Ha ha. Back of a beer mat more like it for you bud. Learn to crawl first.