Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Fin Clearview on January 26, 2013, 08:49:30 am
-
I've only been here for a while but although their are many very helpful threads regarding equipment etc etc I think discussing earnings, i.e I do x number of jobs for x number of hours has the potential to threaten our incomes as anyone thinking of starting up and reading will no doubt be seriously intrested. Personally I do not discuss my earnings down my local or anywhere in public for this simple reason. If fictitious posts discussing earnings are being made by suppliers to increase sales I personally think this also has the potential to damage their incomes as more people will turn to supplying, whilst also driving profit margins down due to more competition.
Personally I think financial discussions should be banned from here for all our futures.
Agree or disagree?
-
Its all hot air,
There's no money in window cleaning, especially if you employ more than one employee these days. Anybody who is sane knows that.
Dean.
-
I think prices are ok to talk about but earnings - just poor etiquette.
-
That assumes that anyone new will compete only on price.
One of the most common comments on here is "do not underprice"
If people are coming on here to get information, then hopefully they might not be just working on the lowest price being the one that gets work.
-
Throw in the odd post with a daft price to muddy the waters is my tip. "do not overprice your jobs "is another tip that helps to confuse the market
-
talking about prices can be a good way for newbies not to under price and therefore destroy the market
-
I newbie stopped me last week and asked what did I charge for
the house I was cleaning.
I had no problem telling him.
The same guy will ask the custys anyway and I have faith in my price and quality.
-
Agreed its all chest puffing. People spout about £25-£60
Per hour , but it's your turnover not wage it's the ones
That boast in summer tend to be the skint ones in winter.
It's no different to any business I would expect any to turn over
A minimum of those hourly figures. If your a one man band you
Can do well but it's no different to running a printers , plumbers
Or shoe shop.
-
anyone read "how to earn £30,000 a year window cleaning on your own" ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
its an e book on amazon for kindle.
loads of info out there for guys to read!!about a fiver to download!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
everyones at it!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
-
I dont for one minute think it'll influence how many window cleaners there are out there; and never have despite the bleatings of some on here about it. Its a big population, why worry if it does? If it did and lets say 100 new shiners decided to take up window-cleaning as a trade after reading earnings threads on here the figures would go something like this:
100 new shiners multiplied by 300 houses on their books which equals 30,000 houses. That's forgetting all the other stuff about what they could do, such as shops, offices, retail outlets bla bla bla. There's about 25 million properties in the UK. That means that the 30,000 properties the 100 new cleaners were to take would mean there were only 24,970,000 left for the rest of us.
Or put another way they would have one house in every 833, which is about one house for every 3 window cleaning rounds.
Never worried that the discussion of earnings on here is likely to affect the business as a whole. its a forum with a few members, we're not that important nor are we particularly well attended by any one thing that is likely to influence our working practises.
-
Well maybe some of those newbies with pound signs in their eyes will look for other opportunities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CVco2G6pys ;D
-
i think some of you are paranoid that your gonna lose the work you ve got because of your claims that their are "window cleaners everywhere" ;D ;D ;D
COURSE THERE ARE WINDOW CLEANERS EVERYWHERE!there is a lot of glass out there that needs cleaning!! ;D ;D ;D ;D
also you notice more when your a window cleaner yourself!! ;D ;D ;D
running and maintaining a window cleaning business and making a decent living year in/year out is just not that easy.if it was everyone would be doing it.
it takes hard work,persistence and lots of self motivation plus you need to get the work in the first place.people just dont trust you just like that.it takes years to establish yourself properly.
as for talking about money.why not?is that not the main reason we are window cleaning in the first place?dont tell me if you won say 15 million pounds you d window clean as a hobby?? ??? ??? ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
-
What we upto now? £700 a day? I remember the good ole days when everyone was doing £200 a day, and then it started creeping upwards. Must be about £700 a day now?
-
i think some of you are paranoid that your gonna lose the work you ve got because of your claims that their are "window cleaners everywhere" ;D ;D ;D
COURSE THERE ARE WINDOW CLEANERS EVERYWHERE!there is a lot of glass out there that needs cleaning!! ;D ;D ;D ;D
also you notice more when your a window cleaner yourself!! ;D ;D ;D
running and maintaining a window cleaning business and making a decent living year in/year out is just not that easy.if it was everyone would be doing it.
it takes hard work,persistence and lots of self motivation plus you need to get the work in the first place.people just dont trust you just like that.it takes years to establish yourself properly.
as for talking about money.why not?is that not the main reason we are window cleaning in the first place?dont tell me if you won say 15 million pounds you d window clean as a hobby?? ??? ??? ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
But it is easy daz. How hard is it to get up in the morning, clean 20 houses Then go home. Repeat that monday to friday and you have an easy life/easy living. All repeated work. It doesnt take years at all to establish yourself properly like you said, 6 months to a year of canvassing does the trick. Window cleaning is the easiest 1 man operation business going hence why so many people do it. it only gets complicated when you employ.
-
I know that if I starting from scratch now I wouldnt stand a chance.
Far too many guys cleaning and it would take years to build up a round
that pays.
All depends where your working.
-
and when the bad weather hits mick! ;D ;D ;D
sorting out tax,insurances,emergency funds built up
and it just isnt easy to get good solid work in a lot of cases,compact so your not running about all over the place.and customers that dont mess you about!
van/equipment problems,no holiday/sick pay etc.
and the work can get tedious and boring! ;D ;D ;D
having said all that i love it..................ehhh.........most of the time!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
-
What we really need is a thread at the top of the page the truth of the many hard days we have in the snowy winter month with little or no income. Telling the newbies about windies falling of ladders and injuries and death. About the tax you need to pay and how that works in the start of business. About the public liability insurance and van insurance costs..ETC Etc.
-
talking about prices can be a good way for newbies not to under price and therefore destroy the market
I totally agree with this Mr Plum ;D ;D Why worry about healthy competition???? every industry has its fair share of competition and to make YOU standout offer a better service. I had a window cleaner not so long back he was a fooking joke!!!!! he use to squirt the windows with water from his little bottle from up the ladder and his mate did the same downstairs he was at the property less than 5 minutes. I soon got rid a typical dole cheat I would imagine so I suppose you get what you pay for????? People so obcessed about prices. ;D ;D
-
I wouldn't get out of bed for £700, got to be a round £1k for me to put my boots on. Even then I am home for 3pm.
-
You gonna need at least £1k a day to run a landy :-)
-
iv said it before the tax man is on this forum
-
no hes not, hes got bigger fish to fry. its all commission based
-
no hes not, hes got bigger fish to fry. its all commission based
thats probably true.
-
iv said it before the tax man is on this forum
By saying that I assume you have something to hide. If you haven't you've got nothing to worry about.
-
anyone read "how to earn £30,000 a year window cleaning on your own" ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
its an e book on amazon for kindle.
loads of info out there for guys to read!!about a fiver to download!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
everyones at it!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
yes Ive read it
-
I wouldn't get out of bed for £700, got to be a round £1k for me to put my boots on. Even then I am home for 3pm.
is that with a 10am or 11am start ?
I only manage £700 a day if im on first job by 10am ... do a bit ... coffee break ... luch break .. do a bit ... coffee break .. home for 3 ish ;)
-
I wouldn't get out of bed for £700, got to be a round £1k for me to put my boots on. Even then I am home for 3pm.
is that with a 10am or 11am start ?
I only manage £700 a day if im on first job by 10am ... do a bit ... coffee break ... luch break .. do a bit ... coffee break .. home for 3 ish ;)
With those hours and that turnover, your undercharging mate
:-)
-
Yeah, I never like to start before eleven. Nine til ten is "blue sky/strategy" time, then I have my ten minute email window, where I might return 400 emails and quotes, all with big words just for the sake of it, followed by a power nap and a quick reach out to the cosmos.
Mind you, if it's raining, windy, snowy, too hot or too cold I just stay in bed.
-
I found earnings per hour talk very helpful in getting me to price new work better and increasing prices on some existing work.
When i joined people scoffing at others claiming to earn £200 per day on here.
The trouble with posting figures is that they don't give an accurate account of the work involved or other factors which affect earnings.
I think earnings posts are a good thing in general.
-
I Use it as an advantage if others want to post earnings to see in my head if im doing ok. Anyone saying they regular do over £500 domestic daily is in a dream world or verey verey lucky to have a full round of £40+ small houses. At a guess £200 is the norm before deductions and expenses throughout the board with wfp.
-
What he said above.
-
it doesn't really matter if you post earnings or not because people believe what they want to believe and ust dismiss the rest.
-
Quoted a house where the lady quibbled my 16 trad price then started going on her wfp cleaner was cheaper at 15 and did it in fifteen minutes, so he was on 60 per hour!
-
Wouldnt matter if you spent an hour cleaning them a custy would still
say it took 15 mins.
-
Yeah, I never like to start before eleven. Nine til ten is "blue sky/strategy" time, then I have my ten minute email window, where I might return 400 emails and quotes, all with big words just for the sake of it, followed by a power nap and a quick reach out to the cosmos.
Mind you, if it's raining, windy, snowy, too hot or too cold I just stay in bed.
Luv it! Funny post! ;D ;D ;D
-
when that rain is ping down and the wind chill factor is -20 and the wind is nearly blowing you straight into causality you wont be giving a poop what hourly rate you are geting you will wish you were working in a nice warm factory for the minimum wage when you go on holiday and you come back to all them mounting up bills and you have not had a wage for a few weeks and the weather is so harsh you are relying on your wife having a wage coming in you wont be in the mood for boasting about how much you can earn per hour i was working today in the freezing cold and by god i felt like raping it get real guy's this is a hard physical job and if wee earned the minimum wage it would be time to give it up you are worth every penny you earn that is why people pay us to do the job they are not stupid they know how long it takes us to clean their house and they have worked out in their heads how much wee earn but they are happy to pay us and still give us a tip
-
I dont care who knows how much or little i earn. As it happens its about £23 ph on the glass. But my expenses are high (like a few on here) as we are very rural.
The blokes who work for us do about the same or a bit more but get paid well for doing it.
-
iv said it before the tax man is on this forum
He's only here to help, has a sense of humour and knows when and when not to investigate.
She's your friend.
-
Discussing income and figures pertaining to turnover. profit is not only bad taste, but foolish as you never know who is tuned in.All discussions are sometime egotistic and just showing off. There some things discussed on this forum are just a load of crap really.God forbid don`t try to educate its a taboo lets rather talk about what car you drive.
-
dont overprice