Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Dan g on January 19, 2014, 03:27:26 pm
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Hi guys,I'm just starting out in this game and am guna canvass hard soon as I belive it is the quickest way to gain work from what I've read on here.
My question is how quick can a round be built 300-400 custies(residential)canvassing 2-3 hours min-fri and 6 hours on a sataday,I know there are many variables to this but trying to hear from you guys that have been there/done it.
Thanks dan.
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3 months
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If there are any 'new build' estates near by hit them hard - again and again - easy to get work there!!
My guess is min 6 mths probably more 'cos you'll pick up a lot of other windies cast offs and messers to start with.
Good luck fella
I only started 2 1/2 years ago and never looked back.
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3 years in any business
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If going hard then aim for 20 customers a day/night mon to friday. Any short of 100 the go out sunday and get them.
There you go if you go for it and realy put your mind to it.. Ie 6 hours a day canvassing(2x3 hour sessions per day min) you can have the foundations to a full round in the making within a month however the hard task isto rustle through the crap and messers.
Its easily done though especialy if you have time on your hands.
I recently built a round for my folks in 6 odd weeks doing a few hours here and there which worked out around 2k a month of work.
Best of luck and stay focussed.
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Oh just read thread title again..
To build a decent round of decent reguler 4 weekly customers takes at least 2 years, i started my 2nd round just over 2 years ago and im still trying to make it perfect and draining out the crap.
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Took me a year and a half
to reach 3 full days per week on a monthly cycle
plus have a few others on 6 weekly and a small amount of commercial that accounts for another day or so per month
picked up some work sub contracting to a cleaning company at the moment its another 2 X half days a week although not the best paid but in the end its'all cash
Things are looking busy at the moment quoting quite a bit
I think it will take me another 6 months to a year to get where i need to be
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3 months
Start a canvassing firm then!
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It all depends on 1 factor at the end of the day. YOU.
Anything is possible if you dedicate yourself to it!!
Go for it!
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You could probably build a half decent round in 6 months or so.
But that's not the end of it.
You'll always be adjusting something.
A good customer can turn into a bad payer so they get dumped. An irregular customer could be persuaded into a regular clean schedule.
IMO a properly decent round is always evolving.
And I've said it before but as soon as you're 'full' the work will fly in.
I've been full for a while now but the phone/email keeps on coming!
Replacing otherwise ok customers with great ones is a great feeling.
With enough dedication, you'll get there.
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If there are any 'new build' estates near by hit them hard - again and again - easy to get work there!!
My guess is min 6 mths probably more 'cos you'll pick up a lot of other windies cast offs and messers to start with.
Good luck fella
I only started 2 1/2 years ago and never looked back.
Although I did work full time for a windy canvassing company in the 12 months before I started on my own..
Knock on lots of doors .. be organised and never get disappointed by the 'I do my own' brigade.
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I am 2 and a half years into building my new run. The first 2 years were fairly tough here (I am in the south west of Ireland where there is high unemployment etc.) and many of my customers were one-offs or messers. In the last few months I have picked up some good, regular, quality customers, and now that my book is now filling up, the work seems to be flying in without me actively trying.
I reckon on hitting my targets for customers and earnings by the summer, by which time I will be looking at fresh targets and refining.
To the OP, best wishes.
John
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A lot of people think that setting up as a window cleaner is easy... They throw some money at buying a van and kitting it out with a WFP system and think they have a window cleaning business... Buying a van and WFP system is the easy bit!
Building a round full of well paid, regular, reliable customers that you can rely on day in day out takes years... With plenty of ups and downs along the way.
Andy
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A lot of people think that setting up as a window cleaner is easy... They throw some money at buying a van and kitting it out with a WFP system and think they have a window cleaning business... Buying a van and WFP system is the easy bit!
Building a round full of well paid, regular, reliable customers that you can rely on day in day out takes years... With plenty of ups and downs along the way.
Andy
totally agree!
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3 yrs before i was relatively happy with my customer base
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Yeah - years.
You may gets loads of customers quickly but that's the easy bit.
Profit is another question entirely.
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one tip i can give is drop a messer straight away, even in the early days when youre desperate for money ,cos they never improve their behaviour always gets worse . hanging onto them will delay your progress as you wont find new quickly until youre rid of them
as said above id say 3 yrs for a decent round .
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Yes 2-3 years is a more realistic prospect for a decent round.
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I say don't do it, ;D ;)
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It all depends on 1 factor at the end of the day. YOU.
Anything is possible if you dedicate yourself to it!!
Go for it!
^^what he said^^
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with regular canvassing as you have described and leaflet drops as some days you wont want to canvass then probably about a year to gain 200 quality customers however you do reach a point where work starts to come in by itself like magic - recommendations / people seeing you about.
the best 3 bits of advice I can give you is
1 get signwritten with big "window cleaner" with mobile AND landline number even if its a VOIP line www.vonage.co.uk
2 always do summit to grow canvass, leaflet, talk to friends and neighbours etc
3 if you get a non or slow payer NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER do a second clean with an outstanding debt as you prob wont get that payment neither ...... dump em as soon as you get paid none of this dump when replaced with 2...... let them have 3 strikes etc etc just fook em off there and then and spend the time canvassing as opposed to debt chasing or more cleaning of a crap customers windows ............. a bad customer is not a customer in any way shape or form
good luck with it !!!
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oh and put money to one side say a fiver every day you are working comes in handy for repair bills on van / car plus winter time
£5 x 20 days a month x 11 months = £1100
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+1 sound advice from Ian
I have found I am always building my round as people move on to new houses, money problems etc.
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I have a round quite dominant in one area by leafleting 12 times the first year 6 times the second with a new leaflet each time to keep it fresh as well as door knocking and talking to every one in the area. I am well known as you would think. Yet I still get peeps coming along saying they have been looking for a windy in the area for a few years. I just don`t know what you can do to fill the net and catch them all. I think some folk only sleep at home. It amazes me no end.