Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Marc Stock on March 25, 2016, 05:40:22 pm
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Just a question. I started window cleaning back in 2002. Back then professional window cleaners were alot rarer, most chaps used old bangers and ladders i know this because i started with ladders and a banger. It wasn't until a year later that i bought a van and a year again went by and i bought a brodex e compact and started out on wfp.
Id say that between 2004-2008 were the golden years of wfp earnings . I was picking up commercial jobs left right and centre, as many others were too. Those were the days of another forum when it existed and momentum really picked up. Some people were earning in excess of £500 an hour doing massive blocks of flats or offices in a morning, when guys on cradles would take 4 or 5 days including all the health and saftey bs and wfp would sweep the work out from under thier feet.
Now it seems the opposite. Eveyone i have seen enter into windowcleaning do so thinking they are going to make a fortune, and in reality prices have fallen and become less lucrative. Plus so many people seem to be jumping into the window cleaning bandwagon thinking its easy money. But in reality its pushing prices down and reducing lucrative work. Im beginning to think that window cleaning is going to see a turndown as it saturates with more and more 'professional' kitted out vans and i have noticed that its getting harder to pick up regular customers as the customer base is getting younger and they just dont have the spare cash.
Whats your thoughts chaps?
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Only £500 an hour?
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Depends what your market is. I picked up a one off 4 bed townhouse this week, in and out £270.
Just this afternoon a barn conversion in and out £315.
It keeps getting better IMO.
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I think there's definitely a lot more people doing it, and that's in just the 5 years I've been going. I was in Wokingham the other day (not working) and I saw 5 different window cleaners within one hour.
As Edward Evans said it depends on your market. I priced 3 jobs yesterday total of over £1k and got them all. If they had shopped around they would have got cheaper, but they don't want cheaper.
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There is quality work out there, you just have to offer a premium service with an eye for detail and the work comes in, we pick it up all the time via recommendation and website traffic.
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An attractive, presentable, professional looking website is vital IMO to picking up lucrative work. The job is most of the way in the bag if that's the case. They've pretty much made up their mind. So long as you don't fart when you tell them the price your likely to be home dry.
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I think there's definitely a lot more people doing it, and that's in just the 5 years I've been going. I was in Wokingham the other day (not working) and I saw 5 different window cleaners within one hour.
As Edward Evans said it depends on your market. I priced 3 jobs yesterday total of over £1k and got them all. If they had shopped around they would have got cheaper, but they don't want cheaper.
What are the 3 jobs you got?
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Here the going is good.
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There is more competition and I asked this very question elsewhere. (Another forum)
Thing is they will soon realise how hard it is to get the work. Without being established.
New WFP vans are hammering new estates and new builds and going crazy on prices. Already lower than a snakes belly.
Picked up a new customer today on a new build as the new guy didn't have a clue why it was streaking. As soon a I turned up i spotted the drains on the upvc Windows.
Today picked up a 3 bed semi. 8 weekly. £45 first clean. £25 8 weekly.
Would be happy with about £15-18 for it but we are in demand here and recommendations are going through the roof. Taking on another 20 customers then enough is enough I am full.
Work is out there but you need to make sure your USP is better than the next guy.
Building a round from scratch will see most of the guys off before they even start.
I do see a lot more cleaners BUT I never see them for more than 20-30 mins. They do one or two and go.
On Thursday we cleaned 19 houses without moving from a street. Cleaned another 15 in 3 other roads then went home.
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I picked up 5 jobs today £1500 each and had them done by lunch time, another customer threatened to dump me if I didn't up my
price by £100, I'm finding it almost impossible now to pick up any £3 semis which suit me better as I have too much money.
I hate the fact that people don't want cheap and am living in fear of somebody finding out how rich I am.(http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/1458934798_shocked[1].gif)
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I picked up 5 jobs today £1500 each and had them done by lunch time, another customer threatened to dump me if I didn't up my
price by £100, I'm finding it almost impossible now to pick up any £3 semis which suit me better as I have too much money.
I hate the fact that people don't want cheap and am living in fear of somebody finding out how rich I am.(http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/1458934798_shocked[1].gif)
lmao ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Most of the market will get saturated tomorrow onwards. Windy too.
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I picked up 5 jobs today £1500 each and had them done by lunch time, another customer threatened to dump me if I didn't up my
price by £100, I'm finding it almost impossible now to pick up any £3 semis which suit me better as I have too much money.
I hate the fact that people don't want cheap and am living in fear of somebody finding out how rich I am.(http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/1458934798_shocked[1].gif)
;D
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I picked up 3 customers next door to each other today , couldn't believe my luck . 3 bed semis , quick 20 mins each so I charged each one a fiver , fantastic day for the books
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Just a question. I started window cleaning back in 2002. Back then professional window cleaners were alot rarer, most chaps used old bangers and ladders i know this because i started with ladders and a banger. It wasn't until a year later that i bought a van and a year again went by and i bought a brodex e compact and started out on wfp.
Id say that between 2004-2008 were the golden years of wfp earnings . I was picking up commercial jobs left right and centre, as many others were too. Those were the days of another forum when it existed and momentum really picked up. Some people were earning in excess of £500 an hour doing massive blocks of flats or offices in a morning, when guys on cradles would take 4 or 5 days including all the health and saftey bs and wfp would sweep the work out from under thier feet.
Now it seems the opposite. Eveyone i have seen enter into windowcleaning do so thinking they are going to make a fortune, and in reality prices have fallen and become less lucrative. Plus so many people seem to be jumping into the window cleaning bandwagon thinking its easy money. But in reality its pushing prices down and reducing lucrative work. Im beginning to think that window cleaning is going to see a turndown as it saturates with more and more 'professional' kitted out vans and i have noticed that its getting harder to pick up regular customers as the customer base is getting younger and they just dont have the spare cash.
Whats your thoughts chaps?
I've spoken to a few old school and they have said much the same. Far to many charging silly low prices is defo not good for anyone.
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With a little upfront cash you could make yourself look the part and many do. They can do the talk but not the walk, lol.
Iv found these ones just simply fade away but the trouble is, theyve done such a bad job people blame the systems we use. When I was trad working and this happened, customers blames the workman. Yet on wfp, they blame the setup and not the worker so its harder to convince these ones to come bk on board
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It took me about 3 months to learn how to wfp properly. Some don't even last that long ;D
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I believe you're probably right, I started 3 years ago and since then, 3 people I know have started up but as flooded as the market is, I still believe that if you're professional, reliable and of course do a good job, there's plenty of work out there. I keep saying I'm not going to take on more work and yet still do.
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My city alone has approx 320,000 houses.
I only want 300-400 of them
Think I'll be ok for now unless there's another 800 windys in my area who want 400 each!
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I picked up 5 jobs today £1500 each and had them done by lunch time, another customer threatened to dump me if I didn't up my
price by £100, I'm finding it almost impossible now to pick up any £3 semis which suit me better as I have too much money.
I hate the fact that people don't want cheap and am living in fear of somebody finding out how rich I am.(http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/1458934798_shocked[1].gif)
;D ;D
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I don't get out of bed if I can't make £1000 per hour.
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I don't get out of bed if I can't make £1000 per hour.
I like my bed so much most days I stay in it until about 10am. Then have a nap or two later on during the day ;D
Also think it is quite plausible for a larger cleaning firm to turnover a 1000 an hour between their workforce too.
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My city alone has approx 320,000 houses.
I only want 300-400 of them
Think I'll be ok for now unless there's another 800 windys in my area who want 400 each!
+1
I started a poll on here about what proportion of houses had a paid window cleaner. The result was around 60% - 70%.
So, if the area where you live has 100,000 houses, probably 60,000 need a cleaner. That's a ludicrous number of rounds. Southampton and surrounds has 220,000 houses (so 132,000 potential customers) despite being pretty small by city standards.
I think saturation is a long way off.
Vin
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getting saturated .............. don't know as too busy cleaning windows .. working longer hours .. charging more still getting the customers ... well apart from the one who wants to negotiate with me via email which will be getting posted later ;D
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My city alone has approx 320,000 houses.
I only want 300-400 of them
Think I'll be ok for now unless there's another 800 windys in my area who want 400 each!
+1
I started a poll on here about what proportion of houses had a paid window cleaner. The result was around 60% - 70%.
So, if the area where you live has 100,000 houses, probably 60,000 need a cleaner. That's a ludicrous number of rounds. Southampton and surrounds has 220,000 houses (so 132,000 potential customers) despite being pretty small by city standards.
I think saturation is a long way off.
Vin
Thats an interesting point vin.
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A better question/ point would be, how many people who have been in their properties a while that want a window cleaner don't
have one ?
I certainly could have my pick of shiners if I needed one in the morning, that said it doesn't mean I couldn't build a decent round
it would just take more effort and a little longer.
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I think there's definitely a lot more people doing it, and that's in just the 5 years I've been going. I was in Wokingham the other day (not working) and I saw 5 different window cleaners within one hour.
As Edward Evans said it depends on your market. I priced 3 jobs yesterday total of over £1k and got them all. If they had shopped around they would have got cheaper, but they don't want cheaper.
What are the 3 jobs you got?
A regular window clean with first clean fascias, soffits, cladding etc
A yearly gutter clean
A regular window clean
They all said yes straight away, the first one showed me some flyers of other guys I know in the area, he didn't even call them, so price wasn't his main concern. As was stated before there's great work out there, even if there's loads of other companies.
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Also, bear in mind that there are still plenty of idiots cleaning windows. All of us have heard the tales of cleaners who stopped coming/became unreliable/started doing a bad job/disappeared for six months/kicked the cat. So, all you need to do is be around (leaflet/knock on door/van in road) on the day someone's thinking one of those things. At that point they won't care about your price; they'll just be looking for someone who might be reliable.
Vin
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When I started up over here I was told that I wouldn't make it work because of insufficient demand for residential window cleaning. Less than 5 years later I am snowed under with work.
There are other window cleaners about, but I rarely see any doing residentials. They all seem to want to do shops (I have a few of those too).
John
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I think there's definitely a lot more people doing it, and that's in just the 5 years I've been going. I was in Wokingham the other day (not working) and I saw 5 different window cleaners within one hour.
As Edward Evans said it depends on your market. I priced 3 jobs yesterday total of over £1k and got them all. If they had shopped around they would have got cheaper, but they don't want cheaper.
What are the 3 jobs you got?
A regular window clean with first clean fascias, soffits, cladding etc
A yearly gutter clean
A regular window clean
They all said yes straight away, the first one showed me some flyers of other guys I know in the area, he didn't even call them, so price wasn't his main concern. As was stated before there's great work out there, even if there's loads of other companies.
So the 1K is over a year?
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A window cleaning round is very fluent as you always will come across messers, people move away, pop their clogs, you get undercut, get rid of bad and/or low paid jobs to name a few reasons. Therefore in general there is always room to take on more work to replace jobs for one reason or another.
Having so say loyal customers, being the most realiable window cleaner and offering the best quality service in the world don't mean jack to some especial the dead ones. ;D
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I think the answer may be in this thread from 2009.
http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=72605.msg635997#msg635997
Or this one from 2010.
http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=91372.0;all
Or this one from 2012.
http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=152992.0;all
Vin
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I think there's definitely a lot more people doing it, and that's in just the 5 years I've been going. I was in Wokingham the other day (not working) and I saw 5 different window cleaners within one hour.
As Edward Evans said it depends on your market. I priced 3 jobs yesterday total of over £1k and got them all. If they had shopped around they would have got cheaper, but they don't want cheaper.
What are the 3 jobs you got?
A regular window clean with first clean fascias, soffits, cladding etc
A yearly gutter clean
A regular window clean
They all said yes straight away, the first one showed me some flyers of other guys I know in the area, he didn't even call them, so price wasn't his main concern. As was stated before there's great work out there, even if there's loads of other companies.
So the 1K is over a year?
I very much doubt it somehow as offering multiple services some find it quite easy incuding myself to pick up well paid work. Be it one-off, add-hoc, yearly, six monthly or just well paid regular window cleaning work.
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I think there's definitely a lot more people doing it, and that's in just the 5 years I've been going. I was in Wokingham the other day (not working) and I saw 5 different window cleaners within one hour.
As Edward Evans said it depends on your market. I priced 3 jobs yesterday total of over £1k and got them all. If they had shopped around they would have got cheaper, but they don't want cheaper.
What are the 3 jobs you got?
A regular window clean with first clean fascias, soffits, cladding etc
A yearly gutter clean
A regular window clean
They all said yes straight away, the first one showed me some flyers of other guys I know in the area, he didn't even call them, so price wasn't his main concern. As was stated before there's great work out there, even if there's loads of other companies.
So the 1K is over a year?
From those 3 jobs yearly it's just under £800. The point was in that morning I looked at 3 jobs and quoted over £1k (total first cleans) and got it.
The week before one afternoon canvassing bought in £936 worth a year.
So although there's loads of companies there's still great work out there.
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Hmm I think what it must be is that I'm just so sick and tired of window cleaning I have plenty of work but I can't go out canvassing anymore as I don't have the time.
I need someone to work for me really, I'd feel a lot more positive
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I picked up 5 jobs today £1500 each and had them done by lunch time, another customer threatened to dump me if I didn't up my
price by £100, I'm finding it almost impossible now to pick up any £3 semis which suit me better as I have too much money.
I hate the fact that people don't want cheap and am living in fear of somebody finding out how rich I am.(http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/1458934798_shocked[1].gif)
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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I am not surprised there are so many window cleaner as there is persistent B/S bragging about income is so cheap and unprofessional This will attract many who will also want money for nothing. When this does not work out they are forced to drop priced to try to recoup the investment. We are like the guy that discovered a young thing that would happily put out for him, so told all his mates, what great a lover he was. Them wondered why he had to stand in a queue for some horizontal relaxation with her. There is ass hole born every day in this game.
The truth has often been said on this page that there is lots of glass out there for all to clean. A marketing revelation is stated from another dummy again, that`s not true. There is a lot of glass out there, only if the owners want it cleaned. Spec Savers would be a place to visit before investing in an overstated market.
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Just a question. I started window cleaning back in 2002. Back then professional window cleaners were alot rarer, most chaps used old bangers and ladders i know this because i started with ladders and a banger. It wasn't until a year later that i bought a van and a year again went by and i bought a brodex e compact and started out on wfp.
Id say that between 2004-2008 were the golden years of wfp earnings . I was picking up commercial jobs left right and centre, as many others were too. Those were the days of another forum when it existed and momentum really picked up. Some people were earning in excess of £500 an hour doing massive blocks of flats or offices in a morning, when guys on cradles would take 4 or 5 days including all the health and saftey bs and wfp would sweep the work out from under thier feet.
Now it seems the opposite. Eveyone i have seen enter into windowcleaning do so thinking they are going to make a fortune, and in reality prices have fallen and become less lucrative. Plus so many people seem to be jumping into the window cleaning bandwagon thinking its easy money. But in reality its pushing prices down and reducing lucrative work. Im beginning to think that window cleaning is going to see a turndown as it saturates with more and more 'professional' kitted out vans and i have noticed that its getting harder to pick up regular customers as the customer base is getting younger and they just dont have the spare cash.
Whats your thoughts chaps?
£500 an hour?ciu is getting more ridiculous as times passes! ::)roll ;D.
i didnt go wfp until 2010 after 17 years on the ladders.things have steadily improved for me earnings wise year on year as well as working a shorter day actually cleaning the windows.
theres always been a lot of window cleaners about as theres lots of windows that need cleaning all over the area(and country)you work in.
yes theres more wfpolers and sign written vans about but at the end of the day if the customers dont like you as a person or your attitude stinks and you provide a crap service your gonna lose customers over time.
im happy with my current workload/income/prices etc.yes i do lose the odd customer here and there for whatever reason but theres always a new customer just around the corner.until this stops happening i wont worry about "other" window cleaners and their businesses.i concentrate on my own.
since the downturn/recession of 2008 my business has gone from strength to strength.coupled with getting computer literate in 2009,finding this site and wfp in 2010.its absolutely turned my window cleaning round into a good solid profitable business that i could of only dreamt about beforehand.
in fact when a lot of people had it good in the early 2000s i was struggling big time with money,debt and personal issues.
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Just had a phone call from an unknown. (Sunday 2pm) must have got my number from van or business page. Iv been in an area called cussworth for 14yrs. Out the blue this chap phones me saying hes been in same area for 28yrs n wanting to kno if im selling the round!!
Dont kno who the chap is but im guessing I will do, expecting him to come n try nab work now so this will be fun. Said there are idiots out there!!
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I am not surprised there are so many window cleaner as there is persistent B/S bragging about income is so cheap and unprofessional This will attract many who will also want money for nothing. When this does not work out they are forced to drop priced to try to recoup the investment. We are like the guy that discovered a young thing that would happily put out for him, so told all his mates, what great a lover he was. Them wondered why he had to stand in a queue for some horizontal relaxation with her. There is ass hole born every day in this game.
The truth has often been said on this page that there is lots of glass out there for all to clean. A marketing revelation is stated from another dummy again, that`s not true. There is a lot of glass out there, only if the owners want it cleaned. Spec Savers would be a place to visit before investing in an overstated market.
Exactly and they'll be the ones who give up. Then the ones who realise you have to work for a living will pick up those jobs, and at a good price as the customer will be fed up of the messers, as has already been stated.
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Just a question. I started window cleaning back in 2002. Back then professional window cleaners were alot rarer, most chaps used old bangers and ladders i know this because i started with ladders and a banger. It wasn't until a year later that i bought a van and a year again went by and i bought a brodex e compact and started out on wfp.
Id say that between 2004-2008 were the golden years of wfp earnings . I was picking up commercial jobs left right and centre, as many others were too. Those were the days of another forum when it existed and momentum really picked up. Some people were earning in excess of £500 an hour doing massive blocks of flats or offices in a morning, when guys on cradles would take 4 or 5 days including all the health and saftey bs and wfp would sweep the work out from under thier feet.
Now it seems the opposite. Eveyone i have seen enter into windowcleaning do so thinking they are going to make a fortune, and in reality prices have fallen and become less lucrative. Plus so many people seem to be jumping into the window cleaning bandwagon thinking its easy money. But in reality its pushing prices down and reducing lucrative work. Im beginning to think that window cleaning is going to see a turndown as it saturates with more and more 'professional' kitted out vans and i have noticed that its getting harder to pick up regular customers as the customer base is getting younger and they just dont have the spare cash.
Whats your thoughts chaps?
£500 an hour?ciu is getting more ridiculous as times passes! ::)roll ;D.
i didnt go wfp until 2010 after 17 years on the ladders.things have steadily improved for me earnings wise year on year as well as working a shorter day actually cleaning the windows.
theres always been a lot of window cleaners about as theres lots of windows that need cleaning all over the area(and country)you work in.
yes theres more wfpolers and sign written vans about but at the end of the day if the customers dont like you as a person or your attitude stinks and you provide a crap service your gonna lose customers over time.
im happy with my current workload/income/prices etc.yes i do lose the odd customer here and there for whatever reason but theres always a new customer just around the corner.until this stops happening i wont worry about "other" window cleaners and their businesses.i concentrate on my own.
since the downturn/recession of 2008 my business has gone from strength to strength.coupled with getting computer literate in 2009,finding this site and wfp in 2010.its absolutely turned my window cleaning round into a good solid profitable business that i could of only dreamt about beforehand.
in fact when a lot of people had it good in the early 2000s i was struggling big time with money,debt and personal issues.
I'm not sure quite how to take your comments, I hope they are not directed at me here because that wouldn't be particularly professional either.
All I was saying was at the time, I know for a fact for a short while wfp was very lucrative in the larger office blocks and flats, and many window cleaners didn't like wfp to start with because of this. There was a definate divide amongst traddies and wfpers to start with. When you consider that to clean windows off a cradle vs using water fed poles the costs of just having health and safety do the sign off for inspection of equipment often could run into the hundreds or even thousands before any labour is charged actually doing the job (especially as it was in many cases if the equipment installed at the building hadn't been touched for 5 years)
On that basis alone if your a facilities manager looking at having the windows cleaned, it can be a very expensive proposition and thus some just didn't bother becouse of the costs. When wfp came along this changed things you could quote them £500 a clean for example and they would bite your arm off they didnt care at the time you could have it done in an hour, they just wanted it done with out spending hundreds or thousands on checking cradles. I know becouse I used to have work on worple road and we won work on this exact basis and made a lot of money during that period. As did many others at that time. About 2008 things started to turn and prices tumbled in that kind of work so I got out, and now it's all rock bottom. You can still make a good living out of it but the bubble burst long ago.
I rember I had all brodex kit back then a 57 foot carbon pole as thick as a tree cost me £1200plus vat back then. The sections were so long you had to extend it up the building we actually put some wheels on the flat side of the brush to stop scuffing the render. At the Peak I had 30 different sites like this and bought a house with the money I was only 25. Wfp really was serious money in those kind of jobs,
Doing the work was fun, people stopping and staring wondering what this huge pole was. It wasn't a common sight back then.
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Nice informative post there Marc.
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Just a question. I started window cleaning back in 2002. Back then professional window cleaners were alot rarer, most chaps used old bangers and ladders i know this because i started with ladders and a banger. It wasn't until a year later that i bought a van and a year again went by and i bought a brodex e compact and started out on wfp.
Id say that between 2004-2008 were the golden years of wfp earnings . I was picking up commercial jobs left right and centre, as many others were too. Those were the days of another forum when it existed and momentum really picked up. Some people were earning in excess of £500 an hour doing massive blocks of flats or offices in a morning, when guys on cradles would take 4 or 5 days including all the health and saftey bs and wfp would sweep the work out from under thier feet.
Now it seems the opposite. Eveyone i have seen enter into windowcleaning do so thinking they are going to make a fortune, and in reality prices have fallen and become less lucrative. Plus so many people seem to be jumping into the window cleaning bandwagon thinking its easy money. But in reality its pushing prices down and reducing lucrative work. Im beginning to think that window cleaning is going to see a turndown as it saturates with more and more 'professional' kitted out vans and i have noticed that its getting harder to pick up regular customers as the customer base is getting younger and they just dont have the spare cash.
Whats your thoughts chaps?
£500 an hour?ciu is getting more ridiculous as times passes! ::)roll ;D.
i didnt go wfp until 2010 after 17 years on the ladders.things have steadily improved for me earnings wise year on year as well as working a shorter day actually cleaning the windows.
theres always been a lot of window cleaners about as theres lots of windows that need cleaning all over the area(and country)you work in.
yes theres more wfpolers and sign written vans about but at the end of the day if the customers dont like you as a person or your attitude stinks and you provide a crap service your gonna lose customers over time.
im happy with my current workload/income/prices etc.yes i do lose the odd customer here and there for whatever reason but theres always a new customer just around the corner.until this stops happening i wont worry about "other" window cleaners and their businesses.i concentrate on my own.
since the downturn/recession of 2008 my business has gone from strength to strength.coupled with getting computer literate in 2009,finding this site and wfp in 2010.its absolutely turned my window cleaning round into a good solid profitable business that i could of only dreamt about beforehand.
in fact when a lot of people had it good in the early 2000s i was struggling big time with money,debt and personal issues.
I'm not sure quite how to take your comments, I hope they are not directed at me here because that wouldn't be particularly professional either.
All I was saying was at the time, I know for a fact for a short while wfp was very lucrative in the larger office blocks and flats, and many window cleaners didn't like wfp to start with because of this. There was a definate divide amongst traddies and wfpers to start with. When you consider that to clean windows off a cradle vs using water fed poles the costs of just having health and safety do the sign off for inspection of equipment often could run into the hundreds or even thousands before any labour is charged actually doing the job (especially as it was in many cases if the equipment installed at the building hadn't been touched for 5 years)
On that basis alone if your a facilities manager looking at having the windows cleaned, it can be a very expensive proposition and thus some just didn't bother becouse of the costs. When wfp came along this changed things you could quote them £500 a clean for example and they would bite your arm off they didnt care at the time you could have it done in an hour, they just wanted it done with out spending hundreds or thousands on checking cradles. I know becouse I used to have work on worple road and we won work on this exact basis and made a lot of money during that period. As did many others at that time. About 2008 things started to turn and prices tumbled in that kind of work so I got out, and now it's all rock bottom. You can still make a good living out of it but the bubble burst long ago.
I rember I had all brodex kit back then a 57 foot carbon pole as thick as a tree cost me £1200plus vat back then. The sections were so long you had to extend it up the building we actually put some wheels on the flat side of the brush to stop scuffing the render. At the Peak I had 30 different sites like this and bought a house with the money I was only 25. Wfp really was serious money in those kind of jobs,
Doing the work was fun, people stopping and staring wondering what this huge pole was. It wasn't a common sight back then.
:)
Pre windows cleaning days about 18 years ago I remember watching 2 guys battling to raise a water fed pole to clean some council offices. They also wheeled it up the side of the building. When they finally got it up it needed 2 of them to hold it as it was so heavy.
I still remember the incident as clearly as ever, but the wfp cleaning process never registered with me. I saw the problems but not the benefits back then.
BTW, I can reach those top office windows with my SLX40. How times have changed.
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It's definately harder to find work I posted 500 leaflets last week and never got a call okay that's not a huge amount whilst some were clean I'd say half were dirty or filthy people just don't see it as important anymore, nearly every one had the 50p bucket of dirty water ladder man in the 70s because it kept him in beer money, the recession has changed peoples attitudes as well although things have apparently improved budgets have been squeezed.
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All I know us since going wfp I earn more than 40k than I did at school. Best move I ever made. I now shop in Waitrose and have two holidays a year at Butlins. I have a nearly new pink Micra convertable and a Goregeous boyfriend. I don't get out of bed for less than sixty pounds an hour - in fact I don't get out of bed at all.
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marc IMO theres nothing "PROFESSIONAL" about making a ridiculous amount of money cleaning windows earning £500 an hour(or any similar amount of money).its just a plain rip off.pure and simple.
yes it was directed at you by the way as you put up this thread.why you surprised that companies are not paying these sums anymore?because they know when their being ripped off thats why!
you can still make a half decent living cleaning windows without being greedy.
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marc IMO theres nothing "PROFESSIONAL" about making a ridiculous amount of money cleaning windows earning £500 an hour(or any similar amount of money).its just a plain rip off.pure and simple.
yes it was directed at you by the way as you put up this thread.why you surprised that companies are not paying these sums anymore?because they know when their being ripped off thats why!
you can still make a half decent living cleaning windows without being greedy.
You can make even a better living by having the balls to charge top dollar (what the job is really worth).
As someone said recently it's not about being greedy but you are in business to make money.
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marc IMO theres nothing "PROFESSIONAL" about making a ridiculous amount of money cleaning windows earning £500 an hour(or any similar amount of money).its just a plain rip off.pure and simple.
yes it was directed at you by the way as you put up this thread.why you surprised that companies are not paying these sums anymore?because they know when their being ripped off thats why!
you can still make a half decent living cleaning windows without being greedy.
You can make even a better living by having the balls to charge top dollar (what the job is really worth).
As someone said recently it's not about being greedy but you are in business to make money.
theres a fine line between being a rip off merchant and charging a good price IMO or just being an unrealistic person expecting too much(eg greedy).
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I have always believed that 'slow and steady wins the day'.
I apply this not only to working at a steady pace rather than haring about like a lunatic, but also to charging what I consider to be a reasonable price for a job well done, as opposed to getting away with charging as much as I can before the bubble bursts.
During the recession I was still picking up work and was busier than ever, before I was forced to sell up and relocate to Ireland nearly five years ago.
I still apply the same ethos as I did before, and, although it was tough going for the first 3-4 years, I kept on going and in the last year have been inundated with new and good quality work, I am now well established locally and doing ok. What the 'competition' charges I neither know nor care.
John
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I have always believed that 'slow and steady wins the day'.
I apply this not only to working at a steady pace rather than haring about like a lunatic, but also to charging what I consider to be a reasonable price for a job well done, as opposed to getting away with charging as much as I can before the bubble bursts.
During the recession I was still picking up work and was busier than ever, before I was forced to sell up and relocate to Ireland nearly five years ago.
I still apply the same ethos as I did before, and, although it was tough going for the first 3-4 years, I kept on going and in the last year have been inundated with new and good quality work, I am now well established locally and doing ok. What the 'competition' charges I neither know nor care.
John
very good post john.i agree absolutely mate.apart from the "slow and steady bit". ;D
brisk and steady! ;) ;D
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marc IMO theres nothing "PROFESSIONAL" about making a ridiculous amount of money cleaning windows earning £500 an hour(or any similar amount of money).its just a plain rip off.pure and simple.
yes it was directed at you by the way as you put up this thread.why you surprised that companies are not paying these sums anymore?because they know when their being ripped off thats why!
you can still make a half decent living cleaning windows without being greedy.
You can make even a better living by having the balls to charge top dollar (what the job is really worth).
As someone said recently it's not about being greedy but you are in business to make money.
theres a fine line between being a rip off merchant and charging a good price IMO or just being an unrealistic person expecting too much(eg greedy).
Blimey dazmond. Wind your neck in.
Your sounding bitter in your old age.
This is why i stopped bothering on this forum its full of idiots like you getting all defensive and grumpy. That was what the market demanded back then, its a different story now or are you miffed at yourself for not getting a slice of the action when you could of at the time.
Can i suggest you change your signature of' price higer' to 'i should have priced higher' you look like a fool with your current stance on this conversation and that signature.
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It's definately harder to find work I posted 500 leaflets last week and never got a call okay that's not a huge amount whilst some were clean I'd say half were dirty or filthy people just don't see it as important anymore, nearly every one had the 50p bucket of dirty water ladder man in the 70s because it kept him in beer money, the recession has changed peoples attitudes as well although things have apparently improved budgets have been squeezed.
Exactly what im eluding to. It is definitely harder competition nowadays. Keep going though.
One thing i did a few years back was to start offering quarterly services, especially for bigger properties. It really worked out well you can charge alot more per clean and they perfer it as they don't feel like they are shelling out all the time.
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marc IMO theres nothing "PROFESSIONAL" about making a ridiculous amount of money cleaning windows earning £500 an hour(or any similar amount of money).its just a plain rip off.pure and simple.
yes it was directed at you by the way as you put up this thread.why you surprised that companies are not paying these sums anymore?because they know when their being ripped off thats why!
you can still make a half decent living cleaning windows without being greedy.
You can make even a better living by having the balls to charge top dollar (what the job is really worth).
As someone said recently it's not about being greedy but you are in business to make money.
Exactly smurf. The market pays what the market pays. Back then that was the going rate, now its not; times change simple.
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marc im certainly not bitter.ive never been more content with my income/prices/round etc. :)
accusing me of being an idiot just because i questioned the morality of ridiculous high prices that cant be charged anymore says more about you than me.
i price fair for both me and the customer IMO.£500 for an hours work is just daylight robbery for cleaning windows whether its commercial work or not in my book.
price higher,work harder is something i put on my profile years ago to motivate me to turn around a rather large underpriced round that i had at the time.....and it worked! :)
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Just get over the bloody £500 will you as them was the good old days and some will do it for a fiver now so what. ;D
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I think it depends where you live NO IT DOSE .I recently got slagged off for charging in their opinion a low priced job so what....... ill charge what I am comfortable with i work to support my way of living which I am quite happy with I don't fall in to the trap of chasing money the more you chase the more you want I agree with you daz .they are a lot of money grabbers .I had a phone call last night for a gutter clean I knew where the job was and which house I gave the price over the phone I was supirsed the custy said that I was the cheapest out of 5 she had rang the prices they wanted were a rip off
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I think it depends where you live NO IT DOSE .I recently got slagged off for charging in their opinion a low priced job so what....... ill charge what I am comfortable with i work to support my way of living which I am quite happy with I don't fall in to the trap of chasing money the more you chase the more you want I agree with you daz .they are a lot of money grabbers .I had a phone call last night for a gutter clean I knew where the job was and which house I gave the price over the phone I was supirsed the custy said that I was the cheapest out of 5 she had rang the prices they wanted were a rip off
Care to enlighten us what the price you quoted and the 4 others were.
Not being funny but the big giveaway was you were the 5th they phoned so obviously they were looking for the cheapest price anyway. That does not mean the 4 others as you put it were trying to rip people off as some people are price conditioned that meaning living in the past.
Pricing has always been a contentious subject to discuss but it does annoy me when some people say because they would price a lot lower than the ones that charges more they say are ripping people off. That goes for any part of the country too..
At the end of the day it's up to the potential customer who they want to do the work but most don't just keep phoning around to get the cheapest quote. I've found most will tend to go with a firm with a good reputation that they feel they can trust and will do a good job so are more than happy to pay more without feeling they are being ripped off.
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Just get over the bloody £500 will you as them was the good old days and some will do it for a fiver now so what. ;D
Yeah Dazmond get over it. You lost out on the slice of pie. Now your stuck with the salad.
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Just get over the bloody £500 will you as them was the good old days and some will do it for a fiver now so what. ;D
Yeah Dazmond get over it. You lost out on the slice of pie. Now your stuck with the salad.
I do like Marc's sense of humour ;D ;D
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I just put in a commercial quote. Worked it out wrong and doubled my normal price. Got ghe job too thev'e given the current cleaner a months notice.
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just goes to show you were probably still cheaper anyway even after the cockup with your pricing ;D
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I did wonder, I didn't know they had a cleaner it looked that bad - he's getting sacked now :o I priced it well above anything else I've ever had - stupidly high I thought. There you go.
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I hope you charged extra for the first clean as sounds like a one-off messer to me if the windows are that bad.
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property management company, I already do two blocks of flats for them.