Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Lee Pryor on September 01, 2018, 12:40:29 pm
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Big day for us. Aug was our first month to hit the target I set when I sold my house and below is a quick update video for that.
https://youtu.be/pwGDgcTDD4A
Now that I am at this point I feel like I want to push on a bit further and have been thinking about how to do that. I was going to set up a new base the other side of London and try to mirror what we have here. Instead I have decided to push on with growth here instead.
The new plan is even more ambitious. We are now at 10 vans on the road and 1 spare, over £65k a month. We will be trying to get to 15 vans and 1 spare with £100-£110k a month by the end of next year/within 18 months. We will be adding new areas and plan to do our biggest leaflet drop yet...... 1.5million in 2019 with a goal of 3000 new customers. We will be ordering 3 new vans by March with another 2 by Sep if things are on track. The leaflets will go out 250k in the 1st week of each month from Apr-Sep We will also be buying a second static system to keep up with pure water demand each day total of 15000L accross 2 systems.
Have to say Im really enjoying watching things develop at the rate they are. I get a real buzz every day with it. It is stressful and I do get tired but I think I can push on for another year or so at this pace. Exciting times ahead.
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Nicely done lee
But you know all the naysayers will think you’ve made it all up 😂
Darran
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Nice one Lee, i think you are mad for sharing all this info on the forum but i do enjoy reading / watching your progress
you defo made the right decision re expanding your current location instead of opening a second.
i have two depots 25 miles apart and its painful.....
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I've achieved all my goals in window cleaning terms.....No other goals now...... :)
I'm happy and mainly stress free most of the time.... 8)
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Big day for us. Aug was our first month to hit the target I set when I sold my house and below is a quick update video for that.
https://youtu.be/pwGDgcTDD4A
Now that I am at this point I feel like I want to push on a bit further and have been thinking about how to do that. I was going to set up a new base the other side of London and try to mirror what we have here. Instead I have decided to push on with growth here instead.
The new plan is even more ambitious. We are now at 10 vans on the road and 1 spare, over £65k a month. We will be trying to get to 15 vans and 1 spare with £100-£110k a month by the end of next year/within 18 months. We will be adding new areas and plan to do our biggest leaflet drop yet...... 1.5million in 2019 with a goal of 3000 new customers. We will be ordering 3 new vans by March with another 2 by Sep if things are on track. The leaflets will go out 250k in the 1st week of each month from Apr-Sep We will also be buying a second static system to keep up with pure water demand each day total of 15000L accross 2 systems.
Have to say Im really enjoying watching things develop at the rate they are. I get a real buzz every day with it. It is stressful and I do get tired but I think I can push on for another year or so at this pace. Exciting times ahead.
Might seem like a silly question but whats your end game....carry on growing, sell, expand to other parts of the country ??...cheers bob
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Well done Lee amazing work.
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Hi bob. My end game is as mentioned above. That is the size I want. Then just maintain and live on the money. Don't think I would sell. At that size the money gets to about 16/17k a month after tax so I would be more than happy with that.
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nice plan
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Well done on your success Lee,
I'm currently almost fully booked and work alone. It would be a dream come true to build a company as big as yours and a few others on here.
I want to expand and find an employee, but for some reason I'm worried I'll struggle to find a good long term person for the job. I've had a couple of friends work for me in past and after a good start after 3 months the standard of work started slipping and they were sometimes calling in sick, I was paying £10ph so it's not like it was a low wage.
How was it for you when you first started employing and what pitfalls did you encounter?
Also how much would you spend on advertising and How many leaflets would you aim to have delivered in order to gain another 400+ customers for the new employee?
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So does that mean you reached your September goal of 500 more customers?
Anyway, well done. I still think it was mad buying the vans before you had the work but it’s obviously kept you focussed! An amazing achievement and somewhat beyond my goals. I think there’s a tendency to underestimate the effort, focus and nouse required to run profitably and professionally a multivan business.
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Staff problems are no different for me than anyone else. To get 400 customers you need to know your return % and work back from there. I get 2.6 customers per 1000 leaflets. So I would deliver about 170k to get that or just over.
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Do you intend to use jogpost again or will you try a different way.
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I no longer use jogpost as there service went very downhill. I use Royal Mail and a few others
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I no longer use jogpost as there service went very downhill. I use Royal Mail and a few others
How much are royal mail charging you?
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How do you select your staff Lee? I find it so difficult to find people you can trust and rely on.
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How do you select your staff Lee? I find it so difficult to find people you can trust and rely on.
No different for me. Usually go through 3/4 to get 1 the difference with me is I don't get discouraged by this I just put the head down and push on
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I no longer use jogpost as there service went very downhill. I use Royal Mail and a few others
How much are royal mail charging you?
The same they would charge you. Easy to look up
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It really is awe inspiring to read these posts.
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I no longer use jogpost as there service went very downhill. I use Royal Mail and a few others
How much are royal mail charging you?
The same they would charge you. Easy to look up
Thanks for the sarc answer :)
I already tried that but you have to call them for a quote. They don't publish prices.
Won't ask you again then sorry
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The van is off the road this week for accident repairs, would it be ok to call by on Friday for this coffee lee?
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I no longer use jogpost as there service went very downhill. I use Royal Mail and a few others
How much are royal mail charging you?
The same they would charge you. Easy to look up
Thanks for the sarc answer :)
I already tried that but you have to call them for a quote. They don't publish prices.
Won't ask you again then sorry
Oh Paul don't be so silly 😜
About £63 per thousand. Call them and ask them to email you there pricing table.
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Royal Mail £57 + vat per 1000
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I no longer use jogpost as there service went very downhill. I use Royal Mail and a few others
How much are royal mail charging you?
The same they would charge you. Easy to look up
Thanks for the sarc answer :)
I already tried that but you have to call them for a quote. They don't publish prices.
Won't ask you again then sorry
Oh Paul don't be so silly 😜
About £63 per thousand. Call them and ask them to email you there pricing table.
Fab thank you. Sounds a reasonably price to me.
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The van is off the road this week for accident repairs, would it be ok to call by on Friday for this coffee lee?
Yep
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The van is off the road this week for accident repairs, would it be ok to call by on Friday for this coffee lee?
Yep
Happy days.
I'll be looking to set off early before the traffic, is 9am ish ok?
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Sounds good. 10am even better lol. I'm not used to the early starts anymore haha!
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Sounds good. 10am even better lol. I'm not used to the early starts anymore haha!
No problem
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You are crushing it - An impressive amount of growth in a short space of time.
My goal in March 2017 was to double the turnover in 18 months. Like you, I invested my own money to make this happen.
We are nearly there in this, and the only reason we haven't smashed it; is because I've suspended about 75 customers who were not able to move to paying by Go Cardless.
For the next 12 months my goals are to
a) add 50% to the turnover,
b) Implement a referral programme that will generate at least 60 sales per year from referrals.
c) Get the ratings on trust pilot and google business to over 4 stars
d) Have the ratio of complaints to turnover at the same level as it was when I was on the tools.
e) Have zero team member turnover in the front line team (currently 2 partners).
g) Have a 'mailing universe' of at least 120k. We currently send leaflets out to 90k homes per year.
h) Double the percentage of customers who are getting annual gutter clearing from 10% to 20%
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Lee, how did you find good staff, do you start them on good pay to begin with?
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Lee, how did you find good staff, do you start them on good pay to begin with?
As I said above we go through 3/4 each time to get 1 I just push on until I get that 1 rather than quit.
Yes they are well paid. My top guys are over 30k a year.
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To get quality team members we ordered bright yellow 1 metre by 2 metre banners and bungeed them to the sides of the vans.
On the banner it said:
"Who ELSE wants to earn up to £15 per hour?"
We got a steady stream of enquiries...
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You are crushing it - An impressive amount of growth in a short space of time.
My goal in March 2017 was to double the turnover in 18 months. Like you, I invested my own money to make this happen.
We are nearly there in this, and the only reason we haven't smashed it; is because I've suspended about 75 customers who were not able to move to paying by Go Cardless.
For the next 12 months my goals are to
a) add 50% to the turnover,
b) Implement a referral programme that will generate at least 60 sales per year from referrals.
c) Get the ratings on trust pilot and google business to over 4 stars
d) Have the ratio of complaints to turnover at the same level as it was when I was on the tools.
e) Have zero team member turnover in the front line team (currently 2 partners).
g) Have a 'mailing universe' of at least 120k. We currently send leaflets out to 90k homes per year.
h) Double the percentage of customers who are getting annual gutter clearing from 10% to 20%
I’ve had customers pass me your flyer. They were gobsmacked by the prices you charge. Do you have a good retention rate and do you not think every 3 months is a long time between cleans?
Many thanks, Bungle.
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So does that mean you reached your September goal of 500 more customers?
Anyway, well done. I still think it was mad buying the vans before you had the work but it’s obviously kept you focussed! An amazing achievement and somewhat beyond my goals. I think there’s a tendency to underestimate the effort, focus and nouse required to run profitably and professionally a multivan business.
No I still need more customers but we have 350k leaflets going out in September. 150k of which is a new design that I'm particularly excited to see results from.
I bought the vans when I did because I knew I wouldn't get the finance for at least 2 years later. No longer being a homeowner and no profit on my accounts due to the spending. So the month before I sold I got as many as I could (6) on finance knowing I would need them down the line. Along the way it was useful to have a few spare. That's why next year we will buy 3 then the last 2 if the plan is on track.
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Hi Lee, great to hear you're doing so well. In your first post in this thread you wrote ...
Big day for us.
Who is "us"?
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“Us” as in the business I would say
Personally we work as a team ( management/owners) and staff everyone benefits from the company doing well it’s not down to “me” or “I”
Darran
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The 13 of us that work within my business.
As we grow and do better I pay my team more.
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Got it ... I wasn't sure if you had any "significant others" ;D in your life that were sharing in your business/success.
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Got it ... I wasn't sure if you had any "significant others" ;D in your life that were sharing in your business/success.
Interesting issue. ;)
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Got it ... I wasn't sure if you had any "significant others" ;D in your life that were sharing in your business/success.
Ah I see
No Just me and the team. My long suffering girlfriend Nancy gets treated to lots of nice times out and holidays. We have been to dubai again in Apr, we are off to Majorca in 2 weeks and dubai again in December. I do her head in all the time listening to my ideas ect so its the least I can do for her lol
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Got it ... I wasn't sure if you had any "significant others" ;D in your life that were sharing in your business/success.
Ah I see
No Just me and the team. My long suffering girlfriend Nancy gets treated to lots of nice times out and holidays. We have been to dubai again in Apr, we are off to Majorca in 2 weeks and dubai again in December. I do her head in all the time listening to my ideas ect so its the least I can do for her lol
;D
You sound like Dazmond, Lee!
Glad to hear all your hard work is getting you where you want to be and it's all panning out so well for you.
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Bungle,
The prices we are charging are for a premium window cleaning service. Part of my sales pitch is that our client list includes a brain surgeon, a high court judge and a knight of the realm and that we use rubber bumpers on all of our brushes so we can look after our customers valuable windows.
Most of the homes we are working on are changing hands for north of £400k, and a lot of them are period properties. Some of our clients will have spent over 80k on beautiful new wooden windows for their period homes. The prices we are charging on 12 weekly are similar to what Lee and Vin are listing on their websites.
For 12 weekly, yes, you are right, it is a long time. One of the reasons why I chose 12 weekly is because of there is decent profit margin on 12 weekly work, and our business model (partnership with local window cleaners rather than employing) would not work for our partners if we were doing the work every 6 weeks.
Retention: My figures on CP are skewed by the fact that I've suspended about 75 customers this year who were not ready for Go Cardless; and also I've been refining the rounds for the past 4 years. I also have a "Three Strikes and Your Out" policy: If we can't get access the back on more than three occassions; we let the client go.
I've looked on Go Cardless to get you some data on our retention rate so here it is (Just so you know, we've been using Go Cardless since 2015.)
Active Customers: 641
Inactive Customers: 104
My calculations show that Go Cardless customers on 12 weekly have a retention rate of 84%.
Where in Birmingham are you based and what is the name of your company? We're based in Harborne and we cover Moseley/Harborne/Solihull/Sutton/Bromsgrove.
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Bungle,
The prices we are charging are for a premium window cleaning service. Part of my sales pitch is that our client list includes a brain surgeon, a high court judge and a knight of the realm and that we use rubber bumpers on all of our brushes so we can look after our customers valuable windows.
Most of the homes we are working on are changing hands for north of £400k, and a lot of them are period properties. Some of our clients will have spent over 80k on beautiful new wooden windows for their period homes. The prices we are charging on 12 weekly are similar to what Lee and Vin are listing on their websites.
For 12 weekly, yes, you are right, it is a long time. One of the reasons why I chose 12 weekly is because of there is decent profit margin on 12 weekly work, and our business model (partnership with local window cleaners rather than employing) would not work for our partners if we were doing the work every 6 weeks.
Retention: My figures on CP are skewed by the fact that I've suspended about 75 customers this year who were not ready for Go Cardless; and also I've been refining the rounds for the past 4 years. I also have a "Three Strikes and Your Out" policy: If we can't get access the back on more than three occassions; we let the client go.
I've looked on Go Cardless to get you some data on our retention rate so here it is (Just so you know, we've been using Go Cardless since 2015.)
Active Customers: 641
Inactive Customers: 104
My calculations show that Go Cardless customers on 12 weekly have a retention rate of 84%.
Where in Birmingham are you based and what is the name of your company? We're based in Harborne and we cover Moseley/Harborne/Solihull/Sutton/Bromsgrove.
considering how long you have been going for you haven't built up that much of a business, do your prices include vat? 640 houses at 12 weekly is an average of just over 10 houses a day which could be done before lunch every day by 1 man
hence why you have failed at employing so are now going down a "partnership" route
you obviously cant get enough customers to believe your sales pitch
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Bungle,
The prices we are charging are for a premium window cleaning service. Part of my sales pitch is that our client list includes a brain surgeon, a high court judge and a knight of the realm and that we use rubber bumpers on all of our brushes so we can look after our customers valuable windows.
Most of the homes we are working on are changing hands for north of £400k, and a lot of them are period properties. Some of our clients will have spent over 80k on beautiful new wooden windows for their period homes. The prices we are charging on 12 weekly are similar to what Lee and Vin are listing on their websites.
For 12 weekly, yes, you are right, it is a long time. One of the reasons why I chose 12 weekly is because of there is decent profit margin on 12 weekly work, and our business model (partnership with local window cleaners rather than employing) would not work for our partners if we were doing the work every 6 weeks.
Retention: My figures on CP are skewed by the fact that I've suspended about 75 customers this year who were not ready for Go Cardless; and also I've been refining the rounds for the past 4 years. I also have a "Three Strikes and Your Out" policy: If we can't get access the back on more than three occassions; we let the client go.
I've looked on Go Cardless to get you some data on our retention rate so here it is (Just so you know, we've been using Go Cardless since 2015.)
Active Customers: 641
Inactive Customers: 104
My calculations show that Go Cardless customers on 12 weekly have a retention rate of 84%.
Where in Birmingham are you based and what is the name of your company? We're based in Harborne and we cover Moseley/Harborne/Solihull/Sutton/Bromsgrove.
considering how long you have been going for you haven't built up that much of a business, do your prices include vat? 640 houses at 12 weekly is an average of just over 10 houses a day which could be done before lunch every day by 1 man
hence why you have failed at employing so are now going down a "partnership" route
you obviously cant get enough customers to believe your sales pitch
That said, it's a pretty good one man round. Many would kill for it.
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Bungle,
The prices we are charging are for a premium window cleaning service. Part of my sales pitch is that our client list includes a brain surgeon, a high court judge and a knight of the realm and that we use rubber bumpers on all of our brushes so we can look after our customers valuable windows.
Most of the homes we are working on are changing hands for north of £400k, and a lot of them are period properties. Some of our clients will have spent over 80k on beautiful new wooden windows for their period homes. The prices we are charging on 12 weekly are similar to what Lee and Vin are listing on their websites.
For 12 weekly, yes, you are right, it is a long time. One of the reasons why I chose 12 weekly is because of there is decent profit margin on 12 weekly work, and our business model (partnership with local window cleaners rather than employing) would not work for our partners if we were doing the work every 6 weeks.
Retention: My figures on CP are skewed by the fact that I've suspended about 75 customers this year who were not ready for Go Cardless; and also I've been refining the rounds for the past 4 years. I also have a "Three Strikes and Your Out" policy: If we can't get access the back on more than three occassions; we let the client go.
I've looked on Go Cardless to get you some data on our retention rate so here it is (Just so you know, we've been using Go Cardless since 2015.)
Active Customers: 641
Inactive Customers: 104
My calculations show that Go Cardless customers on 12 weekly have a retention rate of 84%.
Where in Birmingham are you based and what is the name of your company? We're based in Harborne and we cover Moseley/Harborne/Solihull/Sutton/Bromsgrove.
considering how long you have been going for you haven't built up that much of a business, do your prices include vat? 640 houses at 12 weekly is an average of just over 10 houses a day which could be done before lunch every day by 1 man
hence why you have failed at employing so are now going down a "partnership" route
you obviously cant get enough customers to believe your sales pitch
wow - say it like it is why dont you ;D
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Well done Lee. I hope you get where you want to be.
Friday was the end of my year and we got the goal I've been shooting for for a couple of years.
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Part of my sales pitch is that our client list includes a brain surgeon, a high court judge and a knight of the realm and that we use rubber bumpers on all of our brushes so we can look after our customers valuable windows.
I find that an odd angle to use when addressing potential new customers. I'd think someone would have a stick up their ass if they started reeling off stuff like to try to secure me as a customer.
Most of us have probably cleaned windows at some point in our careers for judges, brain surgeons and knights (of the realm, none the less ;D)
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Oliver, why do you ask that existing customers call one telephone number on your website and a different number if they're new customers?
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We cleaned this for the Queen.
(http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/1535982040_Q.jpg)
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Not much of a business :D
There's some jealous people on here...
3 bed semi with a Conny £35! In Birmingham as well!
That's a fantastic business! easy £600 a day one man at those sort of rates.
I'm gob smacked you can get those prices, I mean I understand down in Surrey London etc but Birmingham, very well done indeed.
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Bungle,
The prices we are charging are for a premium window cleaning service. Part of my sales pitch is that our client list includes a brain surgeon, a high court judge and a knight of the realm and that we use rubber bumpers on all of our brushes so we can look after our customers valuable windows.
Most of the homes we are working on are changing hands for north of £400k, and a lot of them are period properties. Some of our clients will have spent over 80k on beautiful new wooden windows for their period homes. The prices we are charging on 12 weekly are similar to what Lee and Vin are listing on their websites.
For 12 weekly, yes, you are right, it is a long time. One of the reasons why I chose 12 weekly is because of there is decent profit margin on 12 weekly work, and our business model (partnership with local window cleaners rather than employing) would not work for our partners if we were doing the work every 6 weeks.
Retention: My figures on CP are skewed by the fact that I've suspended about 75 customers this year who were not ready for Go Cardless; and also I've been refining the rounds for the past 4 years. I also have a "Three Strikes and Your Out" policy: If we can't get access the back on more than three occassions; we let the client go.
I've looked on Go Cardless to get you some data on our retention rate so here it is (Just so you know, we've been using Go Cardless since 2015.)
Active Customers: 641
Inactive Customers: 104
My calculations show that Go Cardless customers on 12 weekly have a retention rate of 84%.
Where in Birmingham are you based and what is the name of your company? We're based in Harborne and we cover Moseley/Harborne/Solihull/Sutton/Bromsgrove.
What are these special brushes that you talk of on your website, claiming that no other window cleaners know of them? 😂 Do you supply the brushes to your subbies?
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You are crushing it - An impressive amount of growth in a short space of time.
My goal in March 2017 was to double the turnover in 18 months. Like you, I invested my own money to make this happen.
We are nearly there in this, and the only reason we haven't smashed it; is because I've suspended about 75 customers who were not able to move to paying by Go Cardless.
For the next 12 months my goals are to
a) add 50% to the turnover,
b) Implement a referral programme that will generate at least 60 sales per year from referrals.
c) Get the ratings on trust pilot and google business to over 4 stars
d) Have the ratio of complaints to turnover at the same level as it was when I was on the tools.
e) Have zero team member turnover in the front line team (currently 2 partners).
g) Have a 'mailing universe' of at least 120k. We currently send leaflets out to 90k homes per year.
h) Double the percentage of customers who are getting annual gutter clearing from 10% to 20%
I’ve had customers pass me your flyer. They were gobsmacked by the prices you charge. Do you have a good retention rate and do you not think every 3 months is a long time between cleans?
Many thanks, Bungle.
Without drifting off topic to far, I also have been passed your flyer/leaflet. Customer only comment was 'he must be expensive with a flyer like that'
Bungle, he's not expensive. When I was shown he's prices , he was cheaper than me when we worked my monthly by 3. The customers reaction was 'who wants them cleaned every 3 months'
Geographically for a call here and there, I can't see how it pays, but it must.
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Not much of a business :D
There's some jealous people on here...
3 bed semi with a Conny £35! In Birmingham as well!
That's a fantastic business! easy £600 a day one man at those sort of rates.
I'm gob smacked you can get those prices, I mean I understand down in Surrey London etc but Birmingham, very well done indeed.
Nowt wrong with Birmingham mate (apart from the sty in Small Heath)
Oliver targets the affluent areas
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Got it ... I wasn't sure if you had any "significant others" ;D in your life that were sharing in your business/success.
Ah I see
No Just me and the team. My long suffering girlfriend Nancy gets treated to lots of nice times out and holidays. We have been to dubai again in Apr, we are off to Majorca in 2 weeks and dubai again in December. I do her head in all the time listening to my ideas ect so its the least I can do for her lol
;D
You sound like Dazmond, Lee!
that a bit hard saying he sounds like Dazmond,i wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy
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Brushes:
1. Gardiner 35cm extreme with a rubber bumper, 4 fanjets and with the pump turned up to full flow. One of the partners has a 1000L tank so he can run all day like this.
2. Zero degree splay brush for all modern and vintage lead.
3, 45cm brush for connie roofs, with this connected to both pumps and both at max flow on the van with the 1000L tank.
Phone numbers:
The number for new customers goes to an outsourced call centre and they take bookings.
The number for existing customers goes to my mobile.
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Brushes:
1. Gardiner 35cm extreme with a rubber bumper, 4 fanjets and with the pump turned up to full flow. One of the partners has a 1000L tank so he can run all day like this.
2. Zero degree splay brush for all modern and vintage lead.
3, 45cm brush for connie roofs, with this connected to both pumps and both at max flow on the van with the 1000L tank.
Phone numbers:
The number for new customers goes to an outsourced call centre and they take bookings.
The number for existing customers goes to my mobile.
I use the 14" extreme with 4x red fans on full, it is an awesome way to clean windows. with extra width and flow it stands to reason your gonna be 20-30% quicker.
Got the idea from another cleaner on here! Cheers.
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Lee, where’s the video gone?
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Sorry Simon
My videos are only there for a few days then I delete them.