Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Tyler Williams on August 03, 2020, 09:21:24 pm
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I've been wondow cleaning 1 year with my dad. Went solo April 2019.
Worked my arse off for the last year and a bit to get my round to £1500 a month but I have £650 of monthly expenses. I work 3 days a week from 8.30 to 4 usually.
Haven't taken a day off since I started for my dad in 2018.
Recently the last 3 or 4 months ive just lost all joy with my business, I wouldnt say motivationg because I get up an go to work but I definetly don't enjoy it.
Fed up of dealing with chappy customers, late payers, customers who skip cleans, lack of money/new business.
Anybody else feel like this? I'm considering packing in as I just can't get in the groove. I feel more like an employee than a business owner.
Can anyone give me any pointers?
Rant over 😂
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its very hard to know what to say from the info you have given us there.
firstly, it is hard starting your own business so well done on getting up and going and growing a round of £1500 a month.
working for less than £110 a day is not enough. no wonder you are feeling cheesed off.
i wonder why you are earning only this much? it is probably a mix of a lot of things, but basically i guess you are not charging enough for your work, you are probably working too hard for not enough money.
your monthly expenses seem too high to me too TBH. i wonder why they are so high.
give me a call if you want me to give you 20 min and give you some pointers.
you'll find my number on the website below
R
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To be honest..............
The business isn’t that profitable at the moment so no wonder your fed up. I’d tackle that problem first. Your turning over on average £125 a day.
Are you traditional?
If your wfp and turning over that amount then your going to be really struggling. Turning over £15 per hour sounds good on paper, but take away your costs, holiday pay, sick pay, bad weather days, it’s just not enough. You’d be just as well
working in a supermarket. Perhaps even better off.
I’m Guessing your not wfp, that would be my first change. Save up for a basic system, make
Your working day easier, find the joy again by having new work Toys to ply with, and then build the business by increasing prices and taking on new work.
Canvass, clean, cull.
Canvass for new better prices work, clean it, then get rid of the messers.
It takes a while To build a good profitable round, and now it certainly isn’t easy. It can be done though.
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its very hard to know what to say from the info you have given us there.
firstly, it is hard starting your own business so well done on getting up and going and growing a round of £1500 a month.
working for less than £110 a day is not enough. no wonder you are feeling cheesed off.
i wonder why you are earning only this much? it is probably a mix of a lot of things, but basically i guess you are not charging enough for your work, you are probably working too hard for not enough money.
your monthly expenses seem too high to me too TBH. i wonder why they are so high.
give me a call if you want me to give you 20 min and give you some pointers.
you'll find my number on the website below
R
Thanks i really appreciate that.
I do 3 days at roughly 150 but usually have a few cancel on the day so I end up with less.
Monthly expenses are high due to debt 🙄😂 got in some debt a few years ago with the business and paying for it still now.
I usually charge £1 a window plus a few quid at the end for extra.
Its probably one of those things I'll grow out of eventually, I appreciate your help i may give you a bell at some time 👍🏻
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To be honest..............
The business isn’t that profitable at the moment so no wonder your fed up. I’d tackle that problem first. Your turning over on average £125 a day.
Are you traditional?
If your wfp and turning over that amount then your going to be really struggling. Turning over £15 per hour sounds good on paper, but take away your costs, holiday pay, sick pay, bad weather days, it’s just not enough. You’d be just as well
working in a supermarket. Perhaps even better off.
I’m Guessing your not wfp, that would be my first change. Save up for a basic system, make
Your working day easier, find the joy again by having new work Toys to ply with, and then build the business by increasing prices and taking on new work.
Canvass, clean, cull.
Canvass for new better prices work, clean it, then get rid of the messers.
It takes a while To build a good profitable round, and now it certainly isn’t easy. It can be done though.
I'm wfp, its mainly the fact I work 3 days a week due to other commitments on the other days.
I turn over on average 150 a day but im definitely in a rutt. Can't work more than 3 days but can't afford to sack the bad work off 🙄
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You work around 8 hours x 3 days a week , so average month is around 96 hours.
After expenses your taking home £8.85 an hour.
A store assistant in Aldi is earning £10.41 an hour .....
https://www.aldirecruitment.co.uk/stores/our-store-roles/store-assistant/
My advice , jack the whole thing in and get to your nearest Aldi .
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What are ou er commitments?
Darran
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You obviously dont enjoy the job by the sounds of it and if your feeling like that after only 1 year i would Jack it in.
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One thing I've learnt is that money doesn't equal happiness.
Doesn't matter if you are earning 1500 a month or 5000 a month it doesn't make the job any more joyful.
I'm 5 years in and I'd say after about 3 years, once I became "full" the joy went. No more challenge, just relentless cleaning windows everyday. Yes I earn decent money but that doesnt make me leap out of bed on a morning chomping at the bit to clean windows.
I still get stressed with non payers, slow payers, skipping cleans. A round is never plain sailing, it's never 100% complete, there's always one. When you think you have cracked it another messer comes along.
Tbh I would say you have a screw loose if you can say you love the job and want to clean windows everyday till you retire. It's good that you find it tedious and want more from life.
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Doesn't matter if you are earning 1500 a month or 5000 a month it doesn't make the job any more joyful.
i have to disagree with this..., whilst money doesn't make you happy, not having enough money and worrying about money makes you unhappy.
if you're earning £5000 a month you have something you can work with to make your job better and your life better.
at £1500 you're on a tricky wicket getting out of it
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I'm wfp, its mainly the fact I work 3 days a week due to other commitments on the other days.
I turn over on average 150 a day but im definitely in a rutt. Can't work more than 3 days but can't afford to sack the bad work off 🙄
turning over £150 on WFP isn't really good enough.
with a few basic changes and some application in the right places you can hit £300 a day easily. many on here do a lot more than that, including myself
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Hi Tyler, I have had a nose at your posts on the forum and if you don't mind me saying, this is what I have gleaned from them.
1. You bought a seriously underpriced round with untrained customers that get a job done for peanuts. When they don't want you you let them skip. When you put prices up a £1 they moan and cancel.
2. You are seriously undercharging. If you are young, fit are wfp and "only" making £150 a day you need to do something about it.
3. If you are young and fit and only working 3 days a week then you may have a skewed work ethic unless your "other commitments" are as a carer. If you are "volunteering" I would suggest you have your priorities wrong as you would be wise to work 5 days a week (but take holiday and rewards for all your hard work) and work down your debts more quickly.
4. You now have a golden opportunity. If you worked just one of those other days and canvassed and only took on good paying work and trained them that if you turn up you expect to do the job, you won't generally phone them beforehand then you could build up a day of £200 plus. This means you can take your crappiest work and tell them the prices are doubling (you mentioned charging £5 or £6 a house in one post) and you will lose about half of them - so what? Those that remain will be the same daily value and you'll do it in half the time and so make room for more.
5. Don't be afraid to drop crap work. I have fallen into the trap at age 60 of having too much work. I freed up as in passed on in the last year or sold cheap about £700 per month because new, better trained (by me) enquiries are better value. Don't drop it all at once but take the worst £200 and tell'um their prices are going up fully expecting to lose them. Those that go then replace with better work.
Work hard but smarter. Good luck!
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i work 3 days a week ,and havent taken a day off since 2018 .
are you from the emerald island by any chance
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Not being funny but you haven’t built a business yet no wonder it’s not enjoyable,as said you are earning less than minimum wage.
You have to gamble a bit and by this I mean if you pick up a £40 job drop 4 £10 jobs in order to free up more time to go and get another £40 job,this game is all about dropping and picking up till you get to where you want to be with it,it shouldn’t take long till you can out earn what the majority in 5 days in the 3 you do.
If you keep rubbish work and keep servicing it eventually it’ll take longer to progress.
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Hi Tyler, I have had a nose at your posts on the forum and if you don't mind me saying, this is what I have gleaned from them.
1. You bought a seriously underpriced round with untrained customers that get a job done for peanuts. When they don't want you you let them skip. When you put prices up a £1 they moan and cancel.
2. You are seriously undercharging. If you are young, fit are wfp and "only" making £150 a day you need to do something about it.
3. If you are young and fit and only working 3 days a week then you may have a skewed work ethic unless your "other commitments" are as a carer. If you are "volunteering" I would suggest you have your priorities wrong as you would be wise to work 5 days a week (but take holiday and rewards for all your hard work) and work down your debts more quickly.
4. You now have a golden opportunity. If you worked just one of those other days and canvassed and only took on good paying work and trained them that if you turn up you expect to do the job, you won't generally phone them beforehand then you could build up a day of £200 plus. This means you can take your crappiest work and tell them the prices are doubling (you mentioned charging £5 or £6 a house in one post) and you will lose about half of them - so what? Those that remain will be the same daily value and you'll do it in half the time and so make room for more.
5. Don't be afraid to drop crap work. I have fallen into the trap at age 60 of having too much work. I freed up as in passed on in the last year or sold cheap about £700 per month because new, better trained (by me) enquiries are better value. Don't drop it all at once but take the worst £200 and tell'um their prices are going up fully expecting to lose them. Those that go then replace with better work.
Work hard but smarter. Good luck!
As always a top quality post that should be read, remembered and acted upon
Darran
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You would earn nearly an extra £150 a month by going to get a job at Aldi for the exact same number of hours.
That’s nearly £2000 a year better off at Aldi
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Aldi pay £150 a day? I doubt it. More like £80 a day.
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Royal Mail job £11.62 an hour. That’s £265 a month better off. £3186 a year better off.
https://jobs.royalmailgroup.com/job/Hoddesdon-Postperson-with-Driving-Hoddesdon-Delivery-Office-%28EN11-8ER%29-EN11-8ER/612840301/
Lots of options out there which would make you a better living than you are getting now
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But I thought he worked three days a week?
Room for improvement but nice lifestyle. He’d be working at least an extra week every month at Aldi.
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Aldi pay £150 a day? I doubt it. More like £80 a day.
He’s not taking home £150 a day is he. I nearly bought a cafe for the Mrs a few years ago advertised as 50k turnover , when I met the owner and went over the figures, she was taking home around 11k a year after expenses. I knocked that idea on the head.
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But I thought he worked three days a week?
Room for improvement but nice lifestyle. He’d be working at least an extra week every month at Aldi.
He said he has other commitments which is why iv made a like for like comparison
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Difficult one, cos when all this furlough comes to an end I can’t see many jobs being available anyway. Either get out quick if you can (like in the next two weeks) or get used to working self employed.
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"When you are up to your ass in alligators it’s difficult to remember that your initial objective was to drain the swamp”.
If Tyler is cleaning houses for £5 -£6 a house then he is cleaning 25 houses a day to earn £150. No wonder he has lost his joy.
Long summer evenings are starting to draw in. I would try to spend a couple of evenings canvassing areas where people are better off financially. The further east we go in our region the lower the window cleaning prices are. We stay away from areas where £5 is still the going rate for a 3 bed semi.
In our region we have some newer established estates that we can get a higher price per clean from. Some have been able to get good work cleaning windows between villages as nobody canvasses these areas. Tyler is so busy that he hasn't time to look for better paying work which is a long term trap.
Maybe he has to focus more on the positives. If he is still managing to pay off debt then this is a good thing. The very fact that he is reducing that debt is something to be happy about.
We had a window cleaner who had a beat up old Transit van. He had another cleaner working with him. He moved into a upmarket estate. We charge £15 for a row of houses 3 stories high on that estate. He sent a flyer out to all the customers we do and a couple we didn't do at £8 a house including cleaning the garage door. He took one of our customers.
When cleaning one day I noticed a company van in his driveway. A couple of days later he saw me cleaning in another street nearby. He was driving this company van. He stopped and asked me if I would clean his house as he had sold his van and entire round to a local cowboy outfit. He couldn't earn a living from window cleaning so had gone back to paid work.
I quoted him £15. I knew the house as we cleaned it previously. He was visibly shocked at the price. I only charged £8 for that house he blurted out. Yes I know I relied.
He was prepared to do more work than I did for half the price. Give them their due, they worked hard and they did a good job cleaning the windows of their customers, but even for the depressed North East their prices were way out.
There is a lesson to be learnt from that.
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I think your prices must seem ok Tyler.
At £1 a window plus a bit more you won’t be far wrong. In fact, your prices might even be higher than mine.
There must be a reason why your not getting through enough work though.
Say for example, A 4 bed detached house;
Atleast 12 windows so say £12.
10 of those a day isn’t enough work to fill A day on a regular maintenance clean. For example in my work days, I can get through Atleast 3 of those in an hour taking it easy. 10 properties would be a morning’s work.
Is your work very spread out?
How many properties are you getting through a day?
It could be something as simple as you over cleaning.
I know it seems risky, but any customers who cancel on the day, just tell them “I’ll need to take you off the regular schedule”.
They are dead weight in this business. We don’t charge a lot of money because it’s a regular service. If they want an “as and when” then the price is Atleast 3x the monthly price.
The sooner you get rid of the dead weight the better.
Canvass canvass canvass.
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It’s quite refreshing to see someone tell it how it really is being a new starter these days, without all the £400/£500 a day BS that they are all spouting over on FB.
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I think your prices must seem ok Tyler.
At £1 a window plus a bit more you won’t be far wrong. In fact, your prices might even be higher than mine.
There must be a reason why your not getting through enough work though.
Say for example, A 4 bed detached house;
Atleast 12 windows so say £12.
10 of those a day isn’t enough work to fill A day on a regular maintenance clean. For example in my work days, I can get through Atleast 3 of those in an hour taking it easy. 10 properties would be a morning’s work.
Is your work very spread out?
How many properties are you getting through a day?
It could be something as simple as you over cleaning.
I know it seems risky, but any customers who cancel on the day, just tell them “I’ll need to take you off the regular schedule”.
They are dead weight in this business. We don’t charge a lot of money because it’s a regular service. If they want an “as and when” then the price is Atleast 3x the monthly price.
The sooner you get rid of the dead weight the better.
Canvass canvass canvass.
I noticed this discrepancy with Gold's search of Tyler's previous posts and Tyler's comment here on this thread of his pricing structure. The 2 don't correlate.
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I've been wondow cleaning 1 year with my dad. Went solo April 2019.
Worked my arse off for the last year and a bit to get my round to £1500 a month but I have £650 of monthly expenses. I work 3 days a week from 8.30 to 4 usually.
Haven't taken a day off since I started for my dad in 2018.
Recently the last 3 or 4 months ive just lost all joy with my business, I wouldnt say motivationg because I get up an go to work but I definetly don't enjoy it.
Fed up of dealing with chappy customers, late payers, customers who skip cleans, lack of money/new business.
Anybody else feel like this? I'm considering packing in as I just can't get in the groove. I feel more like an employee than a business owner.
Can anyone give me any pointers?
Rant over 😂
You need to spend more time building another round in a nicer area at better prices.....you also need to work at least 5 days a week on your cleaning business IMO......
Alongside the above I'd put all your existing work up a pound or two....if your any good you wont lose more than a handful.id also upsell existing jobs and offer to clean f/s/g,conny roofs,etc....
It takes many years to build up a great paying window cleaning round....you have to put the work in....
I work similar hours to you and turnover £45k+ a year with lower expenses.......but 12 years ago I was lucky to earn £18k a year trad!I'd lost all motivation and was seriously thinking of packing it in as I was so fed up of climbing ladders and cleaning underpriced work......
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I think your prices must seem ok Tyler.
At £1 a window plus a bit more you won’t be far wrong. In fact, your prices might even be higher than mine.
There must be a reason why your not getting through enough work though.
Say for example, A 4 bed detached house;
Atleast 12 windows so say £12.
10 of those a day isn’t enough work to fill A day on a regular maintenance clean. For example in my work days, I can get through Atleast 3 of those in an hour taking it easy. 10 properties would be a morning’s work.
Is your work very spread out?
How many properties are you getting through a day?
It could be something as simple as you over cleaning.
I know it seems risky, but any customers who cancel on the day, just tell them “I’ll need to take you off the regular schedule”.
They are dead weight in this business. We don’t charge a lot of money because it’s a regular service. If they want an “as and when” then the price is Atleast 3x the monthly price.
The sooner you get rid of the dead weight the better.
Canvass canvass canvass.
I noticed this discrepancy with Gold's search of Tyler's previous posts and Tyler's comment here on this thread of his pricing structure. The 2 don't correlate.
My business prices are £1 a window plus a bit extra afterwards.
HOWEVER, to get started I bought work off a family friend who is a window cleaner and his prices were very low hence my previous post of the £5 a house. That was his work at his prices which is too low but unfortunately I need to work it in order to pay my bills.
If that makes sense?
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"We had a window cleaner who had a beat up old Transit van"
Standard ciu stereotype for dodgy wc.,judge em by their vehicle :)
In my 16yrs window cleaning, the stand out "cowboys/liars/bullies" (delete as appropriate) I've encountered, have been driving newish sign written professional looking vans. Appearances can be very deceptive. (other than that a very good moral to your post Spruce,). I post as a driver of a non sign written transit van which is getting more beat up by the year ;D.
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I think your prices must seem ok Tyler.
At £1 a window plus a bit more you won’t be far wrong. In fact, your prices might even be higher than mine.
There must be a reason why your not getting through enough work though.
Say for example, A 4 bed detached house;
Atleast 12 windows so say £12.
10 of those a day isn’t enough work to fill A day on a regular maintenance clean. For example in my work days, I can get through Atleast 3 of those in an hour taking it easy. 10 properties would be a morning’s work.
Is your work very spread out?
How many properties are you getting through a day?
It could be something as simple as you over cleaning.
I know it seems risky, but any customers who cancel on the day, just tell them “I’ll need to take you off the regular schedule”.
They are dead weight in this business. We don’t charge a lot of money because it’s a regular service. If they want an “as and when” then the price is Atleast 3x the monthly price.
The sooner you get rid of the dead weight the better.
Canvass canvass canvass.
I get through 12 - 15 on usual days
I have a round i bought off another window cleaner that is severely underpriced and I go through about 20 houses on that day for the same money as I earn doing 12 😂
Houses are pretty spread out usually a 2-5 minute drive between houses so unpacking/packing can cause a big delay.
What is a good way of canvassing? I usually use our friend Green Pro Clean and his lead generation. Had amazing results off that
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12 to 15 isn't enough, I'm guessing you are pricing OK, as that equates to about £10 to £12 a house which is about the same as me. I don't know your location but up north that's decent, maybe you could get more than that I don't know...
But I have done 11 just this morning (and have stopped for a bacon butty) I will cruise to 20 jobs today and probably finish between 2/3.
It sounds like you don't have much money to throw at this other wise why not just invest heavily in the lead generation if it's working?
If you have little money to invest then you need to canvass, leaflet or advertise for free on the likes of Facebook, next door etc. Maybe learn how to make a website and seo and get it ranking etc.
You either need to invest time or money you can't do nothing and expect anything to change.
In hindsight you shouldn't have bought that round at £5 a pop but what's done is done.
If you are limited to 3 days and they are full the only thing you can do is find new work at proper prices and drop the lowest priced ones as you go, before you drop them give them the option to remain on at £10 a house (but doubling their prices will be unlikely to go down well but worth a punt if you are going to drop them anyway)
The doesn't happen overnight, when started out I could only do 10 a day because I was slower and work was more spread out but with continuous advertising dropping and replacing customers I've now got to the point where 20 plus a day is the norm and I'm not working much harder for it.
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12 to 15 isn't enough, I'm guessing you are pricing OK, as that equates to about £10 to £12 a house which is about the same as me. I don't know your location but up north that's decent, maybe you could get more than that I don't know...
But I have done 11 just this morning (and have stopped for a bacon butty) I will cruise to 20 jobs today and probably finish between 2/3.
It sounds like you don't have much money to throw at this other wise why not just invest heavily in the lead generation if it's working?
If you have little money to invest then you need to canvass, leaflet or advertise for free on the likes of Facebook, next door etc. Maybe learn how to make a website and seo and get it ranking etc.
You either need to invest time or money you can't do nothing and expect anything to change.
In hindsight you shouldn't have bought that round at £5 a pop but what's done is done.
If you are limited to 3 days and they are full the only thing you can do is find new work at proper prices and drop the lowest priced ones as you go, before you drop them give them the option to remain on at £10 a house (but doubling their prices will be unlikely to go down well but worth a punt if you are going to drop them anyway)
The doesn't happen overnight, when started out I could only do 10 a day because I was slower and work was more spread out but with continuous advertising dropping and replacing customers I've now got to the point where 20 plus a day is the norm and I'm not working much harder for it.
agreed.
we do 20-35 houses a day depending on the size and driving
15 houses is a mornings work. even with a 5 min drive in-between each
sounds like you're spending too long cleaning each house.
maybe you need to spend a day with a window cleaner with a really decent business and see how they operate. a lot of efficiency is what you do when you are not on the glass. i suspect at your rate of work you are cleaning too long AND not efficient with all the other bits n pieces
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‘We’ or ‘I’ Richard?
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Think we do about twelve a day each. Seems about right.
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‘We’ or ‘I’ Richard?
I have done it. I dont do it much now. but can if i need to.
To work for me thats what they need to do
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One person, 35 houses a day. That’s impressive. Do you use a cattle prod?
5m driving between every job is what? 3hrs down time so in five hours you can clean 35 jobs?
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One person, 35 houses a day. That’s impressive. Do you use a cattle prod?
it depends on the rounds. some are easy rounds and 35 a day is fine.
put it this way, i would rather do one of our big rounds than our smaller number but big houses rounds...
i got trained by julie and carl at concept 20 near cardiff. they were brilliant at getting a really slick operation and i copied everything.
they were ahead of the game on DDs and everything. just very slick system
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Tyler don’t even begin to think that you’ll be able to do 4/500 a day will you when you’ve been at this game 20 + years and no longer need to clean 20-25 houses a day and know what you are doing to a tee,it’s impossible and why do I know this because someone on here told me 🤣🤣🤣,you can take it as far as you want-need to with window cleaning get yourself to the point that you can work 2-3 days a week if need be and make way more than a weeks money doing something else,when you get to something like that the word “enjoy” will appear more in you’re posts 👍.
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35 is extremely impressive given up to 5 mins between houses. Im surprised they have the stamina for that i would be exhausted.
I can do about 25 if i work hard, with maybe a minute or 2 between houses and thought i was pretty fast. Mind you i only work till 3
What time do your guys start and finish Richard ?
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This is my point entirely if you’ve been at this game for years you shouldn’t need to be cleaning that many houses a day 🤣,no wonder people who want a job don’t last getting put in the van with a collar on 🤣🤣🤣.
I told you I could have a carve up and divide my work in to 3,I was cleaning that many houses a day 25 years ago lol sod that.
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Somewhere between eight and nine houses an hour.
Not for me thanks.
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35 is extremely impressive given up to 5 mins between houses. Im surprised they have the stamina for that i would be exhausted.
I can do about 25 if i work hard, with maybe a minute or 2 between houses and thought i was pretty fast. Mind you i only work till 3
What time do your guys start and finish Richard ?
we start at 7:30 on the glass at 8.
we cant do 35 a day with 5 min between houses. i could do 15 in a morning with that space. 4 houses an hour and you'd be done around 1. if all the houses were 5 min between we wouldn't get it done in that time, but we don't really have that. the rounds that are spread out are bigger ticket houses so you get less of those done, but less driving about between jobs
35 is about the max and thats on a decent round for sure. but we do it, possibly more on some days. i think 38 has been done. we have some rounds with 4 neighbours houses, followed by moving the van and then another 3 or 4
doing the same rounds every 4 weeks you get efficient.
all on DD so no door knocking.
no climbing over gates as we have no ladders.
i think it helps that we give a due date for our cleans so there's pressure to get it all done on the day.
not everyone is able to do it. you need to recruit staff who walk quick ;)
the guys can knock off when they are done. I'm good like that :D
thats the spirit of it anyhow.
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Goood dog yeah yeah yeah yeah goooood dogs 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 ear boy cmon ear boys 🤣🤣🤣
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One person, 35 houses a day. That’s impressive. Do you use a cattle prod?
5m driving between every job is what? 3hrs down time so in five hours you can clean 35 jobs?
sorry i didn't mean 5 min between every job. we couldn't do that. 5 houses an hour on those close together round is doable, but not all day. if you aren't moving the van those semis are done in less than 10 min. just need to move fast between the windows
they do 8.5 hr days. but they can leave when they are done (but have to work late if not completed). its more like 4 houses an hour. thats easy enough on 3 bed semis etc.
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You trying to tell me how to get my business into shape cleaning houses like that 🤣🤣,trainers on start jogging Richard.
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I’m not doubting you at all richard, as I know you put a lot of thought and effort into improving your business.
However, I’d love to be a fly on the wall watching your lads fly around a house in 3-4 minutes. They must be seriously splashing and dashing to keep up with your expectations.
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I’m not doubting you at all richard, as I know you put a lot of thought and effort into improving your business.
However, I’d love to be a fly on the wall watching your lads fly around a house in 3-4 minutes. They must be seriously splashing and dashing to keep up with your expectations.
its more like 10 min on small houses front and back mate
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More time setting up on smaller houses I don’t doubt the time at all it’s frightening how quickly you can clean large jobs let alone the smaller ones,it’s when you remember how long stuff used to take with ladders look at what you’ve done by 1 o’clock some days and it’s literally wow.
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Crazy. I spend more than 5 minutes chatting to each customer.
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Crazy. I spend more than 5 minutes chatting to each customer.
I bet I don't even spend 5 mins a week talking to all my customers combined. No time for talking lol
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"We had a window cleaner who had a beat up old Transit van"
Standard ciu stereotype for dodgy wc.,judge em by their vehicle :)
In my 16yrs window cleaning, the stand out "cowboys/liars/bullies" (delete as appropriate) I've encountered, have been driving newish sign written professional looking vans. Appearances can be very deceptive. (other than that a very good moral to your post Spruce,). I post as a driver of a non sign written transit van which is getting more beat up by the year ;D.
Hi Nick. I didn't mean to offend you or anyone else by my comment.
I did mention that these two guys worked very hard and did a good cleaning job for their customers. I would never take that away from them.
Before the Transit van they had a very unreliable, tatty Transit Connect van which, more often than not, was at one of the workshops we pass by regularly being repaired. This van was sign written and had an Ionics Logo on both sides. Inside was a strapped in Wydale tank and 2 Claber hose reels. They used fiberglass poles with Oval Vikans on them.
I often saw them out working and chatted to them from time to time. The owner was a nice guy.
I agree that we can't judge a person's work ethic by the van they drive or the equipment they own. It was certainly the case here.
In business making a profit centered around 2 things; pricing and expenses. These guys skimped on equipment and I imagine their running costs equipment wise were low - excluding the cost of repairs to that Connect van.
The very fact that he admitted that there wasn't enough money in window cleaning suggested to me the reason why he got that well used Transit van. His business couldn't afford it and we all know how expensive vans are now.
So no, I wasn't calling them out as a cowboy outfit. Their reason for failure was that their prices were too low.
When he decided to sell up he offered the business to his helper but his helper didn't have any money. So he sold it off to a well know cowboy outfit that can only be described that way. They have since lost most of the customers they bought because they have such a bad local reputation.
Interestingly I was approached recently and asked for a quote to clean this person's windows because he admired how clean and well presented my van was. My van isn't sign written. That's the first time I've ever heard that.
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What is this "joy" you speak of?
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What is this "joy" you speak of?
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xc86ab
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I’m not doubting you at all richard, as I know you put a lot of thought and effort into improving your business.
However, I’d love to be a fly on the wall watching your lads fly around a house in 3-4 minutes. They must be seriously splashing and dashing to keep up with your expectations.
its more like 10 min on small houses front and back mate
The quality of clean must be crud on some houses they do especially in the summer time with all the insect marks etc.
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I’m not doubting you at all richard, as I know you put a lot of thought and effort into improving your business.
However, I’d love to be a fly on the wall watching your lads fly around a house in 3-4 minutes. They must be seriously splashing and dashing to keep up with your expectations.
its more like 10 min on small houses front and back mate
The quality of clean must be crud on some houses they do especially in the summer time with all the insect marks etc.
obviously we adjust to the amount of cleaning needed ::)roll
to be honest it doesn't matter what you or I think. what matters is what our customers think.
check out our google reviews ;D
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35 is extremely impressive given up to 5 mins between houses. Im surprised they have the stamina for that i would be exhausted.
I can do about 25 if i work hard, with maybe a minute or 2 between houses and thought i was pretty fast. Mind you i only work till 3
What time do your guys start and finish Richard ?
we start at 7:30 on the glass at 8.
we cant do 35 a day with 5 min between houses. i could do 15 in a morning with that space. 4 houses an hour and you'd be done around 1. if all the houses were 5 min between we wouldn't get it done in that time, but we don't really have that. the rounds that are spread out are bigger ticket houses so you get less of those done, but less driving about between jobs
35 is about the max and thats on a decent round for sure. but we do it, possibly more on some days. i think 38 has been done. we have some rounds with 4 neighbours houses, followed by moving the van and then another 3 or 4
doing the same rounds every 4 weeks you get efficient.
all on DD so no door knocking.
no climbing over gates as we have no ladders.
i think it helps that we give a due date for our cleans so there's pressure to get it all done on the day.
not everyone is able to do it. you need to recruit staff who walk quick ;)
the guys can knock off when they are done. I'm good like that :D
thats the spirit of it anyhow.
Wow - you give give them 1/2 pay before getting on the glass ;D ;D ;D
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The boys can knock off when there done I’m good like that 🤣🤣🤣, more like the guys can knock off when I’ve knocked there pipes out lol.
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I’m not doubting you at all richard, as I know you put a lot of thought and effort into improving your business.
However, I’d love to be a fly on the wall watching your lads fly around a house in 3-4 minutes. They must be seriously splashing and dashing to keep up with your expectations.
its more like 10 min on small houses front and back mate
The quality of clean must be crud on some houses they do especially in the summer time with all the insect marks etc.
obviously we adjust to the amount of cleaning needed ::)roll
to be honest it doesn't matter what you or I think. what matters is what our customers think.
check out our google reviews ;D
You think your staff are going to "adjust" dont make me laugh ;D they will be splashing and dashing in all seasons pal.
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My view is if your giving them x amount and say your hours are till 4pm but get it done by 3 I will pay you to 4 only encourages a quick rush job.
Of course you may be setting them work so it's near impossible to finish early...🧐
Darran
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I’m not doubting you at all richard, as I know you put a lot of thought and effort into improving your business.
However, I’d love to be a fly on the wall watching your lads fly around a house in 3-4 minutes. They must be seriously splashing and dashing to keep up with your expectations.
its more like 10 min on small houses front and back mate
The quality of clean must be crud on some houses they do especially in the summer time with all the insect marks etc.
you can do a perfectly good job on a small 3 bed semi in 10 mins with hot water and a high flow esp if your cleaning 4 weekly work........including all frames,sills and doors...
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Exactly Daz.
Or you can stay there 20 min and do a perfectly good job
Both work
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I’m not doubting you at all richard, as I know you put a lot of thought and effort into improving your business.
However, I’d love to be a fly on the wall watching your lads fly around a house in 3-4 minutes. They must be seriously splashing and dashing to keep up with your expectations.
its more like 10 min on small houses front and back mate
The quality of clean must be crud on some houses they do especially in the summer time with all the insect marks etc.
you can do a perfectly good job on a small 3 bed semi in 10 mins with hot water and a high flow esp if your cleaning 4 weekly work........including all frames,sills and doors...
So do you wait for the windows to dry to see your perfectly good job you have cleaned in 10mins?
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I’m not doubting you at all richard, as I know you put a lot of thought and effort into improving your business.
However, I’d love to be a fly on the wall watching your lads fly around a house in 3-4 minutes. They must be seriously splashing and dashing to keep up with your expectations.
its more like 10 min on small houses front and back mate
The quality of clean must be crud on some houses they do especially in the summer time with all the insect marks etc.
you can do a perfectly good job on a small 3 bed semi in 10 mins with hot water and a high flow esp if your cleaning 4 weekly work........including all frames,sills and doors...
So do you wait for the windows to dry to see your perfectly good job you have cleaned in 10mins?
no need to as the windows are virtually dry when using hot water at this time of year mate,often the front windows are totally dry if their in the sun by the time im leaving.....
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If no one is complaining you could go faster.
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You should give them enough work to last them most of the day you’ve cleaned the work I take it so you know it should take them that long,if they start finishing the work earlier you then know they’ve rushed it.
If you know you’ve got say 25-30 houses to clean when you start you will rush especially if it’s not your work.
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Hot water is like colouring in glass and in this weather with hot you can clean large patio doors walk back past em 5 minutes later and see about a dozen beads of water left,ahhh when will people get it 🤣🤣.
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back to the opening of this thread for tyler.
you will need to build and build and refine as has been advised .
its very important that as you take on new customers , that not only do you charge correctly, you also need to charge extra for that first clean
time is money .
this extra charge will help you every week as you grow.
say as an example you aim for 5 new customers a week .
as an example lets say they are 5 small run of the mill semi detached at £12 a month .
the first cleans can be £22
thats an extra £50 revenue on those first cleans .
thats £200 a month extra revenue
on higher priced work the percentages of extra revenue go higher .
the more new work you get at reasonable prices the better your confidence will be . and people will pay