Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Shrek on August 06, 2022, 07:45:04 am
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Has anyone done this? My frequencies are monthly/2 monthly/3 monthly, it’s worked brilliantly for years but now I’m full to the brim , I don’t have any spare days in the month to take leave , get rained off etc without failing cleans by the end of the month .
I’m thinking if I change over , then it’ll actually give me more flexibility and I might actually be able to take a 2 week holiday for the first time ever 😁.
I don’t think there’s many monthly cleaners on here ….
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Shouldn’t be a problem on the whole. With the 4 weekly frequencies if you can try and stick to the same day of the week on each run you will find a lot of the older customers like that. It does tie you in to quite a strict schedule but that works for me as I like to know where I am and when. Each to their own I suppose.
You will of course have the issue of 13 cleans a year instead of 12 cleans. So you’ll get one month of the year where you will be cleaning the four weekly customers twice in the same month. I’ve been doing this for over 30 years and I’ve always found it’s only odd people who will point this out. I usually just tell them that I’m doing it this way so I can stick to the same cleaning day each run and they are normally happy with that.
With the 2 monthly customers going to 8 weekly you should have no issues. I’ve always found that with 8 weeklies you can go after 7,8 or 9 weeks and it makes no difference whatsoever.
All depends on your relationship with your customers really. If you have a good one then they will happily accept slight changes.
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I’m actually wanting more time off as iv got too much on the books . I’m more likely to have a week off or do add ons rather than do 2 cleans in one month . I really like the idea of a 4 day week but it just doesn’t work with a monthly schedule
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Can’t remember the last time I was on schedule.
Why are you worried about it?
I’m a month behind, because God forbid I went away on holiday for a fortnight when I was 2 weeks behind already.
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I haven't been on time for years, always behind, I get there when i get there, most of my customers have extra jobs doing so they only got theirselves to blame ;D
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Moving to 4-weekly from monthly will give you more work, not less.
One thing I regret years ago is going with a monthly schedule, I wish I’d done 6 weeks/12 weeks.
The problem with monthly is there aren’t the same number of working days in each month, so as you get full, shorter months cause you to get behind.
I used to be always behind by over £1k, then I took on an employee and within a month I was back on schedule and and am no longer behind, as well as being able to take on new work again.
If things get crazy again, I’m think I’m going to switch everyone to 6/12 weekly before I take on my next worker. Way easier to organise.
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6/12 wks works well. It's taking me longer to build up this round but will be more profitable. Never tried switching but guessing 4 wks will be happy but 8 wk might lose a few. Test the waters with a few
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Moving to 4-weekly from monthly will give you more work, not less.
One thing I regret years ago is going with a monthly schedule, I wish I’d done 6 weeks/12 weeks.
The problem with monthly is there aren’t the same number of working days in each month, so as you get full, shorter months cause you to get behind.
I used to be always behind by over £1k, then I took on an employee and within a month I was back on schedule and and am no longer behind, as well as being able to take on new work again.
If things get crazy again, I’m think I’m going to switch everyone to 6/12 weekly before I take on my next worker. Way easier to organise.
Apologies , I’m not sure if I’m making sense - I’m not moving everyone to 4 weekly , I’m wanting to changing monthly to 4 weekly , 2 monthly to 8 weekly & 3 monthly to 12 weekly . I know it sounds the same but if I take 2 weeks off to go to Canada like slacky does , then I can’t complete 2 weeks worth of work as it’ll be the end of the month so my round starts fresh again on the 1st.
With 4 weekly , I could potentially be 1-2 weeks late now and again and carry on where I left off when I get back
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Your overcomplicating it - you’ll be 2 weeks behind regardless of what schedule you use - if. It’s a planned holiday just tell them your next clean will be 2 weeks later than normal
Darran
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Your overcomplicating it - you’ll be 2 weeks behind regardless of what schedule you use - if. It’s a planned holiday just tell them your next clean will be 2 weeks later than normal
Darran
Tbh I think this is why I find it stressful. Having a monthly round , I can’t clean 2 weeks later than normal as my round starts fresh on the 1st of each month. To take a week off at the end of July was pretty hard work , I worked 6 days a week so I could get all regular windows done before I went away so I could start again from job no.1 on the 1st august
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years ago I used to do either 5 weekly or 10 weekly,
I decided to organize the round by changing it to 4 weekly or 8 weekly,
some of the one I was doing 4 weekly then changed to 8 weekly and this suits me fine
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Don’t know why you lot offer four weekly and eight weekly. Just put the whole lot on six to seven weeks.
I’m rarely on time and don’t really care. I’ve only got one pair of hands!
I’m always late as I don’t work in the rain. Hate the job anyway without the thought of being drenched.
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Don’t know why you lot offer four weekly and eight weekly. Just put the whole lot on six to seven weeks.
I’m rarely on time and don’t really care. I’ve only got one pair of hands!
That’s your choice - 4 or 8 and the odd 12 works well for me the customers like it that it’s the same day of the week - that’s just the service I offer
Darran
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Your overcomplicating it - you’ll be 2 weeks behind regardless of what schedule you use - if. It’s a planned holiday just tell them your next clean will be 2 weeks later than normal
Darran
Tbh I think this is why I find it stressful. Having a monthly round , I can’t clean 2 weeks later than normal as my round starts fresh on the 1st of each month. To take a week off at the end of July was pretty hard work , I worked 6 days a week so I could get all regular windows done before I went away so I could start again from job no.1 on the 1st august
How does calling 4 or 8 weekly change anything ??
Go on holiday - have a good time and the round starts mid month - please don’t tell me you don’t have a week or 2off at Christmas?
Darran
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Has anyone done this? My frequencies are monthly/2 monthly/3 monthly, it’s worked brilliantly for years but now I’m full to the brim , I don’t have any spare days in the month to take leave , get rained off etc without failing cleans by the end of the month .
I’m thinking if I change over , then it’ll actually give me more flexibility and I might actually be able to take a 2 week holiday for the first time ever 😁.
I don’t think there’s many monthly cleaners on here ….
Most of my work is either 4 or 8 weekly....I take a week or two off for holidays,etc and just move my work forward on cleaner planner....it literally takes 5 mins to do....
Cleaner planner makes rescheduling SO easy!
Also my working week is around 20-25 hours a week.....
I've never been full to the brim with work since my trad days and wouldn't want to be these days either.
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Your overcomplicating it - you’ll be 2 weeks behind regardless of what schedule you use - if. It’s a planned holiday just tell them your next clean will be 2 weeks later than normal
Darran
Tbh I think this is why I find it stressful. Having a monthly round , I can’t clean 2 weeks later than normal as my round starts fresh on the 1st of each month. To take a week off at the end of July was pretty hard work , I worked 6 days a week so I could get all regular windows done before I went away so I could start again from job no.1 on the 1st august
How does calling 4 or 8 weekly change anything ??
Go on holiday - have a good time and the round starts mid month - please don’t tell me you don’t have a week or 2off at Christmas?
Darran
Haha I take a week off at Christmas but it’s hard work trying to get everything done beforehand. I’m just trying to progress from monthly to something that gives me a more work/life balance.
When failing to complete cleans , then you lose your reliability claim. If I was 4/8/12 weekly, I wouldn’t have to complete everything by the end of the month but yet I could still get to the jobs , a little later than normal.
February is a complete nightmare trying to get everything done in such a short month and bad weather
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Has anyone done this? My frequencies are monthly/2 monthly/3 monthly, it’s worked brilliantly for years but now I’m full to the brim , I don’t have any spare days in the month to take leave , get rained off etc without failing cleans by the end of the month .
I’m thinking if I change over , then it’ll actually give me more flexibility and I might actually be able to take a 2 week holiday for the first time ever 😁.
I don’t think there’s many monthly cleaners on here ….
Most of my work is either 4 or 8 weekly....I take a week or two off for holidays,etc and just move my work forward on cleaner planner....it literally takes 5 mins to do....
Cleaner planner makes rescheduling SO easy!
Also my working week is around 20-25 hours a week.....
I've never been full to the brim with work since my trad days and wouldn't want to be these days either.
Sounds amazing daz , I’m actually really jealous 😁
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Your overcomplicating it - you’ll be 2 weeks behind regardless of what schedule you use - if. It’s a planned holiday just tell them your next clean will be 2 weeks later than normal
Darran
Tbh I think this is why I find it stressful. Having a monthly round , I can’t clean 2 weeks later than normal as my round starts fresh on the 1st of each month. To take a week off at the end of July was pretty hard work , I worked 6 days a week so I could get all regular windows done before I went away so I could start again from job no.1 on the 1st august
Just move your whole schedule forward 2 weeks to give yourself a holiday!
1.no rushing around trying to cram work in!
2.simply start again where you left off(2 weeks later than usual)...
Stop complicating this business!it's easy!
I don't notify any customers either apart from the odd one if I see them....if I get any phone calls/texts I simply say I'll be late getting round due to holiday....
It's never an issue!🙂👍
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Your overcomplicating it - you’ll be 2 weeks behind regardless of what schedule you use - if. It’s a planned holiday just tell them your next clean will be 2 weeks later than normal
Darran
Tbh I think this is why I find it stressful. Having a monthly round , I can’t clean 2 weeks later than normal as my round starts fresh on the 1st of each month. To take a week off at the end of July was pretty hard work , I worked 6 days a week so I could get all regular windows done before I went away so I could start again from job no.1 on the 1st august
Just move your whole schedule forward 2 weeks to give yourself a holiday!
1.no rushing around trying to cram work in!
2.simply start again where you left off(2 weeks later than usual)...
Stop complicating this business!it's easy!
I don't notify any customers either apart from the odd one if I see them....if I get any phone calls/texts I simply say I'll be late getting round due to holiday....
It's never an issue!🙂👍
That’s what you can’t do with a monthly schedule- say for example you have 20 days work and there are 20 business days in a month , if I take the last week of the month off , that week has now gone and I can’t do it at the beginning of the next month because I start the month with job no.1 .
If I was 4 weekly , I could carry on where I left off…..
This does sound complicated 😆
Ok ok , so let me turn this around on you guys - why isn’t your work on a monthly schedule?
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Go out. Go to work. Work. Go home.
Repeat.
Repeat.
Repeat.
Repeat....
Go on holiday.
Come back from holiday.
Go out. Go to work. Work. Go home.
Repeat...
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I'm taking a week off at the end of August if the months work is finished when I start my holiday then that's great . If its not I just start back in September where I left off and continue from there.
I clean calendar monthly and two monthly.
Most five week months I get a day or two off at the end of the month.
If I want or need time off I take it and most of the customers understand.
I tell all customers from the start that we are regular give or take a week or two for holidays and bad weather etc.
Holidays/time off are important I try to always have my work completed in any given month but if I've planned time off its not always possible to get round all the jobs .
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I don't get this.
So you have a set round every month and if you take time off that work just gets skipped and missed out completely ?
Why not just take 2 weeks off and when you come back start where you left off ?
What does frequency have to do with it ???
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I don't get this.
So you have a set round every month and if you take time off that work just gets skipped and missed out completely ?
Why not just take 2 weeks off and when you come back start where you left off ?
What does frequency have to do with it ???
Yeah that’s how iv always worked- although July was the 1st time iv ever not got to a few jobs, so they got completely missed and I started a fresh at the beginning of august as they have now missed Julys clean, il get to them next time I’m in their area at the end of august .
I work on a calendar month which isn’t flexible, if I was 4 weekly , I could do a clean that’s due at the end of July , at the beginning of august
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This is honestly over complicating things.
People do not care wether you are a day or two late, early, or even longer.
Just make sure each day is as profitable as it can be, and work each day you want to. When you go on holiday, pick up where you left off.
I work on a “monthly” schedule, but I tell everyone it’s roughly 4-6 weeks depending on holidays, stormy weather etc.
People DO NOT care. They are just happy I’m regular.
Don’t put yourself under pressure. Window cleaning should be the opposite.
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Your overcomplicating it - you’ll be 2 weeks behind regardless of what schedule you use - if. It’s a planned holiday just tell them your next clean will be 2 weeks later than normal
Darran
Tbh I think this is why I find it stressful. Having a monthly round , I can’t clean 2 weeks later than normal as my round starts fresh on the 1st of each month. To take a week off at the end of July was pretty hard work , I worked 6 days a week so I could get all regular windows done before I went away so I could start again from job no.1 on the 1st august
Just move your whole schedule forward 2 weeks to give yourself a holiday!
1.no rushing around trying to cram work in!
2.simply start again where you left off(2 weeks later than usual)...
Stop complicating this business!it's easy!
I don't notify any customers either apart from the odd one if I see them....if I get any phone calls/texts I simply say I'll be late getting round due to holiday....
It's never an issue!🙂👍
That’s what you can’t do with a monthly schedule- say for example you have 20 days work and there are 20 business days in a month , if I take the last week of the month off , that week has now gone and I can’t do it at the beginning of the next month because I start the month with job no.1 .
If I was 4 weekly , I could carry on where I left off…..
This does sound complicated 😆
Ok ok , so let me turn this around on you guys - why isn’t your work on a monthly schedule?
Come on man - 4 weekly clean is the same as monthly - the advantage for me is - cleans are on the same day of the week every 4 weeks - with monthly ie.. the 3rd of the month that day maybe a Monday one month Tuesday the next etc..
which ever system you have - go on holiday and move the schedule 2 weeks - no one will care
if your after more time off/shorter days then move 4 weekly/monthly cleans into an 8 week service - and if your that hard pressed tell the bi-monthly its now once every 3 months ....
Your stressing over nothing - people expect you to have time off - and no fussed your schedule is moved back 2 weeks
I do it every Christmas when we have a shut down - a couple of years back we had a complete 3 week stoppage
no complaints from customers
CHILL OUT!
Darran
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I work monthly but purposely only have 2 days window cleaning on the last week of each month. This enables me to schedule in extra work such as soft washing etc.
It also means we plan our holidays for that week, meaning I only ever have to catch up on 2 days window cleaning, which I usually do just before the holiday .
It’s worked great for years, and I’m never short of work that week, I fill those extra 3 days with all the extra jobs, and keep it clear for holidays.
We’ve all got different ways of making it work 👍🏼
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Ok cheers guys - I will start doing this from now on, just spill over to the next month and stop trying to get everything done by the end of the month. I think I kinda got stuck in the routine of getting everything done. Years ago I only had a couple of days work and was great , but now on average iv got maybe 25 days work and it’s started to get too much to enjoy, especially over the last year or so. Much appreciated everyone 👌
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Ok cheers guys - I will start doing this from now on, just spill over to the next month and stop trying to get everything done by the end of the month. I think I kinda got stuck in the routine of getting everything done. Years ago I only had a couple of days work and was great , but now on average iv got maybe 25 days work and it’s started to get too much to enjoy, especially over the last year or so. Much appreciated everyone 👌
As we get older we slow down. Window cleaning is a physically tiring job and we need to be making it more flexible as we age, that's one of the advantages of this job, flexibilty.
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Not specifically an answer to your question but people don't seem to realise that an overfull round serves no purpose whatsoever. If you're always running late all you gain is stress.
There are a certain number of cleans you can carry out in a day/week/month, whatever. It doesn't matter if you're so overflowing with work that you're only getting round your customers once a year, you're not earning a penny more than if it was just full - you can only earn the same amount per day.
Bemuses me when people tell me they're always running late.
The secret, of course, is to flog off or drop the customers you don't want.
Vin
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Or employ/franchise
Darran
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Not specifically an answer to your question but people don't seem to realise that an overfull round serves no purpose whatsoever. If you're always running late all you gain is stress.
There are a certain number of cleans you can carry out in a day/week/month, whatever. It doesn't matter if you're so overflowing with work that you're only getting round your customers once a year, you're not earning a penny more than if it was just full - you can only earn the same amount per day.
Bemuses me when people tell me they're always running late.
The secret, of course, is to flog off or drop the customers you don't want.
Vin
That’s a very good point Vin , I never thought of it like that
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Make it work for you, the customers will fall into place.
Most expect you to have a holiday from time to time.
There is also the stress of complete accountability when there is no flexibility
I started 4 and 8 weekly, moved them to monthly and bimonthly to gain a little time off and now I’ve moved everyone to 6 weekly working 3 days a week. I have been trading 22 years. The bimonthly were dearer than the monthly so on paper the turnover was the same. Lost a few as they only wanted 6 cleans as against 8 but they were easily replaced. Most were happy to retain the service and fitted in with me.
Just do what’s best for you
Tony
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You’ve set your round up without thinking that you might need regular time off.
You can run your round how you like.
When I started up I had everything on 6 weekly but wasn’t full so I used the 6 th week as regular holiday week. Over the years I realised that if I worked harder and longer days I could work 4 weeks on 2 weeks off .
That’s how I’ve kept it . It’s better for your sanity and body . Never have to worry about getting time off .
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I don't get this.
So you have a set round every month and if you take time off that work just gets skipped and missed out completely ?
Why not just take 2 weeks off and when you come back start where you left off ?
What does frequency have to do with it ???
Yeah that’s how iv always worked- although July was the 1st time iv ever not got to a few jobs, so they got completely missed and I started a fresh at the beginning of august as they have now missed Julys clean, il get to them next time I’m in their area at the end of august .
I work on a calendar month which isn’t flexible, if I was 4 weekly , I could do a clean that’s due at the end of July , at the beginning of august
I dont think being monthly rather than 4 weekly has caused your issue, its simply the way you are looking at it. You could work your way on a 4 weekly cycle and leave customers out for example do week 1, 2 then go on holiday so skip week 3 and continue at week 4 when you get back....its the same thing.
For me it doesnt matter what schedule customers are on, 4 weekly, monthly or any other, i simply start at job A and finish at job Z then round again..... Although im supposed to be 4 weekly in reality its usually between 4 and 6 weeks to get round due to all the variables of weather, holidays, sickness etc.
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Not specifically an answer to your question but people don't seem to realise that an overfull round serves no purpose whatsoever. If you're always running late all you gain is stress.
There are a certain number of cleans you can carry out in a day/week/month, whatever. It doesn't matter if you're so overflowing with work that you're only getting round your customers once a year, you're not earning a penny more than if it was just full - you can only earn the same amount per day.
Bemuses me when people tell me they're always running late.
The secret, of course, is to flog off or drop the customers you don't want.
Vin
Thats very true but to have a surplus gives security knowing you can lose quite a few and still have the same yearly turn over on tap.
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Thats very true but to have a surplus gives security knowing you can lose quite a few and still have the same yearly turn over on tap.
I agree. It's sensible to be slightly overstocked but when I read of people on four-weekly cycles whining that they always seem to be a week or more late, I despair. Who is going to lose 20% of their customers in a short time? They are piling on stress for no benefit.
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I become a JW every Christmas so I don’t have to stop work.