Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: geefree on August 15, 2006, 09:45:08 am
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hi all , well here we go , my first day has arrived too , off out to do the few cleans i have,well as many as i can i have 20 so should take forever ha,... just worried about the ladder on the roof bars, i was reading some old posts from shiner over a year old,.... are the straps from halfords still the quickest and safest way to secure ladders or has something better been invented :)
gary.
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Ladder Hooks/Clamps best way to secure your ladders and the fastest £20/£25 a pair.
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Ladder Hooks/Clamps best way to secure your ladders and the fastest £20/£25 a pair.
Totally agree !
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bolt an upright to each roof bar sticking up about 9" so that your ladder rungs will sit against them.
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Gary,
How did your first day go?
I'd now hate to do 20 new cleans in one day; they're murder. I recently did six new cleans, one after the other, and found them slow, tedious and hard work.
Just remember next month, they'll be much easier; as you've done the hard work today.
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Ladder Hooks/Clamps best way to secure your ladders and the fastest £20/£25 a pair.
Totally agree !
definitely.Some people use bungee rope,but you cant beat the hook clamps.Plus you can padlock them up.
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Gary,
How did your first day go?
I'd now hate to do 20 new cleans in one day; they're murder. I recently did six new cleans, one after the other, and found them slow, tedious and hard work.
Just remember next month, they'll be much easier; as you've done the hard work today.
I think he will be home about seven,after doing 20 first cleans
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I'd take bets he did about 10 of them and is flat out on the sofa ;)
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I'd take bets he did about 10 of them and is flat out on the sofa ;)
...feeling like he's had a good kicking, and demoralised because he's only earnt £50.00 tops; and all his scrims are soaking and minging dirty.
That's how I felt.
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Just did my first 2 wfp (first cleans today), one of the house's got 45 litres thrown at it ! and the other one was just tops (about 30 litres)....We did a following up call to the new customers this evening..,.both were pleased with the result and no complaints.
Am now the proud owner of 6 regular customers... :D
:) Dave.
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Hi everybody, did 13 new cleans , and yes you are right chris , only earned about 45 quid, but i loved it , i really did,.. nice lady made a pot of tea, told me where to go for new customers, and wait for it ! ... once up the ladder i had 6 people wanting their windows doing, they all agreed the price and i am doin them tomoorrow,.
The windows and sills were all filthy and spider ridden :) so i do agree with you tosh about it being tedious, but like you said will be easier next month.
They all paid but i had to go back for one who complimented me on how sparkling clean her windows, frames and sills looked.... i remembered you all saying ,to take my time and do a good job, so since i wanted to leave a good impression, i went the extra mile .
I would like to thank you all for your help and advice to get me to the starting line,.... by legs ache along with my back, and arms, but i have a huge smile on my face. :D
THANK YOU.
Gary.
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Gaza where have you been cleaning today.
13 cleans for 45 quid is only about £3.5 each.
Minimum price in our area should be £6 mate.
Dont fall into the trap of getting quick custom by pricing low as you WILL regret it.
The only ones in our area that charge £3.5 are the ones who are signing on,dont lower yourself to their standard mate.
Did you try Eastmoor.
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hi, i had a mixed bag with some 5 and 6 but one or two 3.50 ones yes, they were them litte flats at gillsyke grove, and i took so long as first day etc.
i dont want to underprice and wont again, but i thought they were easy for when im quicker..... as all close together, i will go to eastmoor tomorrow, but i thought that area was a bit like you said on your post.... i would charge 5 for an average terrace house, around 6, 6.50 for a semi. and around 7/8 detached , all of course depending on size, amount of windows, conservatary, etc etc..... please say im roughly ok with those prices as i want to do this right in our area.
gary.
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god , ???feel bad now.
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Hi everybody, did 13 new cleans , and yes you are right chris , only earned about 45 quid, but i loved it , i really did,.. nice lady made a pot of tea, told me where to go for new customers, and wait for it ! ... once up the ladder i had 6 people wanting their windows doing, they all agreed the price and i am doin them tomoorrow,.
The windows and sills were all filthy and spider ridden :) so i do agree with you tosh about it being tedious, but like you said will be easier next month.
They all paid but i had to go back for one who complimented me on how sparkling clean her windows, frames and sills looked.... i remembered you all saying ,to take my time and do a good job, so since i wanted to leave a good impression, i went the extra mile .
I would like to thank you all for your help and advice to get me to the starting line,.... by legs ache along with my back, and arms, but i have a huge smile on my face. :D
THANK YOU.
Gary.
well done gazzasp8, petski is correct in getting your prices up if you don't know how to price then pop a couple of pictures of one or two of your cleans on here and help in pricing will come fast.
Going that extra mile as you did will pay you dividends in the future your customers talk but it spreads slowly, do a bad job and it spreads fast.
You may find that if there is a lack of W C in your area they will find you, if you have a sign writen car/van you may even find notes under your wipers, good luck to you in the future and I hope all goes well for you.
Jeff
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Ah Gill Syke,I used to be the milkman for all those flats.
To be honest mate yes you are about right with your pricing for our area.
If you go a bit further down we used to have about 8 customers in Mount Crescent but dropped them recently when we got some more commercial work,so why not canvass them.Dont canvass Brackendale(further down behing old British Jeffry Diamonds) as we do them. ;D
Do you live near Gill Syke as I was born and bred on Lupset estate.
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Thanks Jeff, thats good of you to reply, i will take some photos., i was doing ok until they came with these small granny flats, but i will learn.
gary.
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Hi Petski
no, i live at sandal,...i will have a look in that area where you dropped the work,...and i wont canvass near you but please let me know so i dont.... i did enjoy it though we should meet one day for a beer,... i did not even consider the guys on the dole doing this, and undercutting, learn loads here on this site every day.
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Gaza dont knock them granny flats mate.
Believe me if you get a lot more of them you will easily do 15 of those in an hour with wfp or 10 with trad after a while.
Had a word with our house cleaner (wifes a lazy bugger) yesterday and she lives in Eastmoor.She said their window cleaner comes about every 3 months and misse windows out every time.Go for it mate.
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what should i charge in eastmoor, i think they generally all the same type of house. ???
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am off to eastmoor lol
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To be honest it depends on how much you want to earn,I personally work to £25 an hour so if you think you could in time do 4 of them an hour you should charge about £6 per house.OK its one of those areas where they probably pay £4.5 at the moment but would you rather do ten houses at £4.5 or just over 7 at £6.
Where in Sandal are you ya posh bugger.
Used to have girlfriends on Carr Lane,Woodthorpe Gardens and a road across from Pledwick INN.
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By the way if you read your emails I mailed you last week to say my local is the Blue Light on Batley road in Alverthorpe. ;)
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got the emails thanks, sorry with all this going on i simply cant find the time..... and kids sometimes open mail and they dont show as new etc..., i stay up and read and post on here then i canvass and leaflet drop,
i live not far from woodthorpe, lower down... not giving street on here lol... think i know where that boozer of yours too... not posh me :)... but you are with your very own maid. ;D
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where are all the w/c from round here on this forum, am suprised.
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Not posh at all mate lol.
Wife has opened up another hairdressing salon so she is basically busy 24/7.
I did the cleaning for a while but as she says I only did a man clean.lol
So we hired a cleaner but only 2 hours a week,just takes pressure off her indoors.
Anyhow whenever you want to meet at my local for a few pints and a natter about wcing let me know in advance.
Going out tomorrow to watch England game,out Thursday at Mex Cantina,out Friday at family,weekend is mine,Monday OK,Tuesday going to watch Wakefield FC for their first home game at College Grove.
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well done gazza.Keep your prices sensible,though.In the beginning,desperation for work can make you go a tad cheaper.Try not to
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Got to agree Fast.We have now been at it over 2 years and have only just managed to drop the stuff we priced too low.
It is so tempting and even though people warned me against it when I started I still did it. ::)
However in time the good priced stuff does come.
Must admit Yellow pages made a big difference to our round,we have a box advert and it costs £135 a year which we pay in installments.
What is hardest to understand when you are starting up is if you underprice you are not only ruining your own earning potential but also that of fellow window cleaners.
This is why we frown so much on the dole brigade.
Picture the scenario:a group of oaps flats have been paying John Doe whose claiming dole so only needs to earn £30 a day to top up his income £2.5 for their windows cleaned.
He for whatever reason packs in and you come along.
When you price up you think ok this will take me about 15 mins so you quote £6.
It doesnt matter how long you try to explain to them that he was a doley and you need to earn a real income they aint gonna accept an increase like that.
Sorry to go into a rant but we have to rise above these guys and stick to decent pricing.
I know its hard when quote after quote you get turned down but believe me good priced work is out there. :)
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hi all , well here we go , my first day has arrived too , off out to do the few cleans i have,well as many as i can i have 20 so should take forever ha,... just worried about the ladder on the roof bars, i was reading some old posts from shiner over a year old,.... are the straps from halfords still the quickest and safest way to secure ladders or has something better been invented :)
gary.
I have found those straps I mentioned back then to be just fine. I suppose clamps would be extra safe but they are a hassle to keeop doing up and undoing each time you want to remove the ladder. I tend to lock the ladder on at night with the clamps and padlocks but during the day I just use the straps. If you are anxious about the straps, I suppose you could put an extra one around the front roof bar just in case one fails though I've bot had a problem. By all means check the locking mechanisms on the straps periodically if you feel concerned. Also, don't forget to have something on the roofbars to prevent sideways movement.
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Ladder Hooks/Clamps best way to secure your ladders and the fastest £20/£25 a pair.
Totally agree !
definitely.Some people use bungee rope,but you cant beat the hook clamps.Plus you can padlock them up.
A bungee can snap & i cant see 1 bungee holding a set of ladders, ive always used ladder clamps, ive never had them fail yet but if one did im fairly confident the other clampwould keep the ladders on.
Macc
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I frequently drive with one clamp in place if the next job is nearby
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Ladder Hooks/Clamps best way to secure your ladders and the fastest £20/£25 a pair.
Totally agree !
definitely.Some people use bungee rope,but you cant beat the hook clamps.Plus you can padlock them up.
A bungee can snap & i cant see 1 bungee holding a set of ladders, ive always used ladder clamps, ive never had them fail yet but if one did im fairly confident the other clampwould keep the ladders on.
Macc
I have had a clamp fail but it failed while I was doing it up. I think it got cross threaded and went loose.
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well done gazza.Keep your prices sensible,though.In the beginning,desperation for work can make you go a tad cheaper.Try not to
I agree, having underpriced myself when I started.
For some of my older work, it's literally taken years (four of them) to get them to an acceptable level.
I can't stress it enough; it's important to 'get yer prices right', otherwise you'll end up demoralised since your grafting away, earning very little and won't be to cover the bills and stuff; especially if you have a period of time, even a short one, where you can't work.
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CHEERS TOSH,I WONT GO DOWN THAT RD, OOPS i only accepted the granny flats as they all together right next door to each other without even having to go out of any gates,.. when i said was doing ok until the granny flats , i wasnt knocking them (petski) i meant regarding pricing up.... tosh , just been scrawling through some really old posts for info on sloping porches directly below a bedroom window,... and you were there again giving the right advice, 2003 i think... you are a star ;D... but where have all the other guys gone, think just you and paul around then,
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Got to agree Fast.We have now been at it over 2 years and have only just managed to drop the stuff we priced too low.
It is so tempting and even though people warned me against it when I started I still did it. ::)
However in time the good priced stuff does come.
Must admit Yellow pages made a big difference to our round,we have a box advert and it costs £135 a year which we pay in installments.
What is hardest to understand when you are starting up is if you underprice you are not only ruining your own earning potential but also that of fellow window cleaners.
This is why we frown so much on the dole brigade.
Picture the scenario:a group of oaps flats have been paying John Doe whose claiming dole so only needs to earn £30 a day to top up his income £2.5 for their windows cleaned.
He for whatever reason packs in and you come along.
When you price up you think ok this will take me about 15 mins so you quote £6.
It doesnt matter how long you try to explain to them that he was a doley and you need to earn a real income they aint gonna accept an increase like that.
Sorry to go into a rant but we have to rise above these guys and stick to decent pricing.
I know its hard when quote after quote you get turned down but believe me good priced work is out there. :)
Spot on mate