Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: jeff1 on January 02, 2007, 06:44:01 pm
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Guy's wfp is the dogs Dangler's
I went out at 10am this morning, as my first Job was a disabled children's home, and I don't arrive there to early because of them getting the children up and dressed as well as fed.
From there I went and did my shops but so far they were all trad, then my restaurant asked me to do there upstairs, so out it came did the tops then carried on with the rest of my shops trad.
once finished, I went further down the road to a farm I have hated doing off ladders, (all leaded and high) since the day I had it, but its a good earner, out came the backpack as a 100mtr hose wouldn't touch it, and with all the cow c**p every were there was no way, I was going to get all that over my shiny new yellow hose, I had plenty of water so I decided to put the backpack on setting 2 to give them a good wash, after 2 full backpacks the job was done in half the time, shoes and trousers covered in cow dung, but I was happy that I stayed on the ground, and did it in half the time, from that farm I went to my second farm that took one full backpack, again the Job was done in half the time on setting 2, after that one I did 3 more large detached houses, and on the last house it was just starting to get dark, so I had to call it a day.
Am I sad or what I wanted to carry on but light stopped play.
got home and sat down at 5:00pm after unloading my car.
Did my paper work and was shocked to learn I took £200 today on my own.
That target was only ever reached on a good day with me and the boss working together.
And I still came home with a little water in my Tank. My arms are dropping off my legs ache, but I'll get used to it.
I can't wait to become more experienced as that will yet improve my takings even more.
I don't normally talk about my takings on an open forum, but just thought I would like to share This with all the guy's WHO have advised me over the past few months.
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Thats a good day. Try to aim for that amount which is a good Wfp day. Dont be misled by those who say can earn triple that. I read a while back about someone on here who reckoned he did £600. No one does that but £200 is excellent.
Well done
TDW
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i think you'll find that was me and yes it can be done as it gets done regular ;D
200 quid is still a good days work on your own though, well done! ;D ;D
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Don't forget guy's I am totally new to wfp, and I had a couple of big ones in the list below, I think if you are very experienced with wfp and had good earning jobs, I know your takings could be even more, but first of all I have to gain experience before I could aim high, but again I know I will need more customers, or I'll run out of work much to early.
I still have loads to learn, but its the best move I ever made.
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Yep, good for you Jeff ;) Well done.
For really big turnover days you need the right prices and the right accounts, I'm not going to say what my best day has been, but it's quite high.
Doesn't happen as often as I'd like, but it is now starting to happen regularly.
But no matter....providing you are well organised and are prepared to be adaptable, your turnover will increase by a fair sized percentage, and you will be less tired at the end of the day too.
If a top day for you is....say...£130-140 then after a while your top day should be topping £200 comfortably.
Same goes for someone who is well chuffed when they knock out a ton in a single day, you will probably be able to knock £150 instead of £100
Doesn't mean you will do it every day remember!!
But if your average day is £75-80 then after a very short time your average should increase by at least £30 per day, and in less time than it would have taken you before too.
Either that or you'll knock out your £75 by lunchtime instead of tea time!
But don't be a numpty and lower your prices because you are feeling guilty at the rate you are now earning your money!
Ian
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Well done Jeff..
Makes me even more excited....Ordering my van system on monday, Diy job.
Cant wait.
Bazz...
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Great news Jeff! Also a big encouragement for the rest of us.
On a slightly different subject i sometimes look at the old threads. There was chap( he said he'd been a top vacuum salesman) who hasn't posted since 2003,but he was advising that you could earn 72K . The moderators put warnings at the end of some of his comments. I just wondered if anyone knew what became of him. (out of interest).
On the concept o2 thread the knock people also highlighted how price, saturation, and customer resistance vary over the country. And just to throw in the kitchen sink one of the posters on what 2006 had achieved said that he now thought of himself as a business ( and like you with good reason.)
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Thanks for your comments Guy's.
I will say this to you all, Under normal circumstances, I never discus my earnings on an open forum, I have no worry's about the taxman so I'm happy to discuse this for the following reasons.
The main reason for this post is to encourage any wc who may be hesitating to change from Trad to wfp as I myself did.
I did a farm today with high windows and my ladder was always at full extent, it was always stood on welsh slate, in wet weather I used to c**p myself, Today with wfp I flew through the Job with ease, and all from the safety of the ground, I had no worries about facing the customer because of my speed and I have no intentions of reducing my price, I even had 2 customers ask me, if I wanted more money, because of laying out money for all the new equipment, No price increase I say, but tell them Brand New customers Only ;D will pay for the increase, this I think Just makes them feel better. and will price any new customers as I would if I was doing it Trad.
I don't think I would hit this target every day, but will set myself daily targets depending on the days work.
This was my very first day out with my trailer in tow, so I wasnt governed by the amount of water I had.
just before xmas I took a full backpack and a couple of 25ltr containers, just to get the hang of wfp,Tomorrow is a new day with a full tank, I will get out a little earlier than today, so will get more done, as tomorrow is all wfp work.
I will also remind some guy's not to forget the area you are from, I get the impression the further south you go the higher the price you can get, and luckly enough I live in the South. but it doesn't matter were you live, you will be faster and safer, and at the end of the day you will feel better, Well in the mind anyway ;D
My arms are killing me, in a few weeks time I recon I'll be like popeye ;D my legs ache a little, as does my back, I am 50 yrs old so have an excuse. and I know these pains will go once I get use to a different working method.
This time last year, I was more like squeeky,(no offence meant to you squeek) no way was I going to change over to wfp. but thanks to the encouragement from wc forums like this one, I am more than willing to openly admit that it is the best move I ever made.
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good going jeff speed soon comes i had a late day too 230 8)
cheers
brett
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I read a while back about someone on here who reckoned he did £600. No one does that
And why not 65 flats over 8 hours @ £10 each to me is £650 in a day .It has been done and it can be done
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After today it doesn't supprise me you guy's can earn that sort of money, If you have good accounts, and you want to work hard the the sky's the limit.
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got home and sat down at 5:00pm after unloading my car.
Did my paper work and was shocked to learn I took £200 today on my own.
Blimey.
That is good going and something to be proud of. Checkout workers in supermarkets don't take home that much and they work a whole week and look at what job they do.
I enjoy reading postings like that because it shows what can be achieved.
Cheers
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Im trad and my prices are low, I try to earn £120 to £150 a day, which Im ok with, I often wonder how much I would earn if I charged as much as some others do locally,
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Im trad and my prices are low, I try to earn £120 to £150 a day, which Im ok with, I often wonder how much I would earn if I charged as much as some others do locally,
Scrim2, if you think your prices are low and you are doing between £120 and £150 then I reckon you are doing pretty good, the average turn over is around 17k per year, so if you can top £100 every day (as an average over 12 months I mean) then you are knocking out 25k per year...
For you the difference would be doing that work in less time (if you didn't pick up new work that is ;))
Another way of looking at WFP is the fact that if you are currently happy with your income, if nothing else you will do the work in less time (giving you more free time) and once you have got used to the new way of working, you will also be far less tired at the end of the day too...
Ian
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Well done that man
I have been looking at the WFP system for a while but now got some dosh behind me so might make the jump.
When I first looked at your Earning I looked at it and laughed then worked out my highest ever was half that......DOH
Well Done.
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Jago
I promise you it can be easily be done, I'm 50 and I'm not in a habit of rushing my work, like Ian said if you don't take on more work, then you can finish your round so much quicker .and have more time for your family.
I too at first swore blind, I wasn't going to change to wfp, but after reading many posts on more earnings or more time for your self and all from the comfort of the ground, I thought what the hell, started to pester my boss (wife) and she bought the lot for me as my xmas prezzy.
Don't think about changing over just do it, you know yourself the guy's on here will give you all the advice you need.
I'll make you a deal, If you change over to wfp and don't earn more money or have more time for your self, I will personally buy all your gear from you. Thats how confident I am that it can be done.
GO FOR IT ;D ;D
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Jago
I promise you it can be easily be done, I'm 50 and I'm not in a habit of rushing my work, like Ian said if you don't take on more work, then you can finish your round so much quicker .and have more time for your family.
I too at first swore blind, I wasn't going to change to wfp, but after reading many posts on more earnings or more time for your self and all from the comfort of the ground, I thought what the hell, started to pester my boss (wife) and she bought the lot for me as my xmas prezzy.
Don't think about changing over just do it, you know yourself the guy's on here will give you all the advice you need.
I'll make you a deal, If you change over to wfp and don't earn more money or have more time for your self, I will personally buy all your gear from you. Thats how confident I am that it can be done.
GO FOR IT ;D ;D
So far my annual income with WFP (compared to trad) hasn't really increased. What has changed is that I now do the work in about 60% of the time that it used to take. However, comparing the first quarter of my current accounting year to the first quarter of my previous one, my spreadsheet calculates a 22.4% increase over the previous year and this was done in far less time.
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Thanks for the advice Jeff
See my problem is I am back restarting and only do weekends as I have an okish IT Job.
Now you see I get fed up as I want to do more but can not as I can not give up and go just Windows just yet.
I do it trad at the mo and do about 10 - 15 houses a day on average. If i can do say 20 - 25 a day WFP for the two days £7- £10 it would make it more Easy to give up.
I want to get back into Comercial too but do not want to tread on toes. Any advise greatly accepted.
Regards J
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Well done Jeff! ;)
The only problem with threads like this is that someone somewhere will be sitting in an office reading this post thinking WOW - I can become a window cleaner and earn £200 per day! Thats £1000 per week! Thats double what I earn in my office job!
In reality its not like that at all. Don't get me wrong good money can be earnt if you are prepared to work hard for it, but being a window cleaner isn't all roses (although its the best move I ever made). :)
Andy
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I am not sitting here thinking that,
I already have a small round and used to be a full time cleaner untill some bird decided to drive on my side of the road and hit me and the motorbike headon.
Trouble is had to get a job to get money, but it has taken 10 -15 years to get my arm back and in the wet still hurts but can live with that to be my own boss again.
J (sat in the warm office) ;-)
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Jago,
I wasn't having a go at you mate... I already know that you have a part time round :)
18 months ago I was in an IT job and thought I would give window cleaning a go. I'm glad I did, but I was just pointing out that it takes hard work and lots of effort in order to earn a good wage at it.
Andy
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Tis OK Andy Just Gutted sat here and not earning out there with you guys.
One thing though........
I might be being made redundant haaaaa
so The hand of Fate can deal a hand that looks bad to some and good to others
Did you find the transition hard Andy?
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it ain't all roses, i've worked 4 hours this morning and have now been rained off this afternoon so i'm now sitting at home watching Mary Poppins and drinking tea...god i miss my old office job i had ;D Not! ;) ;D
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Did you find the transition hard Andy?
In a word "yes"! :)
Looking back I think I rushed into it... But in a way that has been a good thing.
I was an IT contractor... My contract was coming to an end and although they offered to renew it I said no as I wanted to give window cleaning a go!
So I left my office job with about 2 months money to live on - Only having 2 months money to live on was my mistake - I then went out canvassing everyday, all day, all through the winter of 2005/2006... That was really hard work!
A year on though and I am really glad I made the jump... If I was planning it all again though I would definately build up a part time round first and then take the jump.
Andy
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Thanks Andy
that is what I am trying to do but the hard part is
Do I invest in wfp only for part time but if i can 1.5 x my work load then i am nearly on enough money (only 500 a month shortof my now monthly take home) so that means my money saved will last longer.
If that makes sense.
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Jago,
Whereabouts in Bracknell are you from? My wife grew up in Bracknell :)
The problem you really now have is when to make the jump!
If you can't squeeze anymore work in part time then you need to seriously consider taking the jump now and spending all the time your not cleaning out door knocking / canvassing.
So, perhaps it would be a good idea to invest in WFP now... That would then mean that you could squeeze more work in part time which would increase your money and make it easier for you to take the jump at a later date?
(I'm not sure if I'm making sense?) :-\
Andy
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Well done Jeff! ;)
The only problem with threads like this is that someone somewhere will be sitting in an office reading this post thinking WOW - I can become a window cleaner and earn £200 per day! Thats £1000 per week! Thats double what I earn in my office job!
In reality its not like that at all. Don't get me wrong good money can be earnt if you are prepared to work hard for it, but being a window cleaner isn't all roses (although its the best move I ever made). :)
Andy
Hi Andy
Andy, I agree with what you say, but anyone who is sat in an office thinking you can earn £1000 a week, stop and find out how first.
MESSAGE to OFFICE WORKERS
Its taken me 9 years of hard work to get were I am today, all hard work, scraping ice of windows and freezing my B***s off in the winter, if you can't cope with the winters and all the rainy day's, then I strongly recommend you stay in your nice warm office, 99% of the guy's on here have faced cold winters.
Also don't forget its not just a case of getting and cleaning windows, what about paying tax's,and accountants, what about getting all your insurance's, buying all your equipment, and if you go water fed, maintaning your equipment, buying spares, the list goes on and on, your running a business, not just picking up a wage at the end of the month.
Even Jago who is sat in his office now, isn't stupid enough, to give up a secure Job until he has enough accounts to to help him hand his notice in.
Its sounds to me his family come first, and thats the way it should be. (Well done Jago). anyone in a office take a leaf out of Jago's book and look into it first.
Jago will get all the advice he needs from his fellow WC.
I hope this has cleared up any thoughts to office workers that window cleaning is a bed of roses with lots of cash, work hard invest lots of cash and you may get there.
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Well done Jeff! ;)
The only problem with threads like this is that someone somewhere will be sitting in an office reading this post thinking WOW - I can become a window cleaner and earn £200 per day! Thats £1000 per week! Thats double what I earn in my office job!
In reality its not like that at all. Don't get me wrong good money can be earnt if you are prepared to work hard for it, but being a window cleaner isn't all roses (although its the best move I ever made). :)
Andy
Hi Andy
Andy, I agree with what you say, but anyone who is sat in an office thinking you can earn £1000 a week, stop and find out how first.
MESSAGE to OFFICE WORKERS
Its taken me 9 years of hard work to get were I am today, all hard work, scraping ice of windows and freezing my B***s off in the winter, if you can't cope with the winters and all the rainy day's, then I strongly recommend you stay in your nice warm office, 99% of the guy's on here have faced cold winters.
Also don't forget its not just a case of getting and cleaning windows, what about paying tax's,and accountants, what about getting all your insurance's, buying all your equipment, and if you go water fed, maintaning your equipment, buying spares, the list goes on and on, your running a business, not just picking up a wage at the end of the month.
Even Jago who is sat in his office now, isn't stupid enough, to give up a secure Job until he has enough accounts to to help him hand his notice in.
Its sounds to me his family come first, and thats the way it should be. (Well done Jago). anyone in a office take a leaf out of Jago's book and look into it first.
Jago will get all the advice he needs from his fellow WC.
I hope this has cleared up any thoughts to office workers that window cleaning is a bed of roses with lots of cash, work hard invest lots of cash and you may get there.
Something that I did at the beginning to help me with the transition was to take a part-time job. I had no work at all when I very first started window cleaning as I had been made redundant. Luckily, I had minimal outgoings and no dependants. While I was building up my work over the first few months, I had a part-time driving job so I knew that I would at least have some money coming in. I was going to pack the driving job in at some point but it was taken out of my hands because the company lost the contract that I was helping to fulfill. This earlier than expected loss of the part-time job just spurred me on to building my business faster. Is there a chance you could reduce your hours at the main job to give you time to build your window cleaning business?
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Something that I did at the beginning to help me with the transition was to take a part-time job.
This is what I did when I left the army and my lump sum was frittered away on a holiday, pot porri and bills.
I took on a Fri/Sat/Sun night security guard job which paid about 6.50 an hour.
It meant I could have time with the family during the day and sleep during the evening when I was at work; guarding a building site.
In the end, I used to take a folding 'zed' bed with me.
Talk about kicking the bottom out of it! ;D
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Im trad and my prices are low, I try to earn £120 to £150 a day, which Im ok with, I often wonder how much I would earn if I charged as much as some others do locally,
Scrim2, if you think your prices are low and you are doing between £120 and £150 then I reckon you are doing pretty good, the average turn over is around 17k per year, so if you can top £100 every day (as an average over 12 months I mean) then you are knocking out 25k per year...
For you the difference would be doing that work in less time (if you didn't pick up new work that is ;))
Another way of looking at WFP is the fact that if you are currently happy with your income, if nothing else you will do the work in less time (giving you more free time) and once you have got used to the new way of working, you will also be far less tired at the end of the day too...
Ian
Thanks for the comments, my prices are too low, for example i do this estate, that i took over from another window cleaner with his prices, they are all 3 bed semis, one without a conservatory is £4, i usually do around 32 of those in a day, and maybe 6 or so of them have conservatories, but i can only work that well maybe 3 days a week, aches n pains, lack of infusiasm, weather etc, get the better of me.
how i make those low priced jobs work at the minute, is because i have around 50 houses on that street and its only 2 minutes away from home, i usually only move my car once to cover the lot of them, if i could do them all in one day that is, I guess wfp would work well there, and is certainly worth keeping in mind.
ive been cleaning windows 6 years, and have been carrying too much work for most of that time, ive cut back my round now, the furthest i travel now is 10 minutes or so, and hopefully I see the benifits this year, around £350 a week for 3 days is what im aiming for, which should be do able. ;) more would be nice but more importantly the free time would be better.
£200 a day sounds great, a grand a week! what a great job we have (most of time) (probably I will have a bad tomorrow now)we can shape it how we want,
scrimit2
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Scrimit
If you put up the price of each house by a £1 because of taxes blah blah blah and rising fairy liquid prices your customers would they moan?
Even 50 pence
but you times that by 32 £16 pounds extra or £32 extra for the £1rise on your day.
32 x £4.00 = £128
32 x £4.50 = £144
32 x £5.00 = £160
If 6 houses drop because of price rise
26 x £5.00 = £130
Do It in new Tax year of April let em get over Christmas at least.
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Andy I Live on the Hollands
You know they say you can take a Bracknell girl out of Bracknell but never the Bracknell out of the Girl !!!!!!!
Treat er like a Princess but if she is of this estate then she probably already was ;-)
Regards J
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they are all 3 bed semis, one without a conservatory is £4, i usually do around 32 of those in a day,
I've done 12 accounts today, one largish one at 50 quid, one at 15 quid and another at 10 quid; the rest were seven to nine pounds terraced houses.
I worked seven hours and had a good day.
How can you do 32 properties in one day?
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that would be 4 an hour all day long ouch now thats is hard work
£7 - £10 here for 3 bed semi Conservatory ad more
Tosh Tell me you can Dance as your Dress ethics are to be desired ;-)
lol
Regards J
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they are all 3 bed semis, one without a conservatory is £4, i usually do around 32 of those in a day,
I've done 12 accounts today, one largish one at 50 quid, one at 15 quid and another at 10 quid; the rest were seven to nine pounds terraced houses.
I worked seven hours and had a good day.
How can you do 32 properties in one day?
Hi Tosh, i dont do 32 every day, i just used it as an example of one of my days work, Im not one of those who exagerate (if i could even spell it) I wouldnt want it to seem that way,
usually, i do that estate one day and the estate next to it, on the next day equalling around 60 houses over the two days and yes its hard on the ankles, as it averages 5 upstairs window per house, so 300 times up the ladder in 2 days, i set out to do 4 a hour and they are door to door,but i slow through the day and i keep going for as long as i can.
for the rest of the month i vary from 12 or so to 25 ish on good days, depending on house sizes and effort,
Scrimit
If you put up the price of each house by a £1 because of taxes blah blah blah and rising fairy liquid prices your customers would they moan?
Even 50 pence
but you times that by 32 £16 pounds extra or £32 extra for the £1rise on your day.
32 x £4.00 = £128
32 x £4.50 = £144
32 x £5.00 = £160
If 6 houses drop because of price rise
26 x £5.00 = £130
Do It in new Tax year of April let em get over Christmas at least.
Hi I like those sums, and it makes perfect sense, im planning a price in april, im a bit nervous of doing it but it has got to be done, I think £5 would be fair price, if not still a bit on the cheap side but a move in the right direction
Scrimit
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I just wanted to say well done Jeff.
To get your best ever earnings on your first day of wfp bears very well for your earnings in the future.
I Have just completed my first full year of wfp w/cleaning after 26 yrs trad. I,m a touch younger then you at 48yrs old, only a touch mind.
For my first 6 weeks of wfp last year I was earning less each day then trad, Lots of hassle, problems, wrecked arms and body. I thought I had made a BIG Mistake going wfp. I regretted paying all that money out and wish I had not bothered.
But I said I would give it a chance and I was going to clean wfp for 6 months before I passed an opinion on it, 26 yrs cleaning trad gets your mind set in a rut so I new I had to give wfp a chance, Even though I hated it.
After 6 weeks I could start the second cleans, It took me 6 weeks to do a 4 week round, Thats how much slower I was. But I made absoultley sure that those frames where left spotless on the first cleans.
Second time round I changed small things that made me more efficent as well.But I was so much faster it was untrue.I kept getting faster and more effecient right through the summer and extra work was just piling in. The speed came without trying. I dont try to go fast I just like to work efficiently.
One year on wfp is the best move I ever made in w/cleaning,My biggest regret is that i never did it 5 years ago. But I have done it and I love it. I prefer wfp in every way to trad cleaning. I do the odd houses trad still that are not suited to wfp. But I will not take any new work on that you have to use trad cleaning. Its wfp only for new stuff.
I am not as tired and I am pretty fit for my age. So my quality of life is better and the money is so much better. I used to earn £150 a day trad, that was for an 8 hour day, grafting hard as well. Now I earn a min £250 a day with wfp.
At the end of last year, thats one full year of wfp my wage was up by 50% over the year of my best ever trad year of w/cleaning.
WFP can and does change significantly how much you can earn if you run your buisness in the right way.
This is not bragging. I am a normall bloke who justs work hard and if there are any other w/cleaners out there with a simaler dispostion you cannot go wrong switching to wfp if you have a bit of common sense.
Nel.
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I just wanted to say well done Jeff.
To get your best ever earnings on your first day of wfp bears very well for your earnings in the future.
I Have just completed my first full year of wfp w/cleaning after 26 yrs trad. I,m a touch younger then you at 48yrs old, only a touch mind.
For my first 6 weeks of wfp last year I was earning less each day then trad, Lots of hassle, problems, wrecked arms and body. I thought I had made a BIG Mistake going wfp. I regretted paying all that money out and wish I had not bothered.
But I said I would give it a chance and I was going to clean wfp for 6 months before I passed an opinion on it, 26 yrs cleaning trad gets your mind set in a rut so I new I had to give wfp a chance, Even though I hated it.
After 6 weeks I could start the second cleans, It took me 6 weeks to do a 4 week round, Thats how much slower I was. But I made absoultley sure that those frames where left spotless on the first cleans.
Second time round I changed small things that made me more efficent as well.But I was so much faster it was untrue.I kept getting faster and more effecient right through the summer and extra work was just piling in. The speed came without trying. I dont try to go fast I just like to work efficiently.
One year on wfp is the best move I ever made in w/cleaning,My biggest regret is that i never did it 5 years ago. But I have done it and I love it. I prefer wfp in every way to trad cleaning. I do the odd houses trad still that are not suited to wfp. But I will not take any new work on that you have to use trad cleaning. Its wfp only for new stuff.
I am not as tired and I am pretty fit for my age. So my quality of life is better and the money is so much better. I used to earn £150 a day trad, that was for an 8 hour day, grafting hard as well. Now I earn a min £250 a day with wfp.
At the end of last year, thats one full year of wfp my wage was up by 50% over the year of my best ever trad year of w/cleaning.
WFP can and does change significantly how much you can earn if you run your buisness in the right way.
This is not bragging. I am a normall bloke who justs work hard and if there are any other w/cleaners out there with a simaler dispostion you cannot go wrong switching to wfp if you have a bit of common sense.
Nel.
Thanks Nel
I thought after nine years I would be stuck in a rutt, But to be quite honest, I spent months and months reading topic's and threads on wfp, and a couple of the best bits of advice I read, was to clean all the frames while your still trad, but pay paticular attention to the tops of the frames, Well I always cleaned the frames, but used to just wipe the tops, after reading the threads, I payed more attention to the tops, I even used a small brush to brush the c**p out, I used squeegie off so I didn't have to many worries on that score. (I used to use fairy)
This is were I feel it has helped, I don't have to spend ages rinsing all the c**p off that would have been there if I hadn't of taken the time to clean them while I was still Trad.
and all that was thanks to the guy's on the forum.
So a little tip for anyone thinking of changing to wfp, study the forum and take in any thing, you feel will help make your conversion easier.
I hope to earn more in the future and to have a little more time for the Boss (wife)
So thank you Guy's for all the advice I followed. I love being on the ground ;D