Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Paul Coleman on March 26, 2007, 08:24:33 am
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Some years ago I was window cleaning monthly on ordinary houses. I had a lot of this "not today thank you" stuff going on and quite a few wanting every other month which I did although I did not like doing it.
To remedy this, I made changes to the frequency of the cleans. I went six weekly across the board. Most of the two monthlies accepted that but some I lost - no problem as they were the ones that were a hassle anyway.
In recent times some of these six weekly accounts have been wanting a 12 weekly service. I had acheque and a letter the other day from a £20 account wanting to halve the frequency. I have a decent price on this one so it will be a shame to lose it but that it what I intend to do. You see, I know that I can go out there and replace it with an even better (6 weekly) job - probably without even having to canvass. It will be easier for me to do that than it will be for hwer to get a window cleaner to do a 4 times a year service.
I had a letter and cheque from another customer too. This one is a lot easier for me. I have had a £10 minimum for new work for a couple of years now. This job is £8. The letter asked me to switch from monthly to two monthly. She doesn't even seem to have noticed that it's been 6 weekly for the past 5 years LOL. This one has been a customer for about 13 years. During that time there have been two lengthy cancellations and one shorter one. Definitely dumped !!
Yet another customer asked to go 12 weekly a while back and I said that I wasn't prepared to. That one is fine but it may only be a matter of time before I lose that. That's quite well priced at £26. It was an OK price that became well priced with my change to WFP as I used to have to use an Unger pole on much of the top floor when I was trad cleaning.
I will do 12 weekly but only for jobs of a certain size that are well priced. The smallest 12 weekly I have is £28. However, I don't think I would do it for anything under about £50 now.
Has anyone else noticed more people trying to reduce the frequency since the interest rates went up?
When I originally changed to 6 weekly, I feel that I compromised a long way. I was overloaded with too much (low paying) work anyway so it didn't mean me having to increase my number of customers by 50%. In fact, the monthly cleans often ended up being nearly six weekly anyway a lot of the time.
My feeling now is that I having compromised such a long way, I am not prepared to compromise any further except when it's a very well paid job of a good size.
I reckon I need to get out there and canvass some quality work to freshen things up a bit. Referrals have been thin on the ground from my existing workload for a few years now and it feels like things are getting a bit stale. I mustn't forget that I am getting the odd £15 or £25 job coming in still which offsets any losses from passing on poorer work.
What seems to be happening overall is that I am working less and less hours for a bit more money. The last day I worked was last Monday and I'm not really due back at work until Wednesday this week - although there are a few I could do on Tuesday.
I could easily totally fill my workload but I'm only prepared to take on work that pays OK now. I have wondered if I'm getting a bit lazy and greedy but I suppose that the best bit about being self-employed is not so much the money but the freedom to have some control over my working environment.
Comments welcome - especially about frequency of cleaning.
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I understand the frustration you are feeling.
I always say to all new customers, "that's £x for a clean every 5 weeks." They agree and away I go. The amount of times I have called back and get the "not this time", or the "they don't look too dirty" lines - makes me so angry!
I went for a 5 weekly clean as monthly seemed too soon for most people and 6 weekly was a bit too long, although as I am building my work up more at the moment I am going to aim to get another weeks worth of work so I can make it 6 weekly. Hopefully this will cut down on the customer excuses.
But I am the same as you, I had an agreement with the customer for the price and frequency of clean. If I suddenly said "sorry Mrs Customer but I will be charging you an extra £5 this visit" I would soon loose all my customers. So when people say "not this time" and don't have a genuine reason to give me, they are dropped like a hot cake. I only work a few days per week due to other commitments so when I lose a customer to a "not this time mate" that can be a serious hit on my wages for the week as I don't have tons of customer all backed up waiting for a clean.
I took up window cleaning for a lot of reasons I won't go into, but the lack of stress has been a real bonus, after working in an office for a few years. If any of my customer cause me stress by changing our agreement in the above mentioned ways, I don't need the stress and I know I'm more in demand as a WC'er and can replace them if need be.
But in the spirit of good business I do always try and explain what's what to customers and don't throw my WFP out of the pram and storm off in a huff..!! ;)
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I understand the frustration you are feeling.
I always say to all new customers, "that's £x for a clean every 5 weeks." They agree and away I go. The amount of times I have called back and get the "not this time", or the "they don't look too dirty" lines - makes me so angry!
I went for a 5 weekly clean as monthly seemed too soon for most people and 6 weekly was a bit too long, although as I am building my work up more at the moment I am going to aim to get another weeks worth of work so I can make it 6 weekly. Hopefully this will cut down on the customer excuses.
But I am the same as you, I had an agreement with the customer for the price and frequency of clean. If I suddenly said "sorry Mrs Customer but I will be charging you an extra £5 this visit" I would soon loose all my customers. So when people say "not this time" and don't have a genuine reason to give me, they are dropped like a hot cake. I only work a few days per week due to other commitments so when I lose a customer to a "not this time mate" that can be a serious hit on my wages for the week as I don't have tons of customer all backed up waiting for a clean.
I took up window cleaning for a lot of reasons I won't go into, but the lack of stress has been a real bonus, after working in an office for a few years. If any of my customer cause me stress by changing our agreement in the above mentioned ways, I don't need the stress and I know I'm more in demand as a WC'er and can replace them if need be.
But in the spirit of good business I do always try and explain what's what to customers and don't throw my WFP out of the pram and storm off in a huff..!! ;)
Sure thing. Toys out of the pram with a customer hasn't happened for quite a while now. Even if I feel annoyed with a customer, I have learned not to display it so readily. However, I am running a business even if it is a one man business and a bit less than full time at that. I take the view that if a job becomes less profitable for me because the customer wants to change things, then I have the right to withdraw the service to help keep my business profitable. The customers have the right to cancel but a few customers seem to forget that I have that right as well. Good manners dictate that we should inform each other of the decision but sometimes a customer hasn't informed me or I haven't informed the customer. That is something I intend to change. Any time I decide to not do a job any longer, I will write to the customer and inform them of my decision. Even if I feel that they don't deserve it, I intend to keep my side of the street clean.
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I only work 2 days a week due to other commitments as well. I work off of a 4 week rotation and have never really had a problem with this. If a customer does ask me to miss them a month, then I'll put a mark against there account, 3 marks and they are off my books.
Other wc's around my way are still working 2/3 weeks and at good prices but these are trad. The windows stay cleaner for longer with wfp and maybe thats the problem, I had one the other day say not today, she was pleasant but didn't give a reason. Her windows still looked brill after 4 wks, I put a mark against her account.
I will do 8 or 12 wks but only on big accounts and I mean 2hrs+ size.
There are plenty more customers out there.
Simon
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Only being a newbie I started with trying to get 4 weekly and soon found out that these customers were only too prone to causing me headaches...so I now quote for both 4 weekly and 8 weekly...What I am really after is 8 weekly customers...I have 2 customers that are 12 weekly and these are both 50 pound + jobs ...
I have found that the 8 weekly customers really notice that there windows need doing and notice they have been done...lets face it with regard to time it does not take twice as long to clean 8wk verses 4wks.... for me this is the way I want to go and my business is growing on average at aprox 3 customers per week and this is enough for me at the moment....
Shiner I do not think you are lazy, it seems to work for you...I too look for work that suits me and pays what I would like....I target area's and house types that I want to have....I would love to be in the position to have so much work I can dump it but with that said I will not take on low paying work either so in time I hope to have a business that is moulded for me not the other way round...I know you cannot have you cake and eat it but you can always try ;D
Cheers
Dave.
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HI LADS, Still doing fortnightly work been doing it for 9years. 100 council houses
two days and a wee bit.Hard work but good pay and never get any not this time . But still work the rest of the week.
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All my customers are 4 weeks. I have no 8 weeks at all.
If one of my customers come out & says not this time without a valid reason they are dumped. I run a buisness not a corner shop. I choose to run my buisness how i feel fit & if the customer does not want the service i offer they can find some one else.
I have a rule, a dumped customer never get back on my books, they all know that so i naver realy get any problems.
Macc
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the problem i find is with better paid jobs on a 4 weekly basis, bigger jobs, the ones between 5 & 15 quid dont seem to mind, its the ones 20, 25, 30 quid that soon realize its getting expensive. especially with wfp & even trad using gg3/4 etc, sometimes after 4 weeks they're as clean as if you'de done them yesterday.
tony
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I do six weeks. Of my several hundred customers, 5 are every other (or 3monthly). The're all bigger ones. If someone asks now for every other I just say 'I don't do that'. It's then up to them. As most window cleaners do monthly, I reckon they would find it hard to find someone else. If they want it 3 months, let them have the trouble of finding someone to do it. (unless its big, then do whatever they want!)
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I do six weeks. Of my several hundred customers, 5 are every other (or 3monthly). The're all bigger ones. If someone asks now for every other I just say 'I don't do that'. It's then up to them. As most window cleaners do monthly, I reckon they would find it hard to find someone else. If they want it 3 months, let them have the trouble of finding someone to do it. (unless its big, then do whatever they want!)
The smallest one I do at 12 weekly is £28. The others are £31, £32 and £80. As you can see that is only four jobs (it was five but one is being dumped for being a bad payer). They are all reasonable sized jobs for domestic. They are all well priced except for the £31 job and even that is priced OK. I don't really want any more 12 weekly jobs but I would consider it for a large enough job that was very well paid. The problem can occur if a current 6 weekly wants to become a 12 weekly. It is even worse if they know other customers of mine as, if I do it for one, experience has shown me that it can easily reach epidemic proportions. Quite honestly, if a 6 weekly wants to go to 12 weekly, I would sooner them cancel it completely as it saves me from doing it.
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90% of mine are 4 weekly with no problems.
The only ones to ask to go 8 weekly are the ones i have put up by big amounts.
All you have done is find the tip over point for your area if they asking for 8 weeks.
In an ideal world you need your customers just on the verge of this tip over point.
Dave
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I have several 12wk customers that were 6wk customers and im fine with this at the time they asked to go 12wks i took it as a good time to put the price up, if anyone now asks i simply explain that there is an extra cost added to the 12wk clean and that it will be added , even if a 6wk customer misses 1 clean the next clean gets charged at the cost of a 12wk clean and thats the way it is with me if they dont like it they always have the choice of getting a new w/c
Chris
Ps this may sound like I'm taking a hard line but I am running a business not a charity
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I do all my work once a month with about 3 jobs 2 monthly try and keep it as simple as that
Paul,
does vindaloo, jasper carrot or just a right good laugh mean anything to you? lol ;D 8) ;D 8) ;D
regards
Brett
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Paul,
does vindaloo, jasper carrot or just a right good laugh mean anything to you? lol ;D 8) ;D 8) ;D
regards
Brett
It does indeed Brett. That was an enjoyable evening. Was a lot of fun and even on the more serious moments, it was good to feel able to discuss things that people usually don't discuss.
Vindaloo a bit hot for me though. I'm more into having things closer to medium myself. Even so, it still played havoc with my guts.
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Jasper seems to be keeping very quiet about it actually ;D ;D ;D
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If they say to me that they don't need cleaning this time, I tell them that it is my job to keep them clean not clean them! if that makes sense ;D and I drop them very quickly if they start to mess me around, as it's just not worth the hassle!!
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Jasper seems to be keeping very quiet about it actually ;D ;D ;D
He enjoyed himself too. Was quite nice food really. Was a laugh afterwards in the bar wasn't it?
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You could say that, hadnt laughed that much in ages, Just wish I hadnt eaten before you all decided to have a curry ::), has Andy posted since ? oops keeping on topic I do 4 weekly though if asked 8 weekly, and have quoted for every quarter on commercial havent got any though ;D
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You could say that, hadnt laughed that much in ages, Just wish I hadnt eaten before you all decided to have a curry ::), has Andy posted since ? oops keeping on topic I do 4 weekly though if asked 8 weekly, and have quoted for every quarter on commercial havent got any though ;D
I have noticed three or four posts from Andy since the cleaning show.
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I proberly missed them then ::)
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all my customers are 4weekly , with a few at 8 weekly .
very few say ' leave it till next time ' , but when they do , no problem and no extra charge !!
i do not accept any customers who want less frequently than 8 weeks .
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We operate a Monthly Service. To be honest it was the best move we made as it gave us time to fit in gutter cleans etc.. as well as replacing the bad customers with better paying ones.
It also avoided explaining to our customers why we were back again in the same month?
It really is down to the window cleaner what suits them, i would say 4 weekly is better in the early days as it means you need less customers to build up your round.