Clean It Up

UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Grafters Cleaning Services on February 16, 2008, 02:35:15 pm

Title: customer count
Post by: Grafters Cleaning Services on February 16, 2008, 02:35:15 pm
Had a bit of time to spare today so I  thought I would do a customer count (something I’ve not done before)
And it came out like this

Domestics = 466
Commercials 23
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: MSTAV on February 16, 2008, 02:52:58 pm
god that sounds a lot..not sure how many i have...you must be raking it in 8)
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: BVC on February 16, 2008, 03:12:46 pm
wow
Average price domestic 10 quid
Average price commercial 100 quid

This guy is pushing nearly 8 grand a month.  If you are doing this on your own I take my hat off to you.

This is how to be a window cleaner.
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: xxmattyxx on February 16, 2008, 03:15:45 pm
A £5.00 shop is commercial.
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Grafters Cleaning Services on February 16, 2008, 04:11:58 pm
wow
Average price domestic 10 quid
Average price commercial 100 quid

This guy is pushing nearly 8 grand a month.  If you are doing this on your own I take my hat off to you.

This is how to be a window cleaner.
i wish :D
Average price domestic 10 quid.... correct
Average price commercial 100 quid ... incorrect
as matt say some shops are only a £5
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Spursboy1972 on February 16, 2008, 04:24:42 pm
Domestic just topped 308!! Although most are on a 6 week schedule.

Commercial I have 17 lowest is £10. Highest £450. Again schedules vary between 2 weeks to 3 months.

I also do another 9 monthly commercials for a contract cleaner.
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Grafters Cleaning Services on February 16, 2008, 05:42:07 pm
Domestic just topped 308!! Although most are on a 6 week schedule.

Commercial I have 17 lowest is £10. Highest £450. Again schedules vary between 2 weeks to 3 months.

I also do another 9 monthly commercials for a contract cleaner.
hi tony,
your domestics should be more than that especially in totton ;)
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: supernova77 on February 16, 2008, 06:06:20 pm
I clean domestics on an 8 weekly schedule.

I have 202 domestics with an average price of £27.31.

I haven't worked my commercials out yet.

Andy
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Spursboy1972 on February 16, 2008, 06:12:31 pm
Jay

I maybe would if they had all been Kosha!! and not spend 3 days chasing them! lol ;D
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Sanity on February 16, 2008, 06:27:07 pm
Domestic = 130

commercial = 0
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Grafters Cleaning Services on February 16, 2008, 07:23:30 pm
Jay

I maybe would if they had all been Kosha!! and not spend 3 days chasing them! lol ;D
know what you mean m8
sure you will sort it ;)
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: pingu on February 16, 2008, 07:40:00 pm
Still growing...

159 Domestic and 11 commercial...still a long ways to go ... ;D
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Dale Smith on February 16, 2008, 08:13:42 pm
190 Domestic  (mostly 8 wks)
13 commercial (Best one £50)
Long way to go to reach some of you on here... ;)   Still building 
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: scud on February 16, 2008, 09:57:50 pm
356 domestic @ 11-33 average all monthly

6 commercial @74 average all monthly
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: jeff1 on February 16, 2008, 11:09:30 pm
346 domestics  average £10 right up the scale to £130
17 commercials as low as £3 and up to best monthly one is £140 some of them fortnightly  1@ £850 but that one is every 6 months :'(
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: magic1 on February 17, 2008, 09:20:13 am
all domestic just under 800 every 4/6 weeeks. not all good prices start from £5. £25 at the top end. thats 2 of us mind. me & buss partner. get most of work done in 7hrs. thats breaks and travelling in that too.
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Dean Aspects on February 17, 2008, 09:34:19 am
308 residential average £10 prices start at £3.50 upto £1500
40 Commercial average £20 from £2 to £300
Plan is to have a 50/50 split in res/com work long way to go yet
Canvas canvas canvas  ;D


Dean
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Count Phil on February 17, 2008, 04:39:28 pm
This post made me think, actually, recently I've been thinking, Its sooo easy if you wanted too, to make loads of money window cleaning. I wouldn't put that effort in cos of religion and all that. But you could.

I have to turn customers down now. You just grow without trying. Over a few years you look and think, oh man I've got loads of customers withot trying, in a year I'll have loads more.... Take someone on or cut back!
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Feen on February 17, 2008, 07:48:37 pm
Does this qualify as the most pointless thread of the year? I work on my own and wc is 75% of my work. My figures would be pretty p compared to someone working full time with 1, 2, whatever employees. How long is a piece of string? Suffice to say, I earn enough.
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: wightsurf on February 17, 2008, 09:09:37 pm
As weather does play apart in this game it would be good to see who pushes there self the most as a one person outfit. i do wonder how far i can grow on my own . there are things you can do to grow in wealth without gain lots of customers less for more money per a clean is the best way forword for me as i now price higher .
comercials is the way forward for me but i keep my domestics .and now have been trying hard to gain in comercials . Hotels is what suits me as they want cleaning from feb to oct maybe november this allows me in less light hours in the winter to get my domestics cleaned each mon
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Ian Rochester on February 17, 2008, 11:45:42 pm
Domestic -  1208

Commercial - 142
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Grafters Cleaning Services on February 17, 2008, 11:49:51 pm
Does this qualify as the most pointless thread of the year? I work on my own and wc is 75% of my work. My figures would be pretty p compared to someone working full time with 1, 2, whatever employees. How long is a piece of string? Suffice to say, I earn enough.
No it’s not a pointless thread by any means, on the contrary it’s an observation which, as you can see by the replies has attracted response, it would appear to me that you are obviously a newbie to this site and the window cleaning profession. If window cleaning is only 75% of your work then you must be a part-timer, so where’s your problem, jealousy perhaps?   
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: robbie14000 on February 18, 2008, 02:59:40 am
Got over 700 domestic
Commercial - 57 includes contract cleaning
But I have 2 employees as well.

Would be interested to know from those of you who do employ of how much two employees earn you on a typical day.
Always seem to turn alot more business when I am there to when they go out on their own.
Thanks Robbie

Posted at 3am as I am off to work would you believe (contract cleaning at a pool before swim squads come in.)
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Londoner on February 18, 2008, 07:23:19 am
I've got about 300 which is fine for me. I am out canvassing most weekends but I'm going for quality rather than quantity now.
Thats more important to me now. The "More for Less" principle

I'm not going to dump all the old girls who are overdue for a price rise but gradually the grim reaper is doing that for me anyway. Now I am actively only looking for houses
around £25+
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Village Gleam on February 18, 2008, 08:42:12 am
This is an excellent thread Jay, positive and constructive, and managing to avoid obvious bragging while taking a realistic look at how things break down.

I look at this and see me as i was, as I am, and as I could be. I think the peice of string and it's lenght is rather up to me to decide, but with this information i can perhaps start thinking about rope instead of a piece of cotton.Oh 235, of which about 3 could be called commercial.
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Grafters Cleaning Services on February 18, 2008, 04:57:37 pm
This is an excellent thread Jay, positive and constructive, and managing to avoid obvious bragging while taking a realistic look at how things break down.

I look at this and see me as i was, as I am, and as I could be. I think the peice of string and it's lenght is rather up to me to decide, but with this information i can perhaps start thinking about rope instead of a piece of cotton.Oh 235, of which about 3 could be called commercial.
Thank you Mr Solubility, I am glad someone agrees
It has bought out a lot of different figures and does infact show that we can all improve on our customer counts therefore increasing our business and of course earnings.

Judging by some of the replies, I for one still have a way to go yet to fill up my round and earn my full potential
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Jon-scwindows on February 18, 2008, 05:44:21 pm
domestic 41 monthly customers
commercial 0

been going 4 months, i need about 250-300 monthly domestics on my own, would be nice to have some commercial

Domestic - 1208

Commercial - 142

wow hmmm
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Roy Harding on February 18, 2008, 05:46:10 pm
I do 99 jobs a month 99.9% domestic.

Roy
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Rob_Mac on February 18, 2008, 05:54:09 pm
I think it is also good to view that big numbers of customers do not always necessitate larger income.

We have about 600 customers on the domestic side of our round and lots and lots of smaller commercial plus 1 huge contract ( Window cleaning only)

I would trade all 600 for two more like the one big customer.

For new people don't look to have 500 - 600 customers but 200 - 300 very well priced customers. Earn the same but for less work.

It so happens that our 600 are very well priced as well.

Rob ;D
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Londoner on February 18, 2008, 06:04:40 pm
I think it is also good to view that big numbers of customers do not always necessitate larger income.

We have about 600 customers on the domestic side of our round and lots and lots of smaller commercial plus 1 huge contract ( Window cleaning only)

I would trade all 600 for two more like the one big customer.

For new people don't look to have 500 - 600 customers but 200 - 300 very well priced customers. Earn the same but for less work.

It so happens that our 600 are very well priced as well.

Rob ;D


YES! Well said. Less is definitely more
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Grafters Cleaning Services on February 18, 2008, 06:40:02 pm
I think it is also good to view that big numbers of customers do not always necessitate larger income.

We have about 600 customers on the domestic side of our round and lots and lots of smaller commercial plus 1 huge contract ( Window cleaning only)

I would trade all 600 for two more like the one big customer.

For new people don't look to have 500 - 600 customers but 200 - 300 very well priced customers. Earn the same but for less work.

It so happens that our 600 are very well priced as well.

Rob ;D
good point rob,

i for one would rather do a £15 house in exchange 2 houses @ £8 as it would take less time to do the 1 @ £15
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: groundhog on February 18, 2008, 08:03:40 pm
400 Domestics
9 commercial

I'm not giving average prices as some people get upset!  ;)
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Ian Rochester on February 18, 2008, 09:46:28 pm
Just to clarify that's not me on my own, I have three full time staff doing just window cleaning and a fourth and myself who can help out if needed but we are primarily doing carpet cleaning every day.

Title: Re: customer count
Post by: suds window service on February 18, 2008, 10:02:15 pm
55 domestic  1 commercial   some one lend us a few :-\
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: craig b on February 18, 2008, 10:14:43 pm
8 months window cleaning  271 average price £8.00
also do builder cleans , clean to let and window protection.
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: LSB on February 19, 2008, 02:56:49 pm
domestic 1000 +
comercial approx 50 .
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Rob_Mac on February 19, 2008, 04:13:46 pm
If you want to know where your business can get to - In the next couple of days I will be pricing up 64 nursing homes in 3 different areas for one client.

Rob ;D
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Grafters Cleaning Services on February 19, 2008, 04:25:26 pm
If you want to know where your business can get to - In the next couple of days I will be pricing up 64 nursing homes in 3 different areas for one client.

Rob ;D
nice one rob ;D
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Rob_Mac on February 19, 2008, 04:31:18 pm
Thank you Grafters

None as far down as you so I won't be sniffing around your area but I will be looking into other areas.

So you lot watch out - I'm coming to get your commercial work ;D

Rob ;D
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Grafters Cleaning Services on February 19, 2008, 04:34:01 pm
Thank you Grafters

None as far down as you so I won't be sniffing around your area but I will be looking into other areas.

So you lot watch out - I'm coming to get your commercial work ;D

Rob ;D
not that i would mind if you did
competition is always healthy ... keeps you on your toes
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Rob_Mac on February 19, 2008, 04:44:31 pm
Grafters

We are selling our residential and I am going to replace it with the same amount of commercial buildings.

I have a 10 year plan for this and although it will take some doing - have not heard anyone on here or any other forum that has done it there is nothing to stop it becoming reality.

64 is over 10% in one hit

Rob ;D
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: D woods on February 19, 2008, 04:56:54 pm
Hi Midas
Good luck in your plan for World Domination. What part of the UK are you based?
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Rob_Mac on February 19, 2008, 05:01:44 pm
We are just about 4 miles from Alton Towers in Staffordshire - I don't want total domination just 99%.

Looking at your set up and website I don't think we will get in your way

Rob ;D
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Grafters Cleaning Services on February 19, 2008, 05:58:28 pm
Grafters

We are selling our residential and I am going to replace it with the same amount of commercial buildings.

I have a 10 year plan for this and although it will take some doing - have not heard anyone on here or any other forum that has done it there is nothing to stop it becoming reality.

64 is over 10% in one hit

Rob ;D

hi rob, i hope it works out for you.
personally i like a lot of domestic, bread and butter money :)
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Ian Rochester on February 19, 2008, 06:25:05 pm
Got to agree, domestic keeps the cashflow running, couple of bad debts on commercial and you can soon get into cashflow problems.
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: NWH on February 19, 2008, 06:30:03 pm
To many eggs in the commercial basket will cause problems,it`s all to tempting to dump even really good paying domestic because good commercial comes along.Commercial customers for 1 are not loyal at all and it`s a matter of time before you`ll lose jobs you have to constantly keep taking on commercial if that`s mainly what you do for this reason,some domestic jobs you will keep all the years your cleaning windows,you couldn`t say that about commercial without a few execeptions.
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Rob_Mac on February 19, 2008, 07:14:04 pm
I can only go on experience and our experience has been that all of our commercial customers stay with us and we have never lost any of them.

From £20.00 monthlys through to several tens of thousands per year. I treat my commercial customers exactly like I would treat a residential customer, I look after them and I make our service so good that they wont look anywhere else.

Our second largest client is right on a busy local main road - two very large and from a window cleaning point of view - very inviting buildings, full of glass, one building 3 storey.

I would have thought that it gets hit by window cleaners all the time, Gary Evans is on here and he goes past it regularly, when we spoke last week he said he had thought no end of times about going in and seeing about the cleaning.

I am not saying that it will be ours forever and that someone may be able to muscle us out but I have built a very strong relationship with the client, if they want me I will be there at a moments notice and we do what they want, when they want it.

The service has been praised by the chief executive of the organisation and we are into our 4th year of cleaning.

I think there comes a point where it is not about saving a few pounds and more about we have the service we are looking for.

I have absolutely no doubt that everyone on here could do the same job as we do, to a similar quality but I live 7 miles down the road, if they have an emergency I can be there in 10 minutes, first name terms with the point of contact and a superb service.

You cannot buy that and that standard allows me to sleep easy at night, all I have to do is keep repeating that ideal

Rob ;D
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Village Gleam on February 19, 2008, 07:17:14 pm
Midas, any comment on the cheap leaflet thread?
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Rob_Mac on February 19, 2008, 07:59:54 pm
Mr S

Just spent half an hour on a reply which got lost when I lost my internet connection

Basics of it were that I will spend all the money I have to present my service and me to the very best potential, others will spend or not on flyers.

I want my leaflets to be a representation of me and my business - they may be the only part of me the client will ever see - that has to be worth everything and I would bend over backwards to put the very best leaflet forward I could

Rob ;D
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Village Gleam on February 19, 2008, 08:27:56 pm
Man after my own heart. Now I just have to be as successful as you and I'm sorted.
In the scheme of things I don't think leaflets are expensive, and having more than one for different market segements isn't that outlandish. My leaflets have always been good (own printer) but the ones I've had done say everything about me and people can absorb the info in about 15 seconds.
our experience has been that all of our commercial customers stay with us and we have never lost any of them.

From £20.00 monthlys through to several tens of thousands per year. I treat my commercial customers exactly like I would treat a residential customer, I look after them and I make our service so good that they wont look anywhere else.




 I have built a very strong relationship with the client, if they want me I will be there at a moments notice and we do what they want, when they want it.

into our 4th year of cleaning.


There's some copy for you, couple of jpegs, a few happy quotes off MD's and pub landlords, and thats a brochure.
Title: Re: customer count
Post by: Rob_Mac on February 19, 2008, 08:36:14 pm
Heres another pointer on looking after customers.

When we started our supermarket refurb cleans last year we worked in Enfield - London and had finished.

I live in Staffordshire about 15 miles from Stoke on Trent, on the way to Derby - by Alton Towers.

There was some internal cleaning done and we had missed a room 10 foot by 6 foot. The ceiling had to be wiped with a degreaser - we missed it.

Got a phone call from the client - cannot sign the ceilings off this room has to be done.

The journey was nearly 4 hours to get there on a Sunday morning - the work took 20 minutes and then back up the M1 for another 4 hours.

Could have said get stuffed i'm not doing it but that would have lost the contract.

Going down and getting on with it told the client we were serious, had made a mistake but were prepared to do what was needed to put it right.

Local service at a national level!!!!!!

I moaned all the way there and back but we did a lot of work for the client last year and will do the same if not more this year

Rob ;D