Clean It Up

UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: andyjs1uk on August 05, 2009, 10:14:18 pm

Title: dragons den
Post by: andyjs1uk on August 05, 2009, 10:14:18 pm
well i just watched dragons den....and watching the last pitch, to cut a long story short they got their money from duncan, a cleaning company anyway a young lad started as a window cleaner. he bought the round for 300 quid after 6 months he had built it up he so much he was 6000 a month he sold it for 16000, now owns the cleaning company....so there you go....focus drive and passion
http://www.zodiactraining.co.uk/zodiac-learners-clean-up-in-dragons-den/

read the try  at above address
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: HIGH LEVEL WINDOW CLEANERS (scrimmy) on August 05, 2009, 10:18:02 pm
yep, just watched it...thats all we need up here in scotland, another cowboy outfit......by that i mean unlicensed....better buy these boys window cleaning licenses duncan ;)
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: jouk45 on August 05, 2009, 10:23:10 pm
i thought dragons den was about pitching your  inventions?
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: s.hughes on August 05, 2009, 10:23:29 pm
I just watched it, he's only been going for 5 years, a real success story. However I would have taken James offer as he was going to use all his team and give them back 15% if targets were reached
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: Dean Taberner on August 05, 2009, 10:26:40 pm
Good effort,

I was considering toning it down abit after a bad week in my personal life,

Bring it on now!!!!!!!!!!!!! 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: Neil Williams on August 05, 2009, 10:29:51 pm
Drat missed it tonight, had flipping Mid Summer Murders on because some of the filming was done at one of our customers.
All the best to these guys, they have clearly worked their socks off (probably 7 days a week) to get so far so quick.
Don't know if they'll ever get to overtake OCS though.
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: R W C on August 05, 2009, 10:31:13 pm
theres going to be a influx of wc, just watched another video on there site, he says that duncan will help them achieve being no1 in the country which would of happened any way but would of taken a little longer.
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: Dean Taberner on August 05, 2009, 10:31:25 pm
Drat missed it tonight, had flipping Mid Summer Murders on because some of the filming was done at one of our customers.
All the best to these guys, they have clearly worked their socks off (probably 7 days a week) to get so far so quick.
Don't know if they'll ever get to overtake OCS though.

Who are OCS?

What does it stand for?

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: R W C on August 05, 2009, 10:31:45 pm
repeated sunday at 7 on bbc2
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: s.hughes on August 05, 2009, 10:35:38 pm
now there will be loads of w/c all going to do the same thing, all going to be national
great!!!
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: ronnie paton on August 05, 2009, 10:36:51 pm
well they turned over 375k last year with 30 staff ???

seems very low to me, i turn over nearly a third of that with 3 of us and iv been going 3 years so im may go on there my self he he
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: Dean Taberner on August 05, 2009, 10:37:07 pm
now there will be loads of w/c all going to do the same thing, all going to be national
great!!!

WFP or TRAD though ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: s.hughes on August 05, 2009, 10:39:03 pm
now there will be loads of w/c all going to do the same thing, all going to be national
great!!!

WFP or TRAD though ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
they will all start trade and all expect a round for £300
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: cozy on August 05, 2009, 10:39:28 pm
well i just watched dragons den....and watching the last pitch, to cut a long story short they got their money from duncan, a cleaning company anyway a young lad started as a window cleaner. he bought the round for 300 quid after 6 months he had built it up he so much he was 6000 a month he sold it for 16000, now owns the cleaning company....so there you go....focus drive and passion
http://www.zodiactraining.co.uk/zodiac-learners-clean-up-in-dragons-den/

read the try  at above address
That's correct, would he have made 75K in his first year?
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: s.hughes on August 05, 2009, 10:40:17 pm
well they turned over 375k last year with 30 staff ???

seems very low to me, i turn over nearly a third of that with 3 of us and iv been going 3 years so im may go on there my self he he
really? you are doing very well and only after 3 years. Do you do all commercial?
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: ronnie paton on August 05, 2009, 10:49:51 pm
iv just looked back and its three years 20 August so a little white lie.

i do both but the commercial side is growing a lot more than the residential and the reason is i hate to door knock!
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: martin19842 on August 05, 2009, 10:50:27 pm
hi there

interesting pitch, window cleaning, hi level cleaning, pressure cleaning, and deep cleaning.

thye stated they wanted to be the largest in the country, im sure that the guys, at ocs, iss, mitie, and initial are preparing for the attack on their businesses.

its a young company plans to go 1.5m turnover this year, £2m next year and £2.5m the following year, so at that rate they wont threaten the biggest players in the market place.

interesting thing though, some dragons stated that they could quite easily do £1.5m turnover and make no profit at all, lets be honest its tough achieving sales whatever the size of the company.

regards

martin
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: s.hughes on August 05, 2009, 10:55:15 pm
hi there

interesting pitch, window cleaning, hi level cleaning, pressure cleaning, and deep cleaning.

thye stated they wanted to be the largest in the country, im sure that the guys, at ocs, iss, mitie, and initial are preparing for the attack on their businesses.

its a young company plans to go 1.5m turnover this year, £2m next year and £2.5m the following year, so at that rate they wont threaten the biggest players in the market place.

interesting thing though, some dragons stated that they could quite easily do £1.5m turnover and make no profit at all, lets be honest its tough achieving sales whatever the size of the company.

regards

martin
But you have to remember that your wages are in the turnover so even if you dont get a profit you can still have a very succesful company
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: drwindows on August 05, 2009, 11:24:46 pm
not bad, but all bluster and no substance.

And he did come across as a jumped up geordie trying to blow his own trumpet.

Still, he got the money!
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: mark dew on August 06, 2009, 12:13:23 am
iv just looked back and its three years 20 August so a little white lie.

i do both but the commercial side is growing a lot more than the residential and the reason is i hate to door knock!

Well done mate. That's a good achievement.
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: LWC on August 06, 2009, 07:40:04 am
I bet the other one was like "SHUT UP!" when he mentioned a name of a firm they do window cleaning for for £80,000 a year lol
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: Moderator David@stives on August 06, 2009, 09:55:01 am
The profits for 18 staff and a £350k turnover were pretty poor.

Each member of staff produces £20k in revenue and a profit of £3k each

15% is a very low margin in window cleaning, you can see with them figures how hes got all the work, and dont forget depreciation and loan interest has to come out of that final net figure.

One massive massive headache.
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: MSTAV on August 06, 2009, 11:23:46 am
lucky guys
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: Sunshine/Cleaning on August 06, 2009, 12:40:05 pm
The profits for 18 staff and a £350k turnover were pretty poor.

Each member of staff produces £20k in revenue and a profit of £3k each

15% is a very low margin in window cleaning, you can see with them figures how hes got all the work, and dont forget depreciation and loan interest has to come out of that final net figure.

One massive massive headache.

I would be interested to know what "profit" most other window cleaners make taking into account their drawings I would bet that it is less than 15% clear profit.
Dont forget that if a single operator turns over 25K and his expenses are 5k and he pays himself the remainder 20k, he is left with zero profit. If his drawings or wage is 19k his profit is 4% and so on.
People tend to forget that their wage is part of the expenses.

Having said that, when he went through his figures it did strike me as turnover over profit. Hence the comment from DB about pricing the work up properly which resulted is a wry smile from the owner.

Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: s.hughes on August 06, 2009, 02:18:45 pm
The profits for 18 staff and a £350k turnover were pretty poor.

Each member of staff produces £20k in revenue and a profit of £3k each

15% is a very low margin in window cleaning, you can see with them figures how hes got all the work, and dont forget depreciation and loan interest has to come out of that final net figure.

One massive massive headache.

I would be interested to know what "profit" most other window cleaners make taking into account their drawings I would bet that it is less than 15% clear profit.
Dont forget that if a single operator turns over 25K and his expenses are 5k and he pays himself the remainder 20k, he is left with zero profit. If his drawings or wage is 19k his profit is 4% and so on.
People tend to forget that their wage is part of the expenses.

Having said that, when he went through his figures it did strike me as turnover over profit. Hence the comment from DB about pricing the work up properly which resulted is a wry smile from the owner.


This is my point, profit dosnt really matter with w/c as you pay yourself a good wage withing the turnover. Lets face it none of us really make a profit but we can earn a lot
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: newclean on August 06, 2009, 02:39:06 pm
here is there website

www.ukcommercialcleaning.com
 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: Clive McDonald on August 06, 2009, 02:54:28 pm
the profit doesn't fit what a dragon would usually go for- 25%/30% year on year roi.

So dont take this at face value.

I have often wondered- if a celeb was in your cleaning biz (i come from a rugby town) pro footballer as a co director etc, would this get you a lot more work because of the kudos of local firms being able to say so and so out the local side cleans my windows- i know him ever so well.

This is the only value duncan can bring.
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: ronnie paton on August 06, 2009, 05:12:40 pm
profit is what duncan would be intrested in has he can see if its a business worth is money.
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: weetot on August 06, 2009, 05:27:16 pm
The guy shakin hands with Duncan, won the auction on my old carpet cleaning machine 2 years ago, turned up at me house to pick it up and hand over the readys......nice fella, turned up un a UK cleaning van from Washington.
Good for him ;D
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: daveappleby on August 06, 2009, 05:44:19 pm
lucky guys

Bloke on the far left (grey hair). He must do the WFP jobs, don't look like he has climbed a ladder in a while  :o
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: niceandclean on August 06, 2009, 06:07:18 pm
I wonder if Ionics will be checking to see if they have any of their systems fitted, as they have the logo on the vans.  ;D
And on the link page of the site, they have a link to www.inter-loc.co.uk.
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: martinsadie on August 06, 2009, 07:33:23 pm
Drat missed it tonight, had flipping Mid Summer Murders on because some of the filming was done at one of our customers.
All the best to these guys, they have clearly worked their socks off (probably 7 days a week) to get so far so quick.
Don't know if they'll ever get to overtake OCS though.
its repeated at the weekend or watch it on bbc website
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: martinsadie on August 06, 2009, 07:36:32 pm

And he did come across as a jumped up geordie trying to blow his own trumpet.

was it Tosh  ;D
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: waynebarry on August 06, 2009, 07:46:02 pm
Reading up on him he says part of he rise was his unique sales pitch! I wonder how he went about getting his foot in the door?
Give him his due Ive been going two years & in the next three years I get to have the estimated £1.5 million I would be happy ;D
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: R W C on August 06, 2009, 08:53:12 pm
cant believe he sold a £6000 a month round for £16,000 wheres the business sense there
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: waynebarry on August 06, 2009, 10:04:40 pm
True! I would of thought he would of got at least £24,000!
but do you think it was a brave move selling up completly getting a unit and a couple of vans then hitting the phones to get the work?
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: ronnie paton on August 06, 2009, 10:08:25 pm
was it really has straight forward has that????

i doubt it but if it was i would say it was a stupid decision that worked out, sensible would of been to continue with work getting employees doing it which frees is time to  get more work.

i think i need a good sales person!!!
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: Sean Dyer on August 06, 2009, 10:10:29 pm
Good sales people are the way forward, failing that just someone confident enough to get phoning round, all you need is a foot in the door where there are oppurtunities to tender, find out when contracts end etc
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: jonnyald on August 06, 2009, 10:15:27 pm
lucky guys
        love that giant beer belly in the foto !!!
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: waynebarry on August 06, 2009, 10:16:07 pm
A good sales person who knows where to look to get their foot in the door!
If you had a good team to take over your work tommorrow I wonder how many of us would know how to get there foot it the door or find the tendor oppurtunities? ???
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: vision tech on August 06, 2009, 11:18:23 pm
lucky guys

Bloke on the far left (grey hair). He must do the WFP jobs, don't look like he has climbed a ladder in a while  :o
Im 61 and have a bigger belly than that i weigh 17 st and still climb 3 teir 4mtr ladders, not a prob.so dont knock him till you know the facts. ??? ???
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: daveappleby on August 07, 2009, 10:45:52 am
lucky guys

Bloke on the far left (grey hair). He must do the WFP jobs, don't look like he has climbed a ladder in a while  :o
Im 61 and have a bigger belly than that i weigh 17 st and still climb 3 teir 4mtr ladders, not a prob.so dont knock him till you know the facts. ??? ???

Is that facts? or a spelling mistake for fats???!!! ::)
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: s.hughes on August 07, 2009, 04:35:48 pm
lucky guys

Bloke on the far left (grey hair). He must do the WFP jobs, don't look like he has climbed a ladder in a while  :o
Im 61 and have a bigger belly than that i weigh 17 st and still climb 3 teir 4mtr ladders, not a prob.so dont knock him till you know the facts. ??? ???

Is that facts? or a spelling mistake for fats???!!! ::)
lol that is not nice
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: wfp master on August 07, 2009, 04:43:28 pm
hate that program they are all up there own a**holes ......
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: s.hughes on August 07, 2009, 05:02:33 pm
hate that program they are all up there own a**holes ......
that is true. I hate the startup where they stand there like they are really something
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: cozy on August 07, 2009, 06:16:07 pm
Steve, erm, they are LOL. I think it looks a bit silly too, but the bods that they get with good ideas are great to watch. I love it though when those loonies come on and want investment for an idea like that guy who wanted to sell a glove to wear when driving abroad, remeber that? By the way Balentinne, or whatever his name is, is worth nearly half a billion.
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: R W C on August 07, 2009, 06:30:17 pm
Steve, erm, they are LOL. I think it looks a bit silly too, but the bods that they get with good ideas are great to watch. I love it though when those loonies come on and want investment for an idea like that guy who wanted to sell a glove to wear when driving abroad, remeber that? By the way Balentinne, or whatever his name is, is worth nearly half a billion.

What do you class as nearly, if a 190 million off 500 million then yer  :)
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: cybersye on August 07, 2009, 06:37:21 pm
gimee some reggae reggae sauce !  ;D
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: weetot on August 07, 2009, 06:37:56 pm
lucky guys

Bloke on the far left (grey hair). He must do the WFP jobs, don't look like he has climbed a ladder in a while  :o
Im 61 and have a bigger belly than that i weigh 17 st and still climb 3 teir 4mtr ladders, not a prob.so dont knock him till you know the facts. ??? ???

Is that facts? or a spelling mistake for fats???!!! ::) ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: weetot on August 07, 2009, 06:40:28 pm
Lets face it, who on this forum would have the minerals to go on Dragons Den.

You would be sweating like a stuck pig when they ask you about your figures, gross, net, profit, turnover, c,mon you'll turn to jelly and hope the floor swallows you up. :-\ ;D
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: weetot on August 07, 2009, 06:48:29 pm
I wouldnt dream of even attempting to go on there, I owuldnt have the slightest belief in myself or know how to start; but Im sure theres someone on here who'd like to make out they could cut the mustard on there. That would be so funny.

Id rub DeepHeat into my goolies to see that. (I do anyway, but thats niether here nor there)


I like it.  Try Marmite thats much better! ;D

Sorry this is supposed to be a serious forum for goodness sake! >:(
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: trevor perry on August 07, 2009, 06:49:15 pm
I wouldnt dream of even attempting to go on there, I owuldnt have the slightest belief in myself or know how to start; but Im sure theres someone on here who'd like to make out they could cut the mustard on there. That would be so funny.

Id rub DeepHeat into my goolies to see that. (I do anyway, but thats niether here nor there)
now theres an idea deep heat especially for goolies, get the dragons to rub it on and then see how much they will invest for a bucket of cold water ;D
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: weetot on August 07, 2009, 06:55:24 pm
Anyway i thought  dragons had lairs and lions had dens......shows how clever they are.

STICK THAT IN YOUR PIPE MR BANATYNE!
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: R W C on August 07, 2009, 06:56:42 pm
Id go on the den just to see matt put deep heat down there.
Title: Re: dragons den
Post by: s.hughes on August 07, 2009, 07:38:54 pm
Remember the chinease women who sais on there that the chinease eat dragons for breakfast. She never got an investment