Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: daz1977 on November 16, 2009, 01:42:40 pm
-
hi am after what people think off uk commercial cleaners, (Dragons Den)
does any one think that they are good or bad, as they seem to be getting a lot of contracts and i feel that they might soon be taking over the world all part of duncans master plan lol
what i am trying to say is give it a year or so uk commercial cleaning, wil be all over the country, they will have taken all the chains up ie asdas, tescos, bookies etc, they will probably even take up new shopping complexs before they are even built, with duncan contacts,
the worst thing is they can undercut every one to get the jobs,, wouldnt surprise me if big high streets start to be come there area, and they drive out the little man
does any one agree or not agree
-
I wouldn't lose any sleep over them if I were you..
-
it's already happening with loads of other cleaning companies up n down the country.
-
it doesnt really bother me as i live in cornwall, just got me thinking the way one company tries to take over the good jobs, just wondered what other people thought thats all
-
its all the big wigs that can cause the smaller and local business to go under, companies like these guys would just set up a meeting with the big wigs and promise them a better and cheaper service.
so then the small companies lose out and the bigger national companies would just stick an ad in the local paper and pay someone min wage and do a crap job with no experience. dont think it will hit the window cleaning side as hard as it will hit the contract cleaning side of things.
all down to these idiot big wigs not having a clue and just looking at a budget sheet and not the reality of things!
rant over ;D
-
What about the care homes - Hospitals - Hotels etc are they tasking them too?
-
prob duncan owed a load of care homes like martin said its the bigwigs that make decisions, some mite say that it wont happen, but say for instance, they get all the asda, tescos, hospitals, weatherspoons and schools etc in liverpool that is a hell of a lot of work to lose for some one
if you watch the dragons den update show, they are on about opening different offices around the country, i dont think duncan will stop with just a few offices do you?
some people might just lose one weatherspoons, not a big deal, but say one company gets them for the whole of the north west, or london, u never know u might end uo subcontracting to the same job on less than half of the money
-
what i am trying to say is give it a year or so uk commercial cleaning, wil be all over the country, they will have taken all the chains up ie asdas, tescos, bookies etc, they will probably even take up new shopping complexs before they are even built, with duncan contacts,
the worst thing is they can undercut every one to get the jobs,, wouldnt surprise me if big high streets start to be come there area, and they drive out the little man
This is how business is. If the do a days work and charge £150 a store but have 200+ stores thats a hefty profit. If smaller companies stepped up and expanded to compete on these contracts they could be just as big as duncans company.
I admire duncan but hes tactics of undercutting is how business works.....
Same thing applies on residential work. Window cleaners are greedy gget undercut then complain. Im happy working in the north west charging £5 a house with frames inc when ive got my wfp. On my commercial contracts il be charging the lowest price im comfortable with and hopefully its competitive enough if duncan comes our way )
-
alot of bigger places now only use vat reg companies now to - thats what im finding with hotels and such like.
not a prob for me but i know some of you guys are not up to that level.
i know you all drive past big places and think - yeah i could do that! then you get a big nice shiny price in your head but like alot of bigger places now its all down to regional cleaning companies and a crap budget.
better of knocking those houses!
-
thats it though if you get a small profit but are capable of employing and getting those lets say 50 other hotels in that group cleaned its a massive profit.
Could you not volanteer for vat and get them that way?
-
i do agree,i lost currys last week becasue they said inital cleaning were going to do it becasue they have just got a contract with them,im just sticking to domestics as cant trust commercial as far as i can throw them
-
i do agree,i lost currys last week becasue they said inital cleaning were going to do it becasue they have just got a contract with them,im just sticking to domestics as cant trust commercial as far as i can throw them
hi ya mate.
sure you have already thought of it but have you tried phoning intial cleaning? because half the time they dont have a wc or cleaner in the area and end up employing idiots from local paper/job centre with no experience.
might be worth giving them a bell? if currys were happy with your work then its worth a phone call.
-
theres big companies out there already mate ran by business men as big and bigger than duncan
i wouldnt panic
sure they will get some big chains etc and some will lose odd stoers to them but there is always plenty to go round
dont get discouraged just get knocking, phoning, posting and get your name out there!!
-
d ward
i dont understand why wc are greedy, with pricing jobs so that u can make a living, is that why u have priced jobs at 5 a house, would you be happy if you lost ur custy to some one who was prepared to work 4.50 a house
i am not having a go at u, but i dont think that you are up and running yet, u will realise that 5 a house isnt worth it, and you will end up changing your prices or leaving as you wont make any money
i know becasue i have done it the first few house i priced starts at 6 a house now i charge a 1 a window, and it makes a hell of a difference, to your wages
you will join the dark side of pricing soon lol
-
I wouldnt worry about it as they will sub it but once it gets cheap cleaners like us wont do it so they will be stuck with jobs not getting done, This forum probably has at least one cleaner in every town of the country,im very surprised the bigger companies from the forum haven't taken on bigger national contracts if you got people like j.v.price, all clean, clear view, david morris, seer clean and many many more ive seen on here came up with a package and got a group together you could put in for jobs like this and they would get a much better service.
-
cant see it working who do you say is representing it to the client who gets paid, who does the invoiving
what if someone does a bad job etc etc
the whole point in going to a national contractor is for them to have one point of reference one price life is simple
it goes against it
know what you mean though, just not practical in reality
also some people wont wanna share !!
-
d ward
i dont understand why wc are greedy, with pricing jobs so that u can make a living, is that why u have priced jobs at 5 a house, would you be happy if you lost ur custy to some one who was prepared to work 4.50 a house
i am not having a go at u, but i dont think that you are up and running yet, u will realise that 5 a house isnt worth it, and you will end up changing your prices or leaving as you wont make any money
i know becasue i have done it the first few house i priced starts at 6 a house now i charge a 1 a window, and it makes a hell of a difference, to your wages
you will join the dark side of pricing soon lol
Im cleaning at the minute in the north west daz. I was just saying the w/c who over price leave themselves open to undercutters. When i price a job im still building but i want to retain that customer for a few years so i price to keep my business going and to builod my customer base. All respect daz but my w/c profit margin is around 70% of income which is massive in any business...so theres always room to negotiate your prices to stay competitive. If im on an estate i want the majority of it. When theres another w/c i want to be better.
Btw my canvassing is coming on now and i think ive found my feet with the confidence part of doorknocking :)
-
glad to hear that about the door knocking, r u still knocking widnes
i didnt mean to have a go at you, it was just the way i read what you had written, i thought that you hadnt started yet with you saying "when i get my wfp"
r u pricing low so that you can not be under cut, the only reason i ask is that the was a bloke in st helens called PCNW who use to undercut when ever he could, and he then tried selling his business on her for 10 x what it was worth, claiming he was too busy building ever building going (any one who has read his post will understand) i just dont want you to go down the same route price to low then realise that your working all week for nothing
-
d ward
i dont understand why wc are greedy, with pricing jobs so that u can make a living, is that why u have priced jobs at 5 a house, would you be happy if you lost ur custy to some one who was prepared to work 4.50 a house
i am not having a go at u, but i dont think that you are up and running yet, u will realise that 5 a house isnt worth it, and you will end up changing your prices or leaving as you wont make any money
i know becasue i have done it the first few house i priced starts at 6 a house now i charge a 1 a window, and it makes a hell of a difference, to your wages
you will join the dark side of pricing soon lol
Im cleaning at the minute in the north west daz. I was just saying the w/c who over price leave themselves open to undercutters. When i price a job im still building but i want to retain that customer for a few years so i price to keep my business going and to builod my customer base. All respect daz but my w/c profit margin is around 70% of income which is massive in any business...so theres always room to negotiate your prices to stay competitive. If im on an estate i want the majority of it. When theres another w/c i want to be better.
Btw my canvassing is coming on now and i think ive found my feet with the confidence part of doorknocking :)
never been undercut :)
dont think it happens that regular
most dissapear when they realize theyre erarning nothing and i certainly wouldnt go round quoting low in case one day one job gets taken from me :)
think of all the profit you lose for something that probably will never happen
-
i think that the people who undercut are newbies who dont realsie or epople desperate to get work, i admit i have undersut by mistake, with out knowing the price or that they had a wc, it happens when the custy ask for a price then says ok, u think great then find out that they had a wc and they went with you because you was £1 cheap
-
glad to hear that about the door knocking, r u still knocking widnes
i didnt mean to have a go at you, it was just the way i read what you had written, i thought that you hadnt started yet with you saying "when i get my wfp"
r u pricing low so that you can not be under cut, the only reason i ask is that the was a bloke in st helens called PCNW who use to undercut when ever he could, and he then tried selling his business on her for 10 x what it was worth, claiming he was too busy building ever building going (any one who has read his post will understand) i just dont want you to go down the same route price to low then realise that your working all week for nothing
Is that Platinum Contracts?
-
glad to hear that about the door knocking, r u still knocking widnes
i didnt mean to have a go at you, it was just the way i read what you had written, i thought that you hadnt started yet with you saying "when i get my wfp"
r u pricing low so that you can not be under cut, the only reason i ask is that the was a bloke in st helens called PCNW who use to undercut when ever he could, and he then tried selling his business on her for 10 x what it was worth, claiming he was too busy building ever building going (any one who has read his post will understand) i just dont want you to go down the same route price to low then realise that your working all week for nothing
Is that Platinum Contracts?
That's the one ;) ;) ;)
-
i miss that guy, him and j d marco, one day i will have a business as sucessful as them lol
-
Look, big commercial cleaning co's come and go. They grow and grow and the owner sells them on for a profit or retirement and then they get unwieldly to manage and can be unreliable or do poor work.
At the end of the day if you employ hundreds of w'c's then what quality staff will you get? If they pay them less than £400 per week plus a vehicle then they'll be crap, can't get out of bed, on drugs, on booze or they'll be off when the economy turns up (at least down south).
How will they present themselves? Not being funny, but look at the guys on the dust or on the post - generally the ones that are willing to string a polite sentence together for a custy are the older ones who won't be able to graft like the younger fitter ones. The eastern europeans are often polite and work hard but as we've seen on this forum there is plenty of prejudice against them. (And probably some in ecky thump 'ees nickin' our lads' jobs land.)
If you are an owner operator or with a trusted employee or two on mainly domestic and smaller commercial and do a good, fast reliable job you've got no worries.
If you've been creaming it and got complacent on commercial then watch out!
-
glad to hear that about the door knocking, r u still knocking widnes
i didnt mean to have a go at you, it was just the way i read what you had written, i thought that you hadnt started yet with you saying "when i get my wfp"
r u pricing low so that you can not be under cut, the only reason i ask is that the was a bloke in st helens called PCNW who use to undercut when ever he could, and he then tried selling his business on her for 10 x what it was worth, claiming he was too busy building ever building going (any one who has read his post will understand) i just dont want you to go down the same route price to low then realise that your working all week for nothing
Is that Platinum Contracts?
That's the one ;) ;) ;)
I worked with him last year. Thats the work i did in rainford or rainhill. I think hes sound. He took me on for a week to learn the trade and then employeed me for 3 months after that. I learned alot from him but i didnt realise hes was only in his early 20s. Im in my late 20s and the things he knows about business is mad. He phoned my dad a few months ago asking how i was doing cos my dad bought a round off him in widnes for me. You said he undercut well i dont know what you know but his prices were good prices compared with my area. For a semi he charged £6 a fortnight and detached where around £8. Hes the one who reccommended this site if i needed any advice
-
we can only go off some of the posts he has put on here, have a good read of them
how much did you pay for the round and what does it generate a month
-
i paid 7x monthly turnover. He give me advice on canvassing the rest of the area which im doing now. He only said that there was one w.c who was on the dole and he had reported him. He never said undercut anyone just give them your best price.
When i bought the round its turnover was £285 a month now its increased by £90 and still going
-
ive read a few posts andi think hes just joking with you. Honestly if you met him hes a great lad. Good laugh as well. He likes a laugh but when it comes to money hes serious all the time. Its amazing how much he knows for a young lad. Last time i spoke to him he and one of my dads friends nephew had bought some land to build apertments on but i dont know if they are built or what
-
d.ward so u paid over 2grand for 285quids worth of work once a month!daylight robbery!i paid 80quid for a round that brought in 200quid a month in 1994!granted it was 2 days work that i scaled down to 1 day due to bad payers and dodgy area!id worked with the bloke whos round it was for a year before so he,d made a few quid outta me in that time!i carried on working with this guy a few days a week while i went canvassing NEARLY EVERY NIGHT and built up my round.it took me about a year to be able to go it alone.it was hard work!but worth it.if ur charging £5 per semi and there not compact{i mean 80-90 one after the other}ur gona make hardly anything.say there spaced out and ur not up to speed{meaning 4 an hour}then u will be lucky to make £10 an hour.bad weather{like today},sick days,holidays,etc divide ur yearly turnover by 52 weeks minus expenses,tax,ni,petrol,equipment etc u will be making next to nothing.i have 150 5,6,£7 semis one after the other and another 200 ranging from 30 £2 granny flats,£10,12,15,20 accounts some clumps here and there and a few stand alone accounts.if there not compact u should double ur price in widnes for semis.i know from experience about undercharging.i sold a round about 5 yrs ago.v.underpriced,scattered for 1200quid for 350+ a month.i thought i was lucky to sell for that!
best wishes dazmond
-
i think u over paid, but that is up to you
regarding undercutting, he use to say that his whole business plan was to basically, undercut all the other wc, til there was no one left then pump up the prices, he might be a soung guy, but he annoyed a lot of people on here, with some of his quotes about how he did business
-
I know what he said but i never seen him do this. When he canvassed he just had his own prices. I canvassed a few times with him before my dad bought the work and he is good at canvassing. He might have been winding you all up. When i bought the work it took 1 day to clean it all and he was advertising it at 8/9x the cleans so he let me have it for 7. Best work ive got and i wish my dad could have afforded more. I dont think you can judge people by what they say on here or how they come across. He might have annoyed a few but he was probably taking the mick...... If you ever met him you would like him. He gets on with everyone except window cleaners who he thinks are on the dole.
-
The only way we could judge him was on here and I think he was a absolute (insert here) contradicted himself know end,