Interested In Advertising? | Contact Us Here
Warning!

 

Welcome to Clean It Up; the UK`s largest cleaning forum with over 34,000 members

 

Please login or register to post and reply to topics.      

 

Forgot your password? Click here

martinj

  • Posts: 86
More competition in recession?
« on: August 13, 2010, 03:59:52 pm »
Hi all

Im considering quitting my job and starting a trad window cleaning business, Im in Rotherham South Yorkshire ( just by Sheffield ).

Firstly I have to say the amount of information and help offered on this site is amazing and for the last few days Ive been making like the proverbial sponge and soaking it all up so thanks to everyone whos posted its very helpful. Theres a right sense of community, restores me faith in human nature!

What Im wondering is its a competitive business anyway from what I read on here and several people claim £30 an hour even in these times but I guess these guys have built their business over several years and have put the work in, have the skills and deserve it.

Has anyone noticed an increase in competition from people losing their jobs or in general and has this affected the prices you charge or your workload?

david watts

  • Posts: 1421
Re: More competition in recession?
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2010, 04:04:45 pm »
you can try for big bucks; but you have to have luck to land them jobs
and yes evryones at it starting up had four start out at xmas not ones going now ;)
life is like a box of chocolates you get the crap no one else wants

Ste M

  • Posts: 1827
Re: More competition in recession?
« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2010, 04:14:42 pm »
£30 an hour is acheivable for about 1 hour a week, the rest of the time you will be earning minimum wage at the most. Even if you do earn £30 and hour dont forget you have to pay for everything out of that, your van, insurance, poles, equipment, rsin, tax, NI, insurance, clothing, petrol and food and everything else you aint thought of, so you will need about £700 a week of work week in week out to make it sound as appealing as you have read. Most of the people on here who earn/ say they earn £30 and hour are in dream world and are usually security gaurds sitting on the net all day wishing they were cleaning windows, talking bout that, aint seen Ewan on here for a bit ;D

ccmids

Re: More competition in recession?
« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2010, 04:27:47 pm »
and winter is on the way , sorts the men out from the boys

Rob_Mac

Re: More competition in recession?
« Reply #4 on: August 13, 2010, 04:40:00 pm »
Martin

I grew up in your neck of the woods - Bolton on Dearne and understand the area that you would initially be trying to establish yourself in.

Do not be put off by people telling you it cannot be done.

Set yourself realistic targets

Don't undersell your future round. If you offer to do work cheaply now you will come to regret it.

Is £30.00 per hour achievable. Break it down. You start off getting three terraced properties in the same area - £5.00 each and they take you an hour now, in three or four months time you will be becoming proficient and quicker and will be doing them at least a third quicker, in twelve months time you will know what you are doing and will reduce the time further.

Is £30.00 per hour achievable???.

Create a business that people want to use, be smart, get a uniform, be professional in all areas - stand out from the competition.

In the early days getting customers is the hardest part but cream rises and people will always want a high quality service.

I have been where you are at and it is hard work for the first couple of years but it does get better. If you want to be free of a boss telling you what to do and when you have to do it, if you want to do the things that you want to do and create your own future - Good luck!!

Rob ;D

Gav Camm lammy 283

  • Posts: 7520
Re: More competition in recession?
« Reply #5 on: August 13, 2010, 04:50:50 pm »
£30 an hour is acheivable for about 1 hour a week, the rest of the time you will be earning minimum wage at the most. Even if you do earn £30 and hour dont forget you have to pay for everything out of that, your van, insurance, poles, equipment, rsin, tax, NI, insurance, clothing, petrol and food and everything else you aint thought of, so you will need about £700 a week of work week in week out to make it sound as appealing as you have read. Most of the people on here who earn/ say they earn £30 and hour are in dream world and are usually security gaurds sitting on the net all day wishing they were cleaning windows, talking bout that, aint seen Ewan on here for a bit ;D
ha ha ha gud reply ste lad  ;D
LET YOUR PANES BE MY PLEASURE

"If CALSBERG did WINDOW CLEANING
 it would be C.C.C  Probably the best WINDOW CLEANERS IN THE WORLD ..........."

bobby p

Re: More competition in recession?
« Reply #6 on: August 13, 2010, 04:55:57 pm »
Martin , it will be a good test of you - your  "people skills"- your "fitness" - and it will test your" bottle."


  basically , all Good  Stuff !

 in my opinion i would hit the streets as soon as you can,if you delay self doubt may creep in

DanC

  • Posts: 114
Re: More competition in recession?
« Reply #7 on: August 13, 2010, 04:59:41 pm »
Rob, you offer some great advice and tell it how it really is. ;D

bad trippy

  • Posts: 3268
Re: More competition in recession?
« Reply #8 on: August 13, 2010, 05:06:22 pm »
Noone ever thinks of bank holidays, christmas, easter, annual holidays, sick days,
All of these days you will earn a big fat zero.
Now shall we start on rain, ice, strong winds?
The poster who said you would need to gross £700 per week 52 weeks of the year is spot on, after tax and expenses etc it dont seem such a great business idea anymore lol.
The winter is a killer and you will have days in the winter where your miserable cold and be damn well thinking how lucky the office boys are lol.
Working alone each and everyday is a killer too.
MAN WE ALL LOVE WINDOW CLEANING  ;D ;D ;D
www.clearviewbristol.co.uk
Add me on Facebook clear view window cleaning

AuRavelling79

  • Posts: 26905
Re: More competition in recession?
« Reply #9 on: August 13, 2010, 05:07:18 pm »
I wouldn't start a trad. round. Go straight to wfp. It's like learning to drive a steam engine when the world is moving to diesel or electric.
It's a game of three halves!

bad trippy

  • Posts: 3268
Re: More competition in recession?
« Reply #10 on: August 13, 2010, 05:10:51 pm »
I wouldn't start a trad. round. Go straight to wfp. It's like learning to drive a steam engine when the world is moving to diesel or electric.
So are you saying i better scrap my ford cortina estate and get a sign written brand new van mr Gold?
 :)
www.clearviewbristol.co.uk
Add me on Facebook clear view window cleaning

AuRavelling79

  • Posts: 26905
Re: More competition in recession?
« Reply #11 on: August 13, 2010, 05:14:47 pm »
I wouldn't start a trad. round. Go straight to wfp. It's like learning to drive a steam engine when the world is moving to diesel or electric.
So are you saying i better scrap my ford cortina estate and get a sign written brand new van mr Gold?
 :)

No. I'm saying that if you are starting off you might as well go straight to wfp. Why learn to earn only two thirds of what you could do with wfp? Why risk running up a ladder 100 times a day when you don't need to?
It's a game of three halves!

Rob_Mac

Re: More competition in recession?
« Reply #12 on: August 13, 2010, 05:15:37 pm »
DanC

It is easy to start a window cleaning round - one of the easiest start up businesses there is!!! It's how you set your stall out that is important and will make the difference between a run of the mill business and one that has added benefits.

My stall is still set out today as it was eleven years ago - I ask myself several times per day whether I have done all that I can to represent my business as well as I can and am I offering the client the very best service.

If I can answer yes every day then my business will continue to expand. If I have days where I fail in an area then I work on improving that area. It all becomes second nature after a while.

My customers are the supermarkets but they are spending their money on my service, no different to residential clients and they only want a decent end product.

None of us are any better than our last clean - no matter who we are or who it is for!!!!

Rob ;D

bad trippy

  • Posts: 3268
Re: More competition in recession?
« Reply #13 on: August 13, 2010, 05:19:40 pm »
I wouldn't start a trad. round. Go straight to wfp. It's like learning to drive a steam engine when the world is moving to diesel or electric.
So are you saying i better scrap my ford cortina estate and get a sign written brand new van mr Gold?
 :)

No. I'm saying that if you are starting off you might as well go straight to wfp. Why learn to earn only two thirds of what you could do with wfp? Why risk running up a ladder 100 times a day when you don't need to?
I dont think i could get up a ladder half a dozen times a day let alone a hundred Malc, too old and fat these days lol
www.clearviewbristol.co.uk
Add me on Facebook clear view window cleaning

DanC

  • Posts: 114
Re: More competition in recession?
« Reply #14 on: August 13, 2010, 05:30:52 pm »
Rob,

I took on board the advice you gave me a few weeks ago, similar to that you've just posted.  Doing all the things you mention isn't hard and it provides a great first impression ;D

andyM

  • Posts: 6100
Re: More competition in recession?
« Reply #15 on: August 13, 2010, 05:39:21 pm »
Ste M is spot on with what he is saying.
I think too many people are lured into window cleaning thinking they can easily make £30 an hour.
When starting off you won't be making anything like that because you need to get up to speed, and you have to do a good job otherwise customers wont want to know.
When you start building a round there is a lot of work to do aside from cleaning windows, canvassing etc. which all takes time and for which you won't be getting paid for.
My advice would be to try and build a round first before quiting your day job, and when you have enough customers to earn a living go for it full time.
  
One of the Plebs

Re: More competition in recession?
« Reply #16 on: August 13, 2010, 07:17:37 pm »
and dont forget when you get sunned off as well  ;D

rg1

  • Posts: 1356
Re: More competition in recession?
« Reply #17 on: August 13, 2010, 07:30:09 pm »
and dont forget when you get sunned off as well  ;D

He's in the UK not Spain ;)
The pen is mightier than the sword (and a lot easier to write with!)

NWH

  • Posts: 16952
Re: More competition in recession?
« Reply #18 on: August 13, 2010, 07:50:31 pm »
If you have 1 job that works out at say £30 an hour who`s to say you can`t go out and get another 50 jobs the same,the way to look at this business is that if i have got 20 good jobs it`s only me that`s stopping me from getting more.You will be no where near as quick at this job when you first start as you will be in say 2-3 years tosay it takes a few months to master WFP or trad is a joke,i`ve been WFP about 6 years or so now and am still learning how to cut time each time i do the work on my route.There is a hell of a lot of WC`s out there that are slow to say the least so if some say certain amounts just can`t be earn`t take it with a pinch of salt.