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Scottish Cleaning Service

  • Posts: 698
Re: Ring door bells are the enemy
« Reply #20 on: June 05, 2025, 07:45:45 pm »
The good thing about a windy cleaner's job is to know the very best of Ai can't do it. Many of these professional jobs could be replaced by Ai but they would need to clean their own windows to cut costs.

Oliver James

  • Posts: 212
Re: Ring door bells are the enemy
« Reply #21 on: June 07, 2025, 11:39:41 am »
There are a lot of overheads that our customers might not be aware of.

I use the acronymn 'iHIPVADA' to try to remember some of them:

i - insurance
Holiday
Illness
Pension
Vehicle Costs
Accountancy Fees
Depreciation on Vehicles
Administration costs

If you employ, you also have to cover employers National Insurance and then there are also costs like clothing for bad weather and the costs of the phone / computer / computer software / round management systems and it it all adds up.

Voice tonality is important if you want to keep the customer and I would preface this list with something to 'soften' what you are about to say, like 'Just so you know.....'

Scottish Cleaning Service

  • Posts: 698
Re: Ring door bells are the enemy
« Reply #22 on: June 08, 2025, 09:22:21 am »
Heard yesterday that my pal's estate is having problems with window cleaners. They were charging £8 for a detached house where I'm £15. Now they charge £11 and went over to wfp and everyone complained. Now they are back to Trad for £11 and don't clean the sills. I used to watch them clean his by walking over the tiles to clean the small window and walk back to the ladder. Looks like they are just catching up with real prices but with Trad, it marks and damages the gutters, fascia and sometimes the tiles. I think they are hoping I step in but not for £11.

AuRavelling79

  • Posts: 26463
Re: Ring door bells are the enemy
« Reply #23 on: June 08, 2025, 09:13:30 pm »
Heard yesterday that my pal's estate is having problems with window cleaners. They were charging £8 for a detached house where I'm £15. Now they charge £11 and went over to wfp and everyone complained. Now they are back to Trad for £11 and don't clean the sills. I used to watch them clean his by walking over the tiles to clean the small window and walk back to the ladder. Looks like they are just catching up with real prices but with Trad, it marks and damages the gutters, fascia and sometimes the tiles. I think they are hoping I step in but not for £11.

Scottish, how is this relevant to Ring Doorbells?
It's a game of three halves!

Scottish Cleaning Service

  • Posts: 698
Re: Ring door bells are the enemy
« Reply #24 on: June 09, 2025, 07:27:57 am »
Heard yesterday that my pal's estate is having problems with window cleaners. They were charging £8 for a detached house where I'm £15. Now they charge £11 and went over to wfp and everyone complained. Now they are back to Trad for £11 and don't clean the sills. I used to watch them clean his by walking over the tiles to clean the small window and walk back to the ladder. Looks like they are just catching up with real prices but with Trad, it marks and damages the gutters, fascia and sometimes the tiles. I think they are hoping I step in but not for £11.

Scottish, how is this relevant to Ring Doorbells?

Because customers can now watch us. Say something gets damaged and the windy says I didn't do it. They checks theirs or a neighbours doorbell across the road to see how it happened. Another reason Trad is on the way out. If you damage anything when working then its better to tell the customer. I have a camera that records even sound 24hrs a day round my backdoor.

M & C Window Cleaning

  • Posts: 1589
Re: Ring door bells are the enemy
« Reply #25 on: June 09, 2025, 08:58:54 am »
An alternative viewpoint regards Ring type camera/doorbells is that they can also work in our favour. You can sometimes pick up work because of them. This has happened to me.

Before taking on a new window cleaner, potential customers will often watch us first to see how we work. I've had numerous comments to that effect over the years from customers when they've taken me on.

We currently have a customer who was out when we were working on their neighbour's property, but saw us via their Ring camera and called out to us through the device to engage our services. I had another last week who called out through a Ring  camera to say thankyou when I'd finished.

We also have three cases where relatives, looking out for older family members (our customers) who have become less mobile have communicated with us via the doorbell with regards to payment, offering to pay by bank transfer for them. We would have lost those customers otherwise.

However, I have to say that I have had some strange experiences with these doorbell cameras as well. Like the guy who came rushing home because he was paranoid that someone was messing around with a drone on his property only to find it was me cleaning his windows. When I asked him what made him think that, he produced his phone and showed me the video from his doorbell. I never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it, but due to the angle he'd got his camera set at in his porch all it could see was the brush floating from horizontal to vertical in his garden. If he'd watched it for another few minutes he'd have seen me walk right in front of the camera and wouldn't have to have been in a panic. But, hey ho, that's Ring doorbells for you. They don't always see everything.

NBwcs

  • Posts: 973
Re: Ring door bells are the enemy
« Reply #26 on: June 09, 2025, 09:24:17 pm »
My own personal camera doorbell is a Eufy, and whilst it has come in useful catching the odd delivery driver before he departs , more often than not its a very frustrating experience. It can take upto 45 seconds from the doorbell being rung to me being able to see and speak to whoevers there, which i understand is down to the internet, yet i dont really have any problems these days with the internet so cant understand why its sometimes so bad.. As a deterrent, its great, but another annoying thing is that certain delivery firms (Evri particularly) think if you've got a camera bell. its alright to dump the parcel on your doormat in full view of everybody, even though i have a parcel box. Drives me round the bend.