[montanaro]

After being made redundant early january from an engineering job and jobs being so scarce lately. I'd love to be my own boss and work for myself and make my own money instead of making money for sombody els. I am looking to either buy or start a window cleaning round. If having to start up a new round what would be the best way without treading on anybodys toes to canvass work. And is there work out there for a new cleaner?[dont fancy avin my tyres slashed or owt].  Any advice would ge great. thanks lads.

[Lee Pryor]

the only advice you need is there is no my area your area or treading on toes, just go out knock on some doors deliver some leaflets and stick at it untill you achieve your goals.

[d s windowcleaning]

what area you from mate ?

[montanaro]

from leigh near wigan

[daniel worgan]

If you have enough money i would buy an established round,this will at least enable you to have a steady immediate income.
However you must watch who you are buying from as there area lot of unscrupulous people out there ready to rip you off.

If however your investment capital (and that is how you should look at it) is limited you need to make a decision if this game is really where you want to be.If it is then get out there and start the ball rolling.Doorknocking,leaflets,small ads in parish mags...there are a multitude of marketing your services...it really is up to you.

Good luck which ever way you go.

[Johnny B]

When I started 12 years ago I knocked on doors, introduced myself and simply said that I was starting a window cleaning business in this area and would they be interested in me cleaning theirs. I didn't use flyers as I believe most people (myself included) would just bin them, and I wanted people to see their (prospective) window cleaner in person, face to face, so they could see straight away what sort of person they were dealing with. It also helps to know the sort of person you are dealing with as well!

Don't worry about 'treading on other's toes'. We all have to make a living and unless you are deliberately undercutting someone just to get the work, most window cleaners I know don't have a problem. There is plenty of work out there for all of us, so there should really be no problem with a 'dog eat dog' attitude, but sadly it does happen sometimes.

Work out how much you want to earn her hour/day, etc and go for it.

Hope it goes well for you.
John.

[AuRavelling79]

Have you got any redundancy money/dosh to live on? How soon do you need to earn?

Can you get a basic part time job while you build up? B&Q or similar? Remember it's only to tide you over while you build your round.

If you've got a couple of grand spare then I would consider buying about £500/£750 (monthly) worth of steady/good work from a reliable source (get introduced to custies as part of the deal, pay half up front and the balance a month later if it seems good) to give you a "nucleus" to work from. (£500/750 will go a long way to covering your bills while things build up.)

(At some point, even if money is tight I would fairly quickly make a trolley or trailer wfp system for the tops and rooflights.)

Gets some cards on line from vistaprint - dead cheap.

Then canvass for five minutes round each job handing out cards just before you start cleaning/ include working Sat. am from 10 am til 12 and you will attract those that are at work who will see you.

Also canvass tea time til 7.30 on a couple of evenings a week.

Don't be too cheap to fill your books but not too expensive you put folk off.

If you get an odd job out the way then go and clean it at 4.30 then canvass around it after -
that way you pay for your fuel anyway.

Just my view, mind - there will be plenty of others ranging from rag it for a fiver a house to buy a £25,000 wfp system and round.

Edited to add: welcome to the forum Johnny B!

[cozy]

To speed the process up for you, it would be a good idea to go to the FAQ section of this and other forums. Use the search mode at the top of the pages and get yourself sorted.

Good luck

[matt]

Have you got any redundancy money/dosh to live on? How soon do you need to earn?

Can you get a basic part time job while you build up? B&Q or similar? Remember it's only to tide you over while you build your round.

If you've got a couple of grand spare then I would consider buying about £500/£750 (monthly) worth of steady/good work from a reliable source (get introduced to custies as part of the deal, pay half up front and the balance a month later if it seems good) to give you a "nucleus" to work from. (£500/750 will go a long way to covering your bills while things build up.)

(At some point, even if money is tight I would fairly quickly make a trolley or trailer wfp system for the tops and rooflights.)

Gets some cards on line from vistaprint - dead cheap.

Then canvass for five minutes round each job handing out cards just before you start cleaning/ include working Sat. am from 10 am til 12 and you will attract those that are at work who will see you.

Also canvass tea time til 7.30 on a couple of evenings a week.

Don't be too cheap to fill your books but not too expensive you put folk off.

If you get an odd job out the way then go and clean it at 4.30 then canvass around it after -
that way you pay for your fuel anyway.

Just my view, mind - there will be plenty of others ranging from rag it for a fiver a house to buy a £25,000 wfp system and round.

Edited to add: welcome to the forum Johnny B!

thats about it

i paid for most of my work from retiring WC'er ( and some1 returning to oz )
i then filled in all the gaps in the streets i had work, cards though the door on a regular time cycle ( it soon wears them down )

vistaprint for the cards,. 250 for free ( well you pay postage ) after the first order you get sent a e.mail most days with other free deals on, ranging from free postcards ( ideal for flyers ) T-shirts, caps, lawn signs, pens the list goes on, i now order upto 10 free items and only pay 5 - 6 quid postage on them all, i have a fair few biz cards now, various designs aswell

http://www.vistaprint.co.uk/frfuk?frf=717267045889

consider a few add ons, it seems around me the BIG thing at the mo is gutter cleans, 2 of them a day and you have made your money

pop over to the DIY site / forum for info on how to build your own system, e/mail me for a link, get yourself set up for well under 500 quid

diywfplink@yahoo.co.uk

dont price too cheap, its easy to fall into that trap, as you will need the work at first, but i bet most have done it, think of what you want to earn per hour and aim for it

oh and dont believe the billy blaggers on here who say they earn 500 - 750 quid a day ( everyday a week )

Oh and you can build a nice little domestic round being the " honest joe " in his car with ladders on top OR a trolley system in the boot, you DO NOT need to go out and buy a 15 K van and pay a company 10 K to install a system, the domestic customer doesnt really care on what you drive or what system you use ( and what pole you use aswell ) people on here will have you think that you do need to spend that type of money, i am afraid to say you dont

[martinsadie]

buy a round with your redundancy before you spend it on just living costs then build from there 

[Niall McAllister]

get your gear together, and start knocking doors. start on your street and work your way out.
work out what you need to cover your cost of living for the year, add about 40% to that and that's what you need to earn (aprox) find what you need to make in an hour and take your prices from that.

[mark dew]

Have you got any redundancy money/dosh to live on? How soon do you need to earn?

Can you get a basic part time job while you build up? B&Q or similar? Remember it's only to tide you over while you build your round.

If you've got a couple of grand spare then I would consider buying about £500/£750 (monthly) worth of steady/good work from a reliable source (get introduced to custies as part of the deal, pay half up front and the balance a month later if it seems good) to give you a "nucleus" to work from. (£500/750 will go a long way to covering your bills while things build up.)
(At some point, even if money is tight I would fairly quickly make a trolley or trailer wfp system for the tops and rooflights.)

Gets some cards on line from vistaprint - dead cheap.

Then canvass for five minutes round each job handing out cards just before you start cleaning/ include working Sat. am from 10 am til 12 and you will attract those that are at work who will see you.

Also canvass tea time til 7.30 on a couple of evenings a week.

Don't be too cheap to fill your books but not too expensive you put folk off.

If you get an odd job out the way then go and clean it at 4.30 then canvass around it after -
that way you pay for your fuel anyway.

Just my view, mind - there will be plenty of others ranging from rag it for a fiver a house to buy a £25,000 wfp system and round.

Edited to add: welcome to the forum Johnny B!

This whole post has told you everything you need to build a round. The bit highlighted is also a very good point. This is not too much to take on if you are starting from scratch.
This amount of work will allow you time to learn how much (and eventually how little) time and effort you need to put in to do a good job.
It is physically harder than wfp but you should also buy the kit and learn how to clean traditonally. This will help maximise your income if you can clean inside and out.   
Once you have this and you are happy being a window cleaner your foot is well and truly in the door.
I also started with nothing, bought some trad kit, put an ad in a parish magazine which cost me a tenner for the year. This provided me with quite a steady flow of calls after the 2nd month onwards. I then leafletted between these jobs and grew from there. Country work was much better work than town based work i had at the time.
It is worth spreading your wings if you can pick up a pocket of work in the same place. When i started not too long ago, every new window cleaner like me spent a disproportionate amount of time seeking town work, with less success than rural areas.
A free advert in yell.com has also provided me with several jobs as well.
But i suppose it depends on area.
Good luck.