[d.ward]

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?

[Murdie window cleaning]

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

[daz1977]

i miss that guy, him and j d marco, one day i will have a business as sucessful as them lol

[AuRavelling79]

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!

[d.ward]

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

[daz1977]

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

[d.ward]

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

[d.ward]

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

[dazmond]

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

[daz1977]

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

[d.ward]

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.

[South Coast Cleaning Services]

The only way we could judge him was on here and I think he was a absolute (insert here) contradicted himself know end,