[benny donnelly]

As im just starting out i will have canvassers to do leaflets and knocking on doors to build a customer base, so my question is what is a realistic number of cleans to do over a month, what im thinking is factoring in rained off days, unexpected days off etc i was kind off thinking say 400 or there about thats 100 per week to be done over 6 days, how does that figure with you's?

Am I thinking to big to quick or is those figures what most of you do?

I really want to build a substantial round over the next 4 months and if i have to have an employee then so be it, at least then I will know the business is headed in the right direction.

[Blue Frog Systems]

Its not about amount of customers, but the sizes of houses - bigger takes longer.

I have days where i can clean 20 houses and then the next day its 8/9.

Concentrate on getting the pricing right and getting the job done right. Im guessing your going wfp so speed will come, dont force it

[NJWindowCleaning]

For a starts 320 houses a month which is worked out to 16 houses a day and another factor you need is how much you are going to pay yourself.

Example: Sales 320 per month at £10.00 per house equals £3,200 into the business.
Let say y3our hourly £13.00 for 40 hours worked in which equals £2,080
Then  Tax taken out and NIC and Class 4 to put aside etc.

Hope this helps you or gives you an idea..

[shaun mclean]

its easy to talk about numbers and how you are going to do them in a set time , in reality its a different ball game pricing is 1 issue , getting them is the biggest issue , keeping them is another , keep your goals realistic , just my opinion they reckon it takes 3 years to build the perfect round 

[wightsurf]

Employee,urrr have you employed before ?
Numptys are easy to find ,but a goodun is gold dust .

[magic moments]

You said you were going to gain 200 a month in a previous post ,so just see how you get on and adjust to suit

[benny donnelly]

Cheers for the feedback folks all very helpful!

In regards to how many customers, I have a forecast done out for the next 12 months with what I think are reasonable targets to meet and they are based on a customer base of 200 on an average spend of just £10, my target area is a big town so very compact, so even with factoring in setting up/doing job/moving to next job/unexpected down time my targets should be met handy enough...

Now to be honest I have 2 forecasts and the second is nearly double the first, it would be me working on it full time, having the canvassers pulling in new work, and full steam ahead actually, might be a bit ambitious be hey if I dont try that bit harder ill never know!!

The way im looking at this is IT HAS TO WORK as i hate my current job, getting out there working on my own, answering to no-one, earn what i want, take off when i want, out of the rat race are all to big a motivation for me!!! As I said on a previous post I have done windowing cleaning before bout 10 years ago and did enjoy it, myself and a mate build up a nice round doing it trad while we were in college.

Its full steam ahead from Wedensday as ill have my 2 canvassers out on monday and tuesday all day booking cleans, bit of nerves kicking in now as its getting closer to that first customer clean when i think about it 

[Cliff perkins]

Let me know how you get on with the canvassers please

[Window Washers]

As im just starting out i will have canvassers to do leaflets and knocking on doors to build a customer base, so my question is what is a realistic number of cleans to do over a month, what im thinking is factoring in rained off days, unexpected days off etc i was kind off thinking say 400 or there about thats 100 per week to be done over 6 days, how does that figure with you's?

Am I thinking to big to quick or is those figures what most of you do?

I really want to build a substantial round over the next 4 months and if i have to have an employee then so be it, at least then I will know the business is headed in the right direction.

100 first cleans a week on your own would be near on impossible i guess i read that wrong

at first if your going wfp I would say about 5 cleans a day max if you want them to look good over time it would depend on the prices of the properties to what you can do per day, don't look at the amount of houses as a house does not pay your bills the money does, so look at that.

remember when canvassing work you will lose a lot this is a cold hard fact, it can take years to build a very good round, it is not as easy as some make out on here.
If you think it is very easy to build a large round very quick, I am sorry to say I would think your deluded.

I would love to hear how you go though, you seem to have the drive, just set realistic goals and time frames.

what you class as a substantial round could be a lot different to what I am thinking so again I could be wrong 400 customers per month within 4 IMO is not going to happen although I would for you to prove me totally wrong.

Good luck in what ever you do though, I really do mean that  

Ian

[William McCafferty]

Hi Benny

You seen to have drive which is needed to build any business, but first you need to look at all of the things that can or will happen.

Before you start you think on how many cleans you will be able to do in a month, is look at what type of window cleaner, you going to be.

Are you Trad or WFP or just Pole?

If you are Trad, you do not want to rush about cleaning, going to fast up ladders before you are used to using them again can cause you to fall and break something.

If you are WFP, it's not a magic brush on a stick that you wave across the window and it's cleaned, it takes time to learn how to clean correctly with it.

Also you will have breakdowns, which slows you down.

Next you need to decide what kind of cleaner are you going to be, some just clean the glass, while others clean everything.

Then you need to look at 1st cleans, these are difficult to predict on how long it will take you, all will take longer than a maintenance clean and you could end up for over an hour or two on one house.

Next to look at is how are you going to get paid, some go back on the night or weekend and collect the money from their customers, while others telephone/text their customers the night before so they can leave side gates open but also leave the money somewhere safe.

You now come down to customer loyalty, all of these new customers who you have canvassed will not stay with you, for whatever reason and there are many, at least 40% will leave within 4 months.

The most important part of running a business imo is Murphys Law, which simply says, if it can go pear shaped or wrong it will, I always plan for it to go wrong and have things in place the resolve them.

The other thing that is going to affect you is time, at the moment you have plenty of time but when you start to get customers, you start to lose this and the more customers you get, reduces the amount of time you have, until you run of of it, or start chasing yourself around.

Personally I would suggest that you have a 4 day working week for cleaning glass, leave the other 3 days to cover for weather, breakdowns, holidays and sickness etc.