[Johnny B]

... my take is that the time I would have spent chasing and invoicing was better spent developing reliable domestic work.  

I have a very good friend in my locality who is well established in this game, and whose business focuses mainly on commercial work, and he has told me that he would not survive on domestic work alone, because it is not as regular here as it is in Britain.  

I occasionally help him, or he will ask me to do commercial work for him, for which he pays me, then chases up the customer for payment.

There is no way that I would survive on commercial work, as I would not be able to withstand the delay in getting paid, or the stress of not being paid at all.

So, like Ian, I prefer to spend my time developing a good domestic customer base, and have found that, although cleaning frequencies are less over here, it is still possible to build up a run by getting a greater number of customers on board.

John