[Dale]

Hi Everyone.

I'm looking to start a round in my area as soon as possible. I have experience of window cleaning having worked in London (Golders Green) and i had my own little round also when i was 15 cleaning the windows of Mobile Homes in Luton. Anyway i'm 17 now and was wondering if that would affect insurance and that kind of stuff. I can't drive yet so i don't need loads of money for a van and i'll be cleaning using the traditional method. I live in Luton so if there is any other window cleaners out there in Luton i would like to know how much you charge and how you price etc etc please. Obviously without a van i will be limited to where i can work but having lived in my current house now for 6 months i haven't once seen a window cleaner so thought why not tap into the open market? Anyway i'm looking at this as a full time job so i need to get quite a few houses, looking to earn about £100 a day at first (10 houses at tener each?) so roughly £500 a week maybe £400 as being self employed why not make the most of it and have a 3 day weekend. Anyway any tips from you guys would be helpful and most appreciated.

Cheers Lads

[Mike_G]

Good luck. No vehicle and you are hoping to make £500 a week. I would not mind betting there are an awful lot of people that have been going for years that dont earn that.

[JM123]

Ok dale.  Firstly in order for you to make that kind of money you need a lot of customers, it takes time to build up a round like that.  Without a car you need to keep local (within a couple of miles) so I'd suggest trying to get your customers on a fortnightly clean, you'll probably find that most houses (semi's) you'll only get 6-8 quid for, so obviously you need more than 10 per day. 

Every area is different but good luck anyway.

[Dale]

Maybe i have been a bit ambitious and obviously even though i said (well i think i did) i wanted to earn £100 a day at first i didn't actually mean that i meant i want to get to that eventually. My street has about 80 houses and i don't think any have there windows cleaned by pro's, i know not all of these people will want there windows cleaned but it's probably not a bad street to start on as many of the windows are really quite dirty. Anyway any advice on getting customers without knocking on doors and pestering people?

Cheers for your replies so far lads.

[Mike_G]

I think you might well have to knock on some doors. You could try doing your own on Saturday or even Sunday when you know people in your street are at home, when they see you cleaning windows they might well ask you if you could do theirs.

[Sir Squeaky]

You might be lucky, but it took me years to earn that money in a day.

I remember when I started I was chuffed when I had my first £50 day.
I'd worked flat out 9-4, I was tired, but I'd acheived it.

And guess what? That was after a few weeks.
You don't have the technique honed that quickly I'm afraid.

Any fool can squeegee a window.
To perfect it takes years.
I've been going nearly 10 years, and I've only seemingly hit my peak speed in the last couple of years.

You're constantly learning.

[Dale]

Cheers for the comments again lads. Maybe i am aiming too high but when i was cleaning the mobile homes i was earning £60 a day even though it was only 1 day every 4 weeks it wasn't bad. I had 12 homes and charged them a fiver each maybe that's why i am aiming too high, too much success too ealry on?

[spotless2000]

Hi Dale

I left Luton about 4 years ago and moved to Northants.

I visit friends/relatives fairly frequently in Luton and and as sad as it is, the topic of window cleaning does get mentioned.

A property in Felstead Way was priced at approx £1.50 per window (team of two) 6 weekly clean.

I often hear the same comment, "we are willing to pay for a good job!"

I'll leave you to work out what that means.

Which area of Luton do you intend to work?

Good luck

Steve

[Dale]

Hi Steve

I'll be working in the Stopsley area not far from the fire station. I'm not sure where felstead Way is to be honest.

Cheers

[supernova77]

Dale,

If you aim for the moon but miss - you may hit a star.

If you aim for the lamppost and miss - you'll end up in the gutter.

The morale is to always aim high!

Andy

[spotless2000]

I'm not sure where felstead Way is to be honest.

About 3/4 mile from the fire station (off Stockingstone Road).

Steve

[Dale]

Oh ok cheers mate. Might as well try and get a few customers soon better than sitting on me arse all day earning approximately nothing! Before anyone calls me lazy for not having a job, i was due to join the Navy in January but due to unforseen circumstances that is now a no go!