[NWH]

I am nearly all domestic and probably have most types of customer or should I say houses I have some really compact semi's and terraces that you hardly have to move the van all day. The truth is there are too many customers. That means too much chat holding you back and too many people out at work. This means for me a) leaving payment a month, b) leaving an envelope (have they got cheque books?? Credit cards yes, but cheque books...) or c) calling round. If it's a), I still have to use b) or c) next month. Too much hassle and wasted time. As others have said, it's the good ones that make it worth it and working out in the sticks, with beautiful views is so good.

Having a compact round in the town still dosen`t compare with rural work,i`ve done town work before aswell.So you can do lots of houses in a row it makes no difference you`ll still earn more in the sticks for in most cases having to do a 1/3 of the work you will in the town.

[Rob.Hall]

 16 miles from Chi north.

[NWH]

Since posting my last post a couple of minutes ago. A guy has just rang me up who is on the border of retirement. He has just been asking me how renting his round from him would work. I told him it would be best to have a coffee and a chat tomorrow morning and talk about it then. I think that it would be a case of me renting for a while then being offered the work from then on. what advice can you guys give me what sort of percent should he be taking rent and how percent should I be getting in return?

If he`s thinking of renting it the chances are he`ll try and get an income from it for as long as he can,if your giving him a good income week in month out he`ll be reluctant to sell.I would offer to buy it if it`s any good,he`s looking for someone to line his pockets.

[dave0123]

Dave, after what happened this year I will be having a good chat with yellow pages before making a decision as I was left in the dark last year, didn't get the advert I wanted. Basically the advert was rushed by them and amendments weren't corrected. Unless they pull their fingers out this year I will be looking into other types of adverts.

i left the same they rush the job to get more in or more money! not really intrested in the customer to much.

you were left in the dark?

[NWH]

16 miles from Chi north.

Is that chichester Rob,i work in Kent Sussex borders but live on the coast in sleepy Bexhill.I grew up in T.Wells area and my family still live there,met a girl down here the rest is history but the commute is worth the effort.

[colley614]

NHW. I know what your saying my friend. I was thinking about this myself. This guy has a really compact that he does himself. I have an employee who isn't earning much yet so I can afford to do this in the short term. Also this guys round has loads of customers begging him to do their windows but as he has a full round then he turns them down. I was thinking that if me and my employee get out there and get stuck in then we can spent the afternoons canvassing these areas we would be in. Then once I have doubled the workload then saying to this guy. " I have too much of my own to do, either you rent it to somebody else or I can buy it from you." I was thinking this is the most mutually beneficial way of doing it. do you think this could work?

[Rob.Hall]

Sorry NWH

Chi = Chichester just in case you thought I was Chiness  

[Rob.Hall]

NWH

Great catchment area for country houses over your way.

Lots of wc are branching out into the countryside over this end.

Getting quite competitive!

[dave0123]

NHW. I know what your saying my friend. I was thinking about this myself. This guy has a really compact that he does himself. I have an employee who isn't earning much yet so I can afford to do this in the short term. Also this guys round has loads of customers begging him to do their windows but as he has a full round then he turns them down. I was thinking that if me and my employee get out there and get stuck in then we can spent the afternoons canvassing these areas we would be in. Then once I have doubled the workload then saying to this guy. " I have too much of my own to do, either you rent it to somebody else or I can buy it from you." I was thinking this is the most mutually beneficial way of doing it. do you think this could work?

id want to know how much an adverage house is comparied to your overheads first as alot around here seem to change 3 quid or 5 quid which wouldnt be worth getting out the van for! specially if hes old! and hasnt put prices up for years and has to much work   maybe because hes cheap

[Feen]

Having a compact round in the town still dosen`t compare with rural work,i`ve done town work before aswell.So you can do lots of houses in a row it makes no difference you`ll still earn more in the sticks for in most cases having to do a 1/3 of the work you will in the town.

So you didn't really read my post You've just reiterated what I said

[NWH]

NHW. I know what your saying my friend. I was thinking about this myself. This guy has a really compact that he does himself. I have an employee who isn't earning much yet so I can afford to do this in the short term. Also this guys round has loads of customers begging him to do their windows but as he has a full round then he turns them down. I was thinking that if me and my employee get out there and get stuck in then we can spent the afternoons canvassing these areas we would be in. Then once I have doubled the workload then saying to this guy. " I have too much of my own to do, either you rent it to somebody else or I can buy it from you." I was thinking this is the most mutually beneficial way of doing it. do you think this could work?

The thing is with this type of work is the people just will not stand for you sending someone round that you fancy as and when,like i said before in previous posts these people like to know who there dealing with.My advise would be to have someone with you for at least 6 months and get them used to there face,if you build a quality round on your own and send tom dick or harry round you`ll lose it trust me,let the customers know that the work changes due to weather and holidays and on occasions you won`t always work in pairs.Gradually they will get used to seeing only 1 of you which ever 1 it maybe,what i`m saying is with this kind of work constantly changing staff won`t work as they like to see a familliar face on there property.Other WC`s saying you better watch out i`m canvassing areas you work are pretty much wasting there time as these jobs are built on trust not price,many forget with big domestic work trust comes first not price and not always quality of work although i do a top job.

[colley614]

This guy has work that is well above, how should I put it " The guide price." I've spent much of last year working on his round with him so I know a majority of his customers and know which houses in the area could easily be added onto the round. I have also built up much of my round next to his work as he has been giving me the odd job here and there which I've built upon myself. I think this is a chance for me to get some more regular work in as my round is in need of bolstering. I need to know in the morning what I should say to him and how I should go about doing it. 

[NWH]

Are you saying that your thinking of canvassing this guy`s work because he`s not getting round on time to do it?

[colley614]

no I wouldn't do that. What I'm saying is that there is a lot of windows not cleaned in the area he works in. So if I rented his work from him then I could pick up some of the work that isn't done by his round and build a bigger round up.

[NWH]

Or you could get a list of what he does and canvass the surrounding work that way your not treading on his toes.

[colley614]

I see what your saying mate. I wouldn't tread on another window cleaners toes as I had this done to me when I first got going and it really messed me up. What I'm trying to say is that this guy is really close to retiring now and has had an operation on his knee so he is finding it hard to get round his work. So he has asked me if I would rent his round from him as you said he probably doesn't want to loose his income. So I was thinking of renting his domestics from him and then picking up the ones around his and building up my own work on top of his. I'm just wondering what would be a fair agreement between me and him with regards to how much I should pay him. I wouldn't want to take him for a walk but at the same time I don't want to be lead down the garden path myself. I'm just after a bit of advice on the best agreement I can make with this guy. 

[Pittmonkey]

I would go ahead with the meeting colley and just listen to what he has to say first. Let him do all the talking about renting etc. but keep him warm with your interest in buying the round if and when he retires. This way the ball is in his court to keep you sweet knowing that he could have a buyer for his round with out the hassle of looking to sell it. If he has made the initial approach then let him do the talking finish the meeting and say you have a lot to think about and will be in touch.

It sounds like you could be on to a winner with regards to extra work you could pick up but I wouldn't mention anything of this at the meeting. Try and run the meeting as if you will be doing him the favour.

After the meeting come back to the forum with his proposal and let some of the guy's pick up on it from there.

Wayne

[NWH]

What ever you choose to do get something in writing especially if he says you can buy the work at a later date,i would also put a time limit on the amount of time you`ll rent it before you have the chance to buy it.

[colley614]

Nice one guys,

I find that when someone comes on here with a situation we can all sit back and give level headed advice. When something is on your own toes its a little bit more hard to make a clear decision with your head getting all excited. Thats why I enjoy this forum because we all help each other out, its a bit like a big board meeting for the pro window cleaners. 

I should get a phone call within the next couple of hours. I'll let you guys know how I get on.

[dave0123]

Hope it goes well.


does he have any employees too? because you mite be asked to take them on too.. and mite not be up to your standard.