[gerard mcmanus]

Say the (ideal - for the rouges) scenario happened and the government turn round and said you apply for a patch, not a licence, we will police it and its your area.

Would you want to apply. Not being able to expand your business, being limited to one area, that may be have a very poor take up, and be left with nothing.

This is why most of these golden handshake boys, are not bigger or better than they where 10 years ago.

[martinsadie]

If you got a wc job on an estate and arrived at the house to find a traditional cleaner cleaning other houses in the street would you still clean the house you had been asked to do?

The only reason i ask is that its ort of an old unwritten rule that you dont encroach upon someone elses 'patch' but the more i read on here and from what i see out and about, window cleaners dont seem to take any notice of it anymore.

I personally think i would still approach the wc just to have a quick chat and see how business is, but i dont think it would stop me from doing my job as i had obviously been called in by the customer to do it.

I have just started cleaning some houses on a new estate and i know they already have a WFP cleaner on there but its a massive estate and he has not approached them since the people have moved in (over 4 months) so its as if he doesnt want them.

Just wondering what your opinion is on this

Ste

if the trad man had all the other houses i would give him that one as well ,if i turn up for one house its so i can pick the rest up,or its not worth getting the ladder off

[gerard mcmanus]

you going to wait and watch how many he does, even if you ask him he will probably say yes he does them all. I will be honest, if you came up and asked me how many I did, I would tell you its nothing to do with you.

If you are going out to a job, and are intending on doing it why would you give it away, you will be wasting your time. For all you know the guy only does one as well and even if he does do them all, maybe the customers where just waiting to get a hold of someone else, as the guy they have is crap.

It should be a competitive market, and if you cant make it worth your while, maybe you are charging too little. I will do to a job regardless of competition and anything they are doing.

[Sean Dyer]

If you got a wc job on an estate and arrived at the house to find a traditional cleaner cleaning other houses in the street would you still clean the house you had been asked to do?

The only reason i ask is that its ort of an old unwritten rule that you dont encroach upon someone elses 'patch' but the more i read on here and from what i see out and about, window cleaners dont seem to take any notice of it anymore.

I personally think i would still approach the wc just to have a quick chat and see how business is, but i dont think it would stop me from doing my job as i had obviously been called in by the customer to do it.

I have just started cleaning some houses on a new estate and i know they already have a WFP cleaner on there but its a massive estate and he has not approached them since the people have moved in (over 4 months) so its as if he doesnt want them.

Just wondering what your opinion is on this

Ste

if the trad man had all the other houses i would give him that one as well ,if i turn up for one house its so i can pick the rest up,or its not worth getting the ladder off

I know what you mean but if its a £15.00 house or something then i would

I had an awkward one today, i picked up about 16-17 3 bed semis in my round over last 6 months, chap hadnt been to clean in 12 months, hadnt left a note or number for anyone to call disspeared off face of the earth i seen him cleaning in a small cul de sac which has say 20 houses i only do 5 -6 he was doing one so i approached him as i do any wc to say hi and chat and make friends, couldnt care less hes in my area, i charge more than him and keep my custys anyway, but point is, he tells me he has had heart bypass been off for 12 months and is a bit guuted he lost alot of work , i just said oh thats a shame, but inside i obviously clocked it was his work i had got, i didnt sayy anything but afterwards felt a bit guilty but chatting with lad i work with i felt it was his own doing as he just dissapeared, he did say he was glad to see back of some as they were underpriced i priced them pretty high funny thing is they are inbetween ones i already do ie i do 3, 7 , 11 i picked up 5 9 13 etc

Am i in the wrong??

[gerard mcmanus]

No, if something major happened to a sole trader, you sub the work out until you are back on your feet, or can sell if it wont work long term. I would also get a letter sent out to all my custies to make them aware of my situation.

[HIGH LEVEL WINDOW CLEANERS (scrimmy)]

OMFG we've got royalty in da house

nope....LWC has lost the plot......NURSE we need more pills for poor old LWC.

[Londoner]

Every road I do has other window cleaners and its always been the same. The world is full of windows, nobody can clean them all.