[dazmond]

hi guys just thought id start a thread about the truth of what its really like to be a window cleaner!!


some people (esp customers and newbies!)think that if you earn £25-£30 an hour you must turning over 52 grand a year blah,blah blah!!

most window cleaners dont work 8 hours "on the glass" a day.

you ll never work 40 hours every week.week in/week out!

holidays,sickness,late starts,early finishes,half days,bad weather etc all eat into hours worked in a week.

window cleaning is hard work(even with a pole system!)and can get boring and most of us suffer from a bit of low motivation at times.we all need a break from it!

NO HOLIDAY AND SICKNESS PAY!!

gotta pay income tax,national insurance,PL insurance.

van,equipment and maintenance etc.


anybody like to add anything else?burst a few bubbles for newbies/customers?


oh and custies dying,moving owing you money or ducking behind the sofe every time you knock on their door!!!

[elite mike]

yeh the ones who die on you are the worst

i mean how inconsiderate  is that 

[Lee GLS]

Only £40 ph? 



































   

[dai]

Only £40 ph? 

That's about twice my average.

































   

[Small but perfectley formed]

Looks like you have covered it all

[Ian101]

was feeling upbeat till i read ur post Daz ... cheers mate 

[cozy]

Sounds about right to me Daz. Except most of us earn ALOT more than 52,000 per year, wouldn't set my alarm for that!!! 6,000 per month mate, with 4 hours a day, on the glass. 3 days a week.

You do get the odd custy asking how many do you get through in a day etc. I answer "As many as we can, but it's never so easy". Don't want custies doing maths and coming up with stupid daily rates. I always talk about fuel and equipment costs , insurance blah blah blah.

When custies talk about hollidays I just tell them that I can't afford one.

[AC Window Cleaning]

its also a common misconception that we have never stood in dog poo

[Llaaww]

How about when you try to employ people and as soon as they learn the ropes they start doing extra little jobs, and then come back with their hands out expecting to get paid while they lie through their teeth about where they have been all morning.

Or getting started on a big job just before the heavens open, and having to stick it out until it is done.

Probably the very worst thing of all is turning up for work that was previously booked, and being knocked back, by some smug twonk who thinks the windows, aren't really dirty enough yet and "you can miss it this time". The ones who do it with a cheesy simpering smirking cringe really need slapping. Especially the one I got today.

Oh and winkers who walk past and say "you missed a bit", or "When i'm cleanin windas" formby style.

People who drop dead I can cope with but people who just blatantly close up shop and dissapear need hounding. Recently a shop closed on me without notice, I knew they had another branch a bit further down the coast, so I left it for a few weeks before popping in and asking if I should still be washing the windows on the closed branch. I told them I had still been doing it as they hadn't cancelled and they now owed £45. Surprised and ambarassed to see me they coughed. windie 1 messer 0.

Rant over. Bad day good money

just saw the dog sh post, it was all over my hose and shoe today


AARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!

[cozy]

  nice post llaaww

Stan, stop it 

[Sean Dyer]

30 hours a week is probably more realistic as an average for working weeks, but then how many weeks you work is another, i reckon if you do 44 your lucky as you have 4 hols maybe then 4 for illness, injury, days off etc

However if you take 30 per week at £25 an hour * 44 you are on a good wage (£33k)

To make more you can a. price better or b. work harder and smarter or c. work more hours
Or finally, build your business with staff/ franchise/rent work out

And that is it

However there will be people out there that do 8 hours 48 weeks a year daz mate, its just not that many of them , i would like to be one, but as much as i njoy the money i like my life more, and so tend to work harder some weeks and chill out on others but prob fall into the average 30 hours bracket, plus i have help at times which allows me to earn an extra 50 - 100  day so can catch up quick and make more faster...

But i reckon price is the biggest misconception you are right there, lots and lots come thinking look £30 an hour .... But they fail to see the effort building the rounds , and not only that but the effort cleaning them every week , every day , week in week out

Its hard mentally and physically, and its BORRRRIIIINNNGGG

bit like this post

[VSP Home Care]

How about when you try to employ people and as soon as they learn the ropes they start doing extra little jobs, and then come back with their hands out expecting to get paid while they lie through their teeth about where they have been all morning.

Or getting started on a big job just before the heavens open, and having to stick it out until it is done.

Probably the very worst thing of all is turning up for work that was previously booked, and being knocked back, by some smug twonk who thinks the windows, aren't really dirty enough yet and "you can miss it this time". The ones who do it with a cheesy simpering smirking cringe really need slapping. Especially the one I got today.

Oh and winkers who walk past and say "you missed a bit", or "When i'm cleanin windas" formby style.

People who drop dead I can cope with but people who just blatantly close up shop and dissapear need hounding. Recently a shop closed on me without notice, I knew they had another branch a bit further down the coast, so I left it for a few weeks before popping in and asking if I should still be washing the windows on the closed branch. I told them I had still been doing it as they hadn't cancelled and they now owed £45. Surprised and ambarassed to see me they coughed. windie 1 messer 0.

Rant over. Bad day good money

just saw the dog sh post, it was all over my hose and shoe today


AARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!

  Brilliant

But what everyone really wants to know is...........




Did you ever get a shag on the job 

Sod the money 

[dave.e]

this as got to be the best post on here for a long time.

PS you watch the mods lock it in a bit

[david thomas]

Most on here will work till there 65 70 with not much pension to look forward to

[VSP Home Care]

Most on here will work till there 65 70 with not much pension to look forward to

Someone once told me you should stick away 20% of what you earn.  Would be nice to earn 20% more than you need in the first place 

[mlscontractcleaner]

Finally the truth

It is possible to earn good money and we've done it by being contract cleaners as opposed to just window cleaners. That way we start the day - at 4.30am - cleaning pubs and night clubs. By 10am we've probably earnt what most window cleaners take all day. It's indoors, it's seven days per week and it's guaranteed income.

We also clean a lot of carpets, again, indoor work and a decent income.

Around a third of our window cleaning income come from the commercial market - minus Iceland after next week !!! - so again this is guaranteed income no matter what the weather is doing. The rest of it is domestic, which by and large stays reasonably up to date but not always. I've often wondered how the hell we paid our bills when we only had domestic customers with all the crappy weather we get

We work way more than forty hours but enjoy the rewards; having recently returned from a Christmas / New Year Caribbean Cruise, BUT it's taken twenty plus years to achieve this and with an ever growing number of new window cleaners seemingly appearing on the streets weekly it must be a lot harder building a round from scratch now; I'm really glad I'm not starting out

[Richard Neal]

Hardest bit for me was building the round in the first place, i didnt have enough to buy a round so got knocking and built it up, i now have a good round and a good income but newbies have no idea about the work that goes into building a business.

[Sean Dyer]

Finally the truth

It is possible to earn good money and we've done it by being contract cleaners as opposed to just window cleaners. That way we start the day - at 4.30am - cleaning pubs and night clubs. By 10am we've probably earnt what most window cleaners take all day. It's indoors, it's seven days per week and it's guaranteed income.

We also clean a lot of carpets, again, indoor work and a decent income.

Around a third of our window cleaning income come from the commercial market - minus Iceland after next week !!! - so again this is guaranteed income no matter what the weather is doing. The rest of it is domestic, which by and large stays reasonably up to date but not always. I've often wondered how the hell we paid our bills when we only had domestic customers with all the crappy weather we get

We work way more than forty hours but enjoy the rewards; having recently returned from a Christmas / New Year Caribbean Cruise, BUT it's taken twenty plus years to achieve this and with an ever growing number of new window cleaners seemingly appearing on the streets weekly it must be a lot harder building a round from scratch now; I'm really glad I'm not starting out

If you dont mind me asking, when you say we , how many of you are there??

As i never thought contract cleaning paid that well, so to earn what a windy does in a day by 10 am, there must be a few of you hoovering away ??

[VSP Home Care]

If they start at 4:30am and finish at 10am at £20 an hour then its £100 profit I guess 

Bit too early for me 

[G Griffin]

whats this tax and national insurance lark 

Never mind them, what`s this "good money" lark?