[AuRavelling79]

My round is now getting unmanageable for me on my own (or will be come the shorter days) but I want the least hassle.

I'm thinking of taking my "worst" £500 per month and either selling it or renting it out. Although it is my "worst" it can be done in two and a half or three days and would make the windy about £25/30 per hour on a seven hour day once he got up to my speed without breaking his neck.

It's all within about a mile of each other.

Should I sell it or rent it or take on a part timer?

What would you charge or pay?

Thanks.

[wpclean]

I would keep the work and employ a person for a day or so each week, it will make life easier for you 

[bobby p]

i heartily recommend taking on a lad . paid only for the hours on the tools   and   its allowed me to take on no end of what were previously gruelling jobs  .    

 having said that,my lads still in the honeymoon stage , only been on board a few weeks- but if he jumped ship id seek a new worker A s a p . one tip id give is to ask any applicant what his weight is , you want to hear "slim only"

 the alternative as i see it is too slog myself to an early grave  

[DavidWright76]

Just when i thought you were hanging from a second floor window ledge...

[AuRavelling79]

So where do you get "a lad" willing to work a day a week who isn't going to upset the custies/me/ and who'll only work when required? Does such an animal exist?

[H S and Son]

Sell it Malc.

Ive sold and employed.

Selling, you get a lump sum, the hassle is gone, end of story.

Employing a lad, you have hassle (he's late, he's a dunderhead, he smells, he's rude to the custards, he's a prat, he does a crap job, he cant do the job, the list is endless), then you have to pay him, that involves cash-flow out of your pocket, your time collecting for HIS work.

Its a no-brainer Malc.

[Frankybadboy]

you can give it to me gold.hehehehehehehe

[Jimmy Jon]

I might be interested Malc, I am local to you. Give me a call whenever on 07810 678897.
Cheers
Marc

[bobby p]

So where do you get "a lad" willing to work a day a week who isn't going to upset the custies/me/ and who'll only work when required? Does such an animal exist?

this is my third lad,but i hold high hopes on this one. tall , liked kickboxing once,arrived on a skateboard on first day etc .  i put a simple ad in a local post office ,window cleaners helper wanted,part time at first .       his mum spotted it and i chose him above a seasoned lad who had been on the squeegee2years fulltime but lacked any respect on the phone . actually i was going to take him on too as a back-up but he couldnt/wouldnt return my calls . 

 although you have only 1 days work for the slogger now,you know you could step it up and  ride the crest of the wave as it were

[Steven Shoreditch]

So where do you get "a lad" willing to work a day a week who isn't going to upset the custies/me/ and who'll only work when required? Does such an animal exist?

A stable usually has a lad or two, and some of them are females.

All are animals.

[Tom White]

You seem like a 'people person', Gold; I could see you as a good employer.  And with regards to how they treat your customers, that'd be down to you to guide, educate, and set an example.

I always try my best to encourage Wor Lass to smile at customers, and I'll even say stuff like, "It's Mrs Jones's next", in the hope she'd look pleasant and say something like "Good morning, Mrs Jones!", but usually she just scowls at them 'cos they've got some garden furniture in her way or something.

Personally, I prefer working on my own.  

[H S and Son]

Your missus is probably when you're not about 

[Tom White]

It's got to be easier to train someone to use a WFP than a squeegy though; so a high turnover of staff isn't as bad these days as what it was pre-WFP (I'm think).

[mci services]

It's got to be easier to train someone to use a WFP than a squeegy though; so a high turnover of staff isn't as bad these days as what it was pre-WFP (I'm think).

I don't know tosh I had a lad and he was better on the squeegie than wfp. never had any complaints when he was squeeging bottoms but got a few when he was wfping

[wpclean]

I think if the person being trained can understand  the most important factors, as in getting the perfect finish, then the speed will follow.

[mci services]

I think if the person being trained can understand  the most important factors, as in getting the perfect finish, then the speed will follow.

can't argue with that, and that is what I kept telling the lad but he would forget it as soon as I was out of sight as he thought I would be more impressed by speed and I wasn't, also malc you need to weigh up even if you can find the perfect employee for one day a week, is it worth paying the extra out on e/l as well as p/l, and informing IR that you are now employing and all the hassle that goes with that. and all the other downsides of employing legally that is.

[A & J Owen Window Cleaning]

hi gold i know what you mean i had it a few yrs ago. so  for you its best to pick the good customers first that wont drop you and then anything unprofitable drop.

[Paul Coleman]

My round is now getting unmanageable for me on my own (or will be come the shorter days) but I want the least hassle.

I'm thinking of taking my "worst" £500 per month and either selling it or renting it out. Although it is my "worst" it can be done in two and a half or three days and would make the windy about £25/30 per hour on a seven hour day once he got up to my speed without breaking his neck.

It's all within about a mile of each other.

Should I sell it or rent it or take on a part timer?

What would you charge or pay?

Thanks.

Hi Malc.
I know where you are coming from.  I've been in this position twice since 1991  when I first started.  The first time it was easy.  The work was my earliest work and was so badly underpriced, I gave it away.  I would have been too embarrassed to ask for money back then.  Also, I had recently moved house and this made the lowest priced work much more distant.  Bear in mind this was pre-internet so I had no access to hundreds of online mentors regarding pricing and methods.
The second time it happened, it wasn't so easy.  I struggled along for several years trying to keep up with it all and wondering which way to go with it.  Occasionally I lost a customer because they wanted a more frequent clean.  I even tried pruning by increasing prices but that didn't work either.
In the end nature took a hand and I was laid off for for many months with a bad illness.  That sorted them out - too well in fact because I was a bit light on work afterwards (for a while).  Then WFP came along and the gaps reappeared.
So although I've been in your position twice, I've never actually had to  resolve it.
If I was in that position now, I would probably sell the surplus for a lump sum.  But that's because I don't feel up to the complication of subbing out or employing.  It is also because I would want to use the money to reduce debt levels.  However, if it weren't for the debt, I would probably have low enough stress levels to manage a subbying situation.
I'm surprised that you would find it so difficult to find the right person for this though.  The two main issues with this are trusting someone's competence and their honesty.  I imagine that you would know a number of people who want part - time work with fairly flexi hours whose honesty you could rely on.  Competency is another matter but much of that can be taught.

[colin purewater]

what area are you mate ?

[AuRavelling79]

Thanks guys - and I know what you mean Paul - but the jw pool is an unusual one with window cleaning - the self starters who realise that they and their missus can live off of pairing up for two days a week wc, living cheaply and seeing the world. (got a few relatives and friends who go to Central America or Uganda doing missionary work for four months over the winter and come back and work like nutters to go back and do it all again .. or go off building kingdom halls in Bulgaria etc. Then they typically settle and try to finance their own homes.)

Then you get the family men who do it for a living.

But the ones who are looking for a couple of days a week to go pioneering tend to have the nouse to run their own show.

The lazy, mentally damaged and useless stay in bed watching Jeremy Kyle and live off of benefits but I wouldn't encourage them by giving a dab in the hand.

Funnily enough I've just had a call from my older bro who works four days a week as an office copier repair guy and is fed up of driving all over the southwest and is in a position to think about "simplifying" - that might be an option as he's worked with me on rare occasions. I could set him up with a trailer system and he'd be happy earning £100 for an easy day. But he might "need" 3 days a week.

Hmmmmmm ... rent out a grands worth to him and take on cream for myself?

Thinks.