[woody1]

i was asking a question and if im honest i can live with out taking a wage for a few months while i keep the work coming in its called running a buissness i doubt the owner of say b and q worked on the shop floor when he opened its the same thing to grow buissness you need to take a back seat and get the work not clean it  well thats my idea any way also helen do you run a window cleaning buissness my guess is no so what makes you abble to answere other peoples comments

[supernova77]

i was asking a question and if im honest i can live with out taking a wage for a few months while i keep the work coming in its called running a buissness i doubt the owner of say b and q worked on the shop floor when he opened its the same thing to grow buissness you need to take a back seat and get the work not clean it  well thats my idea any way also helen do you run a window cleaning buissness my guess is no so what makes you abble to answere other peoples comments

I know for a fact that Helen ran a very successful window cleaning business, and I think is now in the carpet cleaning industry.

If you think you can build a successful window cleaning business without actually cleaning any windows and building up a good personal relationship with each customer then your having a laugh and you may as well go and work in B&Q.

All the comments you've had so far were from people trying to help you.

Andy

[woody1]

so i have cleaned windows i want to expand quickly so if i get some one to do the cleaning and i do the canvassing full time i will build a bigger base of custy's than working on my own

[supernova77]

so i have cleaned windows i want to expand quickly so if i get some one to do the cleaning and i do the canvassing full time i will build a bigger base of custy's than working on my own

Yeah but having a big customer base doesn't make you automatically successful... You would need to put some cleaning time in to.

I clean any new customers 2 or 3 times myself before letting anyone else near them!

Andy

[colin purewater]

i was asking a question and if im honest i can live with out taking a wage for a few months while i keep the work coming in its called running a buissness i doubt the owner of say b and q worked on the shop floor when he opened its the same thing to grow buissness you need to take a back seat and get the work not clean it  well thats my idea any way also helen do you run a window cleaning buissness my guess is no so what makes you abble to answere other peoples comments

how rude...

[davids3511]

i was asking a question and if im honest i can live with out taking a wage for a few months while i keep the work coming in its called running a buissness i doubt the owner of say b and q worked on the shop floor when he opened its the same thing to grow buissness you need to take a back seat and get the work not clean it  well thats my idea any way also helen do you run a window cleaning buissness my guess is no so what makes you abble to answere other peoples comments

You would do well to listen to Helen. She knows what she is taking about.

[Helen]

Thanks guys and yes Andy we are now heavily involved carpet cleaning (where we first started) and leather restoration and flood and water damage restoration.

Woody, I was in no way knocking you or your enthusiam for expanding your business (didn't I say that before )
Yes I have been involved in starting up and running a successful WC business (which we sold a while ago...) and within that business employed, so I don't say I know it all, but I know a little. Before you jump to conclusions (again) yes I can trad and yes I am a wfp user as well and have been out there myself when needed.

I believe that your first post did not mention that you can live for a few months without having to take a wage, in this case you are a very lucky person.

Personally if I was in that situation, I would canvass to fill 5 days a week, and work that for the next couple of months myself. I would then consider taking someone on part time to work with me 3 days a week, with the possibility of it becoming fulltime. (2 people should be able to cover the 5 days work) That would leave you free to canvas and build up to a full time position for your chap, whilst still bringing in some money for yourself. Why waste the money you have saved up, by living off it when you don't need to?
Then start again with another guy and so on.

Just a tip when you quote for people, make sure you charge enough to cover all your extra overheads that you will have when employing, but then I expect you already know all about that.

Good luck, I have a feeling you are going to need it!

[mark311069]

well after reading this thread over the last couple of days it has dawned on me i need help so...................iam starting a lad tomorrow   paying him £7 per hour so we will see how it goes

[richardlingard]

dont employ unless you really have no other choice, the job will become plauged with worry, corruption, arguments, stress and thieves , carve what you can with your own two hands mate, then go wfp

[SunShineCleaning]

Listen to Helen mate rather than having a go.

£1300 is not enough buy a long way.

My advice would be to get the prices up so that you can make £175-200 per day then look at taking on someone.

I now worked on the principle that if I cant get round I put the prices up to sift out the under paid jobs (relative of course)

You need to at least triple your turnover before you get someone else in.

[geefree]

Some good advice  here from lots of members,

did you employ woody?,

which route did you go down?

[DG Cleaning]

I imagine whoever started B&Q did work on the shop floor to start with. I doubt they ever stepped back till things got really big. Sounds like you're using the " I need time to to grow my business " excuse as a reason to not do any work. Hope i'm wrong but if not I can this ending in tears. Helen gives excellent advice you ought to listen.

[woody1]

no not yet but very close now as got 397 custys now and need a bit of help but going to try and hold off til the new year

[Mike_G]

£1300 per month and 397 customers? thats £3.27 per customer on average. I think you should consider putting up your prices Woody. As for when to employ I agree with most of these others you need to be earning a considerably lot more than you do at the moment before you take anybody on, and if you are only just getting through your work and do need a bit of help you really do need to increase your prices..its sounds to me as if you are doing a whole lot of work for not much reward

[dazmond]

woody your average price must be very low if you have 397 customers bringing in £1300 a month.ive got 80 less customers and earn over twice what you bring in every month.i still have gaps for bad weather days and probably only work 15-16 days a month!i am wfp which makes a big difference.

[Taylor & Taylor WC Services]

397 customers bringing in £1300? You need to put up those prices!!

There is no way you can neglect the cleaning side for canvassing. I had £3000 a month when i took a guy on to do this and yes I got extra work but I got complaints, got behind on work and had to go back after a month of this and I'm still working with a full timer at £5500 a month (Approx 500 customers)

Even now I have a second van coming on Monday so I can build another round I am not overly confident that my two staff will keep things running problem free and on time etc!! Employment in my opinion has been nothing but a ball ache BUT you can't grow without employees it's probably a little too soon for you on those figures though. Work hard for another year and it might be achievable.

[dazmond]

sounds like you have a very underpriced round done trad.you need to bite the bullet IMO and get a wfp system and convert all your round over,put up your prices then when gaps start appearing(because you ll be faster after a few months WFP)canvass like mad and get better priced work to up your monthly earnings.

i wouldnt even think about employing in your position.itll not be worth the hassle mate.


best wishes


dazmond

[wellclean]

get real, £1300 is a little under 1 weeks work, [with hot water ]
your a part timer

[windowswashed]

having an employee doesnt necessarily earn you more money.

sometimes its better to grow your customer base and weed out the bad stuff, keep repeating this and end up with a good round or go the other route of employing with its merits, downfalls and extra work.

employed before. would i do it again........only if i was thinking of retiring, then it would be canvass, canvass, canvass and employ part time staff on above average wages. dont want the hassle for the time being as other things more important in life than window cleaning

[woody1]

no no you got it wrong my round was only 1300 quid a few months ago when i asked the question its now up to £3790 i love it how you all jump on some thing with out thinking guys so i think my pricing is ok and i am happy to wait to employ some one next year towork with me in the van.