[Steve kiff]

I love this site, everyone is so positive.  Thanks guys.  I will keep everyone updated on my progress.   

[alanwilson]

steve Kiff - think of it this way mate.

Today you gave yourself a yearly payrise of £288

well done.

[dazmond]

yep canvassing is the only way of building a round quickly especially if you havent much money as you havent got a choice!

ive never had a problem with canvassing.then again im good with people in general.when i started in the early 90s i was out every weekend for 6 months door knocking.some days are good.other days youll get nothing!!

even now ill canvass either side of a new job in a different area.although i find myself just leafleting them and having a word with the new customer if im busy that day.

im in a comfortable position regarding work and i tend to let the customers come to me through word of mouth and recommendation as usually they turn into good solid ones.

good luck steve you sound like you have the right attitude and motivation.


all the best


dazmond

[Richy essex]

all good advice steve but i agree with the cheap bit dont price too cheap just to get the work you will regret it people say it all the time on here and i have a few that are far to low myself depends hw desperate you are for the work but it
does come m8

[northstar161]

Good effort with the canvassing mate - especially this time of the year. You tend to pick up a lot of the dross that other window cleaners don't want at first but that's what happens when you start.

I started in June and the high point with the customers was about 90. 11 have flaked and a couple more will be have to be dropped if they give me another another 'leave it this time'.

My min charge was £14.00 for a 2 bed terrace and that includes the doors front and back - but I'm fortunate enought to be in a well-heeled area (with massive victorian windows!).

My main challenges so far have been getting a decent speed - still slow. Also; I should have charged 50-100% more for every first clean. This would have sorted the wheat from the chaff. I got a decent logo'd leaflet printed up - let me know if you want to see a copy.

All the best.

Olly

[Cliff perkins]

I dont charge anymore for 1st cleans,as long as they want me back again.well done with the knocking i can only do it for a couple of hours cuz i get ped of with all the doors slamming in my face lol.but sounds like your doing well,plenty of times ive been out and not got anything at all,if id say anything keep at it you willmget there ive been doing it a yaer now and i recon another year and i wil be where i wanna be.
All the best of luck.

[Danny Guest]

Well done
Keep practicing the sale banter! its taken me 2 years and im now taking on average 10 customers per night on as customers and i hardly lose any. Ive been out tonight and got 9 new customers but i did lose 30 mins in traffic so i fell short of my target but by only 1. I had 38 last week. Its a game of numbers. It will be harder now getting going because youll need more energy and motivation then when your going you need to keep the momentum up.

Good luck
Danny

[Gav Camm lammy 283]

5000 leaflets loads of
door knocking ?
them leaflets say 80 quid ?
yr own time knocking
AND you got 3!!!
that'll pay the bills m8
going to say this again
knock every night from 4.30pm to 7.30pm
every day in every street you want to clean
till youve spoke to every resident explain your
expanding your round from 3 to 4 customers
then repeat till you av the remaining 397 !!!!! thats how easy it is !!!!!!!

[Gav Camm lammy 283]

in other words steve if you knocked 400
houses n they all said yes to a £10.00
4 wkly clean yeah you would be full
nice n steady 20 houses a day @£10= £200
which =£1k a week x 52
income £52k a yr simples 

[dazmond]

you been drinking again gav?yeh sounds so simple!never works out that way over the course of the year though.take off tax,insurances,fuel,equipment etc.bad weather days,holidays,sickness or injury and your left with a lot lower amount!!

its still better than working for someone else though!!

[Steve kiff]

Gav,  I kinda like you, you come across as a bot of a comedian and I'm sitting here having a chuckle to myself!

400 houses and they all said yes! Lol, how nice would that be?  To be honest in no real rush really.  I have a full time job as a SDM for an industrial cleaning company, however I have had enough working long hours andining someone else pocket!  I need my own success story and I'm gonna make it happen.

I had 5000 leaflets printed up for £28 quid ! 500 business cards for £20 quid!  All my equipment including ladders , roof rack etc, another £200 quid!  I have been leaflet dropping before work and after work.  I now have 12 custys on my books that I'm very happy about.  All window cleaning to take place on Saturday & Sunday so I can hopefully be seen by others.  Target is 200 custys by may next year, just to be realistic. If I get more then happy dayz.  As soon as I have the 200 custys on the books I'll be investing in a WFP and transit connect me thinks. 

12 custys ain't gonna pay the bills but I tell you something I'm on a mission to reach 200!  I'm definitely going for it!  Only 1 person I know has tried putting me off windy cleaning by saying eveything he can to put me off!  I recon hes just doing it because he can't do it himself!

Wish me luck gentlemen I'm on a mission to succeed !   

[Johnny B]

Steve,

There are plenty of desponds who will tell you that it can't be done, and that there are too many in this game as it is. Don't let anyone convince you that it can't be done. It can. It just takes determination, desire and a positive attitude. Go for it and win! 

John

 
     

[colley614]

If people tell me it's easy, I loose interest. If people tell me it can't be done then I get motivated.

If setting up and running a business was easy then everybody would be doing it

[Londoner]

Its not easy but its definite that you will succeed if you knock on enough doors. You just have to keep at it. Sure they will not all work out but thats part of the process. Theres always another road, and another, and another........

Thats one of the great things about this job, can't fail

[Pure Shine]

 i not a great fan of canvasing but i just got a guy down from essex called tom he got me 200  month so far in 8 hours of course i have to pay but it works for me good luck and stick with it its a great job pure freedom and no agro

[sean84]

Fair play, reading all this is giving me the inspiration as I will be canvassing soon for a new year start!

[Gav Camm lammy 283]

you been drinking again gav?yeh sounds so simple!never works out that way over the course of the year though.take off tax,insurances,fuel,equipment etc.bad weather days,holidays,sickness or injury and your left with a lot lower amount!!

its still better than working for someone else though!!

dazmond  in reply yes its that simple
i know he will encounter problems along
the way
deont we all but a roud or 100+ houses a week
which is easily comfortable gives a gud income simples
all you need is a bit of cashflow !!!!! : :
GRANTED IT TAKES TIME
but done right it will work
i dont care who's toes i stand on
its business not a personal thing
n my kids have a funny habit of wanting feeding end of 

[Paul Coleman]

Gav,  I kinda like you, you come across as a bot of a comedian and I'm sitting here having a chuckle to myself!

400 houses and they all said yes! Lol, how nice would that be?  To be honest in no real rush really.  I have a full time job as a SDM for an industrial cleaning company, however I have had enough working long hours andining someone else pocket!  I need my own success story and I'm gonna make it happen.

I had 5000 leaflets printed up for £28 quid ! 500 business cards for £20 quid!  All my equipment including ladders , roof rack etc, another £200 quid!  I have been leaflet dropping before work and after work.  I now have 12 custys on my books that I'm very happy about.  All window cleaning to take place on Saturday & Sunday so I can hopefully be seen by others.  Target is 200 custys by may next year, just to be realistic. If I get more then happy dayz.  As soon as I have the 200 custys on the books I'll be investing in a WFP and transit connect me thinks.  

12 custys ain't gonna pay the bills but I tell you something I'm on a mission to reach 200!  I'm definitely going for it!  Only 1 person I know has tried putting me off windy cleaning by saying eveything he can to put me off!  I recon hes just doing it because he can't do it himself!

Wish me luck gentlemen I'm on a mission to succeed !  

You're definitely heading in the right direction.  Most of us went through this period unless we bought work in.  Unemployment during the early 90s recession was my big motivator.  Just after I started canvassing I got lucky.  I landed a self-employed "job" going away one week per month driving one of those ad wagons.  Got that through word of mouth.  I built my window cleaning work around that for the first six months or so.  I also had promise of a bit of work from an ad company who I used to work for - though that never materialised.  Consequently, my business was registered as window cleaning/driving/advertising and marketing.  It's still registered like that twenty years on though it's been window cleaning only for many years.  I just never bothered changing it.  I did have an idea about selling stuff on ebay which would have fallen within that broad framework but I never got it off the ground.
Regarding registering your business.  I think you are supposed to register with HMRC within 90 days of starting or face a £100 fine from them.  Also, as you are working full time elsewhere, you are meant to pay tax from the first £1 that you earn once your liability is calculated.  You would be well advised to get public liability insurance too if you haven't already done so.  Some do their own books but getting an accountant to deal with this is helpful for many.  If you're stuck, HMRC run free courses on this and although they don't like doing it, I think they have a legal obligation to help with this.  Keep all your receipts from day one as you may need them if you are going to offset a portion of the vehicle against tax/NI.  Now maybe you see why people are telling you to charge more.  It's all very well cleaning a few windows and getting a bit of "petrol money" for it.  It's a very different animal to run it as a registered small business.
The above may sound excessive for where you are now but insurance and books are things you ought to have from the off.  It may well be that due to the front loading cost of these items, your business doesn't show any paper profit for a few months - by the time you claim for vehicle expenses, telephone/mobile (both probably proportioned), some of the capital value of the vehicle that you've brought into the business, a proportion of the interest of any outstanding loan on it, public liability insurance (a basic one can be had for maybe £100), a little bit of your electricity bill indoors (running computer/washing work clothes and cloths in washing machine - and drying them).
When I first went self-employed, I asked a few self-employed people for advice - including a city stockbroker who was formerly an inland revenue employee.  The theme that kept coming up was to put away a portion of my turnover for the eventual tax bill and to get an accountant.

[Helen]

Totally agree Paul Coleman, so many fall foul of not realising what costs are involved.
No matter what money you earn, always put 25% away for tax and NI and don't touch it.

Steve Kiff: You have started picking up customers at the hardest time of year, so well done for that. If you can do it now, it will be so much easier come the spring.

We all know how it is when you start and yes you go cheap to get work, but as Paul says you have to be realistic.
£8 per house x 200 = £1600 x11(if monthly cleans)=£17600 take off tax, business overheads etc etc and look at what you have left to pay your household costs....not a lot
add on just £2.00 per house
£10 x 200=£2000 x 11 =£22000, just for £2.00 extra per house you have over £4k more.
£10 for a 3 bed semi is still a really good price for the customer.

A tip for the spring, when quoting for people and they say I did have a cleaner, but haven't seen him since October, add £2 to the price you had in mind. If they say that is more expensive than the last one, just say yes but I provide an all year round service and don't let you down in the winter. You can always come down on price if you want to, but very rarely get the oppotunity to go up!

[Steve kiff]

Thank you so much for the advice gentlemen. Really appreciate it. Learning everyday about this trade and to be honest everyone is right about the price to charge.

I have been out this morning window cleaning. Started off at 08:30 , home at 13:00. I cleaned 4 three bed semis at £8 and because they hadn't been cleaned in a while they were fillthy. The PVC was the hardest part of the 4 houses and took so much longer to clean than the windows.  I know I only done 4 but remember I'm new to the trade.

I think I messed up with the £8 price tag and feel after cleaning the 4 today that £10 is a much better price to charge than £8 .

Couple of questions:

1. Are people happy to pay £10 for a 3 bed semi clean?
2. I used 16 micro fibre clothes on 4 houses! Is this normal?
3. Do experienced windys concentrate on all the PVC as well as the windows?  This took the most amount of time.
4.  How long roughly does it take to get quick? I think im pretty slow at the moment. Really concentrating on doing a great job.

Cheers. Fellas.   Steve