[Richard Avis]

If i.....which i am considering doing..... set up my own cleaning services company to break off from my full time job i would like to get some advice on

A) Price fairly as to not appear as the normal newbie undercutting everyone and alienating myself from the other cleaners
B) How best to market myself heavily and successfully in the first few months
C) Realistic £££ target for working alone on Domestic, small commercial (Pubs, Restaurants, Shops) (£250 Per day? more?)
D) Other considerations which some newbies maybe miss out?

I intend to have the usual traditional tools etc, Small Van (connect or similar), Small WFP System, poles to 35ft should cover all the bases. Pressure washer for patio's, driveways etc.

Any advice much appreciated.

Thanks

[Pope vader]

juist stick to window cleaning,  its easier  and ok money

[Richard Avis]

Was kind of hoping to be able to pick up some extra one off Jobs to bump up the income as when needed.

[Pope vader]

dont bother,  in your spare time, go knocking and get regular money,  dont hope for one offs,  as you only get them when you dont need them

[rg1]

juist stick to window cleaning,  its easier  and ok money

I would agree to a certain extent especially if you are a 'new start-up' Concentrate and focus on window cleaning first and when you are comfortable and earning decent money, then add another string to your bow.

[GDwindowcleaning]

I would also agree with that, canvassing is the best and fastest way to gain work.

[Richard Avis]

When you say canvassing, you mean leaflet then door knock or just the door knock?

Also how does leaflet and door knocking work for small commercial or are these jobs better to call and arrange a site visit?

Thanks for this help guys. Maybe focus on one thing is the key for now.

[Small but perfectley formed]

£250 a day 

[Richard Avis]

£250 a day sounds good, I expect plenty of variables but I am prepared to work as many hours as i can (light permitting) and spend the rest of the time canvassing etc.

What is the average time taken to build a good solid months work of £150 per day? any ideas, decent advice?

Also any answer to canvassing small commercial, leaflets or phone calls?

[Richard Avis]

Anyone else any solid advice on canvassing methods for small commercial with success?

[windiewasher]

You have no chance of earning 250 a day.i think you will do well to earn 100 a day in your first couple of years plus I doubt you get loads per house in Liverpool.meaning you need to clean more houses.
Plus rainy days you can't earn
Good luck

[Mist A Bit]

imo 150 a day is quite normal tho people will have different opinions on this . for 150 a day you need to be looking at a min of £25 per hour . To reach £250 per day your work would have to be exeptionaly good although its not unrealistic to achive. How fast you get this depends on the effort put into canvassing. I did a leaflet drop over 2 days and secured £200 of new work but then on another day leafleting i got nothing. its a numbers game.
 i currently have a full time round plus a worker 2days a week  and i`ve never really put the effort into canvassing. i will always wonder how big i could be if i`d made that effort.

[Richard Avis]

I think its strange that one person has said 250 per day is "no chance" when some people on here see this as achievable but

I'm optimistic about £25 per hour from 4/5 houses once the ball is rolling. Its all a matter of canvassing to get them houses.

My initial aim is an average £130 per day consistently in the first 3 months, (i do plan to canvass for 4 weeks before i start to clean a window) I plan to canvass each day for a few hours until the cleaning fills my time.

Any real good words of wisdom from anyone else??

[windiewasher]

Walk before you run.
It's not easy there's lots at it.
You said you haven't cleaned a window yet. 

[Mist A Bit]

thiers nothing consistant with this job. one day you might earn the 130 your aiming for another day it might be 200 but some days due to weather or van trouble you might earn nothing
 Some days when canvasiing you might not get any jobs but dont feel down about it because the next street you could get many. keep going and good things will happen

[KLEENAWAY]

Richard what part of liverpool do you live and have you even cleaned any windows?

Danny

[Richard Avis]

Ok maybe your right, but i feel that £100 a day is very low that would be the equivalent of around 15-20 houses per day, that is not alot to get at all and £5 a house is also low for a standard 3/4 bed semi which most houses in my area seem to be??

is £8ish around the mark others charge for the average house?

Bay window ground floor front
Front door
Bay window upstairs front
bedroom window front
2/3 a couple of back windows
back door

or should i ask more of this size of job - monthly??

I actually about 20 miles from liverpool and i know a few window cleaners who i have done odd bits of shining for, trad and pole work hence the interest in starting myself.....so i dont think i would suffer from the liverpool abundance in w/c

from asking around a lot of neighbours, parents at school, local businesses etc etc there are huge amounts of people without a w/c and hardly see one.

Maybe i am asking too many detailed questions and i need to get out there and test the water??

[Small but perfectley formed]

Go and clean some windows then you will see it is not has easy as it looks
it is hard work and not everyone is upto it also you will be slow and if you can earn £100 per day you will be doing well.
Not trying to put you off just being realistic

[Richard Avis]

Guys, I never meant to disrespect anyone by suggesting this was easy! Sorry if i offended!

Just trying to get a real world view of what I need to expect....doing this myself.

Its going to be very hard for months I understand this, as I say i have a friend in the trade who has spoke to me at length about this but its good to get a range of opinions! I have cleaned windows with trad and pole so the manual work is not what phases me and my speed is average.

Its the building of the round, canvassing, frequency, usual events that happen which is good to ask a range of people about.

[GDwindowcleaning]

My advice would be to canvass and then clean the next day, dont leave it a month as you will lose some of those jobs you have worked hard to get in the first place...