[Steve_c]

it takes 3 years to really have a strong business, and it will be imo a lot more than you were earning and for less hours... go out tommorow knock for three hours you should pick up about £50 ish in new work theres a 500 a year pay rise ish, do this a couple of times a week, shouldnt be long, when your halfway there a large round has regular recommendation work comeing in as well

Bang on mate.

[SunShineCleaning]

Based on Dave's figures I would say it would take 3 years to get there if you canvass and do the work yourself.

If you hire a canvasser then alot quicker.

What many forget when they spent several £1000's on vans and equipment is the one thing that produces money, customers.

Why did you leave your driving job?

[Dave Mills]

To get more compact work.....try doing an odd Saturday morning here and there in areas you want more business, sometimes neighbours will just come out and ask and there you go 2 more custies or so for that area.

This is a key one.  If you dont have kids, try working Tuesday to Saturday.  If you do have kids, do it all summer holiday at least. You get Sunday and Monday off when things are quieter everywhere and you get more customers seeing you on a Saturday.

[Cliff perkins]

Thanks helen and dave just guess im having a bad day.dave my 1 customer today was a bi monthly at £15.
I knocked a dropped as they say for around 3 hours.
Regards

[Dave Mills]

Thanks helen and dave just guess im having a bad day.dave my 1 customer today was a bi monthly at £15.
I knocked a dropped as they say for around 3 hours.
Regards

So a £90 pay rise!

[Cliff perkins]

Based on Dave's figures I would say it would take 3 years to get there if you canvass and do the work yourself.

If you hire a canvasser then alot quicker.

What many forget when they spent several £1000's on vans and equipment is the one thing that produces money, customers.

Why did you leave your driving job?
I moved from hertfordshire to berkshire and didnt want to drive on motorways anymore they are a nightmare 

[boshravie]

Hi cliff
You are on a winning roll, Did you know that there are lots  new business will usually go bust in their 1st year?
Specially in hard times like now, so you are making money even if you don’t make any profit for the first 5 years.

So you are still winning,  be positive and you will be making good money in time, maybe earlier than you thought.

 

[Dave Willis]

You need to think about costs - I normally spend in the region of £5000 a year running my business. That's me on my own with absolutely no advertising costs, no leafleting nothing. I earn a good wage but not a figure I'm willing to put on here. You have to look at your wage per hours worked then you'll probably find you are extremely well paid.

The drawback of course are holidays/time off when you earn absolutely nothing without staff.

[Frankybadboy]

takes a good 3years to get a good business going

[lee_dewing]

what you think you can get done on a calculator doesn't work the same as in the real world where a perrcentage of your time is lost moving about.

8 hr day probably = 6hrs window cleaning.

There is a book by richard sorrell "winning at window cleaning" goes through these figures, guy that sells aeriel brush tebuk.

Think this would help you Cliff i got and it confirmed some of the things i knew, but good reference on hourly rates and how many hours a day you'l average and what that equates to a year etc.

As Lee said potential is there, i'm average in the earning stakes and need to up my game.

But for me when i read posts by others i like the way Dazmond does things, works fairly hard but doesn't kill himself and not afraid to have a day off; or a nice holiday

Been 3 years since my last holiday abroad
Centre parcs last year though

[supernova77]

Cliff - I don't mean any offence by this...

But a lot of people get into window cleaning thinking its quick easy money, £200+ a day etc... Whilst this is achievable it takes a few years to get close to that level day in day out.

Its tough physical work, and WFP costs can run into the £1000's per year.

Andy

[Richard Neal]

How much are you paying a year for the VW ?

[Dave Willis]

Cliff, if you've been trading for a year then watch out for the double whammy tax bill - payment on account. That's always a bundle of laughs the first time it gets you.

[dazmond]

you should look at working 10 months of the year 4 or 5 days a week.6 weeks holiday and 2 weeks to allow for bad weather or low motivation.

if your in the south then your earnings should be a lot higher than us in the north to reflect the cost of living.

im not sure about earning 54grand a year(gross)as a sole trader.i certainly dont know anyone who earns that much cleaning windows on their own in the north.

 £25,000 a year after expenses and tax would be considered a good solid round as a sole trader up here.although i reckon there is a lot not even making £15,000 profit after all expenses and tax have been deducted.

window cleaning IS NOT really considered good money as a one man band compared to other trades but for the hours worked,flexability and general low stress its ideal for someone who wants a "lifestyle" business.

i reckon you would have to come out with more like £35,000 a year after expenses to have an equivalent income as us northern scallies!!

[Mike55]

No your right Cliff probably not worth carrying on and maybe it's time to go back to your old job and sell you round to me.....

[dazmond]

for your first year of trading your doing ok.now you have to get more work.get out canvassing and leafleting as much as possible.keep an eye out for dirty conny roofs,fascias and soffits etc while working your round and offer to clean them.

you just dont earn half decent money in one year when your building from scratch.it takes a few years to get well established.you will get lots of word of mouth and recommendations if you do a good job,reliable and have a calm relaxed friendly attitude over time.

remember there a lots of people who want a decent reliable window cleaning service but lots of people have been let down by bad window cleaners.make sure you stand out from the doleys/beer brigade and you ll go from strength to strength.never lose your temper with a custy either.be professional at all times.


best wishes


dazmond

[dazmond]

ive just looked at your website cliff.if i were you i would get rid of some of the lingo you use.to say you dont always get a good finish on the windows on a first clean is not very professional and making the claim you are a lot faster wfp cleaning than traditional window cleaning is not necessary.

IMO you can get a good finish every time on first cleans if you spend  enough time on them.on subsequent cleans you can breeze through them.

[Rob_Mac]

If it is honesty you want I would look again at the photos on your website, do others or change them.

The first picture of a cleaned window unit still has dirt in the corners of the sill unit, the pictures of the pressure washing shows me that the work has been done with a pencil jet and there are clear lines where it has been cleaned. Particularly this picture would show me that I am not going to get an exceptional job and would make me look elsewhere.

There are three extremely important things to represent your business to its best ability, a website lets people know about you and shows them visually what you can do, a uniform shows them you are smart and the vehicle you turn up in can be old but needs to be clean and have contact details on it, even if it is a car, get some magnetic signage.

Those pictures, if they are paying jobs that you have photographed need to be improved.

This is constructive criticism and is in no way meant to make you get on a downer. You are doing really well for year 1 and if you can do 20k next year and the year after you will find it compacting.

Good luck

Rob

[trevor summerfield]

beware of moles

[Total shine cleaning services]

I clean 3 times a week and I drive hgvs 2 times a week, have been trading 8 months now but this is my year for transitioning to a full time window cleaning business, tho I do enjoy the mix I have big plans and this site I find excellent for motivation, it's quite heartwarming the amount of windies that offer help and support, you would not get that in other cutthroat industries and it says a lot about the quality of the people in the trade.

Graham