[lee andrew]

Guys as someone window cleaning part time started with nothing not an idea of what i was doing, shocking at pricing up, now a year on my work is spot on (trad) and price confidently (still make mistakes) but im getting a good rep. I have a 2 year plan to go full time. but maybe i lack in self confidence even though i know i can do it.

Have any of you got inspiring stories of how your business has grown i.e giving up your full time job to go cleaning or any rags to riches stories, im not interested in how much people earn, but interested on how you built up your customer base and how hard or easy you found it

[TheWindowManChris]

Well done!,   I too did same as you of starting to Part-Time.

At Start I did Leaflet Dropping then people spread word and now get most my work via Spreading Word,Cleaning Windows or out in shop as I always wear my polo shirt with my business and I drive my sign written van.

Building my customer base - I thought it be hard as there was a about 4 well establised window cleaners in area and which I soon found out people wanted to leave them.  Which I upset them but I don't care and which I found it easy as I went door to door and speaking to people.

Price Work - I too found this hard however knew what I wanted in Hourly Rate and just worked that out.  Average Domestic house is £4-£5 a clean.

When I knew it was to start going full-time was when I started to get Commercial work and I base my Contract Work such as my Shop, Offices and etc Cleans as what I know I earn and they cover all the bills and my domestic homes are now my extra money but still important!

If you got any questions just let me know and I do Trad & WFP but always do Trad for Domestic homes as people do like Trad window clean.

[lee andrew]

Well done!,   I too did same as you of starting to Part-Time.

At Start I did Leaflet Dropping then people spread word and now get most my work via Spreading Word,Cleaning Windows or out in shop as I always wear my polo shirt with my business and I drive my sign written van.

Building my customer base - I thought it be hard as there was a about 4 well establised window cleaners in area and which I soon found out people wanted to leave them.  Which I upset them but I don't care and which I found it easy as I went door to door and speaking to people.

Price Work - I too found this hard however knew what I wanted in Hourly Rate and just worked that out.  Average Domestic house is £4-£5 a clean.

When I knew it was to start going full-time was when I started to get Commercial work and I base my Contract Work such as my Shop, Offices and etc Cleans as what I know I earn and they cover all the bills and my domestic homes are now my extra money but still important!

If you got any questions just let me know and I do Trad & WFP but always do Trad for Domestic homes as people do like Trad window clean.

Thanks these little stories really boost me, can i ask how many customers? and do you work on your own?

[H20cleaning]

I worked along side my uncle for a year to gain some experience and soon realised one of the main things is pricing! He bought a few small rounds and when he tried increasing the prices a lot of them left or were messers.
So from that I learned to price high but give them a great job i.e windows, doors, ledges and frames, However if your Traditional then a lot of them don't touch the frames?
personally I started with only £400 worth of work full time and just kept gaining more and more work and 2 and a half years later I have £1500 minimum a month coming in(that may not sound a lot but I have worked alone, and never canvassed, only leafleted. And the first year I didn't really have my head screwed on I only did what I had to do.

[TheWindowManChris]

Well done!,   I too did same as you of starting to Part-Time.

At Start I did Leaflet Dropping then people spread word and now get most my work via Spreading Word,Cleaning Windows or out in shop as I always wear my polo shirt with my business and I drive my sign written van.

Building my customer base - I thought it be hard as there was a about 4 well establised window cleaners in area and which I soon found out people wanted to leave them.  Which I upset them but I don't care and which I found it easy as I went door to door and speaking to people.

Price Work - I too found this hard however knew what I wanted in Hourly Rate and just worked that out.  Average Domestic house is £4-£5 a clean.

When I knew it was to start going full-time was when I started to get Commercial work and I base my Contract Work such as my Shop, Offices and etc Cleans as what I know I earn and they cover all the bills and my domestic homes are now my extra money but still important!

If you got any questions just let me know and I do Trad & WFP but always do Trad for Domestic homes as people do like Trad window clean.

Thanks these little stories really boost me, can i ask how many customers? and do you work on your own?

Customer - I have about 80+ Commercial Properties & Domestic about 300 customers who all get Regular.

I have 1 other guy who works with me.

[TheWindowManChris]

I worked along side my uncle for a year to gain some experience and soon realised one of the main things is pricing! He bought a few small rounds and when he tried increasing the prices a lot of them left or were messers.
So from that I learned to price high but give them a great job i.e windows, doors, ledges and frames, However if your Traditional then a lot of them don't touch the frames?
personally I started with only £400 worth of work full time and just kept gaining more and more work and 2 and a half years later I have £1500 minimum a month coming in(that may not sound a lot but I have worked alone, and never canvassed, only leafleted. And the first year I didn't really have my head screwed on I only did what I had to do.

I would say A lot of Trad lads always clean frame,   The guys with Pole don't often clean frames but I know alot home customers don't like the WFP stuff.

[H20cleaning]

I worked along side my uncle for a year to gain some experience and soon realised one of the main things is pricing! He bought a few small rounds and when he tried increasing the prices a lot of them left or were messers.
So from that I learned to price high but give them a great job i.e windows, doors, ledges and frames, However if your Traditional then a lot of them don't touch the frames?
personally I started with only £400 worth of work full time and just kept gaining more and more work and 2 and a half years later I have £1500 minimum a month coming in(that may not sound a lot but I have worked alone, and never canvassed, only leafleted. And the first year I didn't really have my head screwed on I only did what I had to do.

I would say A lot of Trad lads always clean frame,   The guys with Pole don't often clean frames but I know alot home customers don't like the WFP stuff.

I wasn't bee sarcy mate I generally only see the TRAD lads round here doing the windows only

[lee andrew]

I worked along side my uncle for a year to gain some experience and soon realised one of the main things is pricing! He bought a few small rounds and when he tried increasing the prices a lot of them left or were messers.
So from that I learned to price high but give them a great job i.e windows, doors, ledges and frames, However if your Traditional then a lot of them don't touch the frames?
personally I started with only £400 worth of work full time and just kept gaining more and more work and 2 and a half years later I have £1500 minimum a month coming in(that may not sound a lot but I have worked alone, and never canvassed, only leafleted. And the first year I didn't really have my head screwed on I only did what I had to do.

I would say A lot of Trad lads always clean frame,   The guys with Pole don't often clean frames but I know alot home customers don't like the WFP stuff.

this is were im winning by cleaning every thing, ok it takes a little longer but my price reflects this, one of my shops i do (owner) wants there house done inside and out (new one for me) but im getting a lot of interest as iv built up a trust base, even get a lot of "keep the change"

[TheWindowManChris]

I worked along side my uncle for a year to gain some experience and soon realised one of the main things is pricing! He bought a few small rounds and when he tried increasing the prices a lot of them left or were messers.
So from that I learned to price high but give them a great job i.e windows, doors, ledges and frames, However if your Traditional then a lot of them don't touch the frames?
personally I started with only £400 worth of work full time and just kept gaining more and more work and 2 and a half years later I have £1500 minimum a month coming in(that may not sound a lot but I have worked alone, and never canvassed, only leafleted. And the first year I didn't really have my head screwed on I only did what I had to do.

I would say A lot of Trad lads always clean frame,   The guys with Pole don't often clean frames but I know alot home customers don't like the WFP stuff.

I wasn't bee sarcy mate I generally only see the TRAD lads round here doing the windows only

Up here alot WFP lads clean glass only.

I always say 'I am a window cleanner'  so I clean the Window Glass & Frame and I am not a Glass CLeaner.

[tom20001]

I worked along side my uncle for a year to gain some experience and soon realised one of the main things is pricing! He bought a few small rounds and when he tried increasing the prices a lot of them left or were messers.
So from that I learned to price high but give them a great job i.e windows, doors, ledges and frames, However if your Traditional then a lot of them don't touch the frames?
personally I started with only £400 worth of work full time and just kept gaining more and more work and 2 and a half years later I have £1500 minimum a month coming in(that may not sound a lot but I have worked alone, and never canvassed, only leafleted. And the first year I didn't really have my head screwed on I only did what I had to do.

I would say A lot of Trad lads always clean frame,   The guys with Pole don't often clean frames but I know alot home customers don't like the WFP stuff.

from experience i would have to agree with chris on custies , especially older ones, prefering the trad way

in saying that il switch to wfp in very near future and have to decide whether to try switch current custies over to it or do trad on them similar to what chris does!

On the inspiring stories bit if i could give one bit of advice its CANVASS CANVASS CVANVASS

this is coming from some1 who has delivered a lot of leaflets and while they do have their merits canvassing is the most efficient way to build up a round and you will be surprised how quickly it will build from canvassing

imo if you canvass for 7/8 hours or so a week you will have a full round in 3months or less

[TheWindowManChris]

I worked along side my uncle for a year to gain some experience and soon realised one of the main things is pricing! He bought a few small rounds and when he tried increasing the prices a lot of them left or were messers.
So from that I learned to price high but give them a great job i.e windows, doors, ledges and frames, However if your Traditional then a lot of them don't touch the frames?
personally I started with only £400 worth of work full time and just kept gaining more and more work and 2 and a half years later I have £1500 minimum a month coming in(that may not sound a lot but I have worked alone, and never canvassed, only leafleted. And the first year I didn't really have my head screwed on I only did what I had to do.

I would say A lot of Trad lads always clean frame,   The guys with Pole don't often clean frames but I know alot home customers don't like the WFP stuff.

from experience i would have to agree with chris on custies , especially older ones, prefering the trad way

in saying that il switch to wfp in very near future and have to decide whether to try switch current custies over to it or do trad on them similar to what chris does!

On the inspiring stories bit if i could give one bit of advice its CANVASS CANVASS CVANVASS

this is coming from some1 who has delivered a lot of leaflets and while they do have their merits canvassing is the most efficient way to build up a round and you will be surprised how quickly it will build from canvassing

imo if you canvass for 7/8 hours or so a week you will have a full round in 3months or less

Tom I do WFP for some customers but I give them the option and leave it in there ball park and accept you may loose some but also look at see how quick you can do a property.

I too would say get out and CANVASS.   My best days for CANVASS was Saturday & Sunday and Public Holidays.   Plus make yourself look the part.   Get some ID made on a lanyard and wear that and get a uniform or something looking like uniform and people be like 'Oh he looks very professional' and not in trackies or dirty jeans.

[colin purewater]

I started out with nothing!!





















Still got most of it left   

[TheWindowManChris]

I started out with nothing!!





















Still got most of it left   

I still got a full head!

[dazmond]

lee if your getting quite a lot of customers saying "keep the change" it indicates that you could be charging more.

chris what do you mean "average" house?3 bed semi on estates with say 7 or 8 windows?if your cleaning the frames and doors,ledges etc then you will only clean 4 an hour trad IF they are all very compact next door to each other. so on your price of £4-£5 per house youll be making £16-£20 an hour but less than that if you have to drive between jobs as youll probably only clean 3 houses at a push.are you happy with this pricing?

i never ever let a customer choose what method of cleaning to use whether wfp or trad.could you imagine a joiner coming round to do some work and asking you what tools you want him to use?

i do trad some ground floor windows on some properties where its awkward to get the hose and pole and where its just as quick to use the mop and squeegee but i never ever use ladders on upper windows if i can reach them with the pole.

i find lots of customers are very happy with the pole system and even comment on how good the finish is plus all them awkward windows,conny roofs,fascias,soffits and solar panels can be cleaned to a good standard if they so wish.

as for inspiration stories i was once a hopeless penniless alcoholic who slept in my car or on peoples sofas many years ago.im doing alright for myself these days after years of struggling to get out of debt etc,etc.


best wishes to you all


dazmond

[lee andrew]

lee if your getting quite a lot of customers saying "keep the change" it indicates that you could be charging more.

chris what do you mean "average" house?3 bed semi on estates with say 7 or 8 windows?if your cleaning the frames and doors,ledges etc then you will only clean 4 an hour trad IF they are all very compact next door to each other. so on your price of £4-£5 per house youll be making £16-£20 an hour but less than that if you have to drive between jobs as youll probably only clean 3 houses at a push.are you happy with this pricing?

i never ever let a customer choose what method of cleaning to use whether wfp or trad.could you imagine a joiner coming round to do some work and asking you what tools you want him to use?

i do trad some ground floor windows on some properties where its awkward to get the hose and pole and where its just as quick to use the mop and squeegee but i never ever use ladders on upper windows if i can reach them with the pole.

i find lots of customers are very happy with the pole system and even comment on how good the finish is plus all them awkward windows,conny roofs,fascias,soffits and solar panels can be cleaned to a good standard if they so wish.

as for inspiration stories i was once a hopeless penniless alcoholic who slept in my car or on peoples sofas many years ago.im doing alright for myself these days after years of struggling to get out of debt etc,etc.


best wishes to you all


dazmond


See thats inspiring well done, could  be right with some of the pricing. got a lot better now regards

[TheWindowManChris]

My average is a house with around 8 window max.    Most my jobs are all next to each other.

I plus always do them on One Day.   So for example Thursday I got about 13 homes which are all next to each other and do them in about 1hour 30mins.   However I do use the Pole on this one for top level and just walk across them all with my trad cleaning.  But I have a few customers who I need to drive to them and only have them so I charge them more.   However the major of my work is commercial work and which I do Pole always with and my domestic properties are just so I got a foot into that area of work.

[dazmond]

13 houses in 1 and a half hours?i guess theres two of you then chris?

ive been a window cleaner for over 20 years and there is no chance you could clean 13 houses in 90 mins on your own including frames,sills,doors!

[TheWindowManChris]

13 houses in 1 and a half hours?i guess theres two of you then chris?

ive been a window cleaner for over 20 years and there is no chance you could clean 13 houses in 90 mins on your own including frames,sills,doors!

Hi,  Yea there is two of us    Who do these windows.

[windiewasher]

I worked along side my uncle for a year to gain some experience and soon realised one of the main things is pricing! He bought a few small rounds and when he tried increasing the prices a lot of them left or were messers.
So from that I learned to price high but give them a great job i.e windows, doors, ledges and frames, However if your Traditional then a lot of them don't touch the frames?
personally I started with only £400 worth of work full time and just kept gaining more and more work and 2 and a half years later I have £1500 minimum a month coming in(that may not sound a lot but I have worked alone, and never canvassed, only leafleted. And the first year I didn't really have my head screwed on I only did what I had to do.

I would say A lot of Trad lads always clean frame,   The guys with Pole don't often clean frames but I know alot home customers don't like the WFP stuff.

I wasn't bee sarcy mate I generally only see the TRAD lads round here doing the windows only

Up here alot WFP lads clean glass only.

I always say 'I am a window cleanner'  so I clean the Window Glass & Frame and I am not a Glass CLeaner.

Glass cleaner and window cleaner both do the same thing.lol

[TheWindowManChris]

I worked along side my uncle for a year to gain some experience and soon realised one of the main things is pricing! He bought a few small rounds and when he tried increasing the prices a lot of them left or were messers.
So from that I learned to price high but give them a great job i.e windows, doors, ledges and frames, However if your Traditional then a lot of them don't touch the frames?
personally I started with only £400 worth of work full time and just kept gaining more and more work and 2 and a half years later I have £1500 minimum a month coming in(that may not sound a lot but I have worked alone, and never canvassed, only leafleted. And the first year I didn't really have my head screwed on I only did what I had to do.

I would say A lot of Trad lads always clean frame,   The guys with Pole don't often clean frames but I know alot home customers don't like the WFP stuff.

I wasn't bee sarcy mate I generally only see the TRAD lads round here doing the windows only

Up here alot WFP lads clean glass only.

I always say 'I am a window cleanner'  so I clean the Window Glass & Frame and I am not a Glass CLeaner.

Glass cleaner and window cleaner both do the same thing.lol

Nah anyone can clean glass but a Window Cleaner you need to have that Magic Zist in cleaning windows and not having streaks down it.   Or as one my customer said 'I could get a Brush and clean my windows'  I then said 'Your welcome to try and I sure you still call me to clean them'