[andyM]

Anyone up for an Office Chair race?

I would love to, but unfortunately I'm doing paperwork all day 😓

 

[Solar Steve]

We used to do a lot but a certain person who used to come on hear does have a lot of contacts and gets a lot of work he only pays 18 pence a panel so it's not financial viable, also its mind numbing to do several weeks on one large site , on some of the ones we did access was difficult with a van as the roads were very rutted , generally we only do smaller jobs now and domestic as I didn't feel it was worth the hassle on some roof mounts on farms they can be really filthy and take a lot longer to clean , I don't think it will be to long before all these big sites are cleaned using tractors with cleaning machines mounted on them we have dozens of large solar farms where I am and I've started seeing them used more instead of poling them by hand , best way to do it as far as Ime concerned , personally I would suggest forget this type of work and build up a decent window round , regular cleans , easy work , good money solar panel cleaning as it's done now is a dying business, although ss wouldn't agree as he's trying to sell it as a franchise and make a quick buck with it

I agree with all of that apart from the last 6 words.

[Solar Steve]

15-18p a panel lol I did 12 last week 4ft square and charged £60 she was made up with that once a year,took a while the first time as they have oak trees near by so they were dirty. It took me 20 minutes - half hour with hot water,18p lol 😂

Hi NWH. Do you really think we would offer £2.04 for you to clean 12 panels for us? 🤔

[8weekly]

I'm glad people are starting to speak up as just goes to show solar panel cleaning sub contractor work is not all what it's cracked up to be. Loads of hassle and bloody hard work for very little reward springs to mind.

Wondering now how many still sub for him as he must find it difficult to keep them once they realise they are being taken for a mug surely? 

Also betting you two are so glad you never bought into his franchise idea too. lol

We currently have over 130 Approved Contractors (AC's) from over 60 companies Smurf, many are into their third or fourth year of working with us. We don't find it hard to keep them. We have only had 3 or perhaps 4 companies I think in 2 years say the arrangement was not for them, so overall, it works out very well for both parties.

They must all be on this thread. 

[Smurf]

We used to do a lot but a certain person who used to come on hear does have a lot of contacts and gets a lot of work he only pays 18 pence a panel so it's not financial viable, also its mind numbing to do several weeks on one large site , on some of the ones we did access was difficult with a van as the roads were very rutted , generally we only do smaller jobs now and domestic as I didn't feel it was worth the hassle on some roof mounts on farms they can be really filthy and take a lot longer to clean , I don't think it will be to long before all these big sites are cleaned using tractors with cleaning machines mounted on them we have dozens of large solar farms where I am and I've started seeing them used more instead of poling them by hand , best way to do it as far as Ime concerned , personally I would suggest forget this type of work and build up a decent window round , regular cleans , easy work , good money solar panel cleaning as it's done now is a dying business, although ss wouldn't agree as he's trying to sell it as a franchise and make a quick buck with it

I agree with all of that apart from the last 6 words.

Morning Solar Steve.  How come  you've not got a mechanized fleet of solar panel farm washers by now?
Sod trying to clean that lot by hand lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keDPGrbRx90

[Solar Steve]

We used to do a lot but a certain person who used to come on hear does have a lot of contacts and gets a lot of work he only pays 18 pence a panel so it's not financial viable, also its mind numbing to do several weeks on one large site , on some of the ones we did access was difficult with a van as the roads were very rutted , generally we only do smaller jobs now and domestic as I didn't feel it was worth the hassle on some roof mounts on farms they can be really filthy and take a lot longer to clean , I don't think it will be to long before all these big sites are cleaned using tractors with cleaning machines mounted on them we have dozens of large solar farms where I am and I've started seeing them used more instead of poling them by hand , best way to do it as far as Ime concerned , personally I would suggest forget this type of work and build up a decent window round , regular cleans , easy work , good money solar panel cleaning as it's done now is a dying business, although ss wouldn't agree as he's trying to sell it as a franchise and make a quick buck with it

I agree with all of that apart from the last 6 words.

Morning Solar Steve.  How come  you've not got a mechanized fleet of solar panel farm washers by now?
Sod trying to clean that lot by hand lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keDPGrbRx90

Those machines are about £120k-£250k each, depending on which one you buy.  So they don't come cheap.  They are not without their limitations or faults either.

I am growing the company organically, without external investment or debt. We are tying up deals for the coming season currently. When we have orders confirmed, the robots will follow....

[Ian101]

Yes I did , i did learn a few minor things , to be fair to him he does know his stuff his business model is obviously set up for him to make money , as we all want todo , I believe he is going down the franchise route now , i only did a couple of jobs for him - very disorganised it was left tome to contact the customer and sort everything out as well as doing the job , I still get emails from him Evan though I am no longer a contractor the last one stated that you had to supply photos of before and after cleaning the panels , photos of your tds get paper work sighned each day !!!!!!!! And so it went on big mistake I would never do anything like it again compleat wast of time , I now would rather spend the time canvassing my own work if I needed more which at the moment I don't

.......Agree, same happened to me, good luck to him but not a viable business as a subby

That's a bit unfair bob. It can be a viable part of a growing business,but as you said to me, your age meant your body couldn't cope with the demands of solar cleaning and the fact that you have a business in its autumn years means you do not need the work.

While I appreciate it may not have been for you, it can be a viable part of a business, as proved by the amount of companies who have worked for us for years now. Some are established multi-van operations and are now into their 4th year of subcontracting for us. So people do find a way to make it work.

hes not that old  ... hes just grown his residential by about 200 customers .. I know cos I sold them to him.

I no longer do residential window cleaner just commercial and large exterior cleaning projects ... if you ever want a quote for that massive Deeside solar farm let me know but I wont be doing them for 18 p a panel 

[Susan Dean (1stclean)]

We used to do a lot but a certain person who used to come on hear does have a lot of contacts and gets a lot of work he only pays 18 pence a panel so it's not financial viable, also its mind numbing to do several weeks on one large site , on some of the ones we did access was difficult with a van as the roads were very rutted , generally we only do smaller jobs now and domestic as I didn't feel it was worth the hassle on some roof mounts on farms they can be really filthy and take a lot longer to clean , I don't think it will be to long before all these big sites are cleaned using tractors with cleaning machines mounted on them we have dozens of large solar farms where I am and I've started seeing them used more instead of poling them by hand , best way to do it as far as Ime concerned , personally I would suggest forget this type of work and build up a decent window round , regular cleans , easy work , good money solar panel cleaning as it's done now is a dying business, although ss wouldn't agree as he's trying to sell it as a franchise and make a quick buck with it

I agree with all of that apart from the last 6 words.

Morning Solar Steve.  How come  you've not got a mechanized fleet of solar panel farm washers by now?
Sod trying to clean that lot by hand lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keDPGrbRx90

one of our sites used company similar to this to clean there panels the same day they the last phase was to be paid for (nomally there paid for in three stages ) a top guy from  (the maker of the solar panels ) took loads of pictures of them cleaning  then voild the warranty on all the panels in the fields all 85,000 of them

it was stated in the small print they had to be hand cleaned , hence we got there work

[Smurf]

We used to do a lot but a certain person who used to come on hear does have a lot of contacts and gets a lot of work he only pays 18 pence a panel so it's not financial viable, also its mind numbing to do several weeks on one large site , on some of the ones we did access was difficult with a van as the roads were very rutted , generally we only do smaller jobs now and domestic as I didn't feel it was worth the hassle on some roof mounts on farms they can be really filthy and take a lot longer to clean , I don't think it will be to long before all these big sites are cleaned using tractors with cleaning machines mounted on them we have dozens of large solar farms where I am and I've started seeing them used more instead of poling them by hand , best way to do it as far as Ime concerned , personally I would suggest forget this type of work and build up a decent window round , regular cleans , easy work , good money solar panel cleaning as it's done now is a dying business, although ss wouldn't agree as he's trying to sell it as a franchise and make a quick buck with it

I agree with all of that apart from the last 6 words.

Morning Solar Steve.  How come  you've not got a mechanized fleet of solar panel farm washers by now?
Sod trying to clean that lot by hand lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keDPGrbRx90

one of our sites used company similar to this to clean there panels the same day they the last phase was to be paid for (nomally there paid for in three stages ) a top guy from  (the maker of the solar panels ) took loads of pictures of them cleaning  then voild the warranty on all the panels in the fields all 85,000 of them

it was stated in the small print they had to be hand cleaned , hence we got there work

What a bummer lol. But the  question begs if the warranty was so say void afterwards on all 85,000 panels did it really matter what methods was used?

[8weekly]

We used to do a lot but a certain person who used to come on hear does have a lot of contacts and gets a lot of work he only pays 18 pence a panel so it's not financial viable, also its mind numbing to do several weeks on one large site , on some of the ones we did access was difficult with a van as the roads were very rutted , generally we only do smaller jobs now and domestic as I didn't feel it was worth the hassle on some roof mounts on farms they can be really filthy and take a lot longer to clean , I don't think it will be to long before all these big sites are cleaned using tractors with cleaning machines mounted on them we have dozens of large solar farms where I am and I've started seeing them used more instead of poling them by hand , best way to do it as far as Ime concerned , personally I would suggest forget this type of work and build up a decent window round , regular cleans , easy work , good money solar panel cleaning as it's done now is a dying business, although ss wouldn't agree as he's trying to sell it as a franchise and make a quick buck with it

I agree with all of that apart from the last 6 words.

Morning Solar Steve.  How come  you've not got a mechanized fleet of solar panel farm washers by now?
Sod trying to clean that lot by hand lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keDPGrbRx90

one of our sites used company similar to this to clean there panels the same day they the last phase was to be paid for (nomally there paid for in three stages ) a top guy from  (the maker of the solar panels ) took loads of pictures of them cleaning  then voild the warranty on all the panels in the fields all 85,000 of them

it was stated in the small print they had to be hand cleaned , hence we got there work

What a bummer lol. But the  question begs if the warranty was so say void afterwards on all 85,000 panels did it really matter what methods was used?

WFP isn't hand cleaned.

[Dave Willis]

We used to do a lot but a certain person who used to come on hear does have a lot of contacts and gets a lot of work he only pays 18 pence a panel so it's not financial viable, also its mind numbing to do several weeks on one large site , on some of the ones we did access was difficult with a van as the roads were very rutted , generally we only do smaller jobs now and domestic as I didn't feel it was worth the hassle on some roof mounts on farms they can be really filthy and take a lot longer to clean , I don't think it will be to long before all these big sites are cleaned using tractors with cleaning machines mounted on them we have dozens of large solar farms where I am and I've started seeing them used more instead of poling them by hand , best way to do it as far as Ime concerned , personally I would suggest forget this type of work and build up a decent window round , regular cleans , easy work , good money solar panel cleaning as it's done now is a dying business, although ss wouldn't agree as he's trying to sell it as a franchise and make a quick buck with it

I agree with all of that apart from the last 6 words.

Morning Solar Steve.  How come  you've not got a mechanized fleet of solar panel farm washers by now?
Sod trying to clean that lot by hand lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keDPGrbRx90

one of our sites used company similar to this to clean there panels the same day they the last phase was to be paid for (nomally there paid for in three stages ) a top guy from  (the maker of the solar panels ) took loads of pictures of them cleaning  then voild the warranty on all the panels in the fields all 85,000 of them

it was stated in the small print they had to be hand cleaned , hence we got there work

Did it take you long to clean 85,000 panels Susan?

[֍Winp®oClean֍]

We used to do a lot but a certain person who used to come on hear does have a lot of contacts and gets a lot of work he only pays 18 pence a panel so it's not financial viable, also its mind numbing to do several weeks on one large site , on some of the ones we did access was difficult with a van as the roads were very rutted , generally we only do smaller jobs now and domestic as I didn't feel it was worth the hassle on some roof mounts on farms they can be really filthy and take a lot longer to clean , I don't think it will be to long before all these big sites are cleaned using tractors with cleaning machines mounted on them we have dozens of large solar farms where I am and I've started seeing them used more instead of poling them by hand , best way to do it as far as Ime concerned , personally I would suggest forget this type of work and build up a decent window round , regular cleans , easy work , good money solar panel cleaning as it's done now is a dying business, although ss wouldn't agree as he's trying to sell it as a franchise and make a quick buck with it

I agree with all of that apart from the last 6 words.

Morning Solar Steve.  How come  you've not got a mechanized fleet of solar panel farm washers by now?
Sod trying to clean that lot by hand lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keDPGrbRx90

one of our sites used company similar to this to clean there panels the same day they the last phase was to be paid for (nomally there paid for in three stages ) a top guy from  (the maker of the solar panels ) took loads of pictures of them cleaning  then voild the warranty on all the panels in the fields all 85,000 of them

it was stated in the small print they had to be hand cleaned , hence we got there work

Did it take you long to clean 85,000 panels Susan?

She probably split Two men in half to put Four on the job- which just so happened to be around the corner and saved a load of Vat in the meantime!

[Smurf]

85,000 panels would seem to take forever I'm thinking even throwing loads of manpower at it.
Lets just say a team of ten wfp guys clean 1200 each per day = 12,000 per day it still would take over 7  days  to clean it.
One superhuman wfp guy working flat out cleaning  200 panels an hour for 6 hours a day would take 71 days in total.. Fook that for a game of soldiers lol

[Tosh]

Bit she did it, she said she did so she must’ve.

[Susan Dean (1stclean)]

We used to do a lot but a certain person who used to come on hear does have a lot of contacts and gets a lot of work he only pays 18 pence a panel so it's not financial viable, also its mind numbing to do several weeks on one large site , on some of the ones we did access was difficult with a van as the roads were very rutted , generally we only do smaller jobs now and domestic as I didn't feel it was worth the hassle on some roof mounts on farms they can be really filthy and take a lot longer to clean , I don't think it will be to long before all these big sites are cleaned using tractors with cleaning machines mounted on them we have dozens of large solar farms where I am and I've started seeing them used more instead of poling them by hand , best way to do it as far as Ime concerned , personally I would suggest forget this type of work and build up a decent window round , regular cleans , easy work , good money solar panel cleaning as it's done now is a dying business, although ss wouldn't agree as he's trying to sell it as a franchise and make a quick buck with it

I agree with all of that apart from the last 6 words.

Morning Solar Steve.  How come  you've not got a mechanized fleet of solar panel farm washers by now?
Sod trying to clean that lot by hand lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keDPGrbRx90

one of our sites used company similar to this to clean there panels the same day they the last phase was to be paid for (nomally there paid for in three stages ) a top guy from  (the maker of the solar panels ) took loads of pictures of them cleaning  then voild the warranty on all the panels in the fields all 85,000 of them

it was stated in the small print they had to be hand cleaned , hence we got there work

Did it take you long to clean 85,000 panels Susan?

it took just over 2 weeks working everyday  dave , the guys got there vans stuck to the axles in mud three times , some days they were only doing 600-700 aday due to the bird dropping all over them

 we hand three of our vans and my sons two vans on the job along with the ranger to pull the vans off site if needed it was a massive learning curve the first one , put us behind in our window cleaning work as well , taking jobs like this on is ok but throw a van getting stuck for aday in the mud and your losing money fast

some of the pot holes that were on the site were knee deep ! fill them up with water and there look small , loads of lads leant this  the first day they started when they stepped in them 

when I rang the insureance up (vans) they want a ex 200 pounds per van a year to go on site as they said its high risk , as if a van had a fire on site the they would be liable for all the cost even the lost energy ! which this site was running 14k aday profit after all the cost were took out (head man told us at dinner time )

[Smurf]

Sounds like it was a nightmare of a job Susan. No wonder you don't take on larger jobs anymore.
Even the smaller sites must be a pain in the arse too?

I'm also betting ss is laughing all the way to the bank too unlike his subbies. lol

[Splash & dash]

As Susan has said difficult access on a lot of these sites , damage to vehicles , poor pay , getting behind on your regular work that pays well why do people do it ?? Shear madness , we earn more in a morning doing easy windows than in a day and a half cleaning panels and it's easier work I still maintain you cannot make reasonable money on it , maybe for someone just starting out with no work but it's no good for an established business, these big sites can take weeks to clean , who can afford to be away from regular good paying jobs to do this as a one off job or Evan an annual job plus it's so mind numbing to be doing large sites we had 4 vans on some big jobs with 12  people working 8 + hours a day sole destroying work , never again will we be doing it , I do however understand that some are happy to do this type of work but think that most sole traders/self employed people would rather put there time into canvassing regular window cleaning jobs  , where they benefit fully from there hard work rather than earning low money sub contracting , steve is a nice bloke and I admire his enthusiasm for the job , he is also very knowledgeable about the subject but you are never going to earn what you could by working for a company like this as they take a large cut of the money , that's not a dig at you either steve as you are In it to make money it's just a fact of life . There are Evan more solar farms being installed around where I live I hope you are successful with getting the contracts but it's going to involve a lot of traveling for someone to come down hear to do the work as most of the window cleaners down hear feel the same way I do about it , those that have done it soon give up that has to tell you something .

[Smurf]

Thanks folks for sharing you honest opinions as made interested reading from the troops on the ground as it were.

[8weekly]

I hope you are successful with getting the contracts but it's going to involve a lot of traveling for someone to come down hear to do the work as most of the window cleaners down hear feel the same way I do about it , those that have done it soon give up that has to tell you something .

I suspect that's why he's back. One of the larger firms on here said he'd bid on one of the same contracts as SS and the price he quoted was unprofitable. The only way he can make money is to sub it out to the unsuspecting.

[Tosh]

The operative word in that is ‘unsuspecting’. Eventually when thats the case the wheels just fall off.

I have some experience of a job that was SS’s which I imagine has fallen foul of this business model as well as a number of phone calls offering prospective work which didn’t pay the going rate.