Good post Groundhog,
The extra money comes from new customers, from a price increase and doing extra jobs like con roofs.
But You have to Remember I am only doing all this extra work because I am so much faster with wfp. I am not working any longer then when I cleaned Trad, The likes of con roofs I would not have taken on if not for wfp. I earn £50 an hour on those. My average hourly rate is up 50% with wfp. Maybe my domestic work is far better suited to wfp then yours. I have only been wfp for 8 months, But I have done 26 yrs trad.
Wfp has been a godsend for me because from the winter of 2007 I will be changeing how I work. I will be taking 3 months off in winter. Great. But once again because of wfp my yearly wage will be higher doing this then working a full year Trad cleaning.
I have allready got back more then three times in extra earnings then what my system cost, in eight months.
It will cost more to run, but as the saying goes you speculate to Accumulate. But It should be no more then £800 a year running costs allowing for the worst, which is perfectly acceptable in my book, plus I put it against Tax.
When I reserched wfp I know it had to give me a greater income then Trad w/c, That was my worry, I dreaded earning the same amount as trad. I would of considered it a failure if I did.For me that worry has been unfounded. At the end of the year I will have earned four times more then the increased figure I thought I was going to make with wfp.
My van was brand new, I drive it very sensibly so I should not be too bad with running costs. As Trev says the vans have been built and designed to carry that amount of weight. I dont overload the van, this could be a problem for some if they do it on a regular basis weather they drive a van or car.
I had a lot of trouble with Rsi in the first two months of wfp, It was a real worry,In january I hardly slept due to the pain and swelling in my hands, my hands where so swollen I could not bend my fingers, and in my upper arms, in the tricep area it felt like someone was stabing me with a knife I did not know if I would be able to carry on. But everything changed for the better when I put Gazas brushs on my poles. No more pulling off to rinse, That was what was causeing me all my problems. For the last 5 months I have not had a twinge of Rsi.
Bad back, I used to get a bad back with the ladder, normally caused by pulling my ladder over a flat roof, or droping them under washing lines. So your back is vunreable which ever way you clean windows depending on your own unique skeltal structure. I have weakend my back with to much sport, Squash and 5 a side football.
Your right wfp as its limitations. I have allready decided that high commercial work is something I will not be tendring for. I would pick up to many injuries, Wfp will not clean every single window on a w/c round to a satisfactory standard, Thats why I will clean these odd windows or houses Trad.
But in my book to slate wfp as not up to the job on a domestic round goes against eveything I have experinced and what my freinds have experinced with wfp.
Nel.
