[P @ F]

Ever got like that ?
Am at the stage now when i feel like running a CIU raffle for my whole business , £1 a ticket VW transporter , van mount , trolley system , more poles than you can shake a stick at , ALL IN ALL 35K of business and gear , gotta be worth a pound a pop aint it !

Some prat mullered the van last night , the missus aint talkin to me , im workin too much , collecting all the time , and for what , to go to the bank today and see the balance was a kick in the teeth !

Im too cheap , my customers are to55ers , what am i going to do ?

 Rich    P'eed off @ F   

[Pat Purcell]

Raise your prices, get rid of the to55ers, rob the bank

[P @ F]

 

 Cheers Pat , not the answer i was looking for , but it got the first smile of the day  !

 I got so many Q's and i dont want to do a thread for each , do you know what i mean ?

 Regarding my commercial stuff , what is the done thing for a rise in terms of %

 Rich P @ F

[DASERVICES]

  Rich,

  We've all had days like this but what is the alternative stuck in an office /
  factory working long hours for the amount you are earning now.

  Prices too low, well think what street you would not mind loosing then
  up the prices. If you loose some so what you don't like them anyhow
  but the ones who accept the prices will make up for it. Then repeat
  each street then you will find you are earning what your worth.

  Sorry whats mullered, never heard of that.

  AS regards the misses hey that's a blessing, how many times is the misses
  lost for words

  Keep your head up, life's too short to be harrassed. Get a can of beer
  and that will perk you up.

  All the best

  Doug

[Jason Atwell]

Take a look at the post earlier this week about the nineteen year old killed in a car crash. May not cheer you up, but puts things in to perspective and makes you realise how lucky you are, and that life really aint that bad!

[P @ F]

Good point there Jase , things could be worse .

Doug mullered means when some chav in an escort side swipes your van whilst overtaking and doesnt stop !

 

[DASERVICES]

That's well out of order, I would have followed the guy but my van would never
keep up. Good job otherwise all my morals would go out the window.

We all have one of those days when one thing after another goes wrong.

You need a break every know and then, I'm off to Prague for 4 days and
its only costing me and misses £150 flights and room. Then going to book
a tour around the UK with the Travellodge offer of £15 per room, all these
little things makes me cheer up as I have always got something to look forward
too.

Book yourself a break, you deserve it.

Doug

[P @ F]

Doug thats the problem , not long got back from Portugal myself , nice little break but had to come back here didnt i !

 Got a call from a cleaning company today that wants to put a shed load of work my way , not one of the nationals so i can still name my price , but this still has not lifted the spirits , just what with the van bit and my first tax return still hanging over me , yep as usual im last minute again , went to a local bookkeeper yesterday got told that my paperwork would cost £300 , bearing in mind this is only 10 weeks of work it peed me off a bit , had another one ring me back telling me he could do it for £40 + vat , 

One of them is a con man i suspect !

 Phoned the tax office today and they said come in on tuesday and we will do it for you , nice people that they are !

 Rich   P @ F 

[P @ F]

Just gonna get some beer and a chinese , i

[DASERVICES]

  Thats why I do my own, heard to many horror stories from accountants. Read
  their small print, if they get it wrong they admit no liability. Have a mate who
  got stung for £30k+ due to his accountant going corrupt.

  And they never tell you the best way to save money, the best I have always
  found is the 40p mile rule. Your accountant will not tell you that as he is looking
  for time to cost you money.

  Worth taking a basic accounts course, also the tax office run courses. Lots
  of good info.

  Enjoy your chinese.

[P @ F]

40p a mile rule being the petrol allowance yes ?

 I take it that it depends on your milage , or is it just better to do the 40 p whatever ?

 Rich   P @ F

[Paul Coleman]

That's well out of order, I would have followed the guy but my van would never
keep up. Good job otherwise all my morals would go out the window.

We all have one of those days when one thing after another goes wrong.

You need a break every know and then, I'm off to Prague for 4 days and
its only costing me and misses £150 flights and room. Then going to book
a tour around the UK with the Travellodge offer of £15 per room, all these
little things makes me cheer up as I have always got something to look forward
too.

Book yourself a break, you deserve it.

Doug

I once had a Ford Escort. The only things that couldn't keep up were bicycles and even they overtook me on the hills.
Seriously though I think you are spot on.  When it feels that bad book a break somewhere.  Doesn't have to be exotic - just somewhere nice and relaxing where the head can switch off for a few days.

[Pat Purcell]

Generally when we price commercial work  I have 3 things in mind
1 how much do I want the job
2 Am i going to like doing the job or is it one of those frustrating nightmare ones
3 After the initial time cleaning it how long will subsequent cleans take
When you take these into account figure your price per hour and add or subtract based on the above
 If you price to low but its an easy job you enjoy doing then it dont feel to bad as long as your making something
 If your price is higher than your normal rate and the job is a buzzardf*&k well you console your self with the thought that yourr making more than you normally would
IF you priced it just right then you know you will be faster inthe future and it will become a good earner
Window cleaning is a pretty good business but a few pain in the behind customers or jobs can make it seem like your whole business sucks drop the bad ones and be careful about what you take on and you will be smiling in no time
Ive been laughing my butt off for 20 years now

[P @ F]

Thanks guys , the chinese was fantastic , the beer went down a treat , im already feeling better , dont get me wrong i have learnt from my early days , i was all too eager to do a house for £5 , now with my price structure it is feasable to do say £170 to £200 a day , i do work a full day though , im talking domestic there .
The main problem is that a lot of work from the start date was under priced so the hike i would have to make to bring my earnings up to what they should be would have to be considerable , most people would not swallow such a hike , i guess im just gonna have to sort the problem out over a period of time or drop them one by one , i dont like to do this but if they dont want to pay a fair price then why should i work for them right !

I feel my commercial is ok , it needs a bit of a tweek , but that is in hand , i have just banged on about how skint i am but when i think of the trip i just took , the video camera , the birds new tyres , all the crimbo presents just purchased , all the bills paid and the general cost of living in the uk i cant complain , after all come next friday the money will be replaced !

 Now to do that in my last job would have taken about 2 months !

 Rich  P @ F

[JM123]

£170 - £200 a day, even at £150 a day, thats £750 a week provided you work 5 days - not that many make that kind of money, plus lest we forget we all get paid to exercise (you know what I mean).

[Pj]

Average manual wage in Congo?

Per Month?  $8.00

Cost of living?

Same all over the World!


Swallow it!  FACT

[JM123]

where else in the world do window cleaners make so much money??

[EasyClean]

Chin up and look on the bright side, as a lot of us feel like you do once in a while.

Just keep in touch with reality and what the job situation locally around your area pays and remind yourself that you are better off than the majority of people for the amount of hours you put in to your work, plus you control your destiny, (pity we can't control the weather too), with no one telling you out of the blue that you've been made redundant, etc.

If you ever get really down, take a day or two off, relax and enjoy yourself and just remember why you joined this profession.

I'm always moaning to my old man about all the bloody bills I have to pay i.e. council tax, highest water bills in the country, electric, gas, mortgage, etc. The list goes on and on, but hey 'THAT'S LIFE', it's what we make of it that counts!!!!!! Smile and people smile back because it's contageous!!!!

[Paul Coleman]

where else in the world do window cleaners make so much money??

Not the Congo apparently.  I'm wondering if they even have any glass there.

[www.mrgutters.co.uk]

hi all

hi guys i thinks we ahve all been where pf has been at some point ive been going for two years and about 8 months ago i called a meeting with the wife and said i was going to give up window cleaning since my poles were all wrong or broken , my customers were all really cheap and my business was stagnent .

i had a van engine on my transporter blow up 900 to fix ... then started to look for jobs but most were around 14-15k and even though i was earning less than that a year my hourly rate was  about £20 but i only had enough work for £700 a month. 

so my wife decided (as they do)  lol that i should stick at it a nother 6 months if i have done it for 1yr so far then 6 months wont make much difference.

so i canvassed all the new developments and made a £20 minimum charge soon in a month my work went up by £200 in 3 weeks.

then growing and growing since then. by beginning of last month i was up to 1700 on a 5 week cycle..

so mate you need to really stick at take a bit of time off relax then go atit again with a renewed look at your business.

shawn


 keep well chin up!