[supernova77]

Today I worked on my own from 10am - 5:30pm and did the following:

House 1 (10am - 1pm)
-----------------------------
Conservatory Roof = £60
Cleaning of lower level gutters = £35

House 2 (2pm - 5pm)
-----------------------------
Outside windows = £25
Inside windows = £35
Outside of conservatory sides = £15
Inside of conservatory sides = £15

House 3 (5pm - 5:30pm)
-------------------------------
Outside windows = £20

So today I turned over £205... Can I just say though - I don't always earn that much in a day, and never really work a whole 5 day week.

Also... I don't normally talk publicly about how much I earn... But at the moment there seem to be a few new guys on the forum so I'm just trying to give a bit of encouragment!

Andy

[Ian_Giles]

Hey Paul, thanks for that.

My pricing is in that sort of area. It tends to work out at 50p a section... so a window that is split into 3 works out at £1.50, or a 2 pane window £1.00.

I think my pricing is OK, I just must not be fast enough. I've been going about 7 months, and I think I've hit a plateau speed-wise... although I'm always shaving off 5-10 mins here and there... so I guess we'll see!

How long did it take you to get to your current speed?

Chris

All becomes clear Chris, after only 7 months you are only an acolyte still

Your pricing sounds fine, and even though you may be feeling that you are working as hard as you possibly can you are still pretty slow...but that is to be expected.
I don't know if you were totally self taught, if you are then I'll bet that an experienced pro like myself or Squeaky for instance would improve your technique overnight, and as a result your earnings would climb.

Craig Mawlam of Ionics was at one point running courses for many aspects of window cleaning, not just WFP!
And a course such as this would also open your eyes and show you just how to improve your speed and technique.

An average semi should take you no more than about...18 minutes, and you should be able to average 3 an hour, even allowing for drive betweens, if your price for a run of the mill semi is around a tenner, at that kind of work rate you'll be doing ok.

I have days where I comfortably exceed £200, but I have other days where I don't, the day after I did the £234 I only managed £135 because I had an attack of the lazies
Amnd judging by the weather out there this morning, todays turnover is going to be considerably less than that

I think it is quite reasonable to expect to be able to turnover comfortably above £100 per full days work, and as Squeaks said, £130 is generally going well...but don't expect it to average out at that!
Not many one man outfits are turning over above £25,000 a year, and even though I have days where I top £200 (and that is down to WFP by the way) Taken over a full 12 months my turnover so far has been nothing like as high as that.

Ian

[marc]

would the 4 that said £50 please leave this site now ,thank you and dont come back until your up to £150

[Paul Coleman]

Hey Paul, thanks for that.

My pricing is in that sort of area. It tends to work out at 50p a section... so a window that is split into 3 works out at £1.50, or a 2 pane window £1.00.

I think my pricing is OK, I just must not be fast enough. I've been going about 7 months, and I think I've hit a plateau speed-wise... although I'm always shaving off 5-10 mins here and there... so I guess we'll see!

How long did it take you to get to your current speed?

Chris

It sounds like your pricing is fine so it is probably a speed issue.  I see you have been W/Cing for 7 months.  I think it would pay you to go out with an experienced, fast W/Cer for a couple of days to learn technique on how to speed up.  The money you lose on those couple of days will be made up (and a lot more) in a very short space of time.  I did this even after W/Cing for some years.  Always more to learn.  It surprised me.

[Paul Coleman]

Hey Paul, thanks for that.

My pricing is in that sort of area. It tends to work out at 50p a section... so a window that is split into 3 works out at £1.50, or a 2 pane window £1.00.

I think my pricing is OK, I just must not be fast enough. I've been going about 7 months, and I think I've hit a plateau speed-wise... although I'm always shaving off 5-10 mins here and there... so I guess we'll see!

How long did it take you to get to your current speed?

Chris

All becomes clear Chris, after only 7 months you are only an acolyte still

Your pricing sounds fine, and even though you may be feeling that you are working as hard as you possibly can you are still pretty slow...but that is to be expected.
I don't know if you were totally self taught, if you are then I'll bet that an experienced pro like myself or Squeaky for instance would improve your technique overnight, and as a result your earnings would climb.

Craig Mawlam of Ionics was at one point running courses for many aspects of window cleaning, not just WFP!
And a course such as this would also open your eyes and show you just how to improve your speed and technique.

An average semi should take you no more than about...18 minutes, and you should be able to average 3 an hour, even allowing for drive betweens, if your price for a run of the mill semi is around a tenner, at that kind of work rate you'll be doing ok.

I have days where I comfortably exceed £200, but I have other days where I don't, the day after I did the £234 I only managed £135 because I had an attack of the lazies
Amnd judging by the weather out there this morning, todays turnover is going to be considerably less than that

I think it is quite reasonable to expect to be able to turnover comfortably above £100 per full days work, and as Squeaks said, £130 is generally going well...but don't expect it to average out at that!
Not many one man outfits are turning over above £25,000 a year, and even though I have days where I top £200 (and that is down to WFP by the way) Taken over a full 12 months my turnover so far has been nothing like as high as that.

Ian

Just want to back up what Ian has said.  These past two days, my daily income has been around the £80 and £90 mark. 
However, they have been seriously lazy days by my standards and they were nowhere near full days.  Late starts, early finishes, loads of breaks in the middle and generally could not be bothered with it.  If you counted the time I actually worked, they would probably have been more like half days!!  However, there was a time when I would be working pretty hard to achieve a ton or more in a day.
Don't confuse effort with achievement !!

[Ian_Giles]

[
Don't confuse effort with achievement !!

Well said that man!!

Ian

[steve k]

got out at the first house to do a first clean at 8.45am...pretty clean already but stayed for an hour...£40 drove away bang on 9.45am.



got to next house at 10am...packed up and drove away at 10.25am...£20

front


back


Next house 100yards away...started at 10.30am...packed up and drove away at 10.50am...£12

front


back


Drove 1 mile to next 2 houses next door but one to eachother...parked up at 10.55am...finished first house at 11.15am and second house finished at 11.40am. Packed up and drove away at 11.45am...both houses at £15 each...£30.

front of house 1...ran out of battery power here but the second house is pretty much the same.



3 hours so far of easy work at £102.
Back home at 11.55am and having a sausage sandwich and replace the batteries in my camera and type this up.
I will leave at 12.20 approx to go and do the afternoons work.
See you later.

[chrismroberts]

Wow, thanks for all your replies! They're very encouraging I am but a newbie... thats true. Give me another year or so... 

I am self taught, really. I picked up the basics from a friend, and then just practiced on my own. I've picked up a few bits and pieces, and I work with a mate every now and again who has been doing it a few years.  But he isn't really that much faster than me.

I think a cull of my lower priced work would be in order... and maybe a day or two working with a lightning fast trad guy..... any volunteers?! 

Ian, you're WFP? Do you still keep your hand in with trad? Do you think any more than £150 in a day is achievable trad?

Thanks again!

Chris

[pjulk]

Steve whats the ladder out for if you are using WFP on the 1st and 3 pic as it looks as though you would not need a ladder for these.

And i wants some house priced like the 1st one £40 what the hecks on the back.

Paul
 

[chrismroberts]

And i wants some house priced like the 1st one £40 what the hecks on the back.

I was wondering that too! 

[Paul Coleman]

Steve whats the ladder out for if you are using WFP on the 1st and 3 pic as it looks as though you would not need a ladder for these.

And i wants some house priced like the 1st one £40 what the hecks on the back.

Paul
 

I'm gonna take a guess at this.  I reckon there's a conservatory at the back and Steve is assuming it's a one off.  I say one off because he has stated that it is a first clean - but there is also a FOR SALE sign outside so it may end up being a last clean too.

[C Senor]

I'd guess that because its for sale, he's done a gutter and fascia clean for that £40.

[Ian_Giles]

Ian, you're WFP? Do you still keep your hand in with trad? Do you think any more than £150 in a day is achievable trad?

Thanks again!

Chris

With your method of pricing I would say that £150 is more than acheivable whilst working trad.
And yep, not many days I don't use trad, I never bang on about how quick I am, too many do that all the time anyway, but I'm pretty efficient and will crack along at a fair pace.
The only thing I don't use is ladders.
I would also say that I am highly profficient with a pole and trad tools too, I use a procurve pole on some of my work (fairly recent) and I have now developed a technique where I am very quick indeed, hell, I'll even use it when I don't need to use a pole at all because I've got so darned nifty with it!

Ian

[Paul Golding]

Hi

Sorry, been out working all day !!

Looking through, you've got some good replies, so listen to them and you'll be fine !!

All the best

Paul

[steve k]

the first house was a PVC clean and window clean. The ladder was used to access and hand clean the sills...WFP cannot adequately clean sills when the sills are filthy.
The back was 1 double bedroom window and a bathroom at the top and a set of french doors and a kitchen to the bottom.
Woman was very happy...a 1 off clean..£40 quoted and took exactly1 hour.

The ladder you see next to the big brown conservatory is to access the roof to clean the bedroom windows. WFP CANNOT reach the windows from the ground as the conservatory is about 15ft away from the house and 8ft high approx.

I carry ladders and use them when access is required to areas where WFP cannot reach...I`m not talking heights...just low level access

Anyway...got back out to some flats I do...
Got there at 12.35pm:

do the top floor of the block in the background




same block, clean the top floor flat, middle flat and ground floor flat on this face of the block:



round the side to do the 3 floors here (3 flats)



round the next side to do the top flat:



total of 7 flats done in this block.

Over to the next block to do 2 ground floor flats:



then onto a house on the park 20 yards away:



the back:



cleaning the windows above the conservatory lean to:



onto a flat roof to clean the roof:



5 minutes and it s gleaming:



all the above finished in exactly 1 hour and 10 minutes...£62.00




Drive 50 yards to the next block where I clean the top floor flat and middle floor flat that you can see.



round the side to do another top and middle flat:



this is another side where I do the middle flat and is the last outside for today then I nip in and clean the inside of this last one:



packed away and finished at 2.45pm:



Total earnings: £198.00

Tomorrow, I have inside and out clean for £27.00 (£12 outside/£15 insides)
2 next door gutter cleans at £30 each= £60.00
a gutter clean at £45.00
Then back to the flats to clean 7 top floor flats, 3 middle floor flats, 4 ground floor flats which amounts to: £84.00

Total for tomorow is: £216...photos to follow

[dai]

It's all down to prices isn't it? I have worked hard all week, 9 till 5 for £512.50. My days are all much the same. Tomorrow should bring it to £600. I leave at 7.30 am and often don't get back till after 6pm, [ my work is 25 miles away] then I have to fill 9 containers for next day.
I can earn a decent wage, even at local prices, I really have to work for it though.
I am getting a fiver for some of your £10 jobs, and I have to live with idiots under cutting my prices. Dai

[Pippin]

Two guys knocking my round today telling customers local
window cleaners are making £35-50 per hour and offering to
requote if customer not happy with hourly rate. When I stopped
and asked these guys where they got their £35-50 per hr from,
I was told off the window cleaning forums and wfp suppliers.

[steve k]

so what...
the more pople know the better in my opinion.
Its the concept that we are all £2.00 a house dole merchants topping up our drinking coffers that makes Joe public look down their noses at us.
In Holland, window claners are looked upon as tradesmen and afforded appropriate levels of respect. Their salaries are good and not questioned.
Stop hiding...be proud...you do not have to be scared to earn good money

[giftedk]

can earn £75 an hour. But then sometimes can earn around £15. All my work varies and need to put lots of prices up.

[JM123]

so what...
the more pople know the better in my opinion.
Its the concept that we are all £2.00 a house dole merchants topping up our drinking coffers that makes Joe public look down their noses at us.
In Holland, window claners are looked upon as tradesmen and afforded appropriate levels of respect. Their salaries are good and not questioned.
Stop hiding...be proud...you do not have to be scared to earn good money

I agree, plenty of trades make really good money - no one has a problem with it, but when a wc'er comes along and says I make £30/hr thats when people get annoyed as if we are conning people or something.