[NWH]

The word thought is about right,stumbling across this website and thinking i`ll have some of that it`s easy is foolhardy.

[windowwashers]

Perhaps starting out as a painter and decorator is easy-peasy, thus, the thought that making money window-cleaning is easy-peasy 

This thread reminds me of the guy in 'boys From The Black-Stuff'



Oi can do dat......

soon findout it's not as easy as everyone thinks, hence why there is still a shortage of window cleaners in the UK maybe the world, I am still looking for a window cleaner in Hitchin blowed if I can as yet.

[NWH]

I can don that,Giss a job.

[xxmattyxx]

I am still looking for a window cleaner in Hitchin blowed if I can as yet.

Here you are http://www.spickandspan-directory.co.uk/

 

[windowwashers]

I am still looking for a window cleaner in Hitchin blowed if I can as yet.

Here you are http://www.spickandspan-directory.co.uk/

 

lol

[Davo]

I understand that SOME of the  points that posters are making are valid ones, however I believe the way I am trying to do this is the best way  for me.

I wont earn from what Ive got at the moment, and until its been cleaned and Ive been paid a few times it will only be worth x2( worst ways) what Ive got in monthly revenue. However as long as its not eating too much it doesnt matter, as long as I can grow it, and that I believe is the key. Im under no illusions that I will lose work, but losing work is part and parcel of this business.

Bringing in work that gives a good hourly return is IMO key to success. I couldnt do this by giving up my job, it wouldnt be financially viable. 

Some advice I was given on my first ever post "Dont do what I did, keep your job and build it up until you can afford to work it full time"

Perhaps starting out as a painter and decorator is easy-peasy, thus, the thought that making money window-cleaning is easy-peasy 

This thread reminds me of the guy in 'boys From The Black-Stuff'



Oi can do dat......

?? did I say it was easy peasy... so someone wanting to enter this business who isnt cleaning their own work is a dreamer??

What I did say was that wfp is safer and not as physically demanding as working a ladder. And I know that from experience cos Ive spent a few thousand hours going up and down  ladders.

Mark

[Davo]

The word thought is about right,stumbling across this website and thinking i`ll have some of that it`s easy is foolhardy.

So what is this site here for??

I have never said that its easy on any of my posts. I was in my trade for 15 years, it took me about 6 years to reach a point where I could undertake virtually anything put in front of me to a satisfactory professional standard.

But the bottom line is that i'll find out the same as everyone else does. IF it goes pearshaped then all I can say is that I wont be back down the factory driving a forklift.

I dont think it will though, you see I dont have to live off my round.


Mark

[mark dew]

Davo, how many properties does the £740 of work consist of?
Apart from your conservatory price it is unclear how good the work you have is without knowing how many jobs you need to do for £740.

£740 of regular cleans (20-25 hours work)
 £350 of one off conservatory cleans ( 4 jobs 8 hrs work max - may stretch it)

i'll start off with the bad news, i believe your figures are way out on the income for the hours worked. If your employee is gonna achieve those figures in that amount of time with no experience you will spend your next 20 - 25 hours recleaning them.
You have taken the figures and the cream prices and came up with your answer. The reality will be very different for several months at least.
Am i wrong by thinking that you haven't done a weeks work cleaning windows yet? As your 1st post suggested that you hadn't. Are you wfp or trad? I couldn't work it out.

Your post does appear to sound like a fairytale beginning with bells on. Because of that there will be some on here who will shoot you down, while others initially sit on the fence and then join in.
Ignore that "us and them" sh!te. Many will read your posts with as much interest as they do others, regardless of what the self-proclaimed 'elite' might claim.  :

Oh yeah, regarding your post title, competition isn't dangerous or even threatening to anyone who is doing a good job, reliably. There has always been and always will be competition, it is what makes us richer.
Best of luck with what you are doing and do keep posting updates on your situation, we can all learn a bit from your posts as you have gone straight into employer mode without being a window cleaner yourself 1st, which is very unusual.

[Davo]

Davo, how many properties does the £740 of work consist of?
Apart from your conservatory price it is unclear how good the work you have is without knowing how many jobs you need to do for £740.

£740 of regular cleans (20-25 hours work)
 £350 of one off conservatory cleans ( 4 jobs 8 hrs work max - may stretch it)

i'll start off with the bad news, i believe your figures are way out on the income for the hours worked. If your employee is gonna achieve those figures in that amount of time with no experience you will spend your next 20 - 25 hours recleaning them.
You have taken the figures and the cream prices and came up with your answer. The reality will be very different for several months at least.
Am i wrong by thinking that you haven't done a weeks work cleaning windows yet? As your 1st post suggested that you hadn't. Are you wfp or trad? I couldn't work it out.

Your post does appear to sound like a fairytale beginning with bells on. Because of that there will be some on here who will shoot you down, while others initially sit on the fence and then join in.
Ignore that "us and them" sh!te. Many will read your posts with as much interest as they do others, regardless of what the self-proclaimed 'elite' might claim.  :

Oh yeah, regarding your post title, competition isn't dangerous or even threatening to anyone who is doing a good job, reliably. There has always been and always will be competition, it is what makes us richer.
Best of luck with what you are doing and do keep posting updates on your situation, we can all learn a bit from your posts as you have gone straight into employer mode without being a window cleaner yourself 1st, which is very unusual.

Heres how the work breaks down.

5 blocks of area covered so travelling time to each block will vary from 15 mins to 40 mins but the work in each area is compact.

Block 1  1 job £170 4 weekly on most of it  weekly for small part 8 big windows  2 glazed doors.

Block 2  1 job £108 6 weekly shelterred housing wardens bit done free others work out at £1 a week per flat  4 windows per flat couple have extra 2 windows( not doing every flat )

Block 3  13 jobs £139 6 weekly

Block 4  29 jobs £183 6 weekly

Block 5  8 jobs  £132 6 weekly

Block 2 10 mins away from block 4

Block 5 40 mins away from base and hour away from blocks 2 and 4.

It will be wfp .


Mark

[Davo]

Just a footnote to add to this work canvassing issue.

I spent some time walking  a couple of the areas a week or so before  before I knocked them. Zone 5 I found when I went with a friend of mine while she had har car serviced. Out in the middle of nowhere bout 50-60 houses windows absolutely minging. That was about a month into reading this forum on a regular basis.

I did my research before I went knocking and to be honest I thought I would have picked up more domestic.

I found that customers where I picked up the highest number of jobs were happy to  spend a £1 a week for window cleaning and it wasnt high end prop. Wasnt council either cos I think that council will have been battered.

The £170 job I have known the owner for 30 odd years.

Sheltered housing I dealt with a resident with my job. got talking to the warden they didnt t have a window cleaner( Had someone who stopped calling begining of this year)

Mark

[williamx]

I did my research before I went knocking and to be honest I thought I would have picked up more domestic.

I found that customers where I picked up the highest number of jobs were happy to  spend a £1 a week for window cleaning and it wasnt high end prop. Wasnt council either cos I think that council will have been battered.

Mark

Mark

Are you are saying you are charging your customers £1 a week for window cleaning, if so then I'm not surprised you picked up so much work.

The other thing to remember is when a window cleaner has left an area, its normally for a good reason, like low paid work or arkward customers who like to say "not this time, next time would be better dear"

[windowwashers]

I did my research before I went knocking and to be honest I thought I would have picked up more domestic.

I found that customers where I picked up the highest number of jobs were happy to  spend a £1 a week for window cleaning and it wasnt high end prop. Wasnt council either cos I think that council will have been battered.

Mark

Mark

Are you are saying you are charging your customers £1 a week for window cleaning, if so then I'm not surprised you picked up so much work.

The other thing to remember is when a window cleaner has left an area, its normally for a good reason, like low paid work or arkward customers who like to say "not this time, next time would be better dear"

if that is true come and subwork from me i'll pay you double 

[Davo]

Mark

Are you are saying you are charging your customers £1 a week for window cleaning, if so then I'm not surprised you picked up so much work.

The other thing to remember is when a window cleaner has left an area, its normally for a good reason, like low paid work or arkward customers who like to say "not this time, next time would be better dear

Yes many of the terraced properties  I quoted  em £6 a clean 3 windows front 4 back.
done every 6 weeks. A seasoned wfp er how long? 5 mins a front.... tops . then backs ( although they will be cleaned backs first.

[Davo]

Mark

Are you are saying you are charging your customers £1 a week for window cleaning, if so then I'm not surprised you picked up so much work.

The other thing to remember is when a window cleaner has left an area, its normally for a good reason, like low paid work or arkward customers who like to say "not this time, next time would be better dear

Yes many of the terraced properties  I quoted  em £6 a clean 3 windows front 4 back.
done every 6 weeks. A seasoned wfp er how long? 5 mins a front.... tops . then backs ( although they will be cleaned backs first.

As in block 4 . The other blocks were different prop

[windowwashers]

you do know stan is dead and died a poor man 

[Davo]

you do know stan is dead and died a poor man

Ian can you clean 7 windows wfp in 10 minutes?

I suspect the answer is yes. 10 minutes work for £6 works out £36 an hour.

£20 a house (7 windows) would have been good but I dont think many would have gone for that.


And btw stan died a very very wealthy man, he had millions of pounds worth of love from hilda in his heart.


Mark

[bluesteve]

dont forget travelling time, setting up , packing away and collecting payments people talking to you,on their own it does not seem a lot but it all eats away at your £? per hourly rate when they happen several times a day.

[Ian_Giles]

you do know stan is dead and died a poor man

Ian can you clean 7 windows wfp in 10 minutes?

I suspect the answer is yes. 10 minutes work for £6 works out £36 an hour.

£20 a house (7 windows) would have been good but I dont think many would have gone for that.


And btw stan died a very very wealthy man, he had millions of pounds worth of love from hilda in his heart.


Mark

Actually it doesn't work out to anything like that amount. you are kidding yourself if you think it does.
I could give you a very long and detailed post as to why that isn't so, but it just takes too long!
If you work on the ball park figure of 4 houses per hour, standard sized semi's that is, and you won't go far wrong.
10 minutes a house is just about right......for an experienced window cleaner that is.
There is so much more to WFP than meets the eye, and to get a top notch job done in just 10 minutes is without a shadow of a doubt a skill that takes time to develop.
And even when you get the job done to a good standard in that time, you are not going to average 6 houses an hour, there are just too many variables.
And bear in mind that you are working at the top end of the speed work can be done in.
On a housing association, if you are only charging the equivalent of a pound a flat then you are a long way under priced, all you'll end out doing is shooting yourself in the foot in the long run.

Ian

[windowwashers]

you do know stan is dead and died a poor man

Ian can you clean 7 windows wfp in 10 minutes?

I suspect the answer is yes. 10 minutes work for £6 works out £36 an hour.

£20 a house (7 windows) would have been good but I dont think many would have gone for that.


And btw stan died a very very wealthy man, he had millions of pounds worth of love from hilda in his heart.


Mark

if it takes 10mins per house you will not be getting £36 an hour you forgot the time in between cleans etc etc etc.

from the way you write you will be learning the hard way, I respect what you are doing and will help anyway I can but please open your eyes a little more and listen to what replies you get on here as these will help you in the future.

Good luck by the way and I honestly hope it works out for you.

Ian

[Davo]

Thankyou for the replies.

Ian ( windowwashers)  I am listening please dont think Im not as I have said before, I have found the information posted  on here invaluable, Im just giving you my reasoning as to the £6 price, and in the future I can either up the price per clean or change it to 8 weekly, I will get some wrong thats the business of pricing and I appreciate it is experience which helps to minimise the risks.

But its not a "oh I do em for £2.50 every 2 weeks price" 

Ian  (Giles) the sheltered housing works out at £1.25 a window.

Mark