[frames to panes]

Crikey, why do these subjects get so out of hand? Just read the very first post - quite simple. But it's no good bragging on here when the figures don't add up. Some people earn very good money - fair play to them but give it some thought before spouting numbers and earnings that don't make any sense. As Squeaky said keep it real!

[Wayne Thomas]

The market where we work dictates our maximum wage we can charge if we have the confidence and the amount of work that we can afford to qoute high when we are in that zone. To those out of that maximum work zone, with less confidence, they will nearly always quote lower because they require the work more than someone who has a full round.

I am always keen to learn from others who are earning well who care to share their tips and advice so that I can aspire to reach their level of income.

I have learnt how to recognise the good and the potentially bad customers right from the very start.
I have reached the level where my quoting acceptance/refusal is about right in proportion to the number of quotes I give.
I am forever constantly using different new poles (because they are slimmer or lighter or something else, etc.
I use a hot WFP van mount system as I find it much quicker than a trolley, (which I use occassionally on a few places with access problems).
I try out different brushes, hoses, jets, etc.
I try various methods of scrubbing, rinsing.
I am always trying something different on a very regular basis.

I need to target more commercial & affluent areas and think about advertising and what's best.

Occassionally I get bored reading the same questions/answers/problems on this forum but I have to remember I was asking those very same things a couple years ago so I try to post whenever I can to help those who are new to this. I have learnt a lot from the experience of others from this site.
I keep thinking I can't get any faster or improve on my round but I do all the time.  

Staying positive and keeping an open mind to new ideas from here is always refreshing.

[Sir Squeaky]

Squeeky do you know for a fact groundhog was lying??




Mark

Charging people £2 per minute?
Oh come on, £30+ for a 15 minute house?

Most of his customers make £500-1000 a day?
Lets have a reality check here.

Yes £300 in day is feasible, as I know people who have done much more (on commercial work).
But a typical domestic day on average houses? Yeah right.

[macmac]

Don't get so wound up, take "money men" with a pinch of salt. it's easy to realise who's talking rubbish by reading their posts & previous posts. e.g. they earn 300 quid a day but- want a bigger van & hot system etc.(but never get one) then they'll post- where's cheapest place to buy..... etc. they kind of contradict themselfes ( & i have a very good memory )
The genuine 300 quid a dayers wouldn't post in the manor above, it's quite amusing i find

DJW, if 13 quid is right for that job in that area then good on you mate, I could quote you all my best paying jobs then come on here & spout about how much i earn & how much you should be earning, but i don't & you know why, because it doesn't give a true reflection of my whole round. Very, very, few w/c'ers have a whole round of top paying work, oh yes, i've met them & talked to them before, they give a good account by mouth but in EVERY case in my experience their rounds turn out to be just the same as most peoples- some top jobs, some good jobs, then some average jobs but they only talk about the very best jobs they have :

Tony

[frames to panes]

Yep, i agree with that Tony. I'm not wound up at all, i know my pricing is generally ok and like you i have better paying jobs and a couple of worse paying jobs. Funny how it's the same types that get so wound up in the end?

[peter holley]

i agree...£30 a house with 400 custies ...or even £18 a house with 400 custies he would need to be vat registered ....so £30..would then be over £35.... some people need to think before they type

[[GQC] Tim]

Alan, c'mon mate. Different areas different prices.

No, I wouldn't dream of getting out of the van for £8, minimum price for new custies is £13. Have I earned £300 a day here in Surrey? Domestic? Yes, once. And if I schedule my best paying jobs on one day that I can do that. And that's traditional. But generally speaking on a relatively good day, like 9 to 3 or so, a £150, or £200 or so on a full day 8:30 to 5. I can only imagine that with wfp, that'll be easily done.

Am I a liar? If you really want to think that way, okay. Really I have no problem with it. But just think that prices per hour are higher here, and people want to pay however much seemingly. I've been doing it for 1,5 year and haven't had a cancellation due to cost.

Really Alan, I can tell you right here, that I'm not lying. I really really do not have any reason to.   

[alanwilson]

GQ I'm not aiming at you, I can well believe someone making 150/200 a day down south, even trad.  Its the rubbish about 30quid a house and 400 customers that really took me to the fair.

Whilst its undenyable there's a difference in prices across Britain I really can't see how a 3 bed semi here can be £6 to £8 whereas somewhere down south its £25

There's no real difference in the cost of living either, average house price here is £200k+ which I believe is similar to most of England.

I've posted an item about a 45ft pole, not because I'm worried about price (although I will still shop around) but more because I'm after the best pole I can get for the money, which is why I think the facelift will prob come out tops, but then you get these ones saying they make a million quid a year yet they still ask 'where's the cheapest place for resin'

GQC you've got to see where I'm coming from.

[Ian Rochester]

We have friends who live in the New Forest, they have a modest 3 bed semi, no conservatory and they get charged £15 to have their windows cleaned monthly.

If the same house was up here (Northumberland) we would be charging them £8.00

A 4 bed detatched house with conservatory up here, max £15 - £20

That's the main difference.

We have 4 lads (two teams) full time window cleaning and well over 1000 properties, using both WFP and trad, can a team do £600/day?  No way, not up here anyway.

[Ian_Giles]

I did a detached house yesterday for £35.00....a Dr's house...it took me just  35/40 minutes to clean...
But that wasn't 12 or 13 windows!

It has a big conservatory and about 25 UPVC windows, and I think that is good money.
I was actually thinking about this thread as I was cleaning it, I could have done 3 detached houses with only 12 windows per house in that time, how on earth, anywhere in the country can you possibly get away with charging £30 for an average estate house?
Even trad and on a round fairly spaced out, if you had a day with houses of this kind, you could knock out 20 of them in a day, and comfortably too, if your round was all priced to a similar structure (highly unlikely) you would be doing £500 - £600 every day...and that is just for a trad window cleaner!!!!!!!!!

Sigh :

Ian

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

In my opinion people that earn £300 per day on this forum don’t brag about it,
As i have always stated an open forum is not the place to discuss your earnings.
In a nutshell those that brag about earning such figures should be taken with a pinch of salt and just humour them (as the majority of them live in a dream world)

[Paul Coleman]

In my opinion people that earn £300 per day on this forum don’t brag about it,
As i have always stated an open forum is not the place to discuss your earnings.
In a nutshell those that brag about earning such figures should be taken with a pinch of salt and just humour them (as the majority of them live in a dream world)

I do wish that it was achievable for me every day.  I have managed it before but only on a handful of occasions.  Now the daylight is longer, I may even manage it again when I do my plum work.  Theoretically, if I can do it in a longish day on a few parts of my round, then I could also do it on the rest of the round if I took the trouble to go out there and get more, good paying work.  In reality, it doesn't seem to be that way.

[Moderator David@stives]

Some days i can do £500 on my own

[AuRavelling79]

Good points Shiner - Tosh put it well when he said that you need to look at a weeks earnings for a realistic figure - yes you might have a 300 in there and a 200 but add in the rained off, nip down the bank, collect the kids from school, do the shopping (or sat on here at 9.15 in the morning ) and I reckon an average s/employed w/c on wfp might not have a £1500 week!

[Paul Coleman]

Good points Shiner - Tosh put it well when he said that you need to look at a weeks earnings for a realistic figure - yes you might have a 300 in there and a 200 but add in the rained off, nip down the bank, collect the kids from school, do the shopping and I reckon an average s/employed w/c on wfp might not have a £1500 week!

Looking at the annual turnover is a more accurate picture as well Dave.  If I were to try to get a load of big turnover days in quick succession, the quality of my life would be less as I would be too knackered to enjoy it.  When I've done a few big days beforee, I've ended up following it with one or two much easier days to recover.

[TDW]

Commercial I can get £300 no problem but unfortunately only have 5 or 6 days commercial a month.

I've got one unbelievable day of £500 residential customers. Houses between £35 and £45. But thats a freak day. Otherwise its between 200-250. Its taken me a while and I'm fussy about who I take on but I think it pays off in the long run. And i only do 3-4 days a week.

I dont think Groundhog is talking rubbish and can understand why he got upset also I find Squeaky the most annoying person on here.

[Moderator David@stives]

I dont think Groundhog is talking rubbish and can understand why he got upset also I find Squeaky the most annoying person on here.

Surely not   

[nat]

there are ways and means of getting your point accross, ground hog just sounded arrogant and was very brash, it kind of felt like he was rubbing peoples noses in  it, as someone has already said why do you need to publicise your earnings. being humble is the best way, no need for anyone to know what your earning, your achievments should speak for themselves.

[Sir Squeaky]

Commercial I can get £300 no problem but unfortunately only have 5 or 6 days commercial a month.

I've got one unbelievable day of £500 residential customers. Houses between £35 and £45. But thats a freak day. Otherwise its between 200-250. Its taken me a while and I'm fussy about who I take on but I think it pays off in the long run. And i only do 3-4 days a week.

I dont think Groundhog is talking rubbish and can understand why he got upset also I find Squeaky the most annoying person on here.

What? Just because I didn't believe his over-inflated rubbish?
I don't believe your's either, so I hope that annoys you too.

I think if you look through this thread properly, a lot of people agreed with me.
I was neither offensive nor condescending.

Take your frustrations out on someone else please.

[matt]

personally, i think Squeaky is what this place needs

he keeps it real and doesnt blow his own trumpet that much, he lets others know his problems with people dropping him etc etc ( on this note, if it wasnt for him, i would by reading all the posts think it went like this ) :

winodw cleaner buys a van

window cleaner buys a WFP system

window cleaner goes from earning 100 - 150 a day trad to 500 a day wfp

work just happens to increase at the same time to allow him to do this, afterall its 5 X his old cleaning times, thus 1 week trad = 1 day wfp, oh and you can automatically charge 30 quid for a 15 quid job

keep it real Squeaky