[mr D]

my local hardware store doode says he is feeling it a little because the public are holding on to there pennys more in fear of a Recession like we had in the early ninetys.

now in the early ninetys i was pre concerned with chasing girls, listening to pants hardcore music, fighting and genuraly being a typical teenager so i have no idea as to what it was like for any one let along window cleaners!

are there any, lets say vetrans that can remember working as a w/c at those times and can tell us whipper snappers if it affected trade much??

[poleman]

Didnt affect me and back then I was only doing houses

And the more joe public talk about a recession, the more its going to happen!

[pjulk]

I was window cleaning in the 80's recession and did not affect me.

[mr D]

tell me about it! drives me nuts. the gov have been banging on for ages that were spending to much so they have been raising intrest rates then all of a sudden evey one starts panicing and talking of recession. northen rock, Npower and the fuel companys are the real ones to blame. they got all the muppets in london talking about it and got the ball rolling. IMO it will be fine a a year or so. its all pre planned to slow spending down but in the mean time my morgage has had to go up £130 per month.

[Kev R]

Boom or Bust there's always dust 

[Paul Coleman]

my local hardware store doode says he is feeling it a little because the public are holding on to there pennys more in fear of a Recession like we had in the early ninetys.

now in the early ninetys i was pre concerned with chasing girls, listening to pants hardcore music, fighting and genuraly being a typical teenager so i have no idea as to what it was like for any one let along window cleaners!

are there any, lets say vetrans that can remember working as a w/c at those times and can tell us whipper snappers if it affected trade much??

I actually started my business on the back of the early 90s recession.  Two spells of unemployment lasting a few weeks each got me thinking about what else I might be able to do.

[Clive McDonald]

MrD
Can.t say if it will affect us, but in addition to your mortgage going up your house will dip in value by 20% over the next year.

Biulders have stopped building because they don't sell which puts an entire industry sector out of work. The financial sector (city of london) that used to pull money in has stopped because of the world situation. Manufacturing has long since gone.

The economy is now based on public sector, some IT,us selling imported chinese goods to each other(retail), and service which is things like us plumbers and sanwhich shops.

No analyst that i've heard of sees any way out of this because it's a global problem and britain is particularly (because of city of london) vulnerable.

[Londoner]

Because your business is spread over several hundred customers you are about as recession proof as you are going to get. Thats not to say you won't notice it, you will, but it won't put you out of business.

[frames to panes]

Not just your mortgage Mr D have a look at your food bills, your fuel bills, the value of your house then have a look in the jobs section in your paper then you will understand why people are worried and struggling. Ever tried negative equity?

[Nathanael Jones]

We got a call from one of out commercial clients last week asking could we come in for a chat and "review" the cleaning costs, as things were getting tight.
Thankfully we've a good mix of domestic work too,.. it won't affect us much at all.

[Jonathan Spencer]

It may or may not affect.  People will stop moving houses and will try to make the best of what they have got and maybe that means clean windows?!?!

[oasisdweeb]

i lost 2 customers last wk.they said it was due 2 watching there cash cause of the credit crunch.think people just listern and beleive every thing they hear on the news or wat they read in the sun.

[windowcleaninginessex.co.uk]

What recession ?

[poleman]

What recession ?

Indeed, there isn't one, if it ever happens make sure you have lots of small jobs, that way it wont have that bigger impact, I will be expanding to cover any losses

There will always be a need for a window cleaner - that fact will always remain 

[AuRavelling79]

I've had more new domestic customers asking for their windows to be cleaned than ever since March ...

[Paul Coleman]

I was a bit disappointed recently as I lost my longest standing customer (£31), and over the past few months I lost two others @ £15 and £17.  But when I think of the work I've gained over that 3 - 4 month time period, it is almost insignificant.  Even in the last week I have picked up four new jobs without looking for them - and one of them is a real plum.  Of course window cleaning is not recession proof but it is probably as near to it as you will get if you spread wour work types across the board.  Even if I don't lose any work, a recession can make me more hesitant about price increases.  Also, it probably slows down new enquiries as there are always more window cleaners about in a recession.

[Sanity]

Got 6 new customers just today.  Recession?  what recession

[mr D]

I'm not 100% sure it will afect me much at all as i live/work in a very welthy part of the contry plus 90% of my customas are very welthy retired people who it shouldn't affect at all. but as a few of you said people go in to pannic mode and cut back on any unessacery out goings. i think w/c on a 3 bed bungalow is something they could do them selfs if they needed to.

as for comercial customes cutting back!! there goes that band wagon i wonder if theres room for me. barstools!!

[mark dew]

I lost a job in january cos of 'watching the pennies,' and i have had around half a dozen customers commenting about how quick i do the job with one asking for a discount. I suspect speed will lose me more custom than a recession.
I reckon anyone who has lived in a house for more than 5 years will be on top of their finances. It's the people who are new to the housing market who will feel the brunt of any suposed recession. 
As vince said, our customer base is too spread out, which makes us better off than the many millions who depend on just the one job.

[dai]

The one thing that never changes is that the rich get richer, and the rich are always devising means of increasing their wealth.
Take this sub prime mortgage crises that we imported from the states. The banks are supposed to have lost billions. If you believe what they tell us you would think that every payment defaulter had had their house burned down.
If someone can't pay their mortgage the house is repossessed and sold, houses that were purchased years ago can't all be in negative equity, the only possible actual loss is when the property is sold for less than the outstanding debt, and even then they don't let the debtors off the hook, unless they actually go bankrupt the debt will still have to be paid.
The problem that is inherent in the system, is that the banks borrow money to lend, this money is borrowed from the multi national rich, when these call in the loans the banks have to sell off assets at knock down prices, these assets are of course bought up by the rich.
It's easy guys, you sell a van to Joe the window cleaner for 2 grand, you then make sure he breaks a leg and can't work, you buy the van back for a grand, and sell it on for £1.500.
Only the rich work on a far bigger scale, but one thing is certain, they will become richer. Dai