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Poll

do you clean windows on council estates

I do clean windows on them
65.2%
60 (65.2%)
i dont clean windows on them
34.8%
32 (34.8%)

Total Members Voted: 86

why not council estates
« on: May 22, 2008, 08:27:44 am »
I keep reading posts of some that say avoid council estates and would love to hear why this is.
I have cleaned them for a long time now and find many are great payers look after thier houses.
Now I am not going to try and change anyones minds to start cleaning on them as I think the more people that like to think badly the better for the window cleaners that clean houses and are not prejudice.

I clean some mega rich peoples houses and also people that are very low paid and many in between, at the end of the day they are people.

I my self live on a council estate it's a nice area and the cost of it would get a 5 bed detatched up north does that mean no window cleaners come round this area IMO I think not a house is a house and business is business.

I say dont tar everyone with the same brush.

Got that off my chest, please reply and add to the poll I am not going to start an agrument just interested to see what others really think about this subject.

Ian

groundhog

  • Posts: 1806
Re: why not council estates
« Reply #1 on: May 22, 2008, 08:35:18 am »
I avoid council estates because of the experiences I have had from cleaning on them, late payers, non payers, not today types, kids damaging my van ect ect. I prefer to go where the money is, and that dosn't tend to be on council estates!!  ;)

simon knight

Re: why not council estates
« Reply #2 on: May 22, 2008, 08:48:56 am »

I do a few houses on council estates and never had any problems. £10 from a CE is as good as £10 from a private house IMO.

nat

  • Posts: 993
Re: why not council estates
« Reply #3 on: May 22, 2008, 08:56:28 am »
i find council estates muck you about, say not today, can't afford it this month blah blah blah.

I try to advoid them like the plauge. nothing wrong with there money, its just they haven't got enough of it!!  ;D

simon knight

Re: why not council estates
« Reply #4 on: May 22, 2008, 09:00:13 am »
i find council estates muck you about, say not today, can't afford it this month blah blah blah.

I try to advoid them like the plauge. nothing wrong with there money, its just they haven't got enough of it!!  ;D

If I start to get mucked about then like anybody else they get dumped!

nat

  • Posts: 993
Re: why not council estates
« Reply #5 on: May 22, 2008, 09:04:14 am »
why start on the bad foot before you start? they are to risky, not good business at all, they need to be low priced to get them in the first place, or to keep hold of them. they ain't worth the hassle. I had £200 worth of work canavssed for me that was on a council estate, i just binned them before we started. couldn't be arsed with the hassle of it all, i can see what is coming a mile off through experience

simon knight

Re: why not council estates
« Reply #6 on: May 22, 2008, 09:07:57 am »

I know what you're saying but personally I give people the benefit of the doubt.

Anyway work beckons ;D

Re: why not council estates
« Reply #7 on: May 22, 2008, 09:09:27 am »
experience  :-\ I have plenty of work and have been cleaning them many years, all IMO are well priced.
experience tells me when I need to watch out with non payers ect and this can be anywhere not just council estates, I get the odd few that dont pay and again this is any area not just council estates(should I say most are ex council).


Interesting reading this is

shammy davis jnr

  • Posts: 543
Re: why not council estates
« Reply #8 on: May 22, 2008, 09:17:39 am »
salt of the earth people they dont have the ticked up bmw and fur coat without the knickers ,i think the middle people the want to bees the worse give me a compact well paying council est any day off the week our a top gun helipad self made man any day that has not forgot his routes ......
a you get payed
b the house is less likley to be on the market after only cleaning twice
c they offer you a cuppa
ive done the lot and after sixteen years in the game i prefer good compact council est over anything  
bread and butter stuff i agree  but the van is parked once our twice a day six guys working flat out for a full shift in the one area results
as aposed to one guy doung a 20 pound job then half hour travel to nxt job  when your same guy gould do four hse an hour at say 7 in an estate if you can find them there gold dust i agree ,but take no prisoners they dont pay they dont get done  and only you can build a good paying run

nat

  • Posts: 993
Re: why not council estates
« Reply #9 on: May 22, 2008, 09:23:21 am »
very noble of you shammy, but if you want to earn good money you need to have good money people. We could all slog out 4000 council houses and have high paying rounds, but there is no need when you can have good paying work and less effort for it. you will find it easier to employ and keep hold of them if you don't run them into the ground from having to grind out so many houses in a day either ;) as for a cuppa if you earn enough you can stop at the wild bean cafe and buy your own while driven between big jobs  ;D

d s windowcleaning

  • Posts: 2782
Re: why not council estates
« Reply #10 on: May 22, 2008, 09:23:42 am »
nothing wrong with council estates i reckon 50% of my work is on these , i never get the not today line , all are good payers ive never dumped 1 for any reason , i get good tips from these at xmas , i cant fault them  ;D
where theres muck theres money

groundhog

  • Posts: 1806
Re: why not council estates
« Reply #11 on: May 22, 2008, 09:32:00 am »

, i get good tips from these at xmas   ;D


I got a £100 tip from a customer last xmas and several tips of £50!!! Guess what, they weren't council tennants!!!! ;D

shammy davis jnr

  • Posts: 543
Re: why not council estates
« Reply #12 on: May 22, 2008, 09:40:16 am »
nat i have the high paying stuff but where i stay there is a good few miles between them and to do them all day would prob make me the same if not less than working an estate hey every one would love a twenty mile street both sides bungalows and you do every one  ;D but like i said only you can make your biz pay ,
works well for me a good mix shops factories offices million pound houses and estates
i droped a six hundred pound estate last week becase it was getting more hassel than it was worth if the run dont work out drop it biz is biz . but i have one that brings me in two grand in a week and its srewed to the floor excellent people good [paying custies etc no travel once your there but thats just the nature of the beast
 ;D ;D

simon knight

Re: why not council estates
« Reply #13 on: May 22, 2008, 11:34:54 am »
nothing wrong with council estates i reckon 50% of my work is on these , i never get the not today line , all are good payers ive never dumped 1 for any reason , i get good tips from these at xmas , i cant fault them  ;D

As I said I do a few and have no problems. The only thing is that I find myself tending to shave a couple of £ off what I'd charge a similar privately owned house.

Not good business sense I know but in reality I think most of us tend to price a job  taking into account what we can reasonably get away with balanced with what the customer can afford.

Mike_G

  • Posts: 1500
Re: why not council estates
« Reply #14 on: May 22, 2008, 03:18:00 pm »
I dont do any. Not for any reason it just happens I have no work on council estates.

Sanity

  • Posts: 426
Re: why not council estates
« Reply #15 on: May 22, 2008, 03:19:02 pm »
65% of mine are council.  No bad payers.  No messers.  Most are working people.  Some retired, some ex-council.  All priced at £7.50 and up.

Of the people on my round, I find that the council and ex-council are the most loyal, easy-going people.  They don't look down on me like some do...


At least those who chose not to work coucil estates leave a lot of work for us that do.  And when the upper market is saturated with you 'won't clean council' types and you have to lower your prices just to get the job because of all the competition, we that do clean council will be having the last laugh...

And, I don't see how doing 3 coucil houses each next door to each other is more work than a 6 bed country house with a 1/2 hour drive to get there.  I will be seen conducting the clean by lots of neighbors and passers buy, possibly gaining more trade.  Because people tend to know one another on council estates, word of mouth trade is also very good.

You 'not council' guys ought to try it.  Easy life :)  

nat

  • Posts: 993
Re: why not council estates
« Reply #16 on: May 22, 2008, 03:45:14 pm »
65% of mine are council.  No bad payers.  No messers.  Most are working people.  Some retired, some ex-council.  All priced at £7.50 and up.

thats why you have no bad payers or messers because you are cheap!! you are welcome to them my friend if £7.50 is all your demanding for any house!!

groundhog

  • Posts: 1806
Re: why not council estates
« Reply #17 on: May 22, 2008, 04:00:54 pm »


Of the people on my round, I find that the council and ex-council are the most loyal, easy-going people.  They don't look down on me like some do.. 


People only look down on you if you let them, nobody looks down on me on my round or anywhere else because I don't allow that to happen!!!  ;)

groundhog

  • Posts: 1806
Re: why not council estates
« Reply #18 on: May 22, 2008, 04:04:05 pm »
65% of mine are council.  Most are working people.  
 


Most around here are scroungers on benefits!!!!!!! :(

clean

Re: why not council estates
« Reply #19 on: May 22, 2008, 04:23:48 pm »
So people that live on council estates don`t work,are rough,mess you about,won`t pay etc etc,Well i live on a council estate and have done all my life(but own my house) and i am shocked  :o  by some of the comments from you guys,for your information my worse payers are the richer customers with the big 4/5 bed detached houses with the bmws and mercs,
THINK ON LADS  :-\