[martinsadie]

,

[jaykie]

Living in the dark ages, ive got roads where theres about 6 different w/c on, oh and another thing knocking is bad on a sunday.

Chris

[sjm]

Bumped into another w/c this morning and told me he had been asked to clean a house on my round he declined but has just given me the detail,i wil go round later as ive said before the patch systen works well,i did the same for him a couple of months back in the same area,it helps in keeping your rounds compact.

I do that too, I know most of the cleaners locally , and most of us pass enquiries to each others area . It makes for a much more peacefull and nice way of life 

[jaykie]

So if i had a window cleaner who done a crap job or didnt clean the sills, or i didnt like there method of cleaning, or they just turned up when they wanted, i havent got a choice if i want the bloke that has been recommended to me by a friend/family etc because he turns up each month and does a good job because he doesnt work on my area patch, what a load of waffle the customer decides who they want not the w/c, how do you think rounds started in the 1st place they didnt just appear.

Chris

[jaykie]

And who decides who owns the new estate thats just been built, where i am weve had the biggest harbour in europe still being built, and about 2 other eastates being built,

Chris

[Londoner]

Completely the opposite round here. Very often I an cleaning and there is another WC working next door or opposite me. Some nod others just blank you, very rare they speak.
About six weeks ago I was doing a maisonette and Lloyd Birchley who posts on here pulled up for a chat. First time ever thats happened.

Last year I was working in Hatch End and an old boy I have seen about many times to nod to comes walking down the street carrying a ladder and starts on the house next door. Then a beat up old car with two (Polish?) lads in pulls up and they start on the house next door to him.

So now we have three houses in a row being cleaned by three very different types of window cleaner. I don't suppose that happens very often.

Interestingly, I have just realised while typing this that I haven't seen the old boy around since. I'll have to ask about him. I don't want to pinch his customers, I'm full up but I just wonder about him.

It would be much nicer if we all talked but we just don't and many many window cleaners you never see again, like those Polish lads.

[davids3511]

Living in the dark ages, ive got roads where theres about 6 different w/c on, oh and another thing knocking is bad on a sunday.

Chris

its not the dark ages all my work only has me the customers are happy you get through more work not having to load up all the time,wont be going round tilltommorrow .imo people against the patch system are to tight to dip into thier pockets to buy work and just want to pick it up for nothing

Why shouldn't you pick it up for nothing? If you wanted your system to be a legal one instead of an illegal cartel you would have to pay a hefty license fee to the government or a local council for the sole right to work in that area. Look what the 3G phone companies had to pay for the licences to operate 3G networks. They paid that because they were guaranteed there would only be a limited number of licenses. If any tom dick or harry could come in and setup they would not have forked out the billions they did.

You are in dreamland if you think that just because you were there first you have a 'right' to the customers. What happends if one of your customers on your patch decides you are a bit of an arse and doesn't want you to do his windows. Is he destined to forever have dirrty window because you won't do them not will you allow anyone else to? Do you think that situation is ok?

[jaykie]

I cant agree more david, I choose where i shop, who supplys my gas, what mobile company i have and im sure as hell going to choose who cleans my windows, just because my neighbour has a window

cleaner who pulls up in a car, looks dodgy as hell, im not going to trust him in my garden with my kids

bikes and stuff i got in my sheds.And if i moved from one area where my w/c had been doing them for

years just because im in a different street why cant i get him to come do them. I havent and wont buy

work as i want to price it myself and choose my own areas and then ill look back and say look what I

built.What do you mean get it for nothing, i have delivered over 4000 flyers, canvassed streets and got

good work from it at good prices, I havent taken anyones work as i always say "have you ot a window

cleaner" if the answer is yes i wont give a price even if they ask, so im only getting the custys that dont

have one, most people work the same times we do so what are the chances of someone who needs

one in the street seeing you work.

Chris

[jaykie]

Well if it works for you then fine but its not how we work around here, or as far as i know in most areas. I get on with loads of w/c my way, ive passed work to them and theyve done the same for me, ive had other lads from companys come do jobs with me, and theres a company who are full and pass me work on, if i get a call and its pointless me travelling to it ill give another company there details, when i canvass if i see another cleaner ill talk to them, then ask them which houses they got then i just dont knock on them doors.

Chris

[Neil271052]

Well that's a new one on me.

Nobody "owns" the customers, they are free to have anyone they choose as their window cleaner or whatever.

If everybody went with that "patch" stuff where would new window cleaners get a start?

[jaykie]

Exactly, and w/c would get to comfortable with there work.

Chris

[Neil271052]

Not everyone wants (or can afford ) to buy a round when they are starting out after all they generally run into thousands of pounds.

I canvassed all my work to start with and let the ball roll from there.

Far more satisfactory IMO to introduce yourself to a new customer and price up the job to your own satisfaction than rely on somebody else to have done it for you.

[Neil271052]

You work in the afternoon? 

As I have previously stated my furthest work is 3-4  minutes from my house with most within a 20 second drive. 

Any work I pick up when out will be adjacent to what I already do.

That is the area I chose to canvas at the outset (near to home) and all I want to do.

I'm not interested in going any further which is why I decided my round and not somebody else.


I pop home for elevenses and finish at lunchtime. 

[birdymiller]

80% of my rounds are compact(ie park car, return at dinner for snap in the car and then return at end of day when done). But i also have work where people have recommended me to others so i go and do them at the end of the week or when its not so clever weather wise. These odd houses get priced up right and if i dont pick any more up around them after say a year or so then i tend to drop them. But normally if i go to an area i pick a few up to make it worth it. It does make sense to spend more time cleaning than driving but you never know when you might go to do one and then pick the whole street up. Its happened to me

[jaykie]

I cancass a area, and i book them in 2 weeks later, i then canvass that area till i got a days work then move on to the next area, i always return to the same area every 2 weeks so that i get seen there twice a month so instead of doing 4 days in a row i do 2 then 2 weeks later do another 2 days, this way if i get a call from a new custy i can book them in within 2 weeks instead of 4.

Chris

[Neil271052]

You work in the afternoon? 

As I have previously stated my furthest work is 3-4  minutes from my house with most within a 20 second drive. 

Any work I pick up when out will be adjacent to what I already do.

That is the area I chose to canvas at the outset (near to home) and all I want to do.

I'm not interested in going any further which is why I decided my round and not somebody else.


I pop home for elevenses and finish at lunchtime. 

im going to go part time as well when im older

I've always done it that way.

4 hours is a full day to me.

I hope it doesn't sound like showing off but with semis @ £16-18 and detached @ £20-£25 I really don't need to do any more.

[AuRavelling79]

So then, you "patch" guys.

If someone leaflets your area what do you do?

1. Warn them off?

If that doesn't stop them. what then?

2. Threaten them? Damage their gear?

If that doesn't work, what then?

3. Beat them up, threaten their kids?

So what do you "patch" guys do, hmmm?

I understand the benefit of compact work, but if you're honest, reliable, good at your job and fair priced you'll keep 95% of your custy's and gain more anyway.

If you are not any or some of the things outlined in red then perhaps that is where the problem lies...

[jaykie]

I had the old "your on my patch phone call" , "Im going to get you" phone call, so i went out the next few days canvassed and leaflet dropped the area i new this was coming from, not had another call since.

Chris

[AuRavelling79]

the problem of cowboys coming onto my work has never arisen and like i said all the local lads keep to thier own system works,cowboys know there is no openings and go else where

So what if a non-cowboy window cleaner (whatever that means in this context) canvases "your patch" Martin? What do you do then?

[AuRavelling79]

a quite word in his ear would work i suppose

And if it didn't?