[kris84]

Hello folks,

I am a newbie on the forum.

I was hoping you guys could give me a realistic idea of how many windows can be achieved per day on your average round using traditionsl method.

I will be starting up soon and am trying to put together realistic targets to establish earning potential and forecasts.

I have no previous experience other than ding my own. I would be targeting terraced houses, semis and detached 2 to 4 bedrooms hopefully front and back.

Any info you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Also I would be aiming to have all work within a 5 mile radious

cheers

kris

[kris84]

forgot to say, that I would plan on working 0800 - 1600 if I can fill the days.

[kris84]

well.... does anyone want to answer my to my post   lol

im just looking for feedback idealy honest, I have a little common sense so, hopefully I can figure out the genuine guys from the not so genuine.

please guys, answer my post if you want to contribute to the forum and help someone in need.

cheers

kris

[kris84]

no need to big up your own business folks just tell me what you reckon a new window cleaner could achieve providng the owrk is there.

[kris84]

If you answer my question I would be happy to hear about your business though! 

[crystal.clear]

i would say between 20 - 25 a day when ur up to speed. but when u first start up i would say about 2 an hour would be good going.

[Chris Cottrell]

this is a bit like asking how long is a piece of string there are so many determining factors that will determine how many you can do

[chrisyg]

tbh, this thread is rather un answerable.

There are too many variables.

you need customers, you dont have much experience - therefore will be alot slower than experienced  trad guys that would normally post here, is it raining - trad is pointless in the rain etc etc...

I wouldn;t make this your FT job, unless you have in excess of at least 100 customers, or alternatively, go canvassing every day you are not cleaning.

cleaning windows is the easy bit, building a profitable business is the hard bit, which many soon realise and give up..

[sageorgeta]

I will answer...sorry.

I do approx 2.5 houses per hour if they are in close proximty (3 bed semis),if they have conservatories it will be less and if they have access issues which i try to avoid this will delay it as well.
This is a hard slog all day though so inevitably you will slow down throughout the day.

[kris84]

thanks crystal clear, to be totaly honest with you I was hoping that I could do that amount to begin, if I get my rounds all near one and other great. I do expect to do less ofourse if I need to travel to other areas etc.

would welcome much more feedback from erveryone else who views this, whether have been doing this for 1 week or a decade.

cheers

[steven ainger]

i think you will struggle to get your round close together, unless you buy a round. as said before building your round is the hard bit.

[kris84]

cheers for the answer.

I know there will be many factors that will influence this but I gave a description of what answers should be based on at the begining of my post.

I deffo agree, this isnt going to be started as a full time business. I will be aiming to start a part time round initialy only a few days per month to get a better feel and understanding of things.

If I feel I can expand during the summer that will be my starting point, I have experience running busineses so have a general understanding of how to evaluate whether wether something can give me a wage.

A few years back I left a decent career that was only going to get better for me (financialy only) and left to get a job where I could be happier and spend more time enjoying life.

I did this but, I now work for someone else renovating properties and I hate the way I get treated and undervalued and now know that I realy need to be self employed and answer mainly to myself.

Im hoping window cleaning can pay the bills, I dont expect to get rich.

Oh, by the way... I actualy know a guy up hear who started off as a window cleaner and moved on to better things making millions and losing millions, he now own a succesfull business, employs about 30 guys and is once again a multimillionaire.  

so keep dreaming guys, they might come true. AIM high you may go high etc, etc

any more comments welcomed

[kris84]

I know it will be hard to establish a decent round. I am going to talk with my own window cleaner and see if he would be interested in me a selling a street to get started. It is my understanding that he has many streets together.

I would be offering property maintenance services too, so will have some work coming in from that. I currently do work for people ion my spare time and get repeat work and reccomendations from this fitting laminate, wooden floor, tiling and painting etc. I already have all tools so wouldn't need to invest in these.

I dont think I have it all fugured out in case anyone is thinking that lol

If I dont succed in window cleaning I will still be offering property maintenance services working for myself. I am hoping that window cleaning would help me promote my additional services to people in my local area. I believe that working in my local area helps me in many ways

e.g. becoming known and reccomended

they will see my window cleaning services and my property maintenance services being advertised,

keep work close to home cutting down travel time etc

cutting down fuel costs

building a good relationship with my clients and hopefully becoming there first point of contact for many service requirements which will hopefully open up more opportunities in the future

[Niall McAllister]

hi there,
first house i did took me 2hr 'cause i was paranoid it wasn't right.
now same size place taces 15 / 20 min.
the best thing you an do is work out what you need to earn to cover your household bills and add about 35% to that for tax and expences. that is the minimum you need to earn to survive.
now add a bit for the nice things in life. work this for the year, break it down for a monthly and weekly totals.
work out what you want to charge average per house then
weekly total divided by average price shows how many custs you need each week.

it doesn't matter what anyone else does, you have to work out how many you need to do and get them done.
you just stick at it and the speed comes
you can make a good living and still have personal time

[kris84]

cheer nail,

I reckon I will be a bit paranoid at the beginning going over my work again and again etc

thats the kind of comments im looking for

anymor out there  guys lol

[Niall McAllister]

oh and gravity will get you down if your not careful, trust me, top of ladder to bottom in record time hurts if you are lucky. so don't try to work to fast

[williamx]

Kris

First of all, welcome to the magical world of window cleaning.

Next is your question on what you will be able to clean "trad" per hour.

This is a hard question with no easy answer, for starters different people work at different speeds, also some do a complete clean, while others miss things like frames, to save on time.

A starting figure would be about 30 minutes to start with, with this dropping down to 20 over time.

Do not attempt to go faster than you can. because ladders are deadly, instead build your speed up over time.

I would reccomend though that you consider wfp to trad methods, you can achieve a faster cleaning pattern with this system, its also safer.

 

[trike]

3 a hour 6 hour days

[R.V.A Window Cleaning Services]

It also depends on the size of the property, its best to work out how much you need to earn at the end of each day rather than reading on here 10/20/30 houses a day, i have quite a few days a month where i only clean 2 or 3 houses over 6/8 hours.

mind you i am slow

[bumper]

I average £20.00 a hour on my own.