[Ste M]

If you got a wc job on an estate and arrived at the house to find a traditional cleaner cleaning other houses in the street would you still clean the house you had been asked to do?

The only reason i ask is that its ort of an old unwritten rule that you dont encroach upon someone elses 'patch' but the more i read on here and from what i see out and about, window cleaners dont seem to take any notice of it anymore.

I personally think i would still approach the wc just to have a quick chat and see how business is, but i dont think it would stop me from doing my job as i had obviously been called in by the customer to do it.

I have just started cleaning some houses on a new estate and i know they already have a WFP cleaner on there but its a massive estate and he has not approached them since the people have moved in (over 4 months) so its as if he doesnt want them.

Just wondering what your opinion is on this

Ste

[cozy]

No such thing as patches. Most of us have been there at some point mate, get in there.

[Sapphire Window Cleaning]

Its business Ste
on one of the roads I clean on theres 4 or 5 other window cleaners working there, a couple of those I have a chat too and have a cuppa with.
Theres no rule. the Pikies would disagree though lol.




Matt

[Ste M]

dose it make any difference though if it was some old fella doing them trad and had done the estate for years?

just interested really as i plan on expanding soon and if the old rules have gone then my tactics will change a bit.

Ive been asked to do a price for a load of houses on a road a few miles away as the current WFP cleaner i taking the p*ss with the prices cos the area is a bit to do, i know the houses and area well and he is charging way over the odds cos of the postcode but all the neighbours have now dropped him cos of it

[dean123]

all is fair in love and war is the only rule you need to know

[Sapphire Window Cleaning]

I wouldnt let it effect me Ste, after all your his competition, if he doesn't like it tuff.
Asda doesnt stop trading becuase Tesco is across the road does it.
One thing window cleaners hate though is under-cutting.





Matt

[LWC]

Im friendly to all window cleaners, end of day its only buisness, ive been in streets where theres 3 of us working. Just say hi and how you getting on etc, and get on with your work, as said no such thing as patches. I really dont care if someone is working down a street i have a house on...really doesnt matter. Approaching your customers and undercutting intentionally is bad yes.

Dont worry mate and get on with your own work, dont stress over other people who like me probably dont care  

[Gaby P.]

OMFG we've got royalty in da house

[wizard]

If I shop at ASDA may Tescos never serve me again, Its called free enterprise, capitalism competition is good for all and we are exposed to it no one is exemp

[LWC]

OMFG we've got royalty in da house

Show some respect.

[Gaby P.]

Oh....I bow to your greatness

[Ste M]

i would never undercut, (well it depends on how you look at it), i was asked by one of the woman on the street that i know how much i would charge to do her windows, i told her and she said she wanted me to clean them as she had just got rid of hers cos he was charging nearly double what i do. He hasnt been doing them for long but not only doe he charge a fortune but he i also unreliable.

Undercutting to me is knowing how much he is charging and deliberatly going in less, i never ask how much someone else charges as i have my price that i work to and i know how much i need to earn to make my money, i stick to this and im honest about my work and bloody good at it as well. If i think i am charging to little/much then i have a word with the custy and readjust the price, to this day i have never had a complaint about this way of pricing, if anything i get more work because of my honesty.

If someone else wants to charge silly money then he will only lose out in the long run

ste

[cozy]

Ste, we have exactly that situation in one of the areas we are starting in at the moment. The guy isn't an idiot, but only been going about 18 months. In this area I am on about, he had no competition so went in with silly prices. Easy meat for any WC that knows the score. He has since tried to keep custies where we have turned up, by dropping his prices, but the reaction he gets is bad. Their attitude to that move is, "Why did you charge so much if you can do them for 75% of the price?". battle lost.

[Ste M]

i think that is what has happened here cozy, and like you all say its his tough titty that some competition has turned up.

you based in liverpool cozy?

[cozy]

No mate, Germany. Long story lol, was born in Liverpool, but live here in Boxheadland with a Guurman wife. Half my custies are Squaddies, the others are Guurmans lol.

[Ste M]

oh sound. my brother worked out there for a good while and loved it.

Anyway after what you have all been saying tonight i can see me expanding a bit more than i thought if i do it right, my Van set up may be needed earlier than i thought as well to keep up with it all hopefully

[cozy]

Go for it mate, The topic isn't new, but you will find that the posters (not me by the way) who have given their advice on here mostly see it the same as you do. It's all business in the end.

Just try to follow people who post sensible answers, even at this time in the morning (not always me) and you can't go wrong.

[leapstallbuildings]

If you got a wc job on an estate and arrived at the house to find a traditional cleaner cleaning other houses in the street would you still clean the house you had been asked to do?

The only reason i ask is that its ort of an old unwritten rule that you dont encroach upon someone elses 'patch' but the more i read on here and from what i see out and about, window cleaners dont seem to take any notice of it anymore.

I personally think i would still approach the wc just to have a quick chat and see how business is, but i dont think it would stop me from doing my job as i had obviously been called in by the customer to do it.

I have just started cleaning some houses on a new estate and i know they already have a WFP cleaner on there but its a massive estate and he has not approached them since the people have moved in (over 4 months) so its as if he doesnt want them.

Just wondering what your opinion is on this

Ste

I would just carry on cleaning.  I wouldn't intentionally target his customers though.  However, if one approached me that would be a different matter.  Even then, if they were just after a cheap price then I'm not interested.

[Murdie window cleaning]

Go for it, we are all in business and if you knock a door and the customer agrees to letting you become there window cleaner then great. If another w/c also works in the area or even the same street then not a problem.

It would only become an issue if you started trying to undercut them to delibratly pinch custies from them as that is when things could turn messy.

[gerard mcmanus]

you will always get one chancer who will try to impose unwritten rules(AKA rules they made up to befit them) but it was never legal or OK back then and its not now. I don't agree with undercutting because it would only serve to devalue the industry and ultimately make it hard to get jobs at a fair price, but I trade any where I like, and its a written rule that I can.