[Pj]

I have never been this far behind in 23 years!

First it was snow, then the Christmas break, then the snow, then more snow, then rain, then a stinking cold, I am about 8 weeks late with a lot.

I am now stuck at home waiting for a delivery from Parcelforce and it's a dry day.

As soon as the weather clears we have commercial work that we always put first, and have been able to keep up with, but our residential customers must now be thinking we've given up!  And we have to do commercial stuff again til the end of this week.

Of course many of you will understand - a lot of them are customers we've had for years so they won't want someone else doing them for me.  I have never had a time like this before.  Maybe too much work and underpriced so working too hard to get the right money in?  I really need to review my situation here before I blow a fuse!

Any suggestions?

[dazmond]

work in the bad weather if ya can!and go trad with extension poles on residential if water is an issue due to ice/snow etc.thats what ive done.i did have nearly a month off over xmas due to weather but ive worked hard the last month inclu every saturday.im now straight up with all work and im off to paris for a few days tommorrow!start back monday!

i have 322 custys mostly monthly ranging from compact 3 bedders/4 bedroom detached,a few 6/7 bedroom houses,granny flats and 5 small commercial jobs.all done on my own with no staff!

best wishes

dazmond

[Pj]

dazmond

Thanks for reply - The problem is not motivation or method.  But pleased to know you're off to Paris.


Tosh

Thank you for your usual understanding and sensitivity.
Go and do something useful like knit a beanie cap and toga for yourself

[daz1977]

is the problem that you have just too much work and that you are a busy fool as they say,  why not look at your work and take the best bits for your self and sell  the rest off

[daz1977]

where r u based

[Dick]

I notice many on here are talking about being so many days/weeks behind. I think nearly all of us, because of the weather & Christmas, have not been able to complete many days work, which I'm sure customers are well aware and some are more than happy not to have to pay us.
The best way I feel is not to promise a particular day to clean or indeed be too strict with the frequency, I always say 'it'll be about 4/6 weeks' which covers me for weather, holidays etc.
But I'm well aware of the amount of time since I last cleaned so I'm keen to get out and start some proper work.
This obviously applies to residential as commercial is somewhat different.

[Pj]

Thanks Dick, yes I think thats fair comment really.  It just gets frustrating sometimes as it seems the harder we try the further away we get!

Tosh

 See you can be quite nice when you really try!  I know it's hard for you, but well done!

[Gleaming windows]

Im scratching around to be honest for work. Im normally miles behind and becasue of the weather we had was in the same position  as usual.

But 2 cracking weeks have seen me catch up and now Im having trouble finding enough to fill this week and next. I'll probably crack out about 70% for the 2 weeks compared to what Id like to do, but hey Im sure I can put my spare days to good use.

Balance is what its all about. If I hadnt have knocked out 2 cracking weeks Id still have a good wedge to go at, so Ive at least earnt the money just it isnt as well balanced at it should be.

[Clive McDonald]

I've brought this up before- mainly to do with catching up after holidays.

And on the same thread i explained how the corresponding catch up weeks remain full and the no work weeks empty.

The echo's of the 'lost weeks' will reverberate for months.

If you don't mind me making an observation pj, yes you are probably right sbout the price rejig, but also after 23yrs, have a think if you can do things better in terms of admin.

[mfwindowcleaner]

keep working through m8 ..  .
it snowed buckets here last night and it was about 4 inches deep but as i was only half a day behind i went out and finished half a days work just half an hour ago ..... took me all day but needed to be done .....plough through the weekends too ...... sundays also ... if your that far behind they wont mind you cleaning on sundays

[mlscontractcleaner]

When ever we fall behind we just rope in our two sons for a Saturday and plough through loads of work. We catch up, they're happy with the extra cash (even though niether one of them is a window cleaner - one's an engineer and the other a mechanic - they've both done plenty of wfp work ) so everyone's a winner ......................





until it rains / snows again and we fall behind again :

[amayze]

Why not adopt a newbie for a day or so.

They don't have full rounds yet, could benefit from the extra training/techniques from working alongside an experienced wc, not to mention having a few bob in their pocket and you gain an extra pair of hands to help?

[richywilts]

i used it to my advantage the bad weather my round was one big round that i had built up from starting so i put mine into different smaller areas im just gettin to finish it all now should be finished end of week.

 i sent out a newsletter to all customers explaining why we hadnt been round etc and also added all the new services such as roof coating,driveway cleaning etc etc i offer so bit of free advertising at same time.

seem to have done the trick and iv pulled in a few conservatory clean and bit of building work from it that i subbed to my friend
 

[concept]

Why not adopt a newbie for a day or so.

They don't have full rounds yet, could benefit from the extra training/techniques from working alongside an experienced wc, not to mention having a few bob in their pocket and you gain an extra pair of hands to help?

good plan! 

[prestige cleaners]

i caught up last week, sorry to rub it in, but most of my work is 8 weekly, i think that helps, as if its 4 weekly and you cant work those 4 weeks, which has happened to some of you, then there lost forever arent they. good idea about pricing, a lot of my traditional friends down here are stuck on 1990's prices, they have a heart attack when i tell them how much i charge (average £20 per house) some are still charging £7! sorry thats 1980's prices! change to wfp if you havent already, double your money easy!

btw there a band of snow for the south tomoz!  

friday is nice so im having a day off and going on the motorbike! anyone fancy a spin? (south wales)