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What services go well with window cleaning

Well i cant do gardening as i have terrible hayfever, grass cuttings will bring me out in a rash, shame really as i have thought about Landscaping and getting my brother in the business as he has all the tools, knowledge and a tractor licence having done that employed for years, shame hes happy working for the man and a regular wage.... ewww a regular wage lol no matter what services we offer isnt it great to be able to decide what you want to do rather than having to go clock in on a Monday morning after a stressfull drive through rush hour traffic. Even though its monday tomorrow it doesnt feel like a monday used to, i have half a dozen windows to clean then need to do a bit of leafletting, nip to bank, couple of errans to run but no pressure and if it rains in afternoon i shall go home watch tour de france and try again tuesday. love it so far this self employed lark, even though im not quite full time yet and the moneys not there yet just the opportunitys are endless.

 
yep adam I THINK my day is planned tomorrow but is it...?

I may end up anywhere...not a clue some days...

I have my big ladder work in so I have been paid for it and want it done..but...

Im still trying to finish my monthlies as its first week of the month...

ahh well see how the wind blows../emoticons/biggrin.png

yeh ME LOVES THE FREEDOM..

 
Tolish and anyone else who offers handyman services, therefore always carry a tonne of tools around with you: What size tank do you have in your van?
My tank comfortably carries about 10 litres. :thumbsup:/emoticons/biggrin.png

I carry basic hand and power tools to cover most tasks, but every morning I load up the specific tools I need for the day. Petrol costs enough without dragging my whole tool collection about, not to mention I would struggle to find anything.

 
Tolish and anyone else who offers handyman services, therefore always carry a tonne of tools around with you: What size tank do you have in your van?
My tank is a rectangular unger bucket and 2 5l old ubik containers

 
Haha thanks guys, so basically you two trad then :thumbsup: I actually did my first trad job yesterday, as I can do it one-armed; the outside of a large conservatory and some glass balustrades. I'm not ever going up a ladder to trad and it takes ages to clean frames with trad for me so I'll be sticking to wfp for all but balustrades and the odd downstairs window down an alleyway I think. Just wondering as I only carry 150ltrs as I also carry all of my powertools and so on and was worried about weight. But as I can only do about 3 jobs with that I was thinking I may have got the balance wrong and should of put in 300ltrs. Just wondering how you guys balanced it out lol. I wonder how many people don't carry a ladder around, I'm seriously considering selling mine as I would be happy to never have to go up one again. Unfortunately I don't have the space like you tolishapurd to leave my tools at home so they have to all stay in the van, which is a good thing as if ever I do take something out and leave it at home, its always the thing I need when out at a job!

 
IMO Carpet cleaning is a good complimentary service for windows as it's not weather dependent. Downside is the set up costs of buying a machine etc.

 
From my research carpet cleaning seems the best add on service, its much more highly searched on google than gutters, connies,pw and even windows in my area so very much in demand. Its not weather dependant and whilst theres always guys doing it cheap theres potential to earn more than windows as a sole trader.

The regularity of windows with the earning potential of carpets seems like a good combo, as does the ability to do office cleans/commercial/schools etc.

 
window clean

gutters

upvc cleaning

powerwashing

and its enough lol i think if i was to add anything in it be carpet cleaning as u have access to 450+ customer client base who trust you to carry out work but u have to work to others timescale and ive read stories of were prople have damaged carpet or that but as always ur insurance will cover you .

i was going to start gardening at the very start but money isnt in it imo

i do paint the odd time but its wooden fascias only

 
I will do any odd handyman jobs i get asked to do but i am not pushing my services..it's only when people mention somethung and i say i can do that..also replacing broken roof tiles and odd jobs like that

 
I briefly had a carpet cleaner a couple of years ago, it was battered old machine but worked, i was going to go into it but then i lost my job so sold it and then decided to go with windows first as its a lot of outlay and training required, marketting plus you need to make sure your insurance etc is up to scratch. Once i have enough windows i will defo get into it and drop the valeting. At least 3k i reckon for a machine, other bits you need and training, you could do it cheaper and buy 2nd hand.

 
Personally I avoid handyman work pretty much like the plague, don't get me wrong, if 96 year old Doris needs a light bulb changing then I am all over it but that's as far as it goes.

My biggest earner outside windows is gutter clearing & cleaning, I usually get them when they are mingers, at which point I get to charge a good 3 - 4 hours (at my rate of £40ph) Then I get them all signed up for a regular annual and quite often bi annual service at a fair discount of the original price as it is a nice quick job when just maintenance.

Conservatories are my next earner and once again, usually coming to me as mingers, then I sign them for a regular bi-annual clean which is dead simple once again as just a pretty quick going over with the WFP system.

I do do a bit of power washing but it's so bloody messy I only take it when asked, I don't promote it.

 
wats wrong with 40 ph in the right conditons ? we can all knock 4 stndard semis out in an hour just depends if they beside each other or not i price my pvc work up on 40 ph doen window restoration few weeks ago just nder 3 hours work quoted 120 got it job done

 
To me earning £40 an hour because I've slogged out more houses / jobs in that hour is different to charging an hourly rate for a single job. Thats just me though, I think maybe my add-on services are far too cheap. By the say I can't do 4 houses in an hour by a long shot, more like 1 an hour! /emoticons/biggrin.png

I have several customers that need restoration work, not sure what to quote as if I quote high I need to know it will come out perfect, but not really done it before. Is it just a case of buying the cleaner, scrubbing it on and its all brand new again? Even mouldy black spots and blackened scratches where a dog has been at the back door for years?

 
scraths wont come out u only clean them up but the killer is the seals... u have to lean them out as soon as the cleaner goes on them the big deep seals bleed like u poured ink on them but just clean it all out

the dullness in the frames leaves i get great results

i wouldnt reccomend u doing it bump as it involves alot of ladder work and each frames takes long time to clean and i rememeber u sayin u arent to keen now on the ladders

but i get 40 ph in some areas were my houses are all together but then u get days were it spread out :-(

 
Thanks, no I'm not too keen on ladders, but I have used them twice this week now lol. I don't mind using them for slow going jobs like this, just wouldn't want to use them rushing around day in day out on tradding. Luckily 3 out of the 4 jobs that need upvc restoration are bungalows anyway! /emoticons/biggrin.png And the fourth is a mate lol. I may just offer it ground floor only though, we'll see. Will have a go next week and see how it goes. Actually thinking of fine sandpaper for some of it and its terrible. I thought the scratches might be a bit much, but the black mould? spots that leech into the plastic are my main enemnly right now.

And nothing at all wrong with £40 ph, think I cams across wrong, if I'm earning / charging less, then I'm the one in the wrong and should be charging more lol. To be fair l do think my add-ons are far too cheap, I should be pricing more like you are! /emoticons/biggrin.png

 
I suppose theres lots of ways to calculate an hourly rate. Even if you charge by the hour, that is not your hourly rate. The only people that have a true hourly rate a PAYE workers, and we all know how **** that is. For self employed, all the unpaid stuff like travel time to and from jobs should come into play technically- you start work once you are loading up the van,and you finish work once all the quotes, emails, and phone calls are responded to. I just go on what I have earn't for that day, sometimes its average, sometimes its good.

 
I don't worry about the hourly rate as if fluctuates massively depending on the day I'm doing, but what I work on a is a daily rate and just crack on till its done,

Sometimes I'm home at 1pm, sometimes 3:30pm dependant on the day...

 
That is all too true. You work longer than at the job in hand. Can't believe how much paperwork and other stuff to keep on top of there is. I price by job rather than hourly, as do most I think, its just that what I think is fair for the job and how long it takes me are generally waaay off lol, but thats most likely because I am a bit of a tortoise at this game, slow and should be on a nice tropical island /emoticons/wink.png

 
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