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Busyyyy Traditional Method

jordan

Member
Messages
71
Hi Window Cleaners /emoticons/smile.png

i have been going for 2 years now and my round consists of about 400 6 weekly houses i'm cleaning the traditional method and im earning about £750-£800 (before tax)a week.

I love cleaning the traditional way because i'm constantly getting extra work every day and can earn about £25-£35 an hour.I am starting to get worried about my method as my shoulders and wrists are starting to ache all the time and i think i'm overdoing it,i don't want to turn away work so my options are either get someone else to go round in a van and do traditional for me and pay them £10 an hour or get the poles myself.

I am worried about getting the poles as if i was going to get them i would want to spend about £3000 on the proper kit and have heard so much bad stuff about them.

So my question is what would you all do if you were me get the poles and loose a few customers and not get as much extra work (But you can clean more houses in a day)

OR get someone to do traditional method for me?????

I also understand if i were to pay someone to do traditional they could easily take over my round and just work for thereself.

Thanks any help is appreciated just feel a bit stuck for what to do

 
I would stay as you are mate. £750/800 is a good wage. Employing someone isn't without it's problems. I used to have 3 vans and 2 people working off me. I reduced it. Now on my own. Only work 3 days a week. Only a few quid a week worse off. Come n go as I please. No one else to consider

 
I was in same boat Jordan

I was knackered

Then I thought - chuff me al prob be doing this till am 70

Invest in some gear look after your body

 
Hi Jordan. I was my own worst enemy when it can to making the change from trad to WFP. All I could see were problems. What if this and what if that etc. In the end I had to make the change or give up the job I enjoyed doing for health reasons. A mate lent me a backpack, pole and a couple of barrels of pure water to try it for myself on my house and a couple of neighbors whose houses I cleaned. I initially thought, boy this is using a lot of water, but soon realised after deciding to go for it that it was only those first cleans that were using so much water. Regular cleans use far less.

Almost all my customers were impressed from the get go, which was encouraging. Yes I did lose a handful of customers. But it was only literally four, right off the bat who just wouldn't even give it a chance, three of which are now steady customers again after the trad guy who took over from me fell off his ladder and decided to call it a day. Another few decided they didn't like it after a couple of months and dumped me but by then I had taken on other customers so it all balanced out pretty well. I also get a good number of people who pass me in the street working and comment on what a good idea it is to clean windows this way this way.

I don't know what negatives you've heard from others but I love cleaning windows this way far more than I ever did Trad and I enjoyed that too.

My recommendation would be, if you decide to make the move, invest in good gear from the start, especially your poles/poles. (I can highly recommend Gardiner's SL-X range and brushes)

You will think WFP is odd at first as it is so very different from trad cleaning especially the leaving them wet part, but it won't last long.

I don't know about where you live but here in Essex there are so many now cleaning windows this way that new customers I take on are often already familiar with it.

 
WFP set up correctly and used correctly does exactly what it says on the can - it cleans windows!

I was on ladders myself pushing 600 houses a month (between 2 of us) and we were feeling 'the burn'

Now do the same number in less time and get just as good a result and custys are happy.

Get yourself a day or two with a seasoned WFP user and have your worries laid to rest.

 
As above. W.f.p is easier on the body, easier and faster than traditional cleaning and in my opinion more enjoyable as there are so many toys and gadgets to try nowadays.

Nothing wrong with trad, I did it for 14 years, but have preferred my time with the poles a lot more.

Go for it I.m.o

 
you have to totally believe in the system W F P, if you loose a few customers hayho

you will pick up so much work also,it is so much easier and quicker

if you can get van system go for it. Also it is safer you can work on your own no worries

i,m suffering from sore arms and feel them every day sure a lot of the guys are the same

 
I was trad for 25 years

Was adamant this stick waggling lark was a load of old tosh

Bought a pole and some hose to do conservatory roofs from customers outside taps

Wasn't long before i bought a pump etc and made a trolley and bought my pure water to "just do the tops"

Yeah right

After poling the tops you don't want to pack your gear up to get your trad gear out and work slower and harder

I guarantee if you try it you'll never look back

Give your customers a guarantee that if there are any problems you will go back to sort them

They'll soon all be converted

Any stragglers who are adamant they don't like it you can still trad the odd one or 2

Most who are against it is because they have heard bad stories because of bad operators

 
I made the mistake of buying a small set up to start, I was certain that I was only going to clean leaded with pure and stick to tradition for the rest, my mate who had cleaned with pure for years said I was mad and should buy a full set up as I would end up doing them all with pure. I was wrong he was right, few months in and I ended up swapping all my customers to pure and have since grown a very successful business. it will take a while to get your head around leaving them wet but in the end your be confidant in the pure method.

 
Agree with all , and it dosnt have to cost you 3000 to get going . Dependent of what Way you wanna purify the water , i Would say a 800-1000 could be plenty at first !

 
Agree with all , and it dosnt have to cost you 3000 to get going . Dependent of what Way you wanna purify the water , i Would say a 800-1000 could be plenty at first !


Where about do you find these deals? I've only seen them on eBay and don't trust them

 
Hi Thank you all for your help I have definitely been stubborn bout getting these long things lol But next months is where I start new chapter if it doesn't work for me I go back but there's no harm in trying thank you again for turning my head !!!

Good luck to you all !!

 
£750 trad is hellish good imo, i never got anywhere near that, one of the reasons i went wfp was my wrists aching every night, i used to stick my right one out the window on the way home to cool it down, turns out i have the start of arthritis.

no problem at all since changing unless im using thick gloves .

ask all your questions about wfp on here & you'll get the best advice & a quality set up

 
I made the mistake of buying a small set up to start, I was certain that I was only going to clean leaded with pure and stick to tradition for the rest, my mate who had cleaned with pure for years said I was mad and should buy a full set up as I would end up doing them all with pure. I was wrong he was right, few months in and I ended up swapping all my customers to pure and have since grown a very successful business. it will take a while to get your head around leaving them wet but in the end your be confidant in the pure method.
I built a diy trolley for under £100 which works perfectly and i buy my water

Was a cheap enough way to see if i liked it

Am getting a van mount set up end of may and will still use the trolley also so i am happy

Just can't wait for my van setup as it is a faff with just a trolley

 
I started window cleaning back in the late 80s (traditional) huge round, after about 10 years i had grown to hate the job so sold it recently started back up again after helping a mate out on a couple of big jobs he wfp the outsides i traded the insides to be honest i quite enjoyed it,anyway i went and got myself a Gardiner backpack,clx22 pole with brush a merlin ro a 7litre di unit and resin tds meter from gardiners and a water softener from pure freedom a good clean ibc tank for water storage of some bloke on gumtree £60 went out and got myself some customers and off i went havent looked back customers have come out, stopped me in the street and even called me to say that there windows and frames have never looked so good that says it all for me i must be doing something rite,got my van fitted with a 350ltr tank controller,pump and hose reel flying now the hardest bit at first was leaving the windows wet just dident seem rite but now i dont give it a second thought if you can get on with a good wfp window cleaner for a few days then you will learn a lot if not take your time and go ocd on your first cleans it will pay dividends when you go back to clean them again you will be through them in less than half the time and half the water half the effot dont throw your trad gear out as it will need to come out for inside cleans and the odd shop front i think as long as your water is pure and your technique is correct then you will have no probs

 
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Where about do you find these deals? I've only seen them on eBay and don't trust them
I believe its possible as Daveyboy said too , for instance ive seen a water genie Backpack 20 lit with charger for 80 pounds , then ad 140 on a decent pole , a Vessel about a 100 too , and youre done 320-350 pounds . Im a van Mount guy but to start up i Would try it Out cheap , and a Backpack is handy anyway afterwards ( gonna buy one )

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Don't know what current range of fibre glass poles are like but when I started they were terrible. Two of mine have been used as washing line supports for the last 5 or 6 years. Got the job done true, but we're quite literally a pain to work with as once the gel coat wears off which is quite quick with regular use you'll start getting fibre splinters in your hands. They are also very bendy when extended which wastes a lot of your energy when working at height. The first one I bought which came with the kit I purchased was thrown out within a week. I honestly only used it for two days. It was rediculousy heavy and I'm no lightweight. I bought a shorter glass fibre pole which was better till the splinters started after just a few weeks and in less than six months it snapped in half. I went through two more fibre glass poles before I discovered the hybrid CL-X and my working day became so much more pleasurable. Then again with the SL-X.

At the very least if you want to start on a minimum budget which I understand fully because I did, don't skimp on the pole. Get a good one from the start. At the very minimum consider a hybrid pole along the lines of a CL-X. It's like learning to play a new instrument. If you start with a cheap one instead of a half decent one you'll think any problems are your fault and maybe give up.

 
first cleans gd tip cane from daveyboy clean windows twice, on second clean give them gd rinse this avice has worked well for me works everytime

and it dos,int take much longer

 
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