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@Pgh The buzz word for anything window cleaning related is investment. This isn't a cheap way into self-employment any more. At one time the equipment outlay wasn't very much as most cleaners started cleaning traditionally. We see new starters in our area often. We see them a couple of times and then we never see them again. They pick up an odd house here and there and generally they are the ones other established window cleaners have dumped for a variety of reasons. I don't wish to sound negative but window cleaning isn't for everyone. I don't know you or your physical condition but

For any newbies or thinking of starting up thought I'd update you on my situation....started week before 1st lockdown in March 2020 with 3 customers, after packing my full time job in ( wont bore you with the deets on that). Tools down through 1st lockdown and stayed at home. Back out there after 1st lockdown with a better plan of how I was gonna make this work. Asked/messaged absolutely everyone me and my wife knew about having their windows cleaned. Got out there, leaflet dropped, advertised on Facebook ( the Facebook adverts got us lots of work), our new customers recommended us and so on.

I'd like to take a moment to express my sincere apologies to anyone that was upset or offended by a previous reply of mine some months ago. I'm sorry... Some people say things that they don't mean and some say things they don't think about first. I've been battling mental health and ptsd for many years now. Some replies and comments have triggered a nasty or unpleasant response by myself which I had never intended to be vile or nasty. There was an instance where a comment was left by a forum user but they had obviously not noted the facts or context of the thr

The pleasure in being able to make a decent and independent living. To be able to enjoy the company of treasured friends. To come on the forum for a chat with the good folks on here. To be able physically and financially to enjoy my work and my hobbies of sea kayaking and camping with my wife and my pals. The satisfaction of working for myself and having the strength of character to not take too much s... t from anyone. Having had to mostly bite my lip when I was an employee in various jobs and lines of work. The pleasure of tweaking my business methods, van, equipment and techniques to make t

Hello all, I wanted to finally introduce myself after reading bits on this forum for a few months, I'm now finding topics where I'd like to comment, but it's a bit awkward when I haven't even said hello! So hello! I'm quite new to window cleaning, been going since November technically but only really got things rolling properly mid January. My Dad was a window cleaner for some time so I had at least had a go with both wfp and trad tools a little before, but I've been learning lots as I go along. I also wanted to say thanks to you all for your posts on here, I've been able to find

Hello everyone! just thought I’d introduce myself... I’m mike, based in Surrey and I am currently setting up my own window cleaning business. I’ve posted a couple of things on here already and I’ve found you all to be very helpful and responsive! There’s a huge wealth of information on here so thanks for taking me on board

I am a qualified baker and I learned my trade at a local artisan bakery but we had to move to a different area. I got work at a supermarket in-store bakery and they treated me with very little respect. I remember one of my colleagues was belittled by a manager for making a passing comment about the Christmas music (which you get all day long for a month leading up to Christmas and it drives you crazy). I remember thinking “if you ever speak to me like that, you won’t see me again mate.” Anyway they gave you rubbish work like spending half the afternoon in the walk in freezer. My best friend go

My kids, particularly the littlest one as he has developmental issues. He's in for a tougher ride than the others. I want to leave something behind to look after them when I can't be here anymore. Then there's family who treated me when I was younger. One person in particular that told me I would amount to nothing. I remember once saying I didn't like Tina Turner, I was told "she'll make more tonight than you'll make in your entire life". I haven't checked with her, but I'm pretty sure thats wrong already. I earn more in week than the person who said that does in a month now. If ev

Just want to say what a massive help this forum has been on all the top lads on it! For a few months I’ve been researching on here( but keeping quiet ) to help the start up of my company. All of this information on here has been so invaluable. I can’t see there being many trades out there that would have to many guys helping each other out. Just a little info about me, after years of working as a builder for someone, who now is slowing his business down. I was kind of pushed into finding a new job. But a few friends and my father in law, who do window cleaning suggested I get into this

I had it happen with quite a few people when I cleaned windows. I just explained I’m happy to do that but I would be spending that little bit extra time so couple of quid increase. They were always happy with that. It surprises me the amount of window cleaners on forums that go off on one which shows they are not customer focused but just themselves. It times of need customers look to cut costs and window cleaning will be one of them but if you treat them with respect they come back when their finances improve. It never used to worry me as there was always a new customer around

Hi Chaps Good to see all of the comments on these poles and their lifespan - Thought I would chip in with my longevity expectations. Whilst some are getting several years from their Xtreme poles generally I would expect the following: Xtreme pole used regularly as a daily domestic pole: Used 4-5 days per week, maintained to a moderate standard and used in a similar way to a standard SLX/CLX type pole. About 12 months until I would budget for replacing one of the most used sections (usually #3 or #2), then allow for replacing another one of the top 3 sections every

Well the new reels have arrived today and I have connected them up to a battery and all appears to be working well , just got to get a frame made to mount them above the wheel arch . What do you think to the size of the packaging ???? I thought the delivery driver was unloading the wrong pallet !!!!!!!

Some great points on here, mine are a lot less moving & interesting I suppose. I just enjoy my work, I enjoy being self sufficient, im a single bloke, live on my own. 2-3 years ago I had depression, tried medication for a while, but one thing that helps me a lot since then is a structured pattern & routine. For a while I wasn’t getting up till mid morning and feeling nackerd & de motivated. But now alarm 7:20 every morning, start 8:40ish/8:50ish/9:00. But enjoying our work is so important.

But what if you get it a second time and end up ill and with long covid not knowing what the next day brings sleeping most days and bleeding out your back passage, I don't want non of that, I want my life to continue as normal as can be so I can take care of family. that's the bottom line for me.

The thing is, when you are relatively new to this game. It's all exciting, getting customers, having people recommend you, doing one-offs getting grubby properties clean. You know running a social media site, loads of followers with before and after pics, spending money on new kit, uniforms, logo branding and all that. And that's great, because it is fun and exciting, especially if you have gone from one job that's vastly different. And I know what it's like as I have been there too, I used to work in the city of London. But once you have shining for 10, 20 or 30 years (50 for Daz ).

Sorry to hear this. Lost my best friend a few your back. Now its about all the good memories you guys shared.

My Lab is nearly 10, lost my last one just before his 11th birthday so dreading what you're going through. No matter how many times you go through it it doesn't get any easier. Hope the pain eases and the good memories help you get over your sadness. I learnt many years ago what ever decision you make at the time you did it with the info you had in front of you. There is no point regretting and looking backwards because if you do you can't move forward. I spent 20 years eating, sleeping and breathing work, still do Monday to Friday, so can appreciate others doing it. Is it sad?

Well said mate. Never just a dog. A treasured best friend and a deeply loved family member. So sorry.

She might not understand the "pure" method of cleaning and might not want to commit just in case this magic water doesn't work. She could still have dropped you after the first wash without the "initially" comment. We don't charge first clean premiums but we don't "chase" customers. Worst case scenario you'll go out and learn a bit more and only earn a one off £40. If it was a tenner then I'd be more hesitant but if she doesn't continue I'll assure you the lesson will stay in your mind and you won't make the same mistake again.

It’s not about not being customer focused , it’s about running a successful business and having work for employees and a known income at the end of the month , to pay their wages and my bills , we set out our stall when quoting if they dont like our terms then we wouldn’t take the job on in the first place , if they accept them then that’s our agreement and I expect them to stick to it , we are of course flexible if they are decorating or building work going on we are more than happy to leave it until the work is completed but won’t do longer frequency’s than 8 weeks , if they cannot afford th

To be self sufficient and be able to do the things I want. Being self employeed is amazing. I’ve had times I’ve wanted to throw in the towel, but I’ve worked through them/made changes so now I can genuinely say I wouldn’t change it. At the moment, it’s great knowing I can take a week or two off at anytime, with no notice and go see friends or travel. Eventually this job (or whatever grows from it) will buy me a house and support a family. (That’s if I ever get my act together & start saving )

Sometimes stress stops people from being able to think clearly as all you can see is trouble. Why not sit down and just have a look at what you're doing. You must be doing ok as you're going to employ. Can you not filter your work so you can have 4 relatively stress free days a week where you can gross £200 - £250 a day. If you do this for 4 weeks a month you'll gross £38K - £48K a year. This leaves you with a total of 4 weeks a year to do what you want or to catch up on the bad weather days.

Right then, a small update to my price rise 'cull'. 1 Village done, 32 properties, £250 worth of increases. 2 cancellations and one moved to 8 weekly.....not a bad result so far. Expecting that to drop off a bit over the next week as a few others get back to me, but I was planning along the lines of a 60% sucess rate. So to be at 94% so far is better than expected!

Love my Vivaro, had an old Peugeot Expert that I bought cheap when I first setup in 2009 just to get me going, did'nt think I would get more than a couple of years out of it, but the old girl lasted 9 years!!, and I worked her hard, but in the end she fell to bits around me, lol, so in 2018 I invested in a 4 year old Vivaro Sportive, was a huge step up from the Peugeot, like moving from a caravan to a mansion, and a much more pleasant place to spend my working day, and I fell in love with her instantly, local signwriting company designed me a simple but effective livery, it does the job and th

Good going mate,, Knock some doors but don’t be put off buy them people who says “”oh we have already got a window cleaner he cleans the whole estate”” what they actually mean by that is he probably cleans there’s next door and probably one over the road don’t be put off more you knock more Easier it becomes Evan if you go out and don’t get anything get back up the following day and go back out plenty off glass out there to be cleaned mate best off luck with your adventure:)

As has been said get used to doing a two storey house first getting the brush on the window and cleaning it at that height will take you a while to do accurately you don’t want to be trying to use a 50 foot pole yet , that’s like just getting your driving licence and jumping into a formula one car . Build up your experience slowly you will benefit much more in the long run . Like a lot of things in life a skilled person makes a job look easy it’s only when you try doing it yourself you resales it’s not as easy as you thought

Boooooooom 500

I carry out an awful lot of one off cleans for estate agents, those moving house and retail The way I see it is it's all money coming in to pay the bills. You're not always going to attract the regular repeat customer, Don't be offended if they don't use you again, its money in the pocket mate

Labs, I have found to be the most affectionate dogs our boy everyday acts like he has never seen me for weeks and always wants a big bear hug each morning and when I get in from work, We are closest I have ever been with our previous dogs and the bond we have is going to absolute break me when that day comes.

No one knows for sure if the new customer we take on is going to be a messer or not. We have to prove ourselves to them in the same way they have to prove themselves to us. This takes time. This is why we opt for an initial first clean price. If the regular clean requested turns into a one off then you haven't lost out too much financially. She might not like you or the job you do so she is covering her bases. No problem with that. If she fails the test then at least you have 'dodged a bullet' early in the business relationship. We have all been caught with regular cleans turnin

On domestic we offer 4 or 8 weekly that’s our maximum frequency we wouldn’t accept any longer time scale so fir us it would be bye bye , we have more work than we can shake a stick at 4 weekly so why bother with something like this , if you let one customer dictate the terms and conditions to your business then word will get round and more will try it , we have over 4,000 customers and apart from a dentist that wanted to go to 3 monthly recently I cannot remember the last time we had anyone evan ask .when we quote a job I Stress the frequency if they agree to that then that’s our verbal agree

All my new customers are now being told I only offer 6 weekly. I'm starting the process of telling existing customers I want to change them all to 6 weekly and today I told the 12 weekly customers I'm only doing 6 weekly now. Only 2 have cancelled altogether but I'm still financially better off due to the others saying yes. I want only 1 interval as it was getting impossible with so many on different schedules.

She agreed to my increase and to move to 6 weekly. A few others have agreed to move from 12 weekly to 6 weekly, no questions asked. One declined but I expected her to. Another in a flat agreed to a £8 increase, £12 to £20. I'll focus on a few others gradually but won't change many more for now as their prices are quite robust.

Just look at it as a normal window clean the fact it’s new windows should hopefully make the job easier

We take them off to do FSG's and when we wash the windows after without it we wonder how we managed without one before.

You’re absolutely bang on the money for me! I need discipline, to adhere to a working routine, or I waste away mentally and physically. One thing I found when I took a few weeks off at the start of the First lock down is that the first week was horrendous, my partner reminded me the other day that I was stood in the kitchen listening to lbc a lot with periods in between where I stood round not knowing to do with myself. After the first week though, I was happily sat round wasting the days doing nothing. I couldn’t tell you what I’d done that day if you’d asked as it hadn’t been anythi

Mine was initially to set up a business for my son but after 2 years he packed in. It then became a challenge to build a business in a different industry. It's now to build a business for both my son and I, he rejoined 30 months ago, so he has a good standard of living and I have something to keep me from getting bored in retirement without restricting me in doing what I want to do.

The worst mistake youll ever make!

The new channel arrived this morning. The metal channel is the same except for a notch in the middle and the writing. The back of the end clips are tighter to the rubber to better hold it in place. The front of the clip looks like it is slightly less angled than the 2.0. Does it work? Too early to say really, I have tried it on a couple of windows with not instantly great results but maybe the rubber needs bedding in? Will test more tomorrow.

Wish I had a bigger van as have to try a try gutter vac, poles and genie in here at some point and that without the portable wfp system. Tried to utilise the ply as much as possible but ran out of space. Have space in front of tank but didn't want to clog that up, no choice now I think . Next van will absolutely be a bigger one.

I appreciate what you're saying. But there's no such thing as "market rate" for window cleaners. There's a huge disparity across the country in terms of pricing, even within the same street. There is no wrong or right when pricing up jobs but what I do not want to do, is to rip people off. I am simply not willing to charge £40 for what will eventually prove to be a 30 minute job just to clean windows. I want to be fair to my customers - this will aid in customer retention. I have picked up so many jobs over the past year from customers who decided their existing window cleaners were

Welcome and good luck in your venture. I wouldn't bother thinking about 50ft poles just yet, you need to learn to walk before you can run.

Be strong, I know the feeling losing your best loyal friend who never judged you

IMO the OP is totally overthinking it...dont forget the customer has every right to 'try you out' before comitting to a regular service....

Equipment needed Step 1 Google search engine: type in Window cleaners near me Step 2 Telephone: Ring a local window cleaner and book. Step 3 Funds: To pay step 2 There you go fella easy peasy

May I add that Alex has swiftly sorted my issues with the slx30 as I had stated above you can't fault his customer support. And I admire the fact he personally comes on to protect his business Thanks

For me I’m very self disciplined. I’m waiting to go out to work everyday. I wanna get it done ASAP so I can go back home. As I’ve said lots I only do mon tues & wed. I’m eager to get out there to get it done so I get my 4 day weekend every week!

I guess it's all about use case scenario, I well remember what poles were like 15+ years ago when a cheap pole lasted 6 months and a good one about 18, changing your pole every 18 months feels like a step backward to me. I am unashamedly an advocate of Gardiner poles, my SL-X 18 is over ten years old and is in my hand 95% of the time I am cleaning, it has earnt me hundreds of thousands of pounds. I also have an SL-X 35 which I purchased last year and I have no issues with that, I would have preferred an extreme but that is currently beyond my financial ability. There has also been a

Interesting post. You joined 8 hours ago and your only post is 8 hours ago to comment on this particular thread. Are you the owner of Pure Gleam poles because this look suspiciously like you are or are associated with them? @IanShineI see your location on your profile is Wirral. The Ebay account is Liverpool. Not that far apart really.

I agree with Dazmond. Knock on doors, it's not illegal, and never be put of by the odd miserable sod. Dress smart, be polite and confident. The more you do it, the easier it becomes