advice please on which system to buy

[alanw]

im looking at buying a pure water and pole system. at the moment i have a small round taking £400 a month averaging out at £6.00 a house. as i have a night job my intention is to use the money from the round to expand.

so my question is for the present size of my round ( want to try and double this in the next 2 or 3 months) and limited knowledge which would be the best total system for me.

 

[Clisty1989]

im looking at buying a pure water and pole system. at the moment i have a small round taking £400 a month averaging out at £6.00 a house. as i have a night job my intention is to use the money from the round to expand.so my question is for the present size of my round ( want to try and double this in the next 2 or 3 months) and limited knowledge which would be the best total system for me.

1st thing to go is hike your prices up, £6 is too low IMO, as 400 quid will just about get you a decent pole and di vessel, you looking at at least £800 for a half decent 350l system

 

[Part Timer]

To give you advice we need to know if you're in a soft or hard water area. Initially it could be cheaper to buy your pure water in.

 

[Poles Apart]

Agree that you need to sort your prices out. I look at it like this I'm supposed to have a Pension, Holiday Pay, Sick Pay, Money for equipment, working at home which for me is 2 Hours a day, preparing Water, equipment, Phoning, Texting, all that has to be paid for, then there is Fuel, Road Tax, Tax, Insurance for Vehicle, Public Liability, probably a whole raft of stuff I've forgot to mention, oh hold on a bit, advertising budget, Website, round planner, flyers blah blah blah, then you're supposed to be in Business to make a profit £6 Houses aren't gonna get you there.

 

[Clisty1989]

Agree that you need to sort your prices out. I look at it like this I'm supposed to have a Pension, Holiday Pay, Sick Pay, Money for equipment, working at home which for me is 2 Hours a day, preparing Water, equipment, Phoning, Texting, all that has to be paid for, then there is Fuel, Road Tax, Tax, Insurance for Vehicle, Public Liability, probably a whole raft of stuff I've forgot to mention, oh hold on a bit, advertising budget, Website, round planner, flyers blah blah blah, then you're supposed to be in Business to make a profit £6 Houses aren't gonna get you there.

I worked out that after everything and Mr taxmans share I get £4.50 per £10 made

 

[Poles Apart]

How big are these Houses and how long does it take you to do one?

 

[alanw]

town houses dead easy even for a newbee like me, how long per house well since i only started tuesday about three an hour. I have some that are double the £6.00 but not many.

I think sheffield is hard water. Liability quoted £90.00. Pension etc doesnt come into it I work nights 26 hours a week ( on my break) only now Im 60 I intended to drop to 16 hours and make up the difference nights for 14 years starts to grind you down. I took my small pot pension booked a holiday payed off my credit cards and used some of the rest to buy this round whats left i thought flyers and a pole fed system put the rest into savings for the 7 grandkids.

 

[Part Timer]

Backpack, trolley and pole, try and find someone local that sells pure water, for the time being, if you are hard water.

 

[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

In my opinion, and please bear in mind that's all it is....my opinion.....

All this get a trolley get a backpack is a false economy andna waste of time.

Yes I have a backpack and it comes out for 4 windows a month where it's a painnto reach with the van system.

Two key factors before we even get to how hard is your water @alanw will be are you wanting to grow so you can make this a full time gig and sack off nights? And what's the budget? (No need to tell us that part)

You can spend a couple of hundred messing about now with trolleys, loading, unloading, refilling, sodding about and spending as much time messing with it as you do on the windows.

Or you can pay extortinate rates to some 'supplier' (£10k and more if you like) to install their 'system' (this assumes you already have a van to pop it in)

If you can plumb a garden hose and wire a plug you can do a DIY setup with off the shelf parts. To be set with no nonsense ready to go between £1k and £2k.

Options 2 & 3 allow you to spend time cleaning windows and not messing about refilling backpacks and trolleys etc. They will also be more than adaquate to allow you to grow.

I chose the later path as have plenty experience building my own systems.

I'm just down the way from you in Nottingham so if you're passing feel free to drop in and have a look to help ge your head round it all mate.

 

[Dean Rogers]

You can spend a couple of hundred messing about now with trolleys, loading, unloading, refilling, sodding about and spending as much time messing with it as you do on the windows.
Or you can pay extortinate rates to some 'supplier' (£10k and more if you like) to install their 'system' (this assumes you already have a van to pop it in)

If you can plumb a garden hose and wire a plug you can do a DIY setup with off the shelf parts. To be set with no nonsense ready to go between £1k and £2k.

Options 2 & 3 allow you to spend time cleaning windows and not messing about refilling backpacks and trolleys etc. They will also be more than adaquate to allow you to grow.

Agree with that completely.

Best to spend your time looking into getting your own set up done.

I kitted my van out the same as a friend of mine, we spent 2 days getting it spot on to our requirements and was in the region of £1500 for the basic set-up and then added to it as I went along.

Another friend had spent approx £5000 getting his van fitted by a company and still had problems, one of them being they had drilled into the diesel tank and needed the van back to fix it and was off the road for 2 days.

Sent using the Window Cleaning Forums mobile app

 

[Dean Rogers]

Sorry the first half of that reply was supposed to be a 'quote' from Greens post.

Sent using the Window Cleaning Forums mobile app

 

[Poles Apart]

I have 260 Customers and can honestly say if I had a van mount it would seriously hinder me I am getting a tank fitted to fill my backpacks at the moment I am filling up with barrels and I have been for 7 years starting out with a Trolley and I don't have any issue with my set up at all. I saw another Poster on here saying he went back to Backpack after having Van Mount so glad I'm not the only one messing about.

 

[Part Timer]

The person asking the question is 60, no disrespect or ageism intended, who is currently working night shift on a part time basis. He is cleaning circa 70 houses a month and wants advice based on his current workload.

If he was asking for advice on what he needed if he was going to quadruple his turnover then he might need more equipment. For 70 houses and £400 a month spending £2k means he will be working for 6 months free of charge.

 

[Poles Apart]

The person asking the question is 60, no disrespect or ageism intended, who is currently working night shift on a part time basis. He is cleaning circa 70 houses a month and wants advice based on his current workload.If he was asking for advice on what he needed if he was going to quadruple his turnover then he might need more equipment. For 70 houses and £400 a month spending £2k means he will be working for 6 months free of charge.

agreed, however he does say he is looking to double his workload, he wants to get a wfp system so I'm assuming he is Trad with wfp he'll probably not do many more hours as he'll be quicker so about 35 houses a week, he doesn't need a fully fitted out Van for that.

 

[adamangler]

There's a lot to be said for a backpack. I find it easier on a good chunk of my work. Mainly on houses where you can't get a straight pull from the van to the back of the house like yiu have to go round a wall and a tree and a plant pot etc. A backpack can be picked up and carried round obstacles much quicker. I think both van mounts and backpacks and trolleys have their place. Trolleys are great for terraced

 

[alexanders]

im looking at buying a pure water and pole system. at the moment i have a small round taking £400 a month averaging out at £6.00 a house. as i have a night job my intention is to use the money from the round to expand. so my question is for the present size of my round ( want to try and double this in the next 2 or 3 months) and limited knowledge which would be the best total system for me.

SimPure-550 + Simb-45 Hi Mod Pole +SimPump +Sim30tankPump +Coxreel 100' 3/8 hose $4,175.00 - SimPole | Window Cleaning Equipment You Can Rely On

Sent using the Window Cleaning Forums mobile app

 

[alanw]

The waters 87 Thanks for you help

Monday Im getting some flyers printed ( i like the ones with the tick on the back) and door knocking. first day on the job I got 8 new customers at £9.00 a house which shows i was pricing the work wrong. Thanks everyone

 

[spruce]

There's a lot to be said for a backpack. I find it easier on a good chunk of my work. Mainly on houses where you can't get a straight pull from the van to the back of the house like yiu have to go round a wall and a tree and a plant pot etc. A backpack can be picked up and carried round obstacles much quicker. I think both van mounts and backpacks and trolleys have their place. Trolleys are great for terraced

@adamangler, @alanw is 60. I can tell you from experience that a backpack is out of the question. Its too heavy. If it isn't now, it soon will be.

Its fine when you are young and full of energy. But @alanw isn't. Those shifts are already taking their toll. Lifting that backpack after pouring water into it is a killer in itself.

A fellow windie in our area uses a trailer filled with 25 liter containers of pure with he tows with his family car. You could do the same if you haven't the funds for a van. Have a pump box and battery and drop a hose into the container. When empty move onto the next container.

.

 

[Iron Giant]

It makes me laugh when people say trolleys and backpacks are the way and a van mount would be more of an issue I was like that for 4 years with a trolley and got sick of lugging containers around and hurting my back at times , Their is a lad on FB and he has used a backpack for 4 years and trads the downstairs and he has VW Caddy .

A van mount is the way to go have look at a Pump Box and tank etc @ thecleaningwarehouse.co.uk the cheapest place to buy a Pump Box you could buy all you need for around £1,000

 

[adamangler]

It makes me laugh when people say trolleys and backpacks are the way and a van mount would be more of an issue I was like that for 4 years with a trolley and got sick of lugging containers around and hurting my back at times , Their is a lad on FB and he has used a backpack for 4 years and trads the downstairs and he has VW Caddy .
A van mount is the way to go have look at a Pump Box and tank etc @ thecleaningwarehouse.co.uk the cheapest place to buy a Pump Box you could buy all you need for around £1,000

I was the same, i lugged about barrels and a trolley for a good while and hated it. Switched to a van mount and its so much easier. However there are a few jobs i do that are easier and quicker with a backpack, it has its place.

 

[ECS Windows]

Worked out that my filled trolley weighs 12.5stone. Great workout atm but can't imagine doing it still in a year. Thinking a toyota hilux is a good middle ground so can still be used as a personal vehicle

Sent using the Window Cleaning Forums mobile app