crossing over to wfp

[scottish cleaning service]

I don’t use one on any of mine pole hose goes straight into jg connector 

Thanks Pjj I've just been hunting high and low for one of them on the net. I eventually found one on gardiners and at the bottom it says not to be used on T connectors. Then I realised the small clear hoses on the brush don't have them and they never pop out. Everyday a school day so it seems.

 

[dmw]

Thats a great catchline. Reminds me of an idea id had once to call mine 'Carlsberg cleaners' probably the best window cleaners in the world ? ? ?

But I reckon they'd connect me with lager too much, which is already a tad too well known in some of my areas ?

I strive to be the Stella Artois of window cleaning.... reassuringly expensive.?.

 

[scottish cleaning service]

Thats a great catchline. Reminds me of an idea id had once to call mine 'Carlsberg cleaners' probably the best window cleaners in the world ? ? ?

But I reckon they'd connect me with lager too much, which is already a tad too well known in some of my areas ?

One of our mad councillors in Paisley copied that Carlsberg quote on his leaflets and posted them all over his constituency. A week later Carlsberg's Lawyers sent him a letter stating that if he does it again they will take him to court. He never did it again which was pretty disappointing. 

 

[Iron Giant]

You sir have just saved me a lot of faff! Never thought about the colour of the frames being an issue / lack of cleaning required. 

I don't think he meant, you don't need to clean them as well as white frames, all frames no matter what colour need the same thorough clean

 

[M & S Window Cleaning]

This sounds as though you have been working the round already and subsequently purchased the round from the 'owner' you worked for/with.

This should be a lot easier than when we were in your situation 15 years ago. We purchased a compact round that was trad which we converted to wfp. We were trad cleaners and had never done wfp before. My son was introduced to our new customers and did a trad clean with the previous cleaners. I didn't know he had done this.

The round consisted of mainly dormers so climbing all over roofs wasn't an option for me. Nobody had heard of the wfp cleaning method before. We were new cleaners introducing a new cleaning method and to cap it all, we were foreigners selling a service to Yorkshire folk who are renowned for being distrusting.

What was a disadvantage ended up an advantage. The previous cleaners cleaned glass only and never cleaned the frames. It was hard graft getting the frames clean and leaving a perfect job. I even had to tell them on the first day that they didn't have to pay me until they were happy with the job done.

First day was a nightmare and I wished we had never got involved. When I arrived on 'site' the following day even I was amased at how good those windows were done wfp. They just gleamed in the morning sun. I only managed to do 6 or 7 houses a day on the first day's clean and each of those home owners came out and paid me, ensuring that I continued to clean them with this new system.

I did each house twice. After the first clean I went and did a first clean on the second house and then the third. This gave the first house's windows time to drip down and dry. I went back to the first house and did the glass again, repeating this with the second and third house.

I then checked each clean and sorted out any remaining streaks. I only knocked for payment once the windows had dried spotlessly.

As I said I only managed 6 or 7 houses a day and used around 500 litres of water each day.

We purchased a round of around a hundred customers and that took me 3 weeks to finish.

We honestly lost 3 or 4 which we never paid for. There were also a couple on the list who advised these cleaners hadn't cleaned them for years, so we didn't pay for those either.

We actually gained more than we lost because we got numerous jobs from people who wanted clean windows but didn't want the cleaner to walk on their roof tiles.

Here's what to look out for. This round was a 2 weekly clean and that's what we purchased it as. But over the next few months we got more and more turning us away because the windows were still clean. But they didn't want to pay more for a 4 weekly clean. This area is part of a tight knit community. When I tried to increase prices we got mass cancellations.

We found out that they had used this tactic on the previous window cleaners twice which explained why the prices were rather low.

I 'stuck to my guns' and we lost around 50% of the round we purchased. Slowly they started to dribble back at the new price, but I didn't get them all back. It actually generated a fair amount of ill will on the round. We later identified the ring leader but we continued to clean her mother's property over the road through all this carry-on. She (the ring leader) totally blanked us to this day and never asked us back.

Benefits are that they have better privacy - we don't know if they have made their bed or not this morning.

No more ladder marks in the lawn.

Better cleaning result - I'm ducking.

Its safer for us working on their property. (As a home owner they are responsible for our safety on their property. Its up to the home owner to provide workman on their property with a safe working environment.)

I have already fallen off my ladder. That was my warning shot. (We have 2 examples locally of windies who have fallen from their ladders and will never walk again.) I tell customer straight that I'm still alive because of this window cleaning method. We had enquiries asking us the clean the 'old way'. I refuse point blank. I just tell them I'm too old to die now. ?

Honestly just do it, but my advise is to practice lots before you start wfp. Looking as though you know what you are doing and being confident is 90% of the change over battle.

Hi Spruce, I’ve been using wfp since 2010 but I’m able to use both methods. but trad will take me over the 4 week cycle for the round. with the wfp I could do the round in 2-3 weeks. so as a business it makes sense to use the wfp but obviously just worried about dropping my monthly income too much after paying out thousands for the round. 

 

[spruce]

Hi Spruce, I’ve been using wfp since 2010 but I’m able to use both methods. but trad will take me over the 4 week cycle for the round. with the wfp I could do the round in 2-3 weeks. so as a business it makes sense to use the wfp but obviously just worried about dropping my monthly income too much after paying out thousands for the round. 

This is a difficult call. We are all in the same situation as you are. This is just impossible to predict how this round will react.

As I said, we lost more converting the existing round we had to wfp than the round we purchased.

It so happened that those who left us with the excuse that they didn't like the windows being left wet employed the services of another trad father and son cleaners who are still doing most of the same houses we lost 15 years ago.

Nowadays there aren't as many trad cleaners as there were 15 years ago. Some will associate the time taken to do the windows trad and then you doing them quicker with wfp as getting a lower standard of clean.

This might work against you, who knows?

You just have to suck it and see.

 

[dmw]

Hi guys, anyone here bought a trad round and successfully transferred them over to wfp? 

I have just bought over 400 customers who have been cleaned trad for the last 15 years. 

What percentage of customers do you think I will lose because of the transfer? 

also I paid out a fair bit for the round and get on very well with most of them. 

just worried about losing too many customers after paying out for the round. 

If you've bought 400 houses, I'm surmising it's going to be fairly compact and you seem to be getting along well with your customers then when you change over there maybe a few who just won't like it whatever you say.

But they may have trouble getting a trad cleaner come into your area as it's such a faff messing about with ladders and setting up. ,( When I was trad I wouldn't do single houses).

I found the few that I lost a few years ago are "marooned" on my round and filthy because they can't get a tradder to come in and do odd houses.

Are there many tradders in your area?