Employee Contract

[Cleanco]

In the same respect that 4 vans wouldn't make double the amount 2 vans would that wouldn't necessarily increase by 200 per van, you say it may come down a little but surely you're not thinking people get a new premises every time they get a new van

No mate but the bigger you get the more the expenses are gonna stack up. I would love to see an actual breakdown of a working multi van operation. I just can’t see that I was that far out tbh. 

 

[Pjj]

As predicted my calculations must be way off the mark. Can’t blame the accountant as he only has what I give him hence why I was asking for advice and a rough estimate in the first place. 

My calculations are as follows and based on one man doing 300 per day, 5 days a week

300-vat

500-reasonable wage for employee

100-holiday pay, sick pay,workplace pension

200-running expenses per van

200-global business expense e.g admin staff,office, yard +lockup to store vans and epuipment etc

leaves me around 200 per week profit. 

Now you see were I got ten vans from. 

The global business expenses may come down a little the more vans you acquire but not much. 

So are you saying that it’s costing you £200 per week to run a van ? That equals £800 per month that’s some serious van , I don’t think it would cost £200 a week for a unit , not that I have one but I know there are ones near me that are £250 per month . If you are paying them £10-12 per hour that’s not £500 per week , if you pay minimum wage + bonus that’s considerably less than £500 ,it’s good to over estimate your expenses so you don’t get caught out but I think you could do it considerably cheaper we certainly do , providing it’s an option can you not operate from home there’s a big saving straight away , we do I only have two vans Ime not intrested in growing the buisness any more . Also depending on the type of work you are doing I would have thought it’s possible to earn more than 300 per man per day on there own without breaking into a sweat , I accept it does depend where in the country you are to a degree . I don’t want to be critical of what you have said but you are running a buisness not a charity you do have to treat staff right and pay a decent  Wage but give them some sort of incentive to do more work like @Green Pro Clean Ltd Said that’s the way to motivate them if you just give them a sheet with £300 worth of work that’s all they will do , offer a bonus for new customers , bonus for xxx amount of extra work done for the month , you will earn considerably more and so will they they will be asking you do you have anything else they can do , any new customers my guys get they have the first clean price as a bonus , they are always canvassing properties next to the jobs they are doing works well for all concerned, hope you are able to make it work 

 

[Adman]

With regard to the contract, i don't think a zero hours contract is something you should consider in window cleaning.  Our business is mostly repeat and fairly predictable.  You either have enough work to cover a full/ part time position or you don't.  If you don't, why employ?

 

[Mabozzer]

That winter was bad but that was something that's not happened in years and could be another 8 years again as for reduced daylight hours most lads don't work till 5pm and beyond I usually will till 4-4.30pm so in reality through the winter I only lose 30 minutes daylight a day which can be easily made up by pushing on through a working day.  

Before Christmas I was packing up at 1530 at times as there was no light left but then again I don't start early as I've got kids to sort in the morning. As we've past the longest nights it's now light at 1620 which does make a huge for me. Maybe that'll change when I take someone on again and be starting earlier.

 

[Mabozzer]

I've always agreed with decent pay and conditions, but like many starting without resources it takes some graft to position yourself to be able to do so.  

Think about that sentence mate.  A contract that guarantees you NOTHING is better than no contract?   You want to stand by that?

At least it's above board having a contract rather than not having a contract, so I'd say it would be better having a zero hour contract than having someone cash in hand. At least you can show where your moneys going.

 

[Cleanco]

So are you saying that it’s costing you £200 per week to run a van ? That equals £800 per month that’s some serious van , I don’t think it would cost £200 a week for a unit , not that I have one but I know there are ones near me that are £250 per month . If you are paying them £10-12 per hour that’s not £500 per week , if you pay minimum wage + bonus that’s considerably less than £500 ,it’s good to over estimate your expenses so you don’t get caught out but I think you could do it considerably cheaper we certainly do , providing it’s an option can you not operate from home there’s a big saving straight away , we do I only have two vans Ime not intrested in growing the buisness any more . Also depending on the type of work you are doing I would have thought it’s possible to earn more than 300 per man per day on there own without breaking into a sweat , I accept it does depend where in the country you are to a degree . I don’t want to be critical of what you have said but you are running a buisness not a charity you do have to treat staff right and pay a decent  Wage but give them some sort of incentive to do more work like @Green Pro Clean Ltd Said that’s the way to motivate them if you just give them a sheet with £300 worth of work that’s all they will do , offer a bonus for new customers , bonus for xxx amount of extra work done for the month , you will earn considerably more and so will they they will be asking you do you have anything else they can do , any new customers my guys get they have the first clean price as a bonus , they are always canvassing properties next to the jobs they are doing works well for all concerned, hope you are able to make it work 

My van finance and fuel alone come to over 400 a month. Then you’ve got tax, mot, servicing, general maintenance, insurance, employees liability insurance, public liability insurance, round management software fees, fees for payment processing, accountant fees, equipment maintenace and replacement. The list goes on and there’s probs things I don’t even know about once you get to a certain size. Maybe you could get a little more work out of an employee but I wouldn’t like to build a sizeable plan on the basis that every employee is going to be able to do as much as I can. Don’t forget that we have been doing this a very long time. I thought that bar the wages I had been quite leanient with my predictions and that’s all they are as I was just putting it out there in hope that someone that’s implementing a multivan op could tell me otherwise as I may look into expanding again if the profit margins were right for me. 

Also I’d like to add that I think you would most certainly need a separate premises to run the business from as I certainly wouldn’t want a fleet of vans queing down my street waiting to fill their tanks ready for the next day and even if you let the lads take the vans home I wouldn’t expect them to fill using their own water. 

 

[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

Also I’d like to add that I think you would most certainly need a separate premises to run the business from as I certainly wouldn’t want a fleet of vans queuing down my street

We work from home and will continue to do so. We are currently looking for another house with larger garage and wider drive to purchase and the savings from not having a lockup will go nicely towards the mortgage. 

even if you let the lads take the vans home I wouldn’t expect them to fill using their own water. 

My lads do take the vans home but as yet still come down here for fast filling as they live in terraced housing so running hoses across streets not too practical.  However as we grow I would happily set them up with on-board filtration so they can fill at home and just hand in their water bill as an expense. 

I was just putting it out there in hope that someone that’s implementing a multivan op could tell me otherwise as I may look into expanding again if the profit margins were right for me. 

Happy to come down and go through your books, pick apart your business, see where we can cut dead wood and improve on efficiency and profitability then implement a program for growth to scale up your business and make you a mint moving forward. 

^^ Said slightly sarcastically (sorry) that last sentence as there are people that do this for a living (pick apart business operations and improve and scale them) and to hire one will cost you a small fortune so it seems you went the option of hoping someone on here would just lay it all out for you and deliver it double spaced on 240grm Premium Bond in a hard backed folder wrapped in a bow.  The answers are all out there, and I know this sound rude (not intended) but go look for them instead of just hoping someone will write out your business plan when you ask. 

IF YOUR EMPLOYEE IS NOT WILLING TO WORK AS HARD AS YOU THEN THEY AREN'T THE RIGHT EMPLOYEE. (Yes I meant to do that in capitals) 

Lastly on the topic,  No one can tell you how to run your business, only you can decide that that works for you and does not work for you, what systems and methods and pricing you want to implement ect.  I go battered when two years ago I said I was going GoCardless only without exception, was told it would never work, that I would lose business ect, but here we are two years down the line growing more rapidly than ever with customers loving on-line payment. ONLY YOU can decide the future of you and your business. 

 

[Cleanco]

We work from home and will continue to do so. We are currently looking for another house with larger garage and wider drive to purchase and the savings from not having a lockup will go nicely towards the mortgage. 

My lads do take the vans home but as yet still come down here for fast filling as they live in terraced housing so running hoses across streets not too practical.  However as we grow I would happily set them up with on-board filtration so they can fill at home and just hand in their water bill as an expense. 

Happy to come down and go through your books, pick apart your business, see where we can cut dead wood and improve on efficiency and profitability then implement a program for growth to scale up your business and make you a mint moving forward. 

^^ Said slightly sarcastically (sorry) that last sentence as there are people that do this for a living (pick apart business operations and improve and scale them) and to hire one will cost you a small fortune so it seems you went the option of hoping someone on here would just lay it all out for you and deliver it double spaced on 240grm Premium Bond in a hard backed folder wrapped in a bow.  The answers are all out there, and I know this sound rude (not intended) but go look for them instead of just hoping someone will write out your business plan when you ask. 

IF YOUR EMPLOYEE IS NOT WILLING TO WORK AS HARD AS YOU THEN THEY AREN'T THE RIGHT EMPLOYEE. (Yes I meant to do that in capitals) 

Lastly on the topic,  No one can tell you how to run your business, only you can decide that that works for you and does not work for you, what systems and methods and pricing you want to implement ect.  I go battered when two years ago I said I was going GoCardless only without exception, was told it would never work, that I would lose business ect, but here we are two years down the line growing more rapidly than ever with customers loving on-line payment. ONLY YOU can decide the future of you and your business. 

Thanks for the offer and it’s much appreciated but I was only really looking for expected profit margins per van.Its really refreshing to talk to others that are already successful in this area of our trade and certainly an eye opener. At what point would you say a separate premises would become a necessary?

 

[Pjj]

My van finance and fuel alone come to over 400 a month. Then you’ve got tax, mot, servicing, general maintenance, insurance, employees liability insurance, public liability insurance, round management software fees, fees for payment processing, accountant fees, equipment maintenace and replacement. The list goes on and there’s probs things I don’t even know about once you get to a certain size. Maybe you could get a little more work out of an employee but I wouldn’t like to build a sizeable plan on the basis that every employee is going to be able to do as much as I can. Don’t forget that we have been doing this a very long time. I thought that bar the wages I had been quite leanient with my predictions and that’s all they are as I was just putting it out there in hope that someone that’s implementing a multivan op could tell me otherwise as I may look into expanding again if the profit margins were right for me. 

Also I’d like to add that I think you would most certainly need a separate premises to run the business from as I certainly wouldn’t want a fleet of vans queing down my street waiting to fill their tanks ready for the next day and even if you let the lads take the vans home I wouldn’t expect them to fill using their own water. 

Greens comments are spot on i dont seam to agree with him often unfortunately ??? but what he has said is 100% right , I know of several operators near me that run multi van operations from home , I accept they have houses with off road parking but we run two vans like this and I know others do it with up to 10 vans , there is no need for a buisness premesis again greens way buy a bigger house with a bit of land if it’s available where you live is the way to go it’s a win win , I live on a housing estate and can get 5 vehicles on my drive with ease . I see you have been in business for 20 years that’s the same as me we run two vans and I could easily expand and have at least 4 more but Ime not intrested in further expansion , I am suprised that someone with that amount of experience seams to be so unsure of expenses , the figures you have come up with I don’t spend that on running costs with two vans and the oldest one is 4 years old , I think rhetorical questions you need to be looking at are pricing of jobs , if one guy can only do £300 per day either he’s sitting in the van all afternoon drinking tea or the job prices are very low , again Ime not criticising your way of doing things but I have lots of friends running businesses like this from sloe traders to 12 van set ups and pricing is key as is getting the staff that want to work , offer realistic bonuses as has already been suggested providing they are achievable if the staff cannot do it you have the wrong staff , get rid off and get ones that can and will achieve the goals set that’s what I have done, give them a 3 month trial train them up how to do the job , it’s not that difficult we are only cleaning windows: plastic etc , you will go through a few staff to find the right ones but we know have very good staff that I can trust to go out and do the job to a high standard without supervision, there are lots of buisness running like this .its difficult to go from you as the owner doing Everton letting go and getting staff to do the job , years ago when I started sending staff to do jobs I got some complaints not that they had done a poor job but the customer wanted to see me there doing there properties I explained I cannot do everything, if they won’t accept that then they have to become an ex customer , expanding a buisness isn’t easy I found it hard to let go and get others to do what I had been doing it’s a leap of faith but with the right employees it will pay dividends , good luck. If you do go for it 

 

[Clisty1989]

@Damo I'm surprised you've not added your insight? Don't you have loads of vans out?

 

[Damo]

@Damo I'm surprised you've not added your insight? Don't you have loads of vans out?

I don’t employ bud, i franchised my business back in 2015. I have 5, with 6 and 7 on route within a couple of months ? 

 

[Clisty1989]

I don’t employ bud, i franchised my business back in 2015. I have 5, with 6 and 7 on route within a couple of months ? 

Knew you had several vans out, wasn't sure how you went about it though. What made you decide franchise over employment if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Cleanco]

Greens comments are spot on i dont seam to agree with him often unfortunately ??? but what he has said is 100% right , I know of several operators near me that run multi van operations from home , I accept they have houses with off road parking but we run two vans like this and I know others do it with up to 10 vans , there is no need for a buisness premesis again greens way buy a bigger house with a bit of land if it’s available where you live is the way to go it’s a win win , I live on a housing estate and can get 5 vehicles on my drive with ease . I see you have been in business for 20 years that’s the same as me we run two vans and I could easily expand and have at least 4 more but Ime not intrested in further expansion , I am suprised that someone with that amount of experience seams to be so unsure of expenses , the figures you have come up with I don’t spend that on running costs with two vans and the oldest one is 4 years old , I think rhetorical questions you need to be looking at are pricing of jobs , if one guy can only do £300 per day either he’s sitting in the van all afternoon drinking tea or the job prices are very low , again Ime not criticising your way of doing things but I have lots of friends running businesses like this from sloe traders to 12 van set ups and pricing is key as is getting the staff that want to work , offer realistic bonuses as has already been suggested providing they are achievable if the staff cannot do it you have the wrong staff , get rid off and get ones that can and will achieve the goals set that’s what I have done, give them a 3 month trial train them up how to do the job , it’s not that difficult we are only cleaning windows: plastic etc , you will go through a few staff to find the right ones but we know have very good staff that I can trust to go out and do the job to a high standard without supervision, there are lots of buisness running like this .its difficult to go from you as the owner doing Everton letting go and getting staff to do the job , years ago when I started sending staff to do jobs I got some complaints not that they had done a poor job but the customer wanted to see me there doing there properties I explained I cannot do everything, if they won’t accept that then they have to become an ex customer , expanding a buisness isn’t easy I found it hard to let go and get others to do what I had been doing it’s a leap of faith but with the right employees it will pay dividends , good luck. If you do go for it 

Some good points there and as I mentioned earlier it’s refreshing to hear different opinions. I have been at it a while now but not always working for myself so I wouldn’t class myself as an expert on the business side of things. I did use my own figures to come up with the estimates but I inflated them a little as I thought there would be extra expenses involved when getting bigger and I also prefer to over estimate things rather than under. I’m still a little sceptical as to wether a new emoloyee with 0 experience and only the training being given could reach targets of around 4/500 or even 600 per day. I’m only getting that now on my higher priced commercial work. Maybe your right and it’s my prices on my smaller houses that aren’t up to scratch but I’m still averaging a good 50 per hour which I thought was quite reasonable. There is a guy near me that has I think 4/5 vans out but he specialises in commercial and another slightly bigger commercial op that does other types of cleaning as well as windows so maybe that’s were the money is. Don’t really know of any large scale domestic window cleaners apart from the nationals so I’d not much to go off until I came on here. Cheers for the insight, much appreciated. 

 

[Cleanco]

I don’t employ bud, i franchised my business back in 2015. I have 5, with 6 and 7 on route within a couple of months ? 

Would you say that franchising is the best way to go? I’ve never really looked into that. Not sure exactly how this works, do you charge them a monthly amount or do they just buy the franchise outright with one lump sum? I’m guessing whichever way there’s less expense involved as you won’t have to deal with the employee side of things. 

 

[Damo]

Knew you had several vans out, wasn't sure how you went about it though. What made you decide franchise over employment if you don't mind me asking?

Tried employing twice and got screwed both times. One stole work and the other landed me with complaints galore. 

It’s been a rollercoaster of a journey but cracked it in the last year or so now. 

Its very complicated if you want to do it correctly. 

Would you say that franchising is the best way to go? I’ve never really looked into that. Not sure exactly how this works, do you charge them a monthly amount or do they just buy the franchise outright with one lump sum? I’m guessing whichever way there’s less expense involved as you won’t have to deal with the employee side of things. 

Most work on investment and then a % of turnover, that’s how mine works as well. 

I wouldn’t say it the way to go it just depends on what you want from life. If you’re after as much money as possible then it would be employing, if you want a simpler life then it would be franchising. 

 

[Pjj]

Some good points there and as I mentioned earlier it’s refreshing to hear different opinions. I have been at it a while now but not always working for myself so I wouldn’t class myself as an expert on the business side of things. I did use my own figures to come up with the estimates but I inflated them a little as I thought there would be extra expenses involved when getting bigger and I also prefer to over estimate things rather than under. I’m still a little sceptical as to wether a new emoloyee with 0 experience and only the training being given could reach targets of around 4/500 or even 600 per day. I’m only getting that now on my higher priced commercial work. Maybe your right and it’s my prices on my smaller houses that aren’t up to scratch but I’m still averaging a good 50 per hour which I thought was quite reasonable. There is a guy near me that has I think 4/5 vans out but he specialises in commercial and another slightly bigger commercial op that does other types of cleaning as well as windows so maybe that’s were the money is. Don’t really know of any large scale domestic window cleaners apart from the nationals so I’d not much to go off until I came on here. Cheers for the insight, much appreciated. 

If you are doing £50 per hour that’s good , there is no reason after a bit of time and training an employee should with in reason be able to do the same . I agree it’s always better to over estimate expenses than under . We are probably 70-80% domestic the rest is commercial, out of choise I would just do commercial but down hear there isn’t as much of it to be able to do that .  We lost a commercial contract years ago just beacause the company decided to go with national contractors 25k is a lot to loose , we did get the contract back 3 years later and have been doing it for the last 10 + years but it’s a big hit , I learned a valuable lesson don’t put all your eggs in one basket with work , I think the best is a mix of domestic and commercial, I now view domestic as bread and butter work and commercial as a nice extra but if I loose it it won’t put me out of buisness 

 

[Davopz]

here are my ones that i have for my company

Contract of employment.doc 60 kB · 70 downloads

Employee Confidentiality.doc 34.5 kB · 46 downloads

Exceed 48hr Week.doc 29.5 kB · 31 downloads

T&C of Employment.doc 38 kB · 44 downloads

Hi all, I tried downloading the files but they open empty. Would you know why? Could someone repost them for me? Thanks

 

[Pjj]

Down south you'll get it easier though, 2010 guys were hardly out for about 4 weeks. Last winter was also pretty bad and during the winter the working hours are reduced so you've only got a Saturday for OT

We have never gone more than a few days that we couldn’t work due to the weather wind is worse than rain we work in light rain but not monsoon conditions ???

 

[Iron Giant]

Hi all, I tried downloading the files but they open empty. Would you know why? Could someone repost them for me? Thanks

The files were uploaded 7 years ago so anything could have happened to the files overtime and the member who uploaded them hasn't being on the forum for 3 years 

 

[P4dstar]

The files were uploaded 7 years ago so anything could have happened to the files overtime and the member who uploaded them hasn't being on the forum for 3 years 

I heard they were deleted because of Brexit ?