First paying customers.

[HWCS]

Thanks so much for the reply mate. I have flyers at the ready and alot of estates and new build estates round my area. I dont think it helped coming from being a lorry driver on £16ph and then knocking down to £10ph and running after a lorybqhie pulling bins. The hours attracted me but i genuinely dont like the job hence why maybe I'm more willing just to go full pelt at this. 

How long would you say it took you to start reaching a £1000 a month from window cleaning and have you had any issues from customers complaining about cleaning in the rain? As thisnweeksnweather isnforecst rain all week and got a couple booked in.

Thanks again!

My £1000 months came relatively quick but remember that £1000 isnt profit, in my first year my set up costs were £10k give or take a little, and this year im upto £3k already in costs.

RE: working in the rain i dont do it! Alot of my customers are elderly so a bit old school and stuck in their ways, so i dont work in the rain also my wife has low immune system due to cancer in 2017 so i dont like risking stinking colds, but thats just personal preference.

 

[Bongofish]

My £1000 months came relatively quick but remember that £1000 isnt profit, in my first year my set up costs were £10k give or take a little, and this year im upto £3k already in costs.

RE: working in the rain i dont do it! Alot of my customers are elderly so a bit old school and stuck in their ways, so i dont work in the rain also my wife has low immune system due to cancer in 2017 so i dont like risking stinking colds, but thats just personal preference.

If I bought the slx27 my set up costs would be roughly 1.5k as we swapped our 2and little car for the van. (64 plate fiat fiorino). And then I'm hoping it would just be maintaining costs e.g pure water and diesel etc etc. The way I'm looking at it, is that every house costs me £1 in costs so my actual profit on a £8 house is £7. 

If you do not attend a house due to rain,  do you message them all stating this? 

 

[Davy G]

Hey mate.

The area I live in is actually a up to date quite sought after area, but lots of new estates going up here. I know it's a bit on the cheap side for £8 but also would like some custom atleast to get used to going and doing the work and getting paid for it. 

I've already found it abit daunting with the prices as I want the buisness, (I live in a village with about 8,000 houses) and it's all in a 2 mile radius so I'm figuring there wont be much travelling time from house to house? But at the same time you get people who are clearly expecting you to be £4 for the full house just like the "old" window cleaner did with his bucket and ladder. 

Times have moved on. It's no longer a trade where the price of a pie, a pint and a flutter on the horses will do. You'll be running a business, with business expenses for equipment, tax, insurance and transport. And you need to pay yourself a decent wage. Make sure to point that out if you need to.

You're not changing career to simply survive. You can already do that on the bins. You're changing career to thrive. This is your chance to be your own boss. Not the underpaid staff of someone else. Let them expect what they want. You're in charge of what you accept. Not easy starting out, but that's what you are working on making happen within a a short time.

Be strong, buddy. You'll be fine. ??

 

[Bongofish]

Could anyone tell me if getting the slx 27 with the clx 22 is a good idea as we do have alot of 3 story houses round here. Would use the clx for all the normal work and the slx for high work? Only had the cl 1 week so dont want to make it redundant already. 

 

[HWCS]

Apsonwould anyone think it was a worth investment to get a slx 25 pole as we have alot of 3 storey houses round here. Dont want to be spending anymore really but also dont want to be missing out because on one of the big estates 1 min away from house 2/3 are 3 storey+ houses. 

Just get an extension #6 for the clx22 thats what i had for 6 months and worked fine, the good thing is that in 6 months if your busy youll sell the clx22 for 25% less than new and be able to add aliltte more and get an SLX.

Ive just got on Friday my new poles slx18 for daily and slx30 for as n when needed.

As long as your determined youll succeed, personally i jad no idea if it was what i wanted to do, i started because playground mums were moaning 'cant find a window cleaner' and before i knew it, ive got £15k worth of gear and a 260 customer round that i work 30ish hrs a week on.

The eye opener for me was a saturday morning in about week 3, i did 3 houses all trad all neighbours and took £100 in 3hrs, from that moment i was determined and threw everything i could at making it work.

Ftr them 3 houses are still £100 and i do them in 1hr 15mins and thats with a coffee and a chat at house 1 & 3

 

[HWCS]

If I bought the slx27 my set up costs would be roughly 1.5k as we swapped our 2and little car for the van. (64 plate fiat fiorino). And then I'm hoping it would just be maintaining costs e.g pure water and diesel etc etc. The way I'm looking at it, is that every house costs me £1 in costs so my actual profit on a £8 house is £7. 

If you do not attend a house due to rain,  do you message them all stating this? 

Thats your profit if your not paying tax!

My customers all know i dont work in the rain.

 

[Pjj]

This fully makes sense to me. Its just getting that confidence boost of having customers I guess. I live on one of the large new estates (must be 600 houses on this estate) so the small semi detached are only a 20 second drive and about 10 -15 minutes worth of work so figures £8 is not that bad as at the moment I get £10 an hour for pulling bins to the back of a wagon all day, this really is a mugs game. Absolutely shattered at the end of the day, stink, and the pays bad....but the hours were better than lorry driving. 

Me and my wife are maybe considering that I hand my notice in when I go back and just try and get this rolling as quick as we can. We have enough in savings that if I didnt make 1 penny we could keep going as normal for 6 months. But obviously all being well after 1 month of getting out there would be hoping to pull in some money.

Just remember being self employed there is no sick pay or holiday pay either that’s why you need to be higher on your prices as well , I think depending on area most have a £10 minimum price , try quoting a few higher and see what happens, good luck with it 

 

[Davy G]

a

If I bought the slx27 my set up costs would be roughly 1.5k as we swapped our 2and little car for the van. (64 plate fiat fiorino). And then I'm hoping it would just be maintaining costs e.g pure water and diesel etc etc. The way I'm looking at it, is that every house costs me £1 in costs so my actual profit on a £8 house is £7. 

If you do not attend a house due to rain,  do you message them all stating this? 

SLX 27 will be a heavy pole to be working with all day.

You will find that the day to day business expenses are more than you were expecting. There's always something needs replacing or repairing and you will updating and tweeking kit. And the tax bills.

We tell them in advance, when we recruit them that we work in rain as it doesn't affect the windows unless it's blowing a storm and power washing the dirt off the roofs. We stop if we think it's heavy enough to affect our health and comfort.

Everyone is informed the day before that we will be coming. This allows them to unlock the gate and leave the payment out the back.

 

[Part Timer]

Regarding working in rain if anyone complains I just say if they're not clean I'll come back and do them again, and never been called back. Just be careful of working in strong winds as dust loves wet windows.

 

[Bongofish]

Thanks for all these replies lads, really is helping alot. In regards to paying tax when should I realistically look to registering the buisness and paying tax? 

 

[HWCS]

Thanks for all these replies lads, really is helping alot. In regards to paying tax when should I realistically look to registering the buisness and paying tax? 

Inform HMRC that your going self employed and theyll give you a UTR (unique tax reference) sign up to goverment gateway, and then just do nothing until 6th April 2021.

Accounts are easy peasy, all reciepts into monthly envelopes and right on front of them vehicle and mobile phone costs.

One advice id give is open a seperate account just for work, everything you buy use that and everybody that pays by bacs get them to pay into there.

Also never do a job that you cant afford to not get paid for for weeks.

Im quite lucky as all my customers pay within a few weeks tops, but ive been stiffed twice.

Also have a rules:

If u dont pay then ill do a 2nd clean, if you dont pay for 2 cleans i wont do 3rd until ive been paid in full.

Always go the extra mile "hello mr Jones i noticed you garage door was dusty so ive give it a quick blast" "hi mrs kemp the glass on you table was dirty due to the rain ive give it a quick wash for you, no no its no extra it only took 30 seconds" etc etc 

 

[Bongofish]

Inform HMRC that your going self employed and theyll give you a UTR (unique tax reference) sign up to goverment gateway, and then just do nothing until 6th April 2021.

Would I then have a big bill or anything o april 2021 or is that when it would all start paying tax? 

Thank you.

 

[HWCS]

Would I then have a big bill or anything o april 2021 or is that when it would all start paying tax? 

Thank you.

Youll get the tax bill for 2020/21 then and youll have till Jan 31st 2021 to pay for it, but if you put 22% of each days takings into a seperate account then youll have the money to pay it and youll have a bit left over to treat th wife to a nice meal or weekend away OR yourself to a nice new toy for work ????

 

[wezza13]

Don't fall into the trap of thinking "oh well, anything above £10 an hour is better than my last job". Employers pay that sort of money so that they can maximise their profits.I know a few window cleaners and gardeners that have given up due to charging too low. Ideally, you want to be earning at least £30 per hour. It seems tempting  to all newbies to charge less, just to get customers on board. This may work, as long as you're able to see your worth and get to realistic prices but I definitely wouldn't recommend starting off low. As PJJ said, you won't have paid holiday, pay for all of your uniform, you'll have to pay for everything for your business.

Good luck ?

 

[Pjj]

Would I then have a big bill or anything o april 2021 or is that when it would all start paying tax? 

Thank you.

To a degree what you pay in tax will be depending on what you have aren’t in the year from your employment. You can earn  around 10-11k without paying tax  , just put some money aside  to cover tax and  national insurance . 

 

[Bongofish]

Inform HMRC that your going self employed and theyll give you a UTR (unique tax reference) sign up to goverment gateway, and then just do nothing until 6th April 2021.

Accounts are easy peasy, all reciepts into monthly envelopes and right on front of them vehicle and mobile phone costs.

One advice id give is open a seperate account just for work, everything you buy use that and everybody that pays by bacs get them to pay into there.

Also never do a job that you cant afford to not get paid for for weeks.

Im quite lucky as all my customers pay within a few weeks tops, but ive been stiffed twice.

Also have a rules:

If u dont pay then ill do a 2nd clean, if you dont pay for 2 cleans i wont do 3rd until ive been paid in full.

Always go the extra mile "hello mr Jones i noticed you garage door was dusty so ive give it a quick blast" "hi mrs kemp the glass on you table was dirty due to the rain ive give it a quick wash for you, no no its no extra it only took 30 seconds" etc etc 

Thank you for the info. 

So is it reccomended that even before my first month of cleaning that I register with HMRC as self employed? 

 

[Bongofish]

Regarding breakdown cover for Van's. Do I need to get buisness breakdown cover? Just never bought a vehicle with 100,000 miles on it before. It's got full service history and is only 5 years old and is diesel but still worrys me. 

 

[HWCS]

Regarding breakdown cover for Van's. Do I need to get buisness breakdown cover? Just never bought a vehicle with 100,000 miles on it before. It's got full service history and is only 5 years old and is diesel but still worrys me. 

Thats your choice mate, i dont as ive gkt mates that are mechanics and a few mates with recovery trucks ????

 

[Part Timer]

Not trying to scare you but be careful of your first tax bill which will be due by Jan 31st 2022. This will be all of your tax for this year and half of this years on account for next year. You will also have to pay the other half on July 31st.

So if your profit in the first year is £16k, good going if you do make that much, you will have to pay 20% of £3.5k, £700 and another £350 making £1050. This doesn't take into account what you are currently earning.

I suggest rather than worrying about a tax bill that you have to pay in 18 months I'd be getting the work in and revisit this early next year as you will have a better idea then. If your Wife doesn't use all of her tax allowances have a look at making her a partner.

 

[Davy G]

Not trying to scare you but be careful of your first tax bill which will be due by Jan 31st 2022. This will be all of your tax for this year and half of this years on account for next year. You will also have to pay the other half on July 31st.

So if your profit in the first year is £16k, good going if you do make that much, you will have to pay 20% of £3.5k, £700 and another £350 making £1050. This doesn't take into account what you are currently earning.

I suggest rather than worrying about a tax bill that you have to pay in 18 months I'd be getting the work in and revisit this early next year as you will have a better idea then. If your Wife doesn't use all of her tax allowances have a look at making her a partner.

There you go see, PT. You have a skill and knowledge for tax and stuff. My mind just goes into La La Land with that side of the business. I don't have a clue.

I'm good enough I reckon with figuring how to maximise profits and work efficiency.

Er indoors is, as you suggested on your post a full partner. She takes care of the office side of things. Work schedules, van maintenance planning, accounts.

I agree about making getting the work in and building the business the priority.

 

[Part Timer]

There you go see, PT. You have a skill and knowledge for tax and stuff

There are only 2 things in the world I am scared of and always keep the right side of, HMRC and her indoors ?