Good time to start?

[Lilyjonfon]

Hi all, great forum thank you.

I've been planning to start WFP window cleaning for about a year now, fairly clear in my head how to get started.

Thought I'd go with a mounted RO & DI system from Pure Freedom, 200 GPD , filling a 1000 litre IBC tank, with a Nano Trolley System.

Struggling to decide which pole and brush to get started with, any suggestions  please?

I'll keep it short and sweet for my first post, but as the title says, would you start out now, considering  the big energy price hike in April coupled with 7% inflation??

 

[dazmond]

A trolley system is a waste of money,most window cleaners just grab their hose and pole and run 100m of hose from a van mount....

What size tank are you getting fitted in your van?a 1000L will probably be too much for your van...

What is your van and what's the payload?

It's a lot of money to spend without a single customer 

 

[dazmond]

Your question is a fairly dumb one(sorry!).....if your looking for an excuse not to start you ll find it.....

Just start!

 

[Jaygti]

Yes start tomorrow morning.  There’s nothing you can do about inflation and energy costs. 
Concentrate on what your doing and things you can control. 
 Depending on where you live it’s nearly always a slog to get going anyway. 
 

Hope you get on ok??

 

[Pjj]

Hi all, great forum thank you.

I've been planning to start WFP window cleaning for about a year now, fairly clear in my head how to get started.

Thought I'd go with a mounted RO & DI system from Pure Freedom, 200 GPD , filling a 1000 litre IBC tank, with a Nano Trolley System.

Struggling to decide which pole and brush to get started with, any suggestions  please?

I'll keep it short and sweet for my first post, but as the title says, would you start out now, considering  the big energy price hike in April coupled with 7% inflation??

Just get out there and canvass hard spring is just around the corner . As for poles  look  at Gardiners if on a budget clx if you can afford it slx . The pure freedom nano trolleys are good but will limit how much you can do in a day due to speed a van with tank mount will always be better for  efficiency , but you have to start somewhere . 

 

[HWCS]

Do your homework, Norwich is saturated with windys, and i mean heavily saturated.

Mh mum & sister live mile cross and get flyered 3-4 times a month 

Speak to norwich windys, theyll all tell you its all price wars there, if you over a tenner possibly £12 youll struggle to get customers, from what ive been told by a norwich based guy.

 

[Martyn]

Gardiners SL-X without question. 

If you are starting up in a heavily saturated market it is going to be hard, working for low prices is demoralizing.

 

[Shinyboy]

Get out there now. Don't start tomorrow or the nxt day or next week. Start now.  Get some flyers made up and  start posting and then when your phone starts ringing go and give them a price and book them in a week or so later etc. then that will give you time to buy some kit. 

 

[Lilyjonfon]

Thanks so much for replies!

Im planning on producing water in my garage, and using trolley because at the moment Im  delivering for Amazon, Im gonna have to juggle both jobs till I get a customer base.

And yea you're right dumb question! i just need to crack on with it.

 

[ched999uk]

Just so you know a 200GPD ro system will probably only produce about 20 litres of pure an hour if you have decent water pressure (above about 60 psi) . This will be ok when you first start as you won't have many customers. Also you will be using more pure on first cleans, so maybe 40 litres on a 3 bed semi.

If you are in a crowded market you need to look professional and have reasonable looking marketing material. Social media pages don't cost anything other than time so get those setup and try and get friends, family etc to like and share posts. I know it's difficult on startup but don't set your prices too low as it's difficult to raise them in future, try and find what is locally charged and sit towards the top end! OK so you haven't got experience but you do have time to do a great job, speed comes over time and while you can read lots but practical experience takes time.

Have a look at the area you are thinking of targeting, how tall are the properties, how many have conservatories. Use Google maps and street view to give you an idea. This will influence your length of pole i.e. lots of 3 story town houses, tall Victorian houses, lots of conservatories will all need longer poles.

Read as much as you can on here as lots and lots of people have asked start-up questions here, so most answers will be here if you use the search box (top right).

Nano trolleys are very good but if you already have a van, in time you will progress to a tank mounted system. So it might be worth getting a Gardiner backpack (no one uses them on their back) and a Handy Sac trolley and spend a bit more on decent pole. 

Good Luck and keep us informed.

 

[Shinyboy]

Thanks so much for replies!

Im planning on producing water in my garage, and using trolley because at the moment Im  delivering for Amazon, Im gonna have to juggle both jobs till I get a customer base.

And yea you're right dumb question! i just need to crack on with it.

When you deliver there parcel drop a flyer in there door at same time lol.

 

[Murphy]

Do your homework, Norwich is saturated with windys, and i mean heavily saturated.

Mh mum & sister live mile cross and get flyered 3-4 times a month 

Speak to norwich windys, theyll all tell you its all price wars there, if you over a tenner possibly £12 youll struggle to get customers, from what ive been told by a norwich based guy.

I’ve been a Norwich window cleaner for 20 odd years there aren’t that many about At all where I work . Maybe I’ve bee. Lucky 

 

[Cookie]

Im planning on producing water in my garage, and using trolley

That's how I started. Even when you come to use a van mount (which for me improved the speed of the clean by about a third) the trolley will be useful - I still use the trolley for some houses where access or parking is difficult. Also, it comes in handy when my son is working for me.

Good luck!

 

[johnny bravo]

my first was a back pack from gardiners 

 

[Lilyjonfon]

Just so you know a 200GPD ro system will probably only produce about 20 litres of pure an hour if you have decent water pressure (above about 60 psi) . This will be ok when you first start as you won't have many customers. Also you will be using more pure on first cleans, so maybe 40 litres on a 3 bed semi.

Thanks for that, I didnt realise, its obviously no good for me.

 

[Lilyjonfon]

I’ve been a Norwich window cleaner for 20 odd years there aren’t that many about At all where I work . Maybe I’ve bee. Lucky 

What side of city are you Murphy?

 

[Murphy]

What side of city are you Murphy?

Salhouse rd /heartsease 

 

[K in Kent]

You could also be thinking about building an online presence. You'll get opposing views on the pros and cons of a website and that's another matter.. But you don't need a website to establish an online presence and there are some useful FREE options :

You need to choose a business name and think about a name that includes some relevant keywords. Don't overdo the keywords but use words that are relevant and descriptive e.g 'window cleaning / cleaner', 'cleaning services' etc etc. A location name can also help. Every year ranking signals are analysed in GMB results and keywords in business name and/or domain name are highly influential. It's just a fact so is worth thinking about ( and btw domain names are for websites - www. ...... ).

Then start claiming the listings available and where you have the option to write a business description use keywords appropriately, vary them and be sure to emphasise the locations you cover. Use images and optimise the file name before uploading (right click on the mouse and rename).

Priority listings are :

• facebook business page
  
• Google My Business (GMB)
  
• Bing Places
  

GMB and Bing listings are the boxes of 3 local businesses you see at the top of page 1. If you can get into the top 3 of GMB this will generate new enquiries and work, as will Bing to a lesser degree but their market share of search is much smaller. Concentrate on getting positive reviews from new customers and respond to them. Reviews are highly significant for GMB rankings and can really boost where you rank. But they need to be on GMB. Reviews on most other review sites and facebook likes etc are completely irrelevant for GMB and SEO purposes. Google just doesn't trust them and they're too easily manipulated, but that's more SEO related.

Other free business directories include Yell, Yelp, Freeindex, Cylex, Scoot and many more besides. You could also consider some location specific directories local to you. How much business these directories generate is a matter of opinion but they're not going to do you any harm. ONLY claim the free listing and don't pay for premium options. If you get a website all the above are important citation sources for SEO but Google is more interested in quality over quantity and most directories are low quality / low authority and don't help with SEO as they used to.

Ensure your business info is CONSISTENT & ACCURATE across all sites you register with e.g. name/address/phone number.

Only use  the most relevant category option to describe your business - fewer is better.

With GMB - be sure to classify yourself as providing services at customer's location. Do NOT use home address as business address unless it is somewhere customers visit and is staffed etc.

FYI - I'm doing some SEO work for a bloke who has just had his listing of 4 years suspended for this reason and it is far from easy to get reinstated.. Google are a nightmare to try and deal with

I'm not saying an online presence is the be all and end all but it is another tool and when done right will result in new work and help you to grow your business. It should be used in conjunction with other methods. Personally I would also argue that a website is beneficial but there are other ways of building a local brand / business online and they're free.

Obviously there are other social media options like instagram and Twitter but I  don't know much about them, other than they exist. I'm not a FB fan either but it can be useful and is popular (although I view social media as a toxic sewer full of wokery, but I suppose it has its uses). YouTube channel is another possibility if you can create the content but window cleaning has been done to death already.