How To Maintain Ro System?

[Colley614]

Depends massively on what I'm doing. I had 2 big first cleans on and I used about 100 litres on each house with conservatory because they were black and had to keep going over some windows

 

[rcproperty]

thats the problem with first cleans, uses a lot of water!

 

[Colley614]

I know and as I'm building up my work load a lot of my work is first cleans. So I'm worrying I can't take too much on as I find it can take me 2 hours to leave a job, fill up and set up on the next job

 

[rcproperty]

pain in the back side! at least next time you come to them they are quicker!

 

[Colley614]

Yeah I'm smashing through second cleans now too and the money is starting to go in the bank so I can see progress at last. I can't wait until it gets to the point of needing less new work. I think I'll start going in for more commercial then

 

[rcproperty]

yer thats good way of doing it, commercial are good, but need domestic coz thats where the money is, commercials can change window cleanes loads of times!

 

[Colley614]

Thats what I am thinking of. If I spend all my time and effort chasing commercials and then they changed contractor I will constantly be chasing the work but if I have a good solid domestic business under my belt then it's no big deal

 

[rcproperty]

thats true, get a good base first then go for the big ones! that what im doing!

 

[Colley614]

Yeah, I went straight for commercials last time and it was a nightmate to say the least. Vans, wages, insurances and it takes ages for money to come in. So you see all this money flying out but not much coming in. I had one cleaning company that bank rolled me really but they were constantly telling me I needed to buy alsorts of kit so the money was like liquid going through my fingers. Seeing my bank statements looked impressive but actually drawing a salary was proofing impossible. Then one day the cleaning firm decided to stop subbing and the cash flow stopped and I was having to sit on the phone for hours chasing unpaid invoices to try and pay wages for lads that were half interested at times.

This time though I'll let domestics be my turnover and when the commercials pay me then that can be a cash boost. I hate the waiting for big commercials to pay especially when you've had a van work for one contract for 2 weeks and then they decide to pay 90 days later on Christmas eve

 

[rcproperty]

yer thats not good, but thats how some companys work, with my big commercial, they are good at paying takes about 16-20 days after i post invoice to them to pay it!

 

[Colley614]

Yeah it usually takes a little while. With me I was subbing from this firm then had about a dozen office blocks and around 100 high street shops all over town and surrounding villages. Then one day a letting agent phoned me and asked to price 3 apartment blocks up and email the quote. They accepted the quote but with 3 more to quote and this went on everyday for 2 weeks. Then it just stopped. In the end I let the commercial fizzle out and tried getting into domestic but by then the damage was done and I needed a reagular income so I got a job. The thing that really annoyed me was I tried to borrow money from barclays and they said no so I got a job and the next time I walked in the bank they said they could give me an £18k personal loan. Bast...

 

[rcproperty]

always the way! lol

 

[Colley614]

Get this today when I was talking to the guy from HSBC he said " From our point of view, we'd rather you were looking into getting high street names onto your books rather than domestic residents." I replied " Great, well HSBC is a high street name. Why don't you help me tender for you guys?" Then he said " We'd need to see 3 year progressive turnover to consider you as a contractor." So I said " Hence the business plan in front of you!"

Well the accountant liked the quick wit, put it that way

 

[rcproperty]

thats the problem with banks, they wnat to help but they cant without the 3 years accounts! no good if you are a new start up! its a joke really!

 

[Colley614]

I said to this guy today that I have money invested, I'm thinking of a secured personal loan as a last resort. I've been offered around 1/4 of the money I'm after from another source and they would be interested to put the other 3 quarters in after 6 months.

To my surprise the guy from HSBC said "Look, lets put it like this we won't be able to do you a 100% deal as a start up. I don't think it's a good idea to have a secured loan so what I would suggest is to speak to your mortgage comapany and get a remortgage for 1/4 of what you need, then accept the other offer for 1/4 of what your after so then you have half. We will be willing to put the other 50% to the deal and in six months time before your ready to accept this other 3/4 of the investment we will sit down and have a chat. If you want to we would then be in a position to make you an offer so you can pay the other people the quarter back and thank them or you could accept their next installment and we would be happy to boost the investment so in effect you have double the money as long as you wanted to expand further."

 

[rcproperty]

sounds intresting!

 

[Colley614]

It is but has a lot of if's, but's and maybe's involved. In theory I've got what I need but it was to buy a local business out who have since gone off the radar. So now I'm in a position of maybe having the cash as long as the remortgage goes through to buy something I can't really buy anymore unless they re appear quickly so I'm probably going to have to sit now with the accountant and start the proccess all over again starting with "You know you offered us that investment well....."

 

[rcproperty]

its all about the if's, but's and maybe's! well fingers crossed for you!

 

[Colley614]

The way I'm looking at it is I'll get where I'm going sooner or later. At least I'm looking for opportunities to expand. Imagine being able to borrow enough money to put another van on the road and fill it with work and not asking for that investment. At the end of it all as long as I've got my Bus Fair Home, I've had a good day out from it all! lol

 

[rcproperty]

always good to look to see what you can get, only time will tell!

 

[Colley614]

I'll get there one way or another. Just not enjoying living on a really tight budget only to invest any spare cash back into the business. When it doesn't really have an effect on the business I've been getting buyers remorse. It's horrible when there's a long way until it becomes profitable but it'll be well worth it in the end