I GIVE UP, seriously this year can just **** off

[Shammy Davis Senior]

I feel your pain. Spent £50k on advertising this year and when I finally get all the work in and the money spent I lose 30 man days for holiday in Ssptember and now my flakiest worker twisted his angle yesterday and is off. Two weeks behind and desperate to see income at the full 6 van level. 
 

in terms of appreciation, you’re correct. I was working in hospital 2 days after coming out of a 6 day coma in July. And full time the day after I got home protecting my £50k marketing spend.  An employed person would have had 6 months off. Seriously. 

 

[dazmond]

Sounds like the perfect work/life balance. I'm in a similar position, however......thanks to the **** August I'm now behind with my cleans so the work has built up again. I guess that's just how it is in this industry. I still really enjoy it though and I'm still picking up new business. I only have the quality work/customers now as I decided some time ago to get rid of the time wasters. 

why did you have a rubbish august?are you just a fair weather window cleaner??

 

[Pjj]

I feel your pain. Spent £50k on advertising this year and when I finally get all the work in and the money spent I lose 30 man days for holiday in Ssptember and now my flakiest worker twisted his angle yesterday and is off. Two weeks behind and desperate to see income at the full 6 van level. 
 

in terms of appreciation, you’re correct. I was working in hospital 2 days after coming out of a 6 day coma in July. And full time the day after I got home protecting my £50k marketing spend.  An employed person would have had 6 months off. Seriously. 

Why have you spent 50 k on advertising???? We don’t spend a penny and are turning work away every day of the the week . How many vans and staff do you have ? We get tons of referrals from existing customers and lots of walk ups as well as web site enquires, I cannot see why there is a need to spend that kind of money unless you are in the Lee Pryor league .

 

[scottish cleaning service]

I'm still PW driveways at moment, must be the good weather or folk need to spend their money on something bar a holiday.

 

[High-tower]

I feel your pain. Spent £50k on advertising this year and when I finally get all the work in and the money spent I lose 30 man days for holiday in Ssptember and now my flakiest worker twisted his angle yesterday and is off. Two weeks behind and desperate to see income at the full 6 van level. 
 

in terms of appreciation, you’re correct. I was working in hospital 2 days after coming out of a 6 day coma in July. And full time the day after I got home protecting my £50k marketing spend.  An employed person would have had 6 months off. Seriously. 

I received one of your leaflets, then over the next month 2 or 3 almost identical leaflets from other companies using the same ‘notepad’ style ?

 

[Shammy Davis Senior]

Why have you spent 50 k on advertising???? We don’t spend a penny and are turning work away every day of the the week . How many vans and staff do you have ? We get tons of referrals from existing customers and lots of walk ups as well as web site enquires, I cannot see why there is a need to spend that kind of money unless you are in the Lee Pryor league .

6 vans. 

I received one of your leaflets, then over the next month 2 or 3 almost identical leaflets from other companies using the same ‘notepad’ style ?

That’s because it works. We picked up 900 customers this year.

 

[Pjj]

6 vans. 

That’s because it works. We picked up 900 customers this year.

But surely if you have 6 vans you have work for them all , don’t understand why you need to spend 50k on advertising we have 4 vans and I have never spent  Evan 1k on advertising ever in over 21 years  , just got another van when we couldn’t cope with the  volume of work that came to us . 

 

[Shammy Davis Senior]

But surely if you have 6 vans you have work for them all , don’t understand why you need to spend 50k on advertising we have 4 vans and I have never spent  Evan 1k on advertising ever in over 21 years  , just got another van when we couldn’t cope with the  volume of work that came to us . 

We only had 5 vans at the beginning of the year. We’ve added a van a year for 3 years. Revenue grown by 30% a year. It’s all part of a plan for full retirement at about 9/10 vans. Today I stepped back from customer contact and day to day running things. 

 

[Doddy111]

We only had 5 vans at the beginning of the year. We’ve added a van a year for 3 years. Revenue grown by 30% a year. It’s all part of a plan for full retirement at about 9/10 vans. Today I stepped back from customer contact and day to day running things. 

Is it costing you 50k a year to fill a van? I’m planning on doing 1 van a year but at that cost I think I better re-evaluate ??‍

 

[Shammy Davis Senior]

Is it costing you 50k a year to fill a van? I’m planning on doing 1 van a year but at that cost I think I better re-evaluate ??‍

We added 900 customers this year, so that’s about £50 per customer. That’s competitive with any other method of acquiring customers. Our average clean price is £27 so less than two cleans. So in year one with no extra services (one in three have gutters, fsg, con roof or pressure washing) that’s £160,000 (we charge 1.5x first clean). In reality those customers probably generate £200k in year one. 

 

[Part Timer]

We added 900 customers this year, so that’s about £50 per customer. That’s competitive with any other method of acquiring customers. Our average clean price is £27 so less than two cleans. So in year one with no extra services (one in three have gutters, fsg, con roof or pressure washing) that’s £160,000 (we charge 1.5x first clean). In reality those customers probably generate £200k in year one. 

Personally don't see why you have to justify your business methods, if it works for you and you're happy then job done.

 

[Shammy Davis Senior]

Personally don't see why you have to justify your business methods, if it works for you and you're happy then job done.

True. When I was around a year in I met a local windy who had been going a few years longer than me. He asked how many customers I had. I said about 300 and he said “wow, I’ve been going 5 years and I’ve only got 250, how have you done it?”. I replied “leaflets”. He said “leaflets don’t work mate”. He still says that now, still on about 250 customers. 

 

[Pjj]

Personally don't see why you have to justify your business methods, if it works for you and you're happy then job done.

I wasn’t questioning his methods , just very surprised at a firm that size sending 50  k a year on marketing , we have never spent more than a few hundred pounds a year maximum , and it looks like we are turning over similar figures with no marketing\ advertising budget never needed to advertise as the number of referrals  and walk ups and web site enquires are more than enough ,in fact since March I have turned away over 180 potential new jobs as we cannot cope with any more work we are now booked up to Christmas for  extras like UPVC cleans , soft washing, pressure washing , maybe Ime lucky but I have several friends that are in the same situation as us , so maybe it depends where you are in the country ?... 

 

[Shammy Davis Senior]

I wasn’t questioning his methods , just very surprised at a firm that size sending 50  k a year on marketing , we have never spent more than a few hundred pounds a year maximum , and it looks like we are turning over similar figures with no marketing\ advertising budget never needed to advertise as the number of referrals  and walk ups and web site enquires are more than enough ,in fact since March I have turned away over 180 potential new jobs as we cannot cope with any more work we are now booked up to Christmas for  extras like UPVC cleans , soft washing, pressure washing , maybe Ime lucky but I have several friends that are in the same situation as us , so maybe it depends where you are in the country ?... 

it’s about speed of growth. We’ve gone from 300 customers to nearly 3,000 in 3 years. I’m quite certain I’d have picked up 180 this year with zero effort or spend but my target was 800-900 which was achieved but wouldn’t have been without spending money. 
 

I’ve had a pretty clear plan and today was the first step towards retirement . I’m surplus to requirements other than in a strategic role and consultant to my full time manager. I hadn’t planned this step though for another year or two but I felt I needed to de stress following my recent issue. 
 

 

[Pjj]

it’s about speed of growth. We’ve gone from 300 customers to nearly 3,000 in 3 years. I’m quite certain I’d have picked up 180 this year with zero effort or spend but my target was 800-900 which was achieved but wouldn’t have been without spending money. 
 

I’ve had a pretty clear plan and today was the first step towards retirement . I’m surplus to requirements other than in a strategic role and consultant to my full time manager. I hadn’t planned this step though for another year or two but I felt I needed to de stress following my recent issue. 
 

Don’t blame you Ime hoping to cut back next year . 

 

[scottish cleaning service]

Don’t blame you Ime hoping to cut back next year . 

Aye, I'm still out PW driveways this month. Not stopped this year and looking for a quiet winter but I have spent money on advertising. Actually feel quite good considering the tasks I've been involved in. Only have 100 customers and don't want anymore unless they are next to ones I clean. Target now is a nearly new van next year and a place for everything in it. Grippatank has sold out of underfloor rollers and will get new stock in next week so they told me.

 

[THL4KEL]

Got plenty of work on but P/W has been a quiet year.. Started off well in February as well..

 

[Doddy111]

it’s about speed of growth. We’ve gone from 300 customers to nearly 3,000 in 3 years. I’m quite certain I’d have picked up 180 this year with zero effort or spend but my target was 800-900 which was achieved but wouldn’t have been without spending money. 
 

I’ve had a pretty clear plan and today was the first step towards retirement . I’m surplus to requirements other than in a strategic role and consultant to my full time manager. I hadn’t planned this step though for another year or two but I felt I needed to de stress following my recent issue. 
 

They're unbelievable results pal fair play to you and to the lads that have had to do all those first cleans ? Just to clarify I wasn't questioning your business methods, I'm always trying to learn from people such as yourself that have grown their businesses to a multi van operation. 

Best of luck to you pal and enjoy retirement