Welcome to the UK Window Cleaning Forums

Starting or own a window cleaning business? We're a network of window cleaners sharing advice, tips & experience. Rounds for sale & more. Join us today!

Commercial work help?

I also might make a Facebook page, I still haven't made that plunge yet and seem to do ok for myself but I think it's time to go big or at least give it a go. Do any of you guys do well from Facebook. Sorry to jump on your post mate.

 
It's gonna be a bad day here tomorrow so I'm gonna sack work off and spend the day going round shops with leaflets and asking if they have a windy and if not would they be interested in my services kind of thing.
Any thing is werth a try and all it will cost you is time.

Depending on what your high st/town centre is like will vary your results.

If it's mainly small independent shops then you may get lucky if it's made up of large chains then you won't get any all have pretty much now gone national.

With shops it's a numbers game one on its own is hardly werth it but get a dozen or so and you can earn well.

 
Any thing is werth a try and all it will cost you is time.Depending on what your high st/town centre is like will vary your results.

If it's mainly small independent shops then you may get lucky if it's made up of large chains then you won't get any all have pretty much now gone national.

With shops it's a numbers game one on its own is hardly werth it but get a dozen or so and you can earn well.[/quotewhat do you mean national mate? I've got a area in my mind what I am going to target.
 
What do you mean national mate? I've got a area in mind what I am going to target /emoticons/smile.png

National means one company taking every shop.

Take top shop one or sometimes two companies take every store in the UK.

Most shops like Top Shop,H&M,Next HMV, as well as the banks and most of the food chains and supermarkets like tesco,sainsbury,asda,gregs.phone shops ee,vodaphone and the like are the same

Basically you name a well known brand shop most are serviced by nationals company's cleaning every store that company owns in the UK.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sounds like a good way forward, I sent emails to quite a few local shops/businesses offering my services to clean all the shops in the local and surrounding areas, not a thing back lol

 
I had a national contact me offering me 7 Vodaphone stores in my area (ish) weekly including signage every other clean.

Price was £13.00 per clean.

They asked when can I start

I said hold on.

One of them is an hour round trip, two are at least 40 min round trips and two more are in shopping centres and we know what a pain that can be.

Best I can do for you is £20.00 per clean mate.

Never heard back.

Oh well. /emoticons/biggrin.png

 
I just quoted 7 blocks of flats in 1 road pretty much for a local residents association but they contacted me

They also contacted other windies in the area who i know

That's the thing when a tender is up..they will contact a few companies and see what the best price is

All about money for these people not quality of work and recommendations etc

 
If your charging VAT your doing something wrong mate, very wrong You need to see a very good accountant
Wrong, Wrong and ermmm....oh yeah.. Wrong.

An accountant can do nothing to help you avoid VAT.

VAT is NOT based on profits.

VAT is based on TURNOVER

If you turnover £82k or more in any ROLLING 12 month period you have to pay VAT.

That VAT bill is applicable to all monies 'turned over' in that period.

You could spend 11 months of 2017 doing £6k per month. Suddenly you get a £12k builders clean come in in December.

Well that's bumped you to £84k and now oh dear.....you owe HMRC £16,800

I dont know anyone on this forum that is currently paying VAT. I plan to be by late 2017 and I know one other on here is planning to also. There is one more I suspect but over al there are not that many lone operators turning over £6800. per month

An accountant can not prevent you from paying VAT he can only tell you how and also make sure you have claimed back any VAT you have paid once you are VAT registered.

 
it's not always about cost any more with tenders.

For the last 3 years I have had to re tender for a couple of jobs I do and haven't lost anything I wasn't the cheapest.

I had a window cleaning company walk in to a job I do in Welwyn and offer to beat my price by at least 10% with out even seeing my price and the client never changed.

some customers don't just go for the cheapest quote some pay well and won't change if you are doing a good job.

Value isn't always the cheapest.

 
it's not always about cost any more with tenders.For the last 3 years I have had to re tender for a couple of jobs I do and haven't lost anything I wasn't the cheapest.

I had a window cleaning company walk in to a job I do in Welwyn and offer to beat my price by at least 10% with out even seeing my price and the client never changed.

some customers don't just go for the cheapest quote some pay well and won't change if you are doing a good job.

Value isn't always the cheapest.
this is true.

when i worked at leeds city council on the tendering side, one of the main points they look for is if you have all the paper work AND how established/legitimate you are, and how sure they are that you will deliver what they want. (they're very conscious of avoiding cowboy companies as if it goes south, papers get hold of it, the council looks bad).

 
Back
Top