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New to the Industry - Looking for Advice!

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Owen.m

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Location
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Hi all,

This is my first post on this forum and I just wish to say thank you in advance to anyone who can provide me with any information.

I am new to the window cleaning industry and currently going through the processes involved when starting up. I am based in the North London/Herts region.

I am extremely eager to get started but am currently somewhat lost in where to spend my start up capital. I have £5000 which I am looking to invest within my business in order to make sure I have all equipment needed to work efficiently and effectively in providing an excellent service to my customers.

From my research conducted I would like to purchase a van and install a water fed pole system. Does anyone have any recommendations on which van and pole systems would be best suited to my budget. From my research my thinking was an ex Royal Mail Peugeot Bipper and getting an X-Line System installed. (As seen below?)

Any other information you may have for a new starter would be highly highly appreciated.

Thanks Once again,

Owen




 
... and don't buy an ex Royal Mail van.

I haven't seen one that has been looked after as they get a different driver each day. They are all bashed and mostly driven by posties who don't care because no one holds them responsible for any damage they cause.

Personally, I believe a Blipper is too small, but then I don't live and work in London.

 
How you doing mate welcome! 

I'm only about 4 months in so far so this is the disclaimer for some of the older hands but heres my two cents... 

I'm sitting at earning between 6-£800 per month working part time, and I advice off the bat would be dont invest 5k strait away! Not sure if you've done window cleaning before but it might not be for you few months in. Also if your not buying a round, that's alot of a systerm with no customers to pay for it. 

I have a citron berlingo with a backpack system and carry about 350l of pure water and suits me fine for the minute...yes I'll have to upgrade in the next 12 months for sure as I'm growing every day but I've done it step by step to avoid being in the hole financially. By all means get your van but save your money for now and focus on tapping doors and advertising. Hope this dosent come across as negative because it's not meant that way in the slightest! This jobs wicked best kept secret in my mind just build up to a maxed out systerm ?? 

 
6 hours ago, Owen.m said:

Hi all,

This is my first post on this forum and I just wish to say thank you in advance to anyone who can provide me with any information.

I am new to the window cleaning industry and currently going through the processes involved when starting up. I am based in the North London/Herts region.

I am extremely eager to get started but am currently somewhat lost in where to spend my start up capital. I have £5000 which I am looking to invest within my business in order to make sure I have all equipment needed to work efficiently and effectively in providing an excellent service to my customers.

From my research conducted I would like to purchase a van and install a water fed pole system. Does anyone have any recommendations on which van and pole systems would be best suited to my budget. From my research my thinking was an ex Royal Mail Peugeot Bipper and getting an X-Line System installed. (As seen below?)

Any other information you may have for a new starter would be highly highly appreciated.

Thanks Once again,

Owen

Click to expand...





In my opinion depending how much work you want to do per day you arnt going to get a very big tank in a bipper van most sole traders working up to 8 hours a day will have something like a renault traffic or similar sized van with a 500-650 ltr tank , I know not all will agree with this but it’s what I found when I started out once I was established I was using a full tank per day , Ime glad that I bought a 650 ltr system as if future proofed my buisness , has I gone smaller I would have had to change everything it saved me money long term , I now have three vans two with 650 ltr systems and one with a 1000 ltr . There is a guy on this forum who lives near me he has only been going a few months and all ready his tank and van are two small and he’s looking to change it all ready , Ime not saying go stupid with some huge van , but just think where you want to be with window cleaning in a couple of years and I doubt that the bipper will fulfill your needs .

As for systems I would try and buy second hand if you are starting out on a low budget something like an ionics systems pro 5 , or if you can find one a Grippatank system they di come up quite cheaply ( ionics systems ) I have them in all my vans , I have altered the filtration a bit . Or if you are ok at diy build your own system , however this will not give you the crash protection of a professional system . 

 
I'm just about to go into my 3rd month so my experience is very limited in comparison to most others. I work and live in Essex and a lot of my customers live in roads where parking is sometimes an issue, so I understand the logic with a small van. However, you may possibly out grow it relatively quickly, I have a Peugeot Partner and although easy to park it does have a larger payload and load space. I actually looked at a Bipper and now really pleased I went for a slightly larger van. I'm currently using a backpack system and similar to other comments, I will probably upgrade to a van system in the future. I would recommend looking at Gardiners for a pole, I purchased an slx22 and it's been really good, although I don't have anything to compare it with I have no complaints. Good luck.

 
Pjj said:
In my opinion depending how much work you want to do per day you arnt going to get a very big tank in a bipper van most sole traders working up to 8 hours a day will have something like a renault traffic or similar sized van with a 500-650 ltr tank , I know not all will agree with this but it’s what I found when I started out once I was established I was using a full tank per day , Ime glad that I bought a 650 ltr system as if future proofed my buisness , has I gone smaller I would have had to change everything it saved me money long term , I now have three vans two with 650 ltr systems and one with a 1000 ltr . There is a guy on this forum who lives near me he has only been going a few months and all ready his tank and van are two small and he’s looking to change it all ready , Ime not saying go stupid with some huge van , but just think where you want to be with window cleaning in a couple of years and I doubt that the bipper will fulfill your needs .

As for systems I would try and buy second hand if you are starting out on a low budget something like an ionics systems pro 5 , or if you can find one a Grippatank system they di come up quite cheaply ( ionics systems ) I have them in all my vans , I have altered the filtration a bit . Or if you are ok at diy build your own system , however this will not give you the crash protection of a professional system . 
Click to expand...
 That's spot on advise, when I started WFP from the only way I knew trad, and I hadn't done that for about 25 years as I left the industry and WFP wasn't around in the 80s I was gunning for a 300lts system and smaller van, thank Christ I didn't as within 6 months of starting I would have been out of water by lunch time. The biggest mistake I made was leaving the best job I had and become a printer for the next 25 years. 12 years back in the game wish I never left.    

 
Last edited by a moderator:
spruce said:
... and don't buy an ex Royal Mail van.

I haven't seen one that has been looked after as they get a different driver each day. They are all bashed and mostly driven by posties who don't care because no one holds them responsible for any damage they cause.

Personally, I believe a Blipper is too small, but then I don't live and work in London.
Click to expand...
Yes better off getting an ex bt van, them fellas were never in a hurry, always used to be parked up smoking as I remember as a kid in the 70s.

 
Pjj said:
I cannot comment at the moment but keep your eyes open on hear in a week or so  
Click to expand...
Interesting but one issue doesn't ruin a good rep. I once thought I'd read some issues with them only to find I was mixing things I'd read about X-Line. Same principal with X-Line, a few bad reviews are out there (And it's not just Green Pro's reviews as someone has said before) but I bought a booster pump from them and the service couldn't have been better. Also I believe @Part Timer has a PF system he's very happy with. Not saying there isn't an issue there for someone but just that one bad experience can't ruin a companies rep completely.

 
Owen.m said:
From my research conducted I would like to purchase a van and install a water fed pole system. Does anyone have any recommendations on which van and pole systems would be best suited to my budget. From my research my thinking was an ex Royal Mail Peugeot Bipper and getting an X-Line System installed. (As seen below?)
Click to expand...
I would recommend you make your own DIY system. It may seem daunting but the pros far outweigh the cons. If you're not a DIY guy don't worry, there really isn't that much involved. I'm no DIY expert but I know my system inside and out and if something breaks I can replace it personally, I wouldn't want to drive to the manufacturer every time there was an issue.

If you make a DIY system first and then purchase a custom built system later it won't cost you any more in the long run. Just to explain this logic, in the first year you'll have a lot of expenses. This late into the tax year (assuming you end your year in April like most people) you may struggle to turnover much more than the expense of all your equipment before even considering a top of the range system. With this in mind whatever you spend you aren't going to have a tax bill for this financial year. Run the second year upgrading some of your equipment and see where you are in Feb/March, if you've done well then buy a custom system then and sell the old one off (thus reducing the tax bill for year 2). If your earnings are looking moderate wait until the beginning of tax year 3 to invest in a top of the range system and offset the cost in that tax year.

 
spruce said:
... and don't buy an ex Royal Mail van.

I haven't seen one that has been looked after as they get a different driver each day. They are all bashed and mostly driven by posties who don't care because no one holds them responsible for any damage they cause.

Personally, I believe a Blipper is too small, but then I don't live and work in London.
Click to expand...
One of my neighbours, has one on his drive while his van is in the garage and they are tiny, there is no way I could work out of one of those on a daily basis.

 
P4dstar said:
I would recommend you make your own DIY system. It may seem daunting but the pros far outweigh the cons. If you're not a DIY guy don't worry, there really isn't that much involved. I'm no DIY expert but I know my system inside and out and if something breaks I can replace it personally, I wouldn't want to drive to the manufacturer every time there was an issue.

If you make a DIY system first and then purchase a custom built system later it won't cost you any more in the long run. Just to explain this logic, in the first year you'll have a lot of expenses. This late into the tax year (assuming you end your year in April like most people) you may struggle to turnover much more than the expense of all your equipment before even considering a top of the range system. With this in mind whatever you spend you aren't going to have a tax bill for this financial year. Run the second year upgrading some of your equipment and see where you are in Feb/March, if you've done well then buy a custom system then and sell the old one off (thus reducing the tax bill for year 2). If your earnings are looking moderate wait until the beginning of tax year 3 to invest in a top of the range system and offset the cost in that tax year.
Click to expand...
These top of the range systems that some folk get gooey eyed about, seem to have far more issues than a more basic system which in essence is the same, more likely over-complicated somehow or fitted by someone somewhat incompetent, I personally don't believe a pretty system with no showing wires warrants an extra 2k plus over a more basic system. 

All fur coat and no knickers springs to mind with some folk, they don't make anyone a better or even half decent windy over someone else ? ?

 
Last edited by a moderator:

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