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Rain and windows getting dirty

ECLM
WCF

Help Support WCF:

Unless its torrential I am doing them. Even if it is heavy I will wait in van until it eases off. If they object then I just explain and inform them to google it - can windows be cleaned in the wet. Its hopefully raining tomorrow morning after I finish windows I have a number of bad gutter jobs, hopefully they will be soaked..

 
P4dstar said:
I agree completely mate, we should all be able to dictate when we clean. This is similar to the conversations we have on slow payers though, some people can't afford to drop the ones who mess them around because of a bit of rain, thats something we need to remember.

What i'm getting at is people should plan for problems especially in the early days. If you leave yourself so reliant on cleaning that one customers on that one day that you try and do it in a hailstorm then you're probably gonna be told to sling your hook. If people plan their business and finances a little it can really help. Similarly you need to leave yourself with a degree of flexibility. Garwood has previously said not to let them demand you turn on the 6th Monday at 3pm etc. If you know you can do that customer a couple of days later then you won't go out in horrific weather to clean them and if you plan financially that won't matter.
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I won’t come back ‘in a couple of days’ either.

For example, were in the same road all day today, the van will move around 3 times.

Im not driving back to a single house because they say it’s raining. All my hoses are out doing the neighbours, so as Elvis said, it’s now or never.

If they say ‘can you leave them today?’ I say fine ‘see you in 6-7 weeks. Normally they change their minds.

I virtually never get asked this as I stopped taking on new work years ago, unless it’s where my hose can already reach. Then I will tell the new customer about working in the rain 

 
P4dstar said:
If people plan their business and finances a little it can really help.
Click to expand...


You continue to reference the financial planning aspect of the business Paddy but you MUST remember that before you can consider financial planning you need to have FINANCES to plan with.    When I started my round before this one (talked about in one of the videos) it was literally a matter of 2 slices of bread in the cupboard and that was it and certainly not a house like I have now.    

I would have worked in the dead of night in a category 5 hurricane back then if I thought it was going to help feed the family.  You also talk about money aside for tax bills etc but honestly, they can wait, feed and home the family first.  You suggest that perhaps they get a part time job to supplement their window cleaning, I must have sent of 50 CVs throughout that period and  not even landed one interview and that included delivery driver for ASDA.    

I took every single penny right back out for at least 6 months, feeding family, paying rent, upgrading tools and ladders etc, buying a car so I could expand my 'turf' and so on.  

So not every case is the same and not every case will be able to just decide today they got a part time job or that 40% of every job goes to banking for tax and equipment etc.  

Now I will work in the rain, my jacket of choice is a softshell and the minute that is so wet it is uncomfortable then it's time to down tools till the rain eases off, but now we also have bank to allow us to do so.  

For employers out there it's also a different story as the staff still expect to get paid, so do you make them work in harsh conditions on the grounds that you got to get in the money to pay them or do you call it off at a certain comfort level and have staff that are happy because they know you have their well being in mind? 

Some senior members on here (I don't mean OAPs @Part Timer ?) talk on about 'I just put on my oilskins and blah blah....''  or 'What's the matter? You're skins waterproof blah blah....'  but I would wager these are the first hiding in the greasy spoon when the rain comes.   And also if they have been at it as long as they claim then they should have taken @P4dstar advice on financial planning a long time ago.  

Not every case is black and white is all I am saying mate. 

 
Can I just also chip in that as this round is entirely GoCardless we meet very few of our customers,  point being is the payment is by DD five days after the clean, so whilst we may have cleaned in the rain (and most of our clients are at work when we work) who knows what the weathers doing when it comes out their bank account?   

If you're cleaning and then knocking on for your money whilst wearing a Sou' Wester then I'm sure your going to get an eyebrow raised or two. 

 
Green Pro Clean Ltd said:
 
You continue to reference the financial planning aspect of the business Paddy but you MUST remember that before you can consider financial planning you need to have FINANCES to plan with.    When I started my round before this one (talked about in one of the videos) it was literally a matter of 2 slices of bread in the cupboard and that was it and certainly not a house like I have now.    
 
I would have worked in the dead of night in a category 5 hurricane back then if I thought it was going to help feed the family.  You also talk about money aside for tax bills etc but honestly, they can wait, feed and home the family first.  You suggest that perhaps they get a part time job to supplement their window cleaning, I must have sent of 50 CVs throughout that period and  not even landed one interview and that included delivery driver for ASDA.    
 
I took every single penny right back out for at least 6 months, feeding family, paying rent, upgrading tools and ladders etc, buying a car so I could expand my 'turf' and so on.  
 
So not every case is the same and not every case will be able to just decide today they got a part time job or that 40% of every job goes to banking for tax and equipment etc.  
 
Now I will work in the rain, my jacket of choice is a softshell and the minute that is so wet it is uncomfortable then it's time to down tools till the rain eases off, but now we also have bank to allow us to do so.  
 
For employers out there it's also a different story as the staff still expect to get paid, so do you make them work in harsh conditions on the grounds that you got to get in the money to pay them or do you call it off at a certain comfort level and have staff that are happy because they know you have their well being in mind? 
 
Some senior members on here (I don't mean OAPs [mention=2712]Part Timer[/mention] [emoji12]) talk on about 'I just put on my oilskins and blah blah....''  or 'What's the matter? You're skins waterproof blah blah....'  but I would wager these are the first hiding in the greasy spoon when the rain comes.   And also if they have been at it as long as they claim then they should have taken [mention=5355]P4dstar[/mention] advice on financial planning a long time ago.  
 
Not every case is black and white is all I am saying mate. 
 
Click to expand...
Spot on mate

Sent using the Window Cleaning Forums mobile app

 
Green Pro Clean Ltd said:
You continue to reference the financial planning aspect of the business Paddy but you MUST remember that before you can consider financial planning you need to have FINANCES to plan with.    When I started my round before this one (talked about in one of the videos) it was literally a matter of 2 slices of bread in the cupboard and that was it and certainly not a house like I have now.    

I would have worked in the dead of night in a category 5 hurricane back then if I thought it was going to help feed the family.  You also talk about money aside for tax bills etc but honestly, they can wait, feed and home the family first.  You suggest that perhaps they get a part time job to supplement their window cleaning, I must have sent of 50 CVs throughout that period and  not even landed one interview and that included delivery driver for ASDA.    

I took every single penny right back out for at least 6 months, feeding family, paying rent, upgrading tools and ladders etc, buying a car so I could expand my 'turf' and so on.  

So not every case is the same and not every case will be able to just decide today they got a part time job or that 40% of every job goes to banking for tax and equipment etc.  

Now I will work in the rain, my jacket of choice is a softshell and the minute that is so wet it is uncomfortable then it's time to down tools till the rain eases off, but now we also have bank to allow us to do so.  

For employers out there it's also a different story as the staff still expect to get paid, so do you make them work in harsh conditions on the grounds that you got to get in the money to pay them or do you call it off at a certain comfort level and have staff that are happy because they know you have their well being in mind? 

Some senior members on here (I don't mean OAPs @Part Timer ?) talk on about 'I just put on my oilskins and blah blah....''  or 'What's the matter? You're skins waterproof blah blah....'  but I would wager these are the first hiding in the greasy spoon when the rain comes.   And also if they have been at it as long as they claim then they should have taken @P4dstar advice on financial planning a long time ago.  

Not every case is black and white is all I am saying mate. 
Click to expand...
As I say i'm not looking at people like @Part Timer or @steve garwood. Steve said above about telling a customer ''i'll see you in 6/7 weeks'' and i'll bet he doesn't bat an eye at losing that £10 or £20 or whatever.

First things first, buying new and upgraded tools is not taking money out of your business it's investing in it. Fair play to you Darren I remember watching your video on how you started out on your own by borrowing a ladder from a neighbour and chapping doors. The thing you've missed here is you tried to get a part time job, you tried to balance the books and feed the family correctly which is exactly the point i'm making, at least you tried.

If someone just goes out window cleaning and takes every penny out of their business, doesn't try to keep money to one side literally for a rainy day. Upgrade their kit. Pay for advertising... and so on. If someone walks into this job thinking they can make 2k a month within a few months and life will be sweet they are sadly mistaken. I also want to point out I am still a newbie to the window cleaning world so i'm speaking from my current experience. My wife drives an 11 year old car, I could have gone and bought us a newer one or leased one but I know I will be stretching myself a lot if I do that. We didn't have a family holiday this year to balance the books. If I had done these things and others I would be desperate to work today (It's currently hammering it down) Instead I'm sat at home arguing with you and playing with my son... Much more enjoyable and I do love a good debate ?

 
Part Timer said:
I don't work in torrential rain as a choice, I will however finish a job in heavy rain. At the end of the day it's your own business and you should run it the way you want to. My comments are purely aimed at customers not being able to tell us when we can and can't clean windows.
Click to expand...
Don’t blame you not working in heavy rain you catch a death of cold at your age ?

 
P4dstar said:
As I say i'm not looking at people like @Part Timer or @steve garwood. Steve said above about telling a customer ''i'll see you in 6/7 weeks'' and i'll bet he doesn't bat an eye at losing that £10 or £20 or whatever.

First things first, buying new and upgraded tools is not taking money out of your business it's investing in it. Fair play to you Darren I remember watching your video on how you started out on your own by borrowing a ladder from a neighbour and chapping doors. The thing you've missed here is you tried to get a part time job, you tried to balance the books and feed the family correctly which is exactly the point i'm making, at least you tried.

If someone just goes out window cleaning and takes every penny out of their business, doesn't try to keep money to one side literally for a rainy day. Upgrade their kit. Pay for advertising... and so on. If someone walks into this job thinking they can make 2k a month within a few months and life will be sweet they are sadly mistaken. I also want to point out I am still a newbie to the window cleaning world so i'm speaking from my current experience. My wife drives an 11 year old car, I could have gone and bought us a newer one or leased one but I know I will be stretching myself a lot if I do that. We didn't have a family holiday this year to balance the books. If I had done these things and others I would be desperate to work today (It's currently hammering it down) Instead I'm sat at home arguing with you and playing with my son... Much more enjoyable and I do love a good debate ?
Click to expand...
Just to clarify, if the customer says leave them today, I don’t lose a penny. I will just do an extra house at the end of the day ?

8-4 mon-thur, 8-3 Fridays then ??

 
I try and do as much pressure washing as possible so always have waterproofs onboard van. So if it does come down heavy I just put them on till the downpour is over.

 

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