So funny when you’re well established

[Will you make it]

Im 53 this month.

think a lot of it is when I was a youngster I was hyper apart from going to the boxing gym every other day and training a lot, I would be climbing trees falling out them quite a lot lol ditch jumping, moto x often falling off the bikes, I have broken my ribs twice, three fingers on one hand and a thumb, two fingers on the other, jaw broke once, arm broke, ankle broken. 

Was diagnosed with spondylitis many years ago in my spine.

and more recently tendonisis (not to be confused with tendiniis)  in my left shoulder.

Yes it’s painful everyday wake up as stiff as a board takes ten minutes to loosen up ?

think most of it is I abused myself when I was younger thinking I was invincible lol but now paying the price as none of my family have arthritis only me.

I converted to electric reels and extreme poles and extremes brush years ago which as help.

when young I did work out and stay reasonable fit but also went out with the lads drinking just worn myself out TBH.

Sounds like to me that when you get older which I hate to say but they call us Middle Aged! 
We have been through so much and lived a full life and dealt all the blows and lived to tell the tale. We have charisma and wisdom so we are the best of the best window cleaners in the world and we look after our own and our customers and they love us and what we do! 
We need to keep going in the industry because no one else can do it like us but the question is when - when do we start to need the extreme - or can we manage with the SLX for now ??

Personally I’m gonna get the extreme to see what it’s all about and the tax man will be paying so I need to find out ? 

 

[Jonny 67]

Do you mean your waiting to use extreme when your 70 years old…?

Yes...

Sounds like to me that when you get older which I hate to say but they call us Middle Aged! 
We have been through so much and lived a full life and dealt all the blows and lived to tell the tale. We have charisma and wisdom so we are the best of the best window cleaners in the world and we look after our own and our customers and they love us and what we do! 
We need to keep going in the industry because no one else can do it like us but the question is when - when do we start to need the extreme - or can we manage with the SLX for now ??

Personally I’m gonna get the extreme to see what it’s all about and the tax man will be paying so I need to find out ? 

I've no regrets on buying the extreme 25....

 

[Den]

Is the arthritis like gout ? 

Gout is a form of arthritis I have had gout in both feet and one of the worst pains I have experienced, gout attacks I have had is defo worst ?

 

[Den]

Yea that’s exactly what I meant in my post it only takes a minute to wash it out - a quick blast with the nozzle off outside tap and it clears it

We are tubless and use a cloth cleaning the hose/pole hose every time when reeling in, I believe this helps to maintain the pole free of dirt and grit.

Have watch other cleaners reel in their hose then coil up the pole hose and it not clean. 

 

[Jamesmarshall]

We are tubless and use a cloth cleaning the hose/pole hose every time when reeling in, I believe this helps to maintain the pole free of dirt and grit.

Have watch other cleaners reel in their hose then coil up the pole hose and it not clean. 

I always clean on the way in it only gets gritty when you pull over sandy surface or when someone’s having work done etc. The washing out of the pole shouldn’t take longer than 2 mins I’d of thought I have had it happena few times and yes u can hear it scratching sections so I always do it immediately on same or next job if you can’t on the first.

As said before the rigidity of extreme makes a massive difference I no longer have elbow issues since using extreme poles, I think partly its due to the fact you have to treat them with more respect to an slx not

yanking them about if you don’t want to snap Them 

 

[Iron Giant]

Cleaning pole hose, if I clean the front of a house first, I will wipe down the pole hose as I gather it up before extending the pole again, doesn't matter about sandy surfaces etc dirt is every where, on dry sunny days it's usually fine, but a little bit of wet can make all the difference to picking dirt up on the hose. 

 

[Will you make it]

Cleaning pole hose, if I clean the front of a house first, I will wipe down the pole hose as I gather it up before extending the pole again, doesn't matter about sandy surfaces etc dirt is every where, on dry sunny days it's usually fine, but a little bit of wet can make all the difference to picking dirt up on the hose. 

I must agree - I always have a wet microfibre cloth and run the pole hose through it after every job.

Years ago I saw a friends hose on reel that was filthy and I thought I’m never gonna let that happen.

I think it extends the life of your poles as I’ve never had to take my SLX’s apart to clean them and have had these ones for 3-4 years now….

?

 

[dazmond]

i turned down 3 walk ups today...i couldnt be arsed...im busy enough.....some days the last thing you want is another job to add on to your day...in fact sometimes its a relief when i can skip a couple of jobs too due to building work or whatever....?

 

[steve garwood]

i turned down 3 walk ups today...i couldnt be arsed...im busy enough.....some days the last thing you want is another job to add on to your day...in fact sometimes its a relief when i can skip a couple of jobs too due to building work or whatever....?

I used to find it hard to turn down customers. Now I enjoy doing it on a regular basis. Got enough, don’t want to work harder ???‍?

 

[scottish cleaning service]

i turned down 3 walk ups today...i couldnt be arsed...im busy enough.....some days the last thing you want is another job to add on to your day...in fact sometimes its a relief when i can skip a couple of jobs too due to building work or whatever....?

Aye, I'm getting to the stage that I call it a day when I reach £160 but I don't know why. I just tend to switch off after that or go and do a gutter clear. Got a nice job cleaning 2 velux windows because the roofer has warned them no one is to stand on the roof and clean windows or the veluxs, another good reason for wfp.?

 

[Pjj]

I used to find it hard to turn down customers. Now I enjoy doing it on a regular basis. Got enough, don’t want to work harder ???‍?

New work is good price it higher than existing work and then dump your cheapest work and keep repeating this will give you more higher priced work and over time more money for less work done win win ???

 

[Davy G]

New work is good price it higher than existing work and then dump your cheapest work and keep repeating this will give you more higher priced work and over time more money for less work done win win ???

I agree, We're having a fair bit of success with increasing prices, especially on the couple of extra services we offer : gutter emptying in particular, as it's quite a necessity in proper house maintenance and we do use ladders so we add a bit of danger money/insurance cost. 

Soapwashes, we're creeping up steadily as well but not by as much percentage wise as the gutter emptying. The soapwashes are done entirely from the ground apart from conservatory roofs from short ladders.

Maintenance cleans we're also increasing the prices, especially with new recruits but a little slower again.

It's important to keep making progress, or we'll be left behind hoping to survive instead of pushing ourselves and hopefully thriving.

 

[scottish cleaning service]

New work is good price it higher than existing work and then dump your cheapest work and keep repeating this will give you more higher priced work and over time more money for less work done win win ???

I couldn't do that as I know all my customers too well. They have been loyal to me when I started up and I don't have the heart to dump them, its just not me. I would rather go to the care home and make 100 and have a good laugh rather than do a commercial job for twice that amount. I'm going there tomorrow and looking forward to it. ?

 

[Davy G]

I couldn't do that as I know all my customers too well. They have been loyal to me when I started up and I don't have the heart to dump them, its just not me. I would rather go to the care home and make 100 and have a good laugh rather than do a commercial job for twice that amount. I'm going there tomorrow and looking forward to it. ?

I dare'nt go to a care home for work. At my age if I started wandering around the grounds they'd probably think I was a recently arrived new resident on a shuffle-about ramble and shepherd me in the door to an armchair with a blanket for a cup of cocoa.

I not silly! I stay clear. While I can anyway! ?

 

[Pjj]

I couldn't do that as I know all my customers too well. They have been loyal to me when I started up and I don't have the heart to dump them, its just not me. I would rather go to the care home and make 100 and have a good laugh rather than do a commercial job for twice that amount. I'm going there tomorrow and looking forward to it. ?

Yes I know exactly what you mean , I think what I said comes over as callous I didn’t mean it to but look at it this way ,if they came across hard times they wouldn’t have any qualms about dropping you  , I get staff to tell them that we are having to increase prices quite dramatically if they ask by how much they re quote the job some will say yes that’s fine others will not pay the increase , any customers we don’t like doing due to awkward windows , difficulty parking , slow payers etc we just say we are cutting back on our work load thanks for your custom , business and pleasure should always be kept separate I find it hard as some jobs I have been doing 22 years or so I tend to give ones like that a little bit of slack , but we are all in this to make a living not friends . 

 

[Dave B]

Yes I know exactly what you mean , I think what I said comes over as callous I didn’t mean it to but look at it this way ,if they came across hard times they wouldn’t have any qualms about dropping you  , I get staff to tell them that we are having to increase prices quite dramatically if they ask by how much they re quote the job some will say yes that’s fine others will not pay the increase , any customers we don’t like doing due to awkward windows , difficulty parking , slow payers etc we just say we are cutting back on our work load thanks for your custom , business and pleasure should always be kept separate I find it hard as some jobs I have been doing 22 years or so I tend to give ones like that a little bit of slack , but we are all in this to make a living not friends . 

Even jobs you've had for 20 years can drop you just like that.

I talk to customers but never treat them as friends as they are just customers at the end of the day.

 

[Part Timer]

At the end of the day it's common decency to say to a long standing customer I need to put your price up x amount rather then just dump them for bigger bucks.

If they decline then fair enough but not to give them the option is not something I would ever do.

 

[steve garwood]

New work is good price it higher than existing work and then dump your cheapest work and keep repeating this will give you more higher priced work and over time more money for less work done win win ???

Nope. Happy with my pricing and my round is a happy place as most of my customers have been using me for many years and I enjoy seeing them.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m friendly with another windie who will take the work off me at the price he estimates the clean. Free money with no adjustments to my round.

 

[mike007]

New work is good price it higher than existing work and then dump your cheapest work and keep repeating this will give you more higher priced work and over time more money for less work done win win ???

Unless the new work  does not become regular after a while and your dumped "cheapest" were regular payers, then you have lost out. Got to be some loyalty in it somewhere.

 

[Iron Giant]

At the end of the day it's common decency to say to a long standing customer I need to put your price up x amount rather then just dump them for bigger bucks.

If they decline then fair enough but not to give them the option is not something I would ever do.

I put a long term job up I've probably had for 15 years+ I explained it was under priced which was my fault but things had to change it went from £20 to 25 she was totally fine with it, 

On the flip side quoted a 4 bed detached at £14 they said they had moved from a house twice the size in Gateshead and only used to pay £7 ?

 

[dazmond]

dont get me wrong...i dont turn down enquiries all the time...that would be a foolish thing to do as we all lose work through customers dying,moving or cant afford it anymore(i usually take on a couple of new jobs every month or so)it keeps my round fresh,i also try and increase prices a bit more for new work....thats how ive refined my round over the last 28 years into what it is today...

no window cleaners rounds stay the same.......they are all built on shifting sand

yesterday i just couldnt be arsed as im busy for the next 4 weeks until i go to greece,im also back playing drums,rehearsing,gigging and in the process of fitting out a garden room complete with bar,lighting,insulation,plasterboard,etc.....im also still trying to fit in the gym a few times a week too..