Spotless Water is it not working out?

[Dave B]

They must be making money at the rate the guy who makes the units is fitting them out here.

He used to do it himself from a unit here and now joined with them.

They have great setups inside as I've had a good look at them while talking to him as I top up there when needed and did before it was spotless.

For all the kit they have and cost to make them the cost is very reasonable I think even at 4.6p a litre here including vat.

There is always 1 or 2 guys there filling up whenever I turn up no matterbwhat time of day.

 

[spruce]

They must be making money at the rate the guy who makes the units is fitting them out here.

He used to do it himself from a unit here and now joined with them.

They have great setups inside as I've had a good look at them while talking to him as I top up there when needed and did before it was spotless.

For all the kit they have and cost to make them the cost is very reasonable I think even at 4.6p a litre here including vat.

There is always 1 or 2 guys there filling up whenever I turn up no matterbwhat time of day.

I would love to see whats inside one of their units. If the guys are regularly filling up they must have a good size storage tank, a couple of 4040's with booster pumps and large di vessels.

 

[scottish cleaning service]

Yet

We get our supply from Scottish Water and politicians don't want to privatise it because they know all the hassle down in England and its not a vote winner. I discussed it with a member of the Scottish Government years ago and residents in Scotland voted 97% against privatisation of Scottish Water. We are lucky because we can always set up rainwater harvesting and I have a burn next to my house. ?

 

[scottish cleaning service]

Spotless will have to pay the Water Company for any water they supply and it will be at least 1p a litre. When I hear they opened a site and then quickly closed it doesn't look right. When a new company grows at breakneck speed then they usually burnout. I gave them six months and they kept going so good on them but I think they would only survive if they change it to a franchise operation.

 

[Dave B]

I would love to see whats inside one of their units. If the guys are regularly filling up they must have a good size storage tank, a couple of 4040's with booster pumps and large di vessels.

And the rest lol.

 

[moto]

3 RO's, DI's, big grundfos pump and huge tank taking whole containers space... Enfield is always busy, recently had issues and not operated few days, that got me thinking... should they close; I am in troubles, so got my system now ? 

 

[Part Timer]

I was at their filling station at Wembley last month, no one there when we got there, 2.30ish on a Monday, but someone waiting when we had filled up.

 

[Cghwindowcleaning]

The one round here is always busy.I know people that have been going there for years which surprises me.

I understand a lot of people may not have the room for an RO but to rely so much on a supplier for your main product is mad.If spotless went under at least 60% round here would be bang in trouble. 

Then the expense to pay over the odds and eat into your profit year on year when you can do it yourself cheaper and more convenient is madness but each to their own.They seem to have a loyal customer base and with all the new starters at the minute they will have no end of new customers.

I can't see them going under far from it.

 

[Part Timer]

The one round here is always busy.I know people that have been going there for years which surprises me.

I understand a lot of people may not have the room for an RO but to rely so much on a supplier for your main product is mad.If spotless went under at least 60% round here would be bang in trouble. 

Then the expense to pay over the odds and eat into your profit year on year when you can do it yourself cheaper and more convenient is madness but each to their own.They seem to have a loyal customer base and with all the new starters at the minute they will have no end of new customers.

I can't see them going under far from it.

I used the one in Stevenage, it would be organised bedlam if 2 or 3 vans turned up at the same time.

 

[spruce]

The one round here is always busy.I know people that have been going there for years which surprises me.

I understand a lot of people may not have the room for an RO but to rely so much on a supplier for your main product is mad.If spotless went under at least 60% round here would be bang in trouble. 

Then the expense to pay over the odds and eat into your profit year on year when you can do it yourself cheaper and more convenient is madness but each to their own.They seem to have a loyal customer base and with all the new starters at the minute they will have no end of new customers.

I can't see them going under far from it.

I agree. But again it depends on how you see your business. Some on here are dead against vehicle leasing. But the leasing industry is growing. If you take out a maintenance contract as well then you know you have fixed costs motoring for the duration of the contract.

Do you know what your repair costs will be for the remainder of this year or next year? No; I don't either, but they do. Yes, it will cost them a bit more but they know exactly where they stand.

This may not be a problem for us windies because most of us don't do many miles a year. But if you do 25k or 30k a year then having that maintenance cost pegged can be a big weight off a manager's shoulders. Add a couple of other vehicles doing similar mileages and that will make a big difference.

The vast majority of us know and understand how r/o's work. We have a local window cleaner that just can't figure it out. He even had an issue working out how to purify water with di only. Quite a number of years on and that windie still uses di only. Will he admit he doesn't understand reverse osmosis? Never in a thousand years. He can't be the only one.

As you and others have said, water is the essence of our business. If there is no water then we can't work. There is no way I would entrust our water purification requirements into the hands of an outside business. I still wouldn't do it if it was cheaper to buy water in than produce my own.

Someone once stated (I don't know if its true or not) that all these water points are a precursor to the company opening up a country wide cleaning franchise. If this is the case then I'm putting my future in the hands of the competition. Its like me putting the fox in charge of my hen house.

Price would also be an added killer, although I expect I would probably to forced to use less water per clean.

 

[spruce]

I've heard a couple of rumours about the state of Spotless's finances (credible rumours) - none that i'll reveal here as i don't want to cause them any harm however one of their reps friended me on facebook months ago and was always responsive. He's still not read my most recent PM after several weeks.

Spotless's main feature isn't just water, it's the sheer speed it's pumped out at and general convenience. I had to switch back to my old supplier after they lifted the filling station i was using (we worked out a deal) but the speed of his water against the spotless pump is very noticable. It takes me around 15 mins to fill my barrels now vs 5 mins (or less) at a spotless filling point. It really was that fast and literally 24/7 - i've filled up at 1am several times.

I think the problem with spotless is that they spread themselves too thin and far. Imagine the cost and time of sending an engineer to 3 sites in a day when it's going to take him 2 or more hours to travel between them, so that's a few extra engineers on the wage bill straight away.

Would i go back to spotless if they put a filling point in my local area? Like a rocket.

This is such a telling post. If you are having r/o setup issues then this is a very big issue. It is totally understandable for someone to feel this way. When processing water becomes as easy as pressing your remote to unlock your van then you would never go back to buying water in.

I know of at least 5 windies within a 5 mile radius who buy their water requirements in.

 

[scottish cleaning service]

I recently had a customer drop me because she has bought a window brush and cleans her windows herself. I was only charging £8 a month so she is saving £2 a week but I believe money is tight. Maybe Spotless are looking at her as an example who can buy a wfp, backpack and go to them for the pure but with all that expense and then the hassle of actually completing the task I don't think so. I now think they had set their sights higher and a window cleaning franchise was their long-term plan. If they have not opened any new sites this year then it doesn't look good.

 

[spruce]

I recently had a customer drop me because she has bought a window brush and cleans her windows herself. I was only charging £8 a month so she is saving £2 a week but I believe money is tight. Maybe Spotless are looking at her as an example who can buy a wfp, backpack and go to them for the pure but with all that expense and then the hassle of actually completing the task I don't think so. I now think they had set their sights higher and a window cleaning franchise was their long-term plan. If they have not opened any new sites this year then it doesn't look good.

In the early days we had a number of cancellations because customers saw how easy it was for us to clean windows with water and a brush on the end of a pole.

Another cleaner's customer approached me once and asked how I manage to wash the windows and not leave white spots. Her husband bought her a car washing brush to clean the conservatory windows with and she just couldn't get them right. When I explained about water purification it went over her head.

We lost a few more when that Karcher cordless unit came out. As I always say; the hole they left behind was the same hole left behind when you take your hand out of a bucket of water. They get replaced so quickly.

I'm sure we will loss some more when the financial impact of covid19 hits home. Some will genuinely fall on economic hard times and have to tighten their belts and some will make it an excuse to cancel our service.

 

[Cghwindowcleaning]

I used the one in Stevenage, it would be organised bedlam if 2 or 3 vans turned up at the same time.

I went along to a sign up they had there.They must of had 10 vans infront of me it was kaos.I said hello to the rep they had there and just said this would never work for me and drove off.

 

[scottish cleaning service]

In the early days we had a number of cancellations because customers saw how easy it was for us to clean windows with water and a brush on the end of a pole.

Another cleaner's customer approached me once and asked how I manage to wash the windows and not leave white spots. Her husband bought her a car washing brush to clean the conservatory windows with and she just couldn't get them right. When I explained about water purification it went over her head.

We lost a few more when that Karcher cordless unit came out. As I always say; the hole they left behind was the same hole left behind when you take your hand out of a bucket of water. They get replaced so quickly.

I'm sure we will loss some more when the financial impact of covid19 hits home. Some will genuinely fall on economic hard times and have to tighten their belts and some will make it an excuse to cancel our service.

My father made all his money from the homeless and he hated them but when the cheque came in every 3 months he persevered with them. I on the other hand make 90% of my money from pensioners  and folk who work in NHS and public service. I have lost two customers and gained more but I am witnessing the merit in cleaning pensioners windows. A large cleaning company dropped an area full of them to chase the money on the new estates I hope they don't return as I'm picking them all up.

 

[spruce]

My father made all his money from the homeless and he hated them but when the cheque came in every 3 months he persevered with them. I on the other hand make 90% of my money from pensioners  and folk who work in NHS and public service. I have lost two customers and gained more but I am witnessing the merit in cleaning pensioners windows. A large cleaning company dropped an area full of them to chase the money on the new estates I hope they don't return as I'm picking them all up.

Funny how new estates attract window cleaners. The thing is that pensioners are usually in and pay on the day.They don't usually moan too much but are also happy to talk.

They also are more likely to pass away at some point so the only thing you might loose it a clean. I can deal with that.

 

[Part Timer]

They also are more likely to pass away at some point so the only thing you might loose it a clean. I can deal with that.

And a customer, you're getting hard hearted ?

 

[scottish cleaning service]

Funny how new estates attract window cleaners. The thing is that pensioners are usually in and pay on the day.They don't usually moan too much but are also happy to talk.

They also are more likely to pass away at some point so the only thing you might loose it a clean. I can deal with that.

Another thing about pensioners, they can't sleep knowing they owe someone money so you very rarely get bumped. Give me a round full of pensioners any-day but probably wouldn't get away from them with all my talking. ?

 

[Guest]

I would love to see whats inside one of their units. If the guys are regularly filling up they must have a good size storage tank, a couple of 4040's with booster pumps and large di vessels.

I saw inside one once ( near Uxbridge maybe) you’d be amazed!

 

[Guest]

Spotless will have to pay the Water Company for any water they supply and it will be at least 1p a litre. When I hear they opened a site and then quickly closed it doesn't look right. When a new company grows at breakneck speed then they usually burnout. I gave them six months and they kept going so good on them but I think they would only survive if they change it to a franchise operation.

Why 1p a litre? We often draw off the mains and the price varies. Usually about £1.50p/1000 litre

 

[mike007]

People are naturally lazy, so if a Spotless water station is close enough and quick enough to fill up, can understand. But as also mentioned if it goes down or moves wfp operators without their own RO equipment will be up that proverbial creek looking for a paddle. And the new breed cannot do or will not do Trad.