When did you turn that corner?

[Wind o kleen]

My debt list is about 20k !!

i get about 20 letters a day threaten me with court action ?

 

[Wind o kleen]

My round is spreads over like 3 towns.  I am slowly making inroads and most of my cheap work is in the towns.  But I got farms where the prices not only need to be bigger for the properties but also cos of the diesel.  I am thinking of filling up my window cleaning round first with 200 - 300 customers and then think of gutter cleans at a later date.  My main priorities are growing my round to have a stable income to account for messers and to buy a decent sign written van.  At the moment I am driving a 1.8 L diesel which is costing a fortune to run!

You don’t want have 300+ customers then look into gutter cleaning , you’ll not have time and you’ll make more money cleaning windows , get the extra adds now while your not busy, 

 

[Incheck]

What @Incheck sais is very true however we have several large housing estates that most properties are £10 a go I do 7 per hour and my guys do 5 per hour so that’s very good money in my books , and we don’t move more than half a mile in a week , so £10 jobs are very worth while having if you have enough close to each other , and on a housing estate full of 3 bed semis you will struggle to get much more in a lot of places , I live in an affluent area but at £10 a go people will have them done at £12 a go they won’t I have tried over a number of years and 99% will say no at £12 but 90% will pay £10 , if however there is much traveling involved then £10 is not enough 

Bang on mate, taking monthly earnings yeah you obviously need to go in a bit lower. Our round is 6 weekly. Very dispersed too. An average round for us covers a 3 mile radius, sometimes different neighbourhoods, a lot of time on the road. On doing 2-3 houses an hour on a lot of rounds. We are saturated with windies here. On one street there are 6 houses all right next to one another that have different windies. 

Our work is mainly middle-large size semis and detached houses, we do very little on estates actually. The demand seems to be low, we barely get any enquiries from estates anyway. 

I think we probably have in the region of 300 regulars and i dont think i can handle many more. Too many in the phone book too much admin too many payments to keep track of too many reminder texts etc etc etc. Thats why i went over to preferring ad ons. The income isnt guaranteed but if i can spend a day on one or two customers houses rather than travelling to 20 different houses and 20 different customers i find it less to deal with mentally. I know you dont send text reminders yourself but obviously your operation is built on that basis rather than ours being predominantly text reminders for gates to be unlocked. Apart from onlys of course. I like to text so i can tell them to close all the windows too. I cant cope showing up at houses in summer with all the windows open, especially if they open vertically or inwards. So its nice to show up to closed windows you know ?

 

[Pjj]

You don’t want have 300+ customers then look into gutter cleaning , you’ll not have time and you’ll make more money cleaning windows , get the extra adds now while your not busy, 

Theres very good money in clearing gutters far more than you can earn in an hour cleaning windows if you price it right , we now specialise in providing a full exterior cleaning service to our customers , pressurewashing,softwashing, gutter vaccing, gfs cleaning , cladding , and commercial building cleans , they don’t need to go to any other company many like this ,as they know , trust us and know we will do a good job , bacs payments all ready set up risk assessments already set up for commercial work , it’s a very good way of maximising profits from existing customers , and a welcome change from 8 hours a day cleaning  glass .

 

[Incheck]

Theres very good money in clearing gutters far more than you can earn in an hour cleaning windows if you price it right , we now specialise in providing a full exterior cleaning service to our customers , pressurewashing,softwashing, gutter vaccing, gfs cleaning , cladding , and commercial building cleans , they don’t need to go to any other company many like this ,as they know , trust us and know we will do a good job , bacs payments all ready set up risk assessments already set up for commercial work , it’s a very good way of maximising profits from existing customers , and a welcome change from 8 hours a day cleaning  glass .

This is true, on your own its good money sometimes. Youve just got to be careful what size jobs you take on if somebody is alone. I wont do town houses on my own theyre too high for ladders should i need them. But low and middle type semis you can actually do in an hour comfortably sometimes if youre lucky with no excessively blocked downpipes or gutters too narrow up to the roof tiles all those little problems that take the real time. If you can do £65 in an hour and get 3 or 4 of them a day its happy times, the trick is getting them all on the same day, sometimes it doesnt happen. 

Going back to what i said about estates, i think the reason we do so little on them is because the trad guys love them. Usually low in height, no connys or extensions, so perfect for a tradder hopping along. I hardly ever see tradders doing the larger houses.

i met a tradder in mcdonalds the other week he works predominantly on one estate, he says he does half of the estate roughly and there must be at least 3000 houses on it. I would guess he must be doing 1000+ maybe 12/1300 at a push as hes young ish, in his late 30’s early 40’s i reckon. Not bad going for one bloke with very little equipment expenses!

 

[adamangler]

With add on work it's going to take some experimenting to see whether or not it's worth doing.

I find window cleaning easier and more profitable.

Add on work I find hard to make it pay. Round here a lot will turn their nose up at paying £60 to have a conny roof cleaned or the gutters cleared.

Even if you could find 4 customers in one day paying £60 each to have their gutters cleared it would be easier to just clean £240 of windows instead.. and you can go clean them again next month..relying on add ons means you are constantly having to look for the work.

I'm of the opinion add ons are a good filler whilst building the round, I've done loads from carpet cleaning and car valeting to fsg/gutters and pressure washing but nothing beats a well refined window cleaning round.

I mean sure if you can make a much better day rate doing them then go ahead but I find it too much faff and hard work for little gain.

I've got my round into the best order, I work in all weather and I know it off by heart so I can go out and attack each day and make it as profitable as possible. I come home fill the van and text the next day's work. I don't get covered in **** from gutter vacs  or pressure washers nor do I have to constantly be scheduling and juggling work about or checking/fixing/cleaning equipment on an evening.

I have a gutter vac and I can't stand the bloody thing, the pipes weigh a tonne and it clogs up every 10 mins and God help you if the gutters are solid. I would want £100 an hour to tow about with that contraption.

 

[Pjj]

With add on work it's going to take some experimenting to see whether or not it's worth doing.

I find window cleaning easier and more profitable.

Add on work I find hard to make it pay. Round here a lot will turn their nose up at paying £60 to have a conny roof cleaned or the gutters cleared.

Even if you could find 4 customers in one day paying £60 each to have their gutters cleared it would be easier to just clean £240 of windows instead.. and you can go clean them again next month..relying on add ons means you are constantly having to look for the work.

I'm of the opinion add ons are a good filler whilst building the round, I've done loads from carpet cleaning and car valeting to fsg/gutters and pressure washing but nothing beats a well refined window cleaning round.

I mean sure if you can make a much better day rate doing them then go ahead but I find it too much faff and hard work for little gain.

Thats interesting obviously different  areas have different idears down hear it’s easy to earn  £250 in a morning vaccing gutters we quite often charge that for one job on a 4 bed detached and it will take 1:5  hours tops I wish I could do them 8 hours a day rather than the windows , there isn’t enough just to do that full time but it’s a nice add on bonus 

 

[Part Timer]

I just find that price amazing, not questioning you get it. Up here you'd have people choking on their toast if you charged £100. I don't bother even looking for work up here but was sent some gutter job offers that were between £40-£60 for 3/4 bed semis. 

 

[Pjj]

I just find that price amazing, not questioning you get it. Up here you'd have people choking on their toast if you charged £100. I don't bother even looking for work up here but was sent some gutter job offers that were between £40-£60 for 3/4 bed semis. 

This job hear took 1:5 hours every other company said it couldn’t be done from the ground we are regularly doing ones  like this now at £250 a go and it’s only a 3 bed mid terrace I accept its 3 storey but it’s only 10 meters of gutter if that , if it had to be scaffolded it would have been £650 , 

 

[BigFoot]

This job hear took 1:5 hours every other company said it couldn’t be done from the ground we are regularly doing ones  like this now at £250 a go and it’s only a 3 bed mid terrace I accept its 3 storey but it’s only 10 meters of gutter if that , if it had to be scaffolded it would have been £650 , 

View attachment 17336

View attachment 17337

View attachment 17338

That grass growing out of the gutters in the second photo looks like Donald Trumps hair!

 

[Iron Giant]

My round is spreads over like 3 towns.  I am slowly making inroads and most of my cheap work is in the towns.  But I got farms where the prices not only need to be bigger for the properties but also cos of the diesel.  I am thinking of filling up my window cleaning round first with 200 - 300 customers and then think of gutter cleans at a later date.  My main priorities are growing my round to have a stable income to account for messers and to buy a decent sign written van.  At the moment I am driving a 1.8 L diesel which is costing a fortune to run!

Farm houses on a working arable farm need to be up to 50% higher as they can take some extra cleaning most of the time and also consider travel time if they are 1/2 a mile or so from the main road. 

 

[Ana]

I just see add-on work as a bonus at the end of th month, doing a quote for a conny and a carport (not done a carport before). That money will just cover a few days camping in the van, couple of meals out etc.

 

[adamangler]

I just find that price amazing, not questioning you get it. Up here you'd have people choking on their toast if you charged £100. I don't bother even looking for work up here but was sent some gutter job offers that were between £40-£60 for 3/4 bed semis. 

Exactly

I gave up quoting for add ons a while ago

For gutter cleaning I've found people are expecting to pay about £20/£30 for a 3 bed semi.

I have got £50/£60 before but it's maybe 1 in 4 that will agree at that price.

When you start getting much above that you get looked at like you've just run over their cat.

I struggle to get windows for £10 never mind charging £250 for gutter clearance.

Just yesterday someone rang me up for a widow cleaning quote, I said a tenner she said she would ring round for more quotes! People up here will try and save £2-£3 a month if they can

 

[adamangler]

I just see add-on work as a bonus at the end of th month, doing a quote for a conny and a carport (not done a carport before). That money will just cover a few days camping in the van, couple of meals out etc.

Yeh I used to think like that but now just see extra work as a chore, I'd rather just get home early or work 4 days a week (which is generally what i do I work Monday to Thursday) sure I could earn more money by working 5-6 days a week but then you don't have the time to enjoy it! I prefer the simplicity of a well organized window cleaning round to chasing after money.

 

[Den]

Personally we are too busy to do add-on work, but fortunately I have a mate the repairs,replaces and cleans gutters cladding and connie roofs he is not a window cleaner but great at what he does he gets tonnes of work out of me. 

 

[Part Timer]

We work on a monthly basis so invariably have a few days off a month. We now quote higher on fascia work and do them on one of our days off. We only do one or two a month though as most quotes aren't accepted. 

 

[Pjj]

We work on a monthly basis so invariably have a few days off a month. We now quote higher on fascia work and do them on one of our days off. We only do one or two a month though as most quotes aren't accepted. 

We love the add on  jobs we don’t get all we quote but certainly get 90% of them just priced up a couple of softwashing jobs small 4 bed houses got both of them at a much higher daily rate than the windows would bring in , it’s also nice to do other work than constantly doing windows keeps me and staff motivated , a couple of my guys would  happily do just the add ons 

 

[Ana]

Yeh I used to think like that but now just see extra work as a chore, I'd rather just get home early or work 4 days a week (which is generally what i do I work Monday to Thursday) sure I could earn more money by working 5-6 days a week but then you don't have the time to enjoy it! I prefer the simplicity of a well organized window cleaning round to chasing after money.

Thats how I work. I do Monday to Wednesday 8-2.30 and have a long weekend every week, end of month I have a week off, plenty to keep me occupied and enough money to enjoy. Like you I could do more but I enjoy my free time and value it above money, plus I've just got into bee keeping and harvested my first batch of honey, secondary income here we come haha 

 

[Incheck]

Something tells me, as a general rule of thumb, the longer a window cleaner has been around the more compact their rounds will be and the more customers they will have. We started 5 years ago and i’m still meeting new window cleaners every week, some who’ve been around way longer than us, some not. 

It is absolutely saturated in Cardiff. We struggle to get the volume in the areas we wish to work in. So many properties are tied down with long term windies.

There’s probably fierce price competition in these areas too as even though the properties are on the large side, its areas that are practical to park and work in (all semis or detached predominantly good access all round) 

A lot of enquiries i’ve had recently have been from main roads in inner city areas with no parking availability, flats etc. Its clear they are struggling to get window cleaners but theres no point taking these properties on though if you cant park to start with. Everybody targets the same areas in the suburbs, with the exception of tradders who often focus on estates.

Ad on work however we can get in the areas we like to work in, as its often a case of “my window cleaners to busy to do it” or “he doesnt provide these services” so its a gap in the market for us. The only downside is when you need gutter vacs, pressure washers etc so it is a lot of extra equipment to invest in, maintain, replace. 

We are losing so much trade on the window cleaning rounds in august due to people being on holiday and cant unlock gates etc, don’t know if anybody else is experiencing the same? 

 

[Actrad]

I clean traditional in scotland 2 guys 60/70 a day. Employee is on £10 per hour holidays etc roughly 3/350£ a day between us seems alot of work for the cash ? Correct work is close and spread out over lots of domestic customers. Hard work time consuming yes. Benefits if you put all your eggs in one basket and lose it you have no eggs if you spread it out and work hard you have loads of eggs you lose 1 egg you dont notice it you lose one basket you have a problem. Hint keep commercial big priced jobs as a bonus build roots first . losing 1 com at £100 compared to losing 1 dom at £6 really affects you unless your work consist of alot domestics 

 

[Actrad]

I clean traditional in scotland 2 guys 60/70 a day. Employee is on £10 per hour holidays etc roughly 3/350£ a day between us seems alot of work for the cash ? Correct work is close and spread out over lots of domestic customers. Hard work time consuming yes. Benefits if you put all your eggs in one basket and lose it you have no eggs if you spread it out and work hard you have loads of eggs you lose 1 egg you dont notice it you lose one basket you have a problem. Hint keep commercial big priced jobs as a bonus build roots first . losing 1 com at £100 compared to losing 1 dom at £6 really affects you.