Worst winter yet

[Will Eves]

@RWCleaning Oh defo, Sod’s law whenever your van is due in the garage it’s a beautiful day. 
 

@Oli Yeah it’s always a nightmare deciding whether to text everyone the night before or not when it’s changeable. Always better to be optimistic. I do feel a plonker having to rearrange too often though so it’s a balancing act. 
 

 

[steve garwood]

Got to agree with this! I have 3 weather apps on my phone and each one can vary wildly for the same day. I’ve lost track of the number of days there was heavy rain forecast for the next day and it’s turned out fine. Nowadays I usually book the work in for the day and at least go out and try, if it turns out really bad you can always text them and say you’ll be out tomorrow instead. 

I personally think those apps are ?.

I watch the bbc London weather at around 6.50 each evening. These seem to be the most accurate as they are meteorologists, not some bimbo reading an autocue

 

[THL4KEL]

Did a job for a national power generation company a few weeks back. They supply power when the national grid goes down across the UK. 

Was speaking with the site general manager about weather conditions making it hard to clear out gutters. He said they use as they need to constantly watch weather forecasts - 

Windy.com 

It's a free site and you can get an app for it in android. Been using it the last few weeks as the App I was using was not accurate at all. Seems ok.

 

[Martyn]

This will be my 24th year of window cleaning and the last three have been the worst weather wise. We've had two winters of constant storms blowing through reducing work time, especially west coast work. This winter has been the wettest I can remember and when you live on a small island rain usually means wind as well so constantly ducking & diving to find somewhere sheltered enough to work.

 

[swc1]

I think it’s great. More difficult weather and conditions see so many quit.

Bad weather is tough to manage but that is the challenge of our business. Especially when every new cleaner pops up in the summer thinking they’ve found the elixir of life cleaning in their shorts, vest and sunglasses.

This is where I’m glad we are a small team because we can easily ramp up and down our cleaning volume to compensate.

Get some salt, maybe a hot system and find some work around guys and girls. Don’t let the conditions dictate your business operations. (Within reason)?

Great post!

 

[dazmond]

I've only been cleaning for eight years but this is by far the hardest winter I've had. Next week is also looking like a lost cause, temperatures not going above freezing all week and that's down south. It's either raining or freezing, can't catch a break.

man up you big jessy!

 

[Iron Giant]

We don’t mind plenty of snow here. It’s the only thing that stops Tory advisors popping in for an eye test. 

Might not stop the weirdo's turning up peering through Specsavers windows and Valentines around the corner, when it was open earlier this year the owners got sick of people asking if he ate in there so they just gave up and told them he had a bacon sarnie and some chips then they tweaked their menu for a Dominic Cummings bacon buttie i think the owner said ?

 

[Chris34]

Doesn't seem to bad for me.  Only my second winter but I remember last February and it rained non stop every day pretty much.  Maybe I'm getting used to it but seems ok, still in my shorts so can't be that bad ? 

Was cold a few weeks ago but I think because I start at around 11:00 it's warmed up by then.  Not looking forward to the cold easterly winds.

 

[Jango]

Doesn't seem to bad for me.  Only my second winter but I remember last February and it rained non stop every day pretty much.  Maybe I'm getting used to it but seems ok, still in my shorts so can't be that bad ? 

Was cold a few weeks ago but I think because I start at around 11:00 it's warmed up by then.  Not looking forward to the cold easterly winds.

Start at around 11?. We have one @Part Timer but you must be part time part time.  I’ve got 3 hours in by then. ??

 

[Chris34]

Start at around 11?. We have one @Part Timer but you must be part time part time.  I’ve got 3 hours in by then. ??

5 or 6 hours per day max if I can, no breaks though.  Don't think I could hack 8 hour days now ?

 

[Davy G]

Did a job for a national power generation company a few weeks back. They supply power when the national grid goes down across the UK. 

Was speaking with the site general manager about weather conditions making it hard to clear out gutters. He said they use as they need to constantly watch weather forecasts - 

Windy.com 

It's a free site and you can get an app for it in android. Been using it the last few weeks as the App I was using was not accurate at all. Seems ok.

I've been using Windy.com on Android for years for sea kayaking and for work. I've seen the captains using it on Deadliest Catch. I reckon they'll have an idea of what they're doing. I did a post on it on the 15 Feb 2020. I just found it on the search bar, under the discussion : Bloody Forecasters. My reasons still stand. I can't be doing with typing it all out again. ?

 

[Danfire]

I'm thinking I might send a text out to every customer, something along the lines of "due to freezing temperatures internal window clean available this week, prices same as your external clean". My hourly rate will suffer but it'll keep the meter ticking over and I'll be warm.

 

[Part Timer]

I'm thinking I might send a text out to every customer, something along the lines of "due to freezing temperatures internal window clean available this week, prices same as your external clean". My hourly rate will suffer but it'll keep the meter ticking over and I'll be warm.

Wouldn't be going inside for a few months yet. You might also spook some of your customers in offering to do so.

 

[Omega]

I'm thinking I might send a text out to every customer, something along the lines of "due to freezing temperatures internal window clean available this week, prices same as your external clean". My hourly rate will suffer but it'll keep the meter ticking over and I'll be warm.

You should. That’s a good pro-active measure.

In my experience, most of our clients do not appear worried about covid measures so think that would work well for you. We keep distance and wear masks and avoid touching things with hands where possible (like handles, use elbows etc) where inside stuff is required although not much. Clients all seem relaxed providing you’re sensible about it.

Don’t under estimate how many people want cleaning doing. A good tip for those who are not keen on interior work.

offer clients the professional cloths for cleaning. We loan out loads of ours and customers love them. We give them to them to test. If they like we give them a link to where to buy them. Most ask if we sell them. Could be a long term idea for making a bit of extra money.

this is in respect to cleaning with cloths only not squeegee. Easy enough for customers as most use rubbish cloths and wonder why they get smears  

don’t think outside the box. Get the box and kick it out the f***ing window. 

 

[Martyn]

Nobody should be doing internal domestics at this time, it's crazy.

 

[THL4KEL]

And nobody should be having to work in supermarkets either - but unfortunately they have to.. At least they are not dying. 

 

[Davy G]

And nobody should be having to work in supermarkets either - but unfortunately they have to.. At least they are not dying. 

Shops are a very essential service though. The same is not the case for internal glass cleaning.

 

[Omega]

Nobody should be doing internal domestics at this time, it's crazy.

That’s your opinion. People are being vaccinated at an amazing rate and the government says you can work with precautions.

if you’re not breaking the law or breaching rules then why not? Crack on  

my personal opinion is the whole thing has lacked logic from the get go. We’re in lockdown. Need to do track and trace to buy a coffee from a coffee shop.

yet can go into the supermarket. Hand sanitiser not compulsory and can pick up and put down as much stuff as we want. No gov advice on how to pragmatically shop safely. Alcohol cleaners out of stock yet bleach equivalents full on shelves because we as a nation don’t realise bleach also works.

back to point. Let the guy crack on and offer internal cleaning if he wants. His customers will say yes or no. He’s not holding them hostage.

 

[Pjj]

That’s your opinion. People are being vaccinated at an amazing rate and the government says you can work with precautions.

if you’re not breaking the law or breaching rules then why not? Crack on  

my personal opinion is the whole thing has lacked logic from the get go. We’re in lockdown. Need to do track and trace to buy a coffee from a coffee shop.

yet can go into the supermarket. Hand sanitiser not compulsory and can pick up and put down as much stuff as we want. No gov advice on how to pragmatically shop safely. Alcohol cleaners out of stock yet bleach equivalents full on shelves because we as a nation don’t realise bleach also works.

back to point. Let the guy crack on and offer internal cleaning if he wants. His customers will say yes or no. He’s not holding them hostage.

At this time surely it would be safer for both parties to decline doing internal domestic , we haven’t done any internal on our commercial work or domestic  at all and we won’t be for the foreseeable future Ime not prepared to potentially put myself or staff or customers at risk that’s unnecessary 

 

[Part Timer]

That’s your opinion. People are being vaccinated at an amazing rate and the government says you can work with precautions.

if you’re not breaking the law or breaching rules then why not? Crack on  

my personal opinion is the whole thing has lacked logic from the get go. We’re in lockdown. Need to do track and trace to buy a coffee from a coffee shop.

yet can go into the supermarket. Hand sanitiser not compulsory and can pick up and put down as much stuff as we want. No gov advice on how to pragmatically shop safely. Alcohol cleaners out of stock yet bleach equivalents full on shelves because we as a nation don’t realise bleach also works.

back to point. Let the guy crack on and offer internal cleaning if he wants. His customers will say yes or no. He’s not holding them hostage.

And that is yours. My problem with this is if you do someones house that tests positive you have to self isolate, if you then test positive you have to inform all of your customers who then have to self isolate. God forbid one of them gets it and dies, so we can earn a few extra quid? Not exactly a risk I'm prepared to take.

I had plenty of battles with the naysayers at the start of all this but, personally think the risk reward is just not worth it. Everyone can decide what they do but for me I'm out.

 

[steve garwood]

Why not go and ask some doctors and nurses for their opinion after working a 12 hour shift?

Cannot believe some people sometimes ?