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What services go well with window cleaning

G

Guest

I am looking to add an extra service to go well with window cleaning. Something that is recurring like window cleaning but different.

I was thinking about basic grass cutting, not gardening but just basic grass cutting. But that is mainly only a summer thing, and would die down alot in winter.

Plus, I am not sure you would be able to make the same hourly rate for grass cutting as you would for window cleaning but could be wrong?

But if you could combine them together for some customers, you could make extra per customer..

Anyone else do anything like this?

 
I do just about everything mate. And just about everything goes with window cleaning... except for grass cutting.lol /emoticons/biggrin.png Loading up and taking out the lawn mower gets annoying very quickly, and its not good for your back unless you have a trailer/ramps. Money can be good if you build a good round, but also ****, as you will spend time driving about, fuel and repairs on your mower/strimmer etc. Its a lot of work for not a lot of gain IMO. I quit my gardening round this year and it was a good move. Leave it for the students and retirees, as they are the people you'll be competing against. I used to charge £20ph, turn up with quality stihl petrol tools, do a good job that would take most people 3 times as long with homebase rubbish, but people would still moan saying "the last guy charged £10 / £12". I got fed up in the end. The only gardening work I take on now is full, or half days.

For me, the best jobs that compliment window cleaning are ones that give a day or weeks work, ..combining window cleaning with another weather dependant round based business is not a good idea. I can say that from experience.

So what can you do?

 
Hmm.. What is another type of service which is recurring that you could offer?
You are better off without recurring work IMO, although whatever jobs you do you will hopefully have recurring customers. The question is what are you good at, and what do you enjoy?

 
Window cleaning is my business which im fine with, sometimes the odd day doing a different service would be interesting, thats why I was thinking grass cutting but will see. Thats why I was interested in knowing what others do.

 
Handyman work is good and can earn good money but you will need an aptitude for it and plenty of tools

I do bits and pieces and the plan was to do lots like tolish does but the windows have got too busy now

 
I'd stick to things that you can do with the tools you already have for window cleaning. I've just done a whole week cleaning connys and S/F/G. I worked a whole lot less hours and earned roughly the same as a week on the glass. If I could spend my time doing the above week in week out I would, but it's never going to be as regular as my window round but a nice add on.

How about car valeting, especially if you have a tank of pure on your van?

 
Car valeting is a good earner

If you have a pressure washer or wfp setup it's no problem to set up

Especially if you know what you're doing and can offer expensive services like clay bar etc

But an average guy can earn well from it

 
id think selling firewood WOOD work ! iv known several guys who cut and split logs stack it then sell each winter. gruelling work carting it away but long as uv a decent log splitter ,it wont kill you

 
If you get a pressure washer, lots of my custys ask me to clean there patio's.

its a messy job and usually splatters their windows, which in turn gives you more work..

 
I'd stick to things that you can do with the tools you already have for window cleaning. I've just done a whole week cleaning connys and S/F/G. I worked a whole lot less hours and earned roughly the same as a week on the glass. If I could spend my time doing the above week in week out I would, but it's never going to be as regular as my window round but a nice add on.
How about car valeting, especially if you have a tank of pure on your van?
I agree with this. Be careful what you offer, as handyman work gets expensive. The list of tools is almost endless if you want the work. Theres a lot to be said for focusing on just one or two jobs. 'Glass n Grass' has a ring to it. One thing to be careful of is your marketing. Its common for customers that know your 'real job' to think as you are doing it on the side that they can expect a discount, (otherwise why would they not just go to a specialist and pay the same money). So you can often find yourself attracting bargain hunters unless you market it as a part of your business. Just something to be prepared for. People are often shocked when I turn up in my van with all the proper tools, as the image of a handyman is an old guy that turns up with his trusty metal toolbox with a hammer and a couple of screwdrivers in it. Whereas I own just about every hand tool you can buy along with drills, angle grinder, concrete breaker, jigsaw, circular saw....and thats just a fraction of it. Its expensive at the start, but it pays well, and its always varied.

 
I do car valeting, BUT i wan tto get rid of it as soon as i have a full window cleaning round. I think potential earnings per hour is not quite as good as windows, not bad but still... but the great thing about window cleaning is regular work, with valeting its one off jobs and so is inconsistent.

The only way to get regular valeting work is with a dealership/businesses etc but they tend to want to pay lower prices.Also you have to carry more gear, more chemical, generator, its harder work than windows grovelling around a car all day. Its weather dependant, a lot of custies want it doing straight away or on a weekend.

The way i see it is unless you can make more profit doing other services than you can on the glass then there is no point adding other services, you may as well just build a full cream round instead. If you have 5 services you need all the gear for them, somewhere to store all that gear, service/replace all that gear, you have to market all of your services.

Having looked into it i think im going to eventually settle on windows and carpets.

I tried pressure washing but over a grand for a pw, and hardly any phone calls despite ranking well from google. windows is a great model imo.

 
What I do with the windows is use it as a stopgap to let the handyman jobs build up. So by the time the window round is done, I already have a load of jobs booked in- works a treat. A good thing about the variety of handyman work is to pick the jobs you feel like doing. For example this week I put an advert out for carpet or laminate fitting just to see if I get any nibbles as I havent done one for a while. It keeps the boredom at bay.

For the pressure washing,I find the best way to get the work is to sell it in person to window custies. Anyone that has a dirty patio, just mention it, and more times then not I get it.

 
Ok i see so you must prefer the handyman work then tolish? or is it better money or the variety you like?

With the pressure washing, my website ranks near top but very few enquiries, when ive looked on analytics its just a low searched thing compared to windows. I see what you are saying sell it existing custies but my thinking is if you are paying say a grand for the machine, have to store it, transport it etc is it really worth it unless you can earn a lot more than just doing windows alone.

Its a strange thing because if you can fit other jobs in then that means you dont have a full round so when you dont get any extra jobs then you have a gap, thats the beauty of windows you can cram yourself full for whatever hours you choose to work and not ever have to advertise/look for work/buy extra gear when you are full.

Having said all that i think the variety and the flexibility of the way you do things could outweigh the other factors, having say 4 days windows per week an leave the 5th day open for whatever other services you choose gives you breathing space for bad weather, holidays etc. Its a good model also and one i am going to go with long term, but i am going to exchange the valeting for carpet cleaning i think, more profit and not weather dependant. You could also use an indoor type service to your advantage and try to book them in on a day that is forecast bad weather.

 
@Roy @adamangler

Pressure washing was probably the second best move I made, (going wfp being the first)

I know what you mean, jobs aren't that regular, but, when you do get them it's almost always a minimum of £150 and takes no time with a decent jet washer, get a second hand one, and then start pushing it a bit and you'll average maybe 1-2 jobs a month, I've now done two roof jobs (see other threads in pressure washing section) and that's earnt me just under a grand for a total of 4 days work...

Then you've got the usual patio jobs that you'll get every month or so averaging £150-200 for a couple of hours work, and big jobs can be in excess of 3-400 - so it's very much worth it in my opinion,

Also remind customers of the service and upsell where you can, the results are always amazing with pressure washing so take before and afters, then spread the photos on a website, Twitter, Facebook etc etc, you'll soon see people going 'ohh and ahh I want that done!'

It's become my favourite job to do, I enjoy it far more than gutter cleaning, conny roofs, even the window cleaning...

 
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Ok i see so you must prefer the handyman work then tolish? or is it better money or the variety you like?
With the pressure washing, my website ranks near top but very few enquiries, when ive looked on analytics its just a low searched thing compared to windows. I see what you are saying sell it existing custies but my thinking is if you are paying say a grand for the machine, have to store it, transport it etc is it really worth it unless you can earn a lot more than just doing windows alone.

Its a strange thing because if you can fit other jobs in then that means you dont have a full round so when you dont get any extra jobs then you have a gap, thats the beauty of windows you can cram yourself full for whatever hours you choose to work and not ever have to advertise/look for work/buy extra gear when you are full.

Having said all that i think the variety and the flexibility of the way you do things could outweigh the other factors, having say 4 days windows per week an leave the 5th day open for whatever other services you choose gives you breathing space for bad weather, holidays etc. Its a good model also and one i am going to go with long term, but i am going to exchange the valeting for carpet cleaning i think, more profit and not weather dependant. You could also use an indoor type service to your advantage and try to book them in on a day that is forecast bad weather.
I'm a handyman first and foremost. But one day I bought a ladder for a painting job. As with many of my tools I have my mrs chewing at me to get rid of it as its taking up space. I didn't what to get rid of it so I thought about gutter cleaning, and then windows. The window cleaning struck me as a good idea for keeping in touch with handyman customers. And it does exactly that, but I never realised I'd enjoy it so much and that it would be a good earner. It has finally given me a stable wage every month taking a lot of the stress out of the handyman work. The best part of the handywork is that the jobs are generally bigger, but the worst bit is the uncertainty that you will get those jobs. So thewindows has sorted that.

 
re the post above..yep tolish that sums it up..

my dad always said....no money with windows you can go out tomorrow and have money...the regularity of window cleaning is the best thing..

cheapie has done most things if not for custies for himself..

I started the grass cutting for a neighbour when his gardener left...and it can be surprisingly hard knackering work especially on the scale of bedding I did but..again its so seasonal that as you head towards sept october you know its slowing down

whereas..

windows carries on as normal

but gardening does fit in nicely with the ever growing shorter working days because of the worse weather etc

oh and your right tolish I feckin hate lifting that mower in and out and yep .it does your back in..

I am currently keeping the grass cuts to a minimum and would rather keep the windows straight but...yep it does make a nice change and break sometimes..

and lucky for me my grasscuts are for windowcleaning custys so I can wfp the windows cut the grass and check when the windows are dry as I clean the sills nicely fits in.

one thing I do have on my card is property repairs...

but as tolish says you need the tools for the job..

but I tend to pick and choose the jobs too and can put them on the back burner til I am ready like mrs js fence panel painting or the ladys bush:whistle: I have to cut soon..

one of my personas is roofman...and where ever that listing is it does bring me the odd job..especially after its been windy..

again I can choose whether or not to do it and price accordingly.

yeh grass cutting may start out fun but soon begins to annoy../emoticons/biggrin.png

 
Tolish and anyone else who offers handyman services, therefore always carry a tonne of tools around with you: What size tank do you have in your van?

 
yes some days my car can be rather full to say the least..

most times I cant find the tools I want...

one such job came my way this week and saved the day..

it had been a **** day on the windows everything going wrong etc and the skies where darkening..

so I went to see mr chatalot....not my words ..the daughters who answered the phone..

he had a leak in his roof...and was phoning thinking I was a roofer..

well as most custys over the years have had me do so many jobs and I am good on ladders roof jobs I will tackle but..

only if I fancy them...

this one was a cracked tile I could spot it from the kerb it was three tiles up on the main roof but the problem was a large front extension was underneath.

anyway I didnt get off the pavement and mr chatalot had spotted me from behind the nets...

and he was off....blah de blah de blah..yeh the daughter was right..

I told him I could see the crack and off he went to get ...

his binoculars...yes tolish binoculars...

basically he didnt know whether to have it repaired or if he was going to get the builders in to extend his front bedrooms..

so I offered to do what I do a lot ...shove some silicon or proper roof sealant in the crack as a temporary repair..

sick of the chat I just said twenty quid for a long lasting temp repair whilst he thinks about extending..

and he said okay..

I had told him the next couple of days but was back at my house thinking I had finished too early and so I loaded my mower for another grass cut...but looking at the sky doubted I would make that..and grabbed my silicon gun a chisel and cloth and off I shot.

I had a plan so I would walk down next doors drive be up on the roof and do the job before mr chatalot knew I was there.

but...he was stood behind his wife in the front garden watching her work...yep hes a watcher:specs

but anyway looking at the sky I wasnt hanging around and just cracked straight on...lucky for me he disappeared...

now this was the dodgy bit...I dont really own a small ladder so took half my 14 foot ladder and climbed it up onto the extension and then carefully walked on the tiles of the extension and pulled my ladder up and then placed it on the sloping tiles of the extension to reach the broken third tile up...

working on my own I had no one to foot the ladder so that was the scary bit.

anyway I could just reach the cracked tile filled it up with silicone and skinned it with my spit as you do jobs a good one time to go as the first spots of rain began to fall..

loading my ladders on mr chatalot came out and digging in his wallet gave me twenty plus a tenner too...

so thirty quid for ten minutes work....from a crappy day to a happy day...

so yep me likes extra services../emoticons/biggrin.png

 
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