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Amount of customers?

ECLM
WCF

Help Support WCF:

What would you consider to be a large domestic customer base?

  • 1000

    Votes: 6 42.9%

  • 1500

    Votes: 3 21.4%

  • 2000

    Votes: 3 21.4%

  • 3000

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 5000+

    Votes: 2 14.3%
  • Total voters
    14
Damo

Damo

Well-known member
Messages
2,580
Location
Bedfordshire
I know amount of customers doesn't really mean a lot but i just wondered what you guys thought was a good number?

Thanking you. 

 
I know roughly how many you have mate.. that is a good number i think 

I would be happy with another 100 and then i will be looking at employing

That will take me to roughly 500 but about 100 of them are 2 monthly rather than monthly like the rest at the moment which is about 300 monthly and 100 2 monthly at the moment

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Dave B said:
I know roughly how many you have mate.. that is a good number i think 

I would be happy with another 100 and then i will be looking at employing

That will take me to roughly 500 but about 100 of them are 2 monthly rather than monthly like the rest at the moment which is about 300 monthly and 100 2 monthly at the moment
Click to expand...


Do you now????!! Remember i am Mr BS lol! Guess who's got to quote another 3 sets of flats :p Ultimate's here I come  :1f618:

Too funny yesterday told Paul he needs to manage his hose better as its just asking to break stuff....I then smashed a plant pot! Couldn't put that in my pocket lol.

 
If you break something stick it in your pocket and tell me later.. i wonder who said that  :1f602: :1f602:

I quoted those flats i showed you.. 320 quid quarterly we'll see what happens

 
How do you guys manage 400-500 solo?

I "only" have about 230-250 ish and when I get add on work coming In I'm busy 5 days a week. Some graters you lot.

5000 customers seems great but in reality it most of that profit gets swallowed up. 5k custys a month at a tenner is 50k or 600k  a year but can you imagine the costs involved in getting to and sustaining that level of business. The wages alone would take a good 200k of that for window cleaners then you would need admin staff, premises,vans,insurances, messers, non payers, god knows what else, you would be lucky to make 300k in profits before you take off the ridiculous vat and tax bills etc. Hazard a guess you might make 100-200k profit out of it when all said and done. 

When  you look at the numbers in this game it doesn't stack up that well. 

If I employed one guy and we turned over 80k to stay below vat, paid him 20k salary. Then took taxes off and running costs might pocket 40k after tax. 

Or is that just how most businesses work?

Still having said all that once you get the business to that level it can run itself or pay someone to run it for you clan you pocket 100k plus a year for doing very little. 

 
adamangler said:
How do you guys manage 400-500 solo?

I "only" have about 230-250 ish and when I get add on work coming In I'm busy 5 days a week. Some graters you lot.

5000 customers seems great but in reality it most of that profit gets swallowed up. 5k custys a month at a tenner is 50k or 600k  a year but can you imagine the costs involved in getting to and sustaining that level of business. The wages alone would take a good 200k of that for window cleaners then you would need admin staff, premises,vans,insurances, messers, non payers, god knows what else, you would be lucky to make 300k in profits before you take off the ridiculous vat and tax bills etc. Hazard a guess you might make 100-200k profit out of it when all said and done. 

When  you look at the numbers in this game it doesn't stack up that well. 

If I employed one guy and we turned over 80k to stay below vat, paid him 20k salary. Then took taxes off and running costs might pocket 40k after tax. 

Or is that just how most businesses work?

Still having said all that once you get the business to that level it can run itself or pay someone to run it for you clan you pocket 100k plus a year for doing very little. 
Click to expand...
The idea of employment is not to make a fortune but gradually build up the amount of employees and work you have imo

1 employee making you 20k pa on top of your own work is ok as the employee is doing the work

5 employees making you 20k pa each however is much more appealing to me

 
The least the better. My ultimate goal for me, would be very well priced 3 monthlys, that are easy to do, but prices bumped up to reflect the extra cleaning n less frequency. Ive got a couple of 2 monthlys just now, at £40, that probably should be £30ish, but customer seems happy to pay that, as not getting charged monthly. Stick another £5-£10 for 3 monthly, instead of running about with lots of frequent customers at smaller charges. My attitude probably comes from being in my forties with numerous back issues, so need to work on minimising crazy work schedule to make body last the rest of my life. If your fit as a horse, you are blessed.

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adamangler said:
How do you guys manage 400-500 solo?

I "only" have about 230-250 ish and when I get add on work coming In I'm busy 5 days a week. Some graters you lot.

5000 customers seems great but in reality it most of that profit gets swallowed up. 5k custys a month at a tenner is 50k or 600k  a year but can you imagine the costs involved in getting to and sustaining that level of business. The wages alone would take a good 200k of that for window cleaners then you would need admin staff, premises,vans,insurances, messers, non payers, god knows what else, you would be lucky to make 300k in profits before you take off the ridiculous vat and tax bills etc. Hazard a guess you might make 100-200k profit out of it when all said and done. 

When  you look at the numbers in this game it doesn't stack up that well. 

If I employed one guy and we turned over 80k to stay below vat, paid him 20k salary. Then took taxes off and running costs might pocket 40k after tax. 

Or is that just how most businesses work?

Still having said all that once you get the business to that level it can run itself or pay someone to run it for you clan you pocket 100k plus a year for doing very little. 
Click to expand...
I have a worker so that's how I achieve it. You need to allow for a wet day a week imo then this time of year pvc etc fills that gap 

 
I have around 750 customers. With an employee. I personally deal with around 350 accounts. However I am running close to 5 weekly at the moment as I am so busy.

300 is a nice number.

I like having a little overage, so I can move jobs around a little. For instance to do low down, sheltered work when it's windy.

If I only had enough to keep me going for 4 weeks, I wouldn't be able to move things around the way I have to at times.

As long as your busy enough to pay your self a wage your happy with, that's really all that counts.

Sent using the Window Cleaning Forums mobile app

 
If your a sole trader working on your own or with one lad the number of houses you have will be irrelevant as it will all come down to profit and how much physical work and time you have to put in to make that profit.

Once you start employing and running multiple vans then it becomes a numbers game.

I don't know any large domestic only window cleaners personally what Lee Proyer has done with his domestic rounds is impressive having 10 vans out and I believe some one that use to come on here had around 19.

Anything above 3-4k customers monthly is what I would call large.

 
Ran a family business that employed 28 people and turned over millions. You end up on a roundabout of needing jobs and workers to pay the bills. Good luck for anyone that wants to build their empires. Me a small scale franchise with a few takers paying me 25%, or so of turnover, is the way I'd go

 
Dont think it matters how many customers you have Somedays I can only do 3 houses in one day max on my own due to their size, my round is rapidly becoming a two man operation and hopefully this time next year I will have another part timer on board as the son in law wants a change of career.

 

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