Green Pro Clean Ltd
Well-known member
- Messages
- 8,103
- Location
- Nottingham & Derbyshire
I've only been a window cleaner for 10 years now but I been in business for a long time, used to sell nails to Noah.
As the business has grown so has the work load, inevitable I know, nothing you can do that's just a fact of growth.
But why has it grown? Well obviously cause we acquired more customers but also because those customers then started saying 'could you just clean the patio? could you just clean the roof?' and so on. Soon enough we found ourselves acquiring more equipment, pressure washers, softwashers and so on but also the loads of consumables that goes with it, chemicals, sand, sealants and on and on it goes.
Now sure it's nice to pick up a £1000 driveway clean but lets look at it like this. (Based on 100sqm)
Driveway cleaner -- £100
Sand -- £30
Sealer £400
Not even counting the cost of the pressure washer and fuel etc so let's call it an even £500 for the sake of debate.
Half a day to clean it and another half a day to sand and seal.... now that's assuming the weather holds long enough to seal a drive in this country.
So by the time all is said and done about 2 days is what you will have invested.
Still not too bad I hear you think £250 per day profit. And it is.
Here's the kicker, how often will that client want the drive doing? Once every 3 - 5 years typically
Now if you had spent that 2 days dropping leaflets, chatting in the street and knocking a few doors you could easily have drummed up £300 per month in good regular window cleans. No heavy expenses such as sealants etc.. And whilst you would have to put in a day a month to get there at the end of the year that's £3600 you're up. And the next year and then next. How does that measley £500 look now?
I have found (through experience) that the add ons can be toxic -- you get a taste of a £1000 job and net thing you are pushing them, chasing them laying awake at night wondering how to get them. The add ons we adopted over the past 5 years include pressure washing, softwashing, roof cleaning and commercial kitchen deep cleans. We have several thousand pounds invested in all the gear to do these jobs but does cause stress.
I made the decision at the beginning of this month to drop all add ons and get back to our roots -- Window cleaning.
As of now we ONLY offer window cleaning, gutter cleaning and conservatory cleaning. AND IT FEELS GOOD.
No more hazardous chemicals, no more lining the pockets of sealant suppliers, no more ruined clothing, no more all equipment covered in shite all the time.
Back to WFP system, some squeegees and some applicators and rock and roll.
Sometimes when we add on much much more we end up with much much less.
If I had spent the time I used to focus on add ons to building up the window rounds I would probably be at 4 - 5 vans by now so in a way I feel I have held myself back some what by doing the add ons but also feel it has been an invaluable learning curve to figure out what works for me.
A reason many of us go add on route is sometimes window cleaning gets monotonous, in future when I am feeling that I will just take off for the week.
So happy to be free of add ons.
As the business has grown so has the work load, inevitable I know, nothing you can do that's just a fact of growth.
But why has it grown? Well obviously cause we acquired more customers but also because those customers then started saying 'could you just clean the patio? could you just clean the roof?' and so on. Soon enough we found ourselves acquiring more equipment, pressure washers, softwashers and so on but also the loads of consumables that goes with it, chemicals, sand, sealants and on and on it goes.
Now sure it's nice to pick up a £1000 driveway clean but lets look at it like this. (Based on 100sqm)
Driveway cleaner -- £100
Sand -- £30
Sealer £400
Not even counting the cost of the pressure washer and fuel etc so let's call it an even £500 for the sake of debate.
Half a day to clean it and another half a day to sand and seal.... now that's assuming the weather holds long enough to seal a drive in this country.
So by the time all is said and done about 2 days is what you will have invested.
Still not too bad I hear you think £250 per day profit. And it is.
Here's the kicker, how often will that client want the drive doing? Once every 3 - 5 years typically
Now if you had spent that 2 days dropping leaflets, chatting in the street and knocking a few doors you could easily have drummed up £300 per month in good regular window cleans. No heavy expenses such as sealants etc.. And whilst you would have to put in a day a month to get there at the end of the year that's £3600 you're up. And the next year and then next. How does that measley £500 look now?
I have found (through experience) that the add ons can be toxic -- you get a taste of a £1000 job and net thing you are pushing them, chasing them laying awake at night wondering how to get them. The add ons we adopted over the past 5 years include pressure washing, softwashing, roof cleaning and commercial kitchen deep cleans. We have several thousand pounds invested in all the gear to do these jobs but does cause stress.
I made the decision at the beginning of this month to drop all add ons and get back to our roots -- Window cleaning.
As of now we ONLY offer window cleaning, gutter cleaning and conservatory cleaning. AND IT FEELS GOOD.
No more hazardous chemicals, no more lining the pockets of sealant suppliers, no more ruined clothing, no more all equipment covered in shite all the time.
Back to WFP system, some squeegees and some applicators and rock and roll.
Sometimes when we add on much much more we end up with much much less.
If I had spent the time I used to focus on add ons to building up the window rounds I would probably be at 4 - 5 vans by now so in a way I feel I have held myself back some what by doing the add ons but also feel it has been an invaluable learning curve to figure out what works for me.
A reason many of us go add on route is sometimes window cleaning gets monotonous, in future when I am feeling that I will just take off for the week.
So happy to be free of add ons.