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mid life crisis! Windows could be the solution

Les Gradwell

Member
Messages
55
Location
Manchester
Hello everyone and thanks for having me. I'm Les a 36 year old from partington,Manchester. I recently left my job in Aviation an 11 year career and thought I'd retire their,  without boring you with details a back stabber stoped that for me ☺.  I'm not down about it I've decided to put my savings to good use, self employed window cleaning is what I want to do. I'm under no illusion this will be easy, I have absolutely no experience whats so ever. but I'm willing to learn and take whatever training/courses are necessary to get me established.  I have 8/10 grand to get a van/tank and all the tools for wfp and traditional for inside work. I'M unsure if I should build a round from scratch or buy a small round to get me going. is this doable guys? Am I crazy for thinking like this? Hope you guys will help me out, any advice will be appreciated.  

 
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Welcome to the house of fun mate

Not mad to be thinking this as it is a very good business to get into if you are willing to put the effort in

To start with personally I would get a van and a gardiner backpack with pole and either a cheap ro or buy your water if you have a spotless water or similar company near you

No need for an expensive van mount to get a feel for the job

Either use 25l barrels sourced from local car wash or like me a tank with an £11 bilge pump off ebay and use that to fill your backpack 

I use a backpack and tank even now due to loads of terraced houses with access issues dragging 100m of hose round alleys etc

If you find it is for you you would only need to add a controller and hosereel to have a van mounted system and a backpack for awkward jobs 

As for getting work you can't beat a bit of door knocking in your local area and build on that to get good local work 

 
Thanks dave. I heard backpacks break easy with hardly a life span.. But coming from yourself i'll reconsider, does seem sensible to keep it as cheap as possible to get a feel for the job first. Like you say I can upgrade and keep the backpack for awkward areas. so i also thought you could only get pure water from a tank/pump set up, I'm wet behind the ears as you can see ☺.  so i'm hitting Google,  see if I can find a spotless water company.  I have a big hand car wash near me too! So you guys use hot water in the winter right? I'm wondering if it's viable to use in the summer or is this a waste of time/money? Thanks for the advice mate, all good stuff ? 

 
Welcome to the house of fun mate

Not mad to be thinking this as it is a very good business to get into if you are willing to put the effort in

To start with personally I would get a van and a gardiner backpack with pole and either a cheap ro or buy your water if you have a spotless water or similar company near you

No need for an expensive van mount to get a feel for the job

Either use 25l barrels sourced from local car wash or like me a tank with an £11 bilge pump off ebay and use that to fill your backpack 

I use a backpack and tank even now due to loads of terraced houses with access issues dragging 100m of hose round alleys etc

If you find it is for you you would only need to add a controller and hosereel to have a van mounted system and a backpack for awkward jobs 

As for getting work you can't beat a bit of door knocking in your local area and build on that to get good local work 
What bilge pump do you use.

I am about to get a 650 litre tank in the vivaro and like working from the backpack (even though I was toying with the idea of a full set up, I can't justify the cost just yet.)

 
I will take a pic in the morning of how I set mine up using plumbing pvc pipe and fittings to put it in my tank

 
Nice one dave ? One more question but it can wait till tomorrow..  How long do your pack packs usually last? Maybe the guy that led me to believe their to fragile just had bad luck with em

 
Sorry @Dave B but it's time to disagree!  Ohhh Betty ! 

Backpacks are an add on for the occasional awkward job not for all day cleaning windows. 

This is not just opinion. A counterpart in Newcastle decided to get an XLINE trolley  it took 2 weeks before he was back for a van mount due to the faffing about changing barrels every 20 mins. 

Start as you mean to continue. 

With an aviation background you can probably wire a plug and plumb a hoselock so you could DIY for less than £2k with a 400 or 500L tank. 

As for hot in this weather not required but again @Dave B I think you'll find a pretty even split of lads have hot systems installed but it can be easily added at any stage. 





As for gaining customers if you're a happy friendly chap start knocking doors. (Cheapest way) Buying rounds or hiring canvassers can be expensive and a gamble. 

We also run a lead gen service for window cleaners so if we can be of any help or you just want advice numbers on our website. 

https://greenproclean.co.uk/lead-generation-window-cleaners/

 
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This forum is absolutely awesome!  I'm reading/learning more on here than anywhere else. I hear what dave's saying about awkward rows of terraced houses but can only visualise in my head. I've never canvassed in my life but this is all very exciting and can't wait. I was a tug driver so spent all day monovering/ Towing aircraft, all fixings and connectors in Aviation are unique and not for use outside the industry ( I wish eh ☺).  But I'm learning every day and I'm up for trying this cheaper set up to get me going. Again thanks for your help all ? 

Just seen the vid ? 

 
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Hi Les Gradwell, welcome! I too was from the aviation industry, your better out of it if you are/we’re surrounded by money obsessed self centred pr1ck$. I agree with green on this one - a backpack will only hold you back in the long run so get yourself the biggest tank you can fit in the van of your choice and have a look at past threads for wiring up a pump and controller to a battery and away you go. No need to go balls deep straight away as it may take time to build up a round, I worked part time alongside window cleaning while I was still building a round which helped me immensely as I was able to take my time with first cleans and price well from the start. A compromise for a cheapish set up would be to buy a second hand trolley (pure freedom) and use that as your van mount, that way you can attach a long hose reel to it and work from the van - or take the trolley out and stick a barrel on it. The pure freedom trolly uses exactly the same bits as a decent can mount. Just figure out how your going to buy or purify your water as that’s equally as important from day one.


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I'll agree that a van mount is the gold standard, however I use a backpack daily out of my car, just because I've not got round to buying a van yet. My backpacks been going for 2 years and only had a couple niggles like wires coming loose and I've had to replace the switch. As long as you look after them you'll be fine. May be worth getting a backpack I initially whilst you build and then look at a van mount a couple of months in, once you know is it's right for you. There are jobs where a backpack is more suited than a van mount, so it's not a waste of money. I'll admit the barrels are a ballache but it's something that you get used to, plus I've found it's made me more concious of how much water I'm using and reducing wastage, so when I do get my van my water is going to last longer.

 
Exactly, in one! @AGlassAct I spent years climbing the ladder just so a jealous colleague can stitch me up for my job... Even though the forensics in Huddersfield found me not guilty I quit. I honestly see it as a blessing now and moving forward.  I like the trolley idea thats the awkward house's done. I've just looked at spotless waters Web page and it seems they have plans to install a water station 4 miles away from me. Would this beat a van set up?

 
My advice would be to do some work for a not so local window cleaning firm.  I subbed myself out for about a month to learn the ropes and to see if I could hack it.  I learned more in a month, good and bad, than I would have in 2 years on my own.  Plus you're earning while you're learning and making your mistakes with someone else's customers.  When you start your first customers are precious, so don't want to be over/undercharging or doing a **** job and losing them

 
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My thoughts are that we’ve run our entire show off backpacks for 4 years. They last about 18 months-2 years being used every day.

Pros - easy to access rear of terraces & awkward jobs, cheap to replace, hoses are contained so none trailing across pavements, can be easily removed from the van & saves a lot of interior space, a good thing if you want space to put a pressure washer, surface cleaner, gutter vac etc, no endless reeling of long hoses, no worrying about keeping the van warm in winter as nothing inside to freeze, if it breaks you can be back up and running in no time IF you have a spare. Always wise to have at least two on the van that way if one goes down the other is good to go, you can take work other window cleaners wont touch and charge accordingly because you know other window cleaners just wont go there. E.g. backs of terraces.

If you suddenly changed your mind and wanted to change career e.g. man & van service, gardening service etc, you’ve got the freedom of not having a gigantic van fitted system to worry about getting shot of. If you wanted to sell your van or something, you’re also not stuck with a gigantic tank in the back that the new van owner may not want, you would probably have to sell it as a window cleaning van.

Cons-filling and carrying of backpack/25L barrels is strenuous, if you aren’t physically fit you will struggle. (get the nigel backpack-it has wheels)

Not practical for commercial work or very large jobs, if e.g. cleaning big blocks of flats or hotels etc you’re definitely going to need a van mount.

Also they take up space in your house, 25L barrels in any significant quantity you’re gonna need a garage really. When they come to the end of their life its a trip to the tip as they’re too big to simply throw in the rubbish bin.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

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