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Hello everyone!

Welcome, there are plenty of posts on here telling you all the ins and outs of starting up. Firstly are you going the trad or WFP route 
I’d be going with traditional, especially to begin with just to keep costs down. It’s also what I’m used to so I’m confident with it.

I think the tricky bit will be trying to build up a customer base before I leave my current full time job.

 
Hi, I'm Paul. Moved to Stretford Manchester and I was working in mobile telecommunications. Work is all over the UK so after 16 years working mostly away, I need some betyer quality of life. I have a friend in Hereford who's going to show me the methods of traditional and WFP work in domestic and commercial work. 

I don't want to tread on any other window cleaners toes but south  Manchester and parts of Cheshire is where I'm looking to work.

Anyone willing to give me some actual work help and advice is greatly appreciated.

 
Hi, I'm Paul. Moved to Stretford Manchester and I was working in mobile telecommunications. Work is all over the UK so after 16 years working mostly away, I need some betyer quality of life. I have a friend in Hereford who's going to show me the methods of traditional and WFP work in domestic and commercial work. 

I don't want to tread on any other window cleaners toes but south  Manchester and parts of Cheshire is where I'm looking to work.

Anyone willing to give me some actual work help and advice is greatly appreciated.


Hi Paul,

Looks like you've got it sorted with a friend to coach you. I learned from YouTube videos. Window cleaning is pretty straightforward, the most difficult part is finding customers. You just need to get knocking on doors & canvassing.

Don't worry about "treading on toes" - no window cleaner owns an area.

 
Hi, I’m Neil.

I used to do windows with my dad about 15/20 years ago. Thinking of starting a round in North Tyneside.

Any advice on getting started would be appreciated.

Cheers


Hi Neil,

Welcome to the forum. If I were you I wouldn't discount WFP - you can get setup with a backpack, pole & 25L containers for well under £500 and WFP is now becoming the norm rather than the exception.

If you can't make up your own pure water you can probably buy it from someone. Good luck!

 
Hi Neil,

Welcome to the forum. If I were you I wouldn't discount WFP - you can get setup with a backpack, pole & 25L containers for well under £500 and WFP is now becoming the norm rather than the exception.

If you can't make up your own pure water you can probably buy it from someone. Good luck!
Cheers, I might look into it further down the line.

Does it work out being a lot faster then?

 
Welcome to a great forum plently of info to search and just fire away with any questions loads of good advise given by the members. 

 
Window cleaning has come a long way since Sammy the Shammy. Now that houses are covered in PVC we can clean nearly everything with the WFP. I made 200 today cleaning front, back and a conservatory and customer said I was cheap as chips.

 
Window cleaning has come a long way since Sammy the Shammy. Now that houses are covered in PVC we can clean nearly everything with the WFP. I made 200 today cleaning front, back and a conservatory and customer said I was cheap as chips.
Sounds like a good way to go eventually. I wouldn’t want the extra expense to begin with though. Can’t afford it!

 
Sounds like a good way to go eventually. I wouldn’t want the extra expense to begin with though. Can’t afford it!


You can buy a CLX pole from Gardiners for less than £200 and a backpack for £115 but you cant do the job without a pole unless you just do windows. The growth market is in PVC cleaning because no one seems to want to do it. Many window cleaners much prefer to just do windows but if you are willing to do the PVC then there is plenty of opportunity for you out there. :1f609:

 
I’d be going with traditional, especially to begin with just to keep costs down. It’s also what I’m used to so I’m confident with it.

I think the tricky bit will be trying to build up a customer base before I leave my current full time job.
Welcome mate im newish myself and just down the road in the ne6 area ? you will have no trouble picking up work in the north Tyneside area i literally just bagged 4 jobs in the area yesterday just by knocking on doors with my flyer and telling them how it all works (i do WFP)

 
Welcome mate im newish myself and just down the road in the ne6 area ? you will have no trouble picking up work in the north Tyneside area i literally just bagged 4 jobs in the area yesterday just by knocking on doors with my flyer and telling them how it all works (i do WFP)
That’s good to hear! Do you mind me asking how much you quoted them? There’s been a few rounds for sale up here that have only been charging £4 per house around here.

 
That’s good to hear! Do you mind me asking how much you quoted them? There’s been a few rounds for sale up here that have only been charging £4 per house around here.
Aye mate i bagged 4 bungalows at 8 pound each every 4 weeks so i would charge more for a house.

but that's WFP frames doors the full works included as standard. 

 
Cheers. I don’t know what the guys charging £4 are doing to be honest.
Can't be much at 4 quid in my opinion like buddy after fuel, tax, insurance and water you would struggle to buy a bag of chips and a cup of tea for dinner lol they must still be working on the 1980s price list

All I would say is don't look too much at what others charge mate do a honest days work for a wage you think is acceptable.

 
Cheers. I don’t know what the guys charging £4 are doing to be honest.


Hi Neil, as I said on the phone to you yesterday most of these £4 - £5 'bob a job' lads come out of hibernation in the spring, top up their beer money for the summer and come late autumn sell rounds on for 3 or 4 times a clean to tide them over till the weather thaws again then start building another junk pocket money round. 

I've said it at least once (possibly more times) before, there has been an actual shift the past couple of years in the British Consumer, people are starting to value quality and reliability over the 'cheapest price' 

This has been proven time and time again up and down the country.  

When I first joined this forum I was doing 3 bed semis at £8 - £10 per clean (2010, 2011) now our minimum for a 3 bed semi is £14 (typical ex council style)  I had loads of replies on here to posts about pricing even back in 2011 with people saying 'You won't get that round here, the going rate is......'    Then something twigged in the old grey matter......   the going rate is WHATEVER you decide it is for your service.    

If I listened to half the pricing nonsense I've heard on F'B and some forums I'd be thinking £4 a house or £5 with a conservatory was acceptable..  

The one thing to avoid is thinking you need to close EVERY deal regardless and becoming a bargain basement window cleaner.  Pick and chose the clients you want from the off and life runs much smoother.  

8 years ago I was told £5 was the going rate for a 3 bed semi here in the Midlands even though I was charging £8.....  Now today at a minimum of £14 I get comments on posts and Youtube vids with lads gone the other extreme of 'That's too cheap, that's £25 minimum up here'   So you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Set a pricing structure early on that you're happy with and stand by and to hell with what anyone else thinks of the price, they aren't putting food on your table.  

Now sit back and wait for the 'Oh yeah but if the works compact then those prices..... blah, blah, blah'     Total nonsense.   The price of a 3 bed semi should be the same as the price of a 3 bed semi weather you got one on the road or 10.  

Remember, it all starts with just 1.  

 
I've said it at least once (possibly more times) before, there has been an actual shift the past couple of years in the British Consumer, people are starting to value quality and reliability over the 'cheapest price' 
This is true, it comes with us coming out of recession and away from austerity. In 2008 when the last ''recession'' hit us I worked in a call centre for Carphone Warehouse. All of a sudden people started calling up wanting a cheaper deal on their contract, panicking! It was ridiculous. You wake up one morning and the TV and radio are telling you there is a recession, you have the same job as yesterday, you're paid the same as yesterday, your car is the same... Literally nothing has changed but consumers panic. As things seem on the up, at least in comparison to 10 years ago, people are willing to invest in quality.

I've picked up some customers who just weren't happy with the quality of the last windy I haven't been doing this long enough to compare trends and say how this stacks up but I see no shortness of customers wanting a quality job and willing to pay a small amount more for the privilege. Jurys out on the north south divide, i've seen that mentioned so much over the last year it's quite repetitive but even the chaps up north arguing they couldn't get those rates would agree they can charge more than most if they provide a good quality service.

 

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