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Leave My Windows

Poles Apart

Well-known member
Messages
1,666
Location
Birmingham
Doing the phone calls and sending out the texts a job I detest every night, told one customer I'm coming tomorrow she's told me to leave it if it's going to rain any time in the next week as it's pointless.

 
I do feel bad doing houses before a storm . You really are only robbing them literally. I had houses yesterday all along the coast and they would be as bad as ever today 

 
Todays forecast was absolutely horrendous, there was supposed to be a day long deluge, lightning, thunder...all we really had was a wash out until 10am and its been pretty reasonable since. We’ve had the day off. I feel kind of comfortable because we are set for 50mph winds tonight, so if we had cleaned the windows today, the chances are they would get stinking again tonight.

Next week is looking much more favourable. Have gutters to do in the morning but more 40mph winds in the afternoon, dont fancy swinging ladders around in that so im hoping to hit and hide & be home by mid day, that’s the plan anyway

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I've got some 40' high windows to do on the sea front tomorrow, forecast 25mph winds and light rain. Wind is just manageable at that height, as long as there's no strong gusts, so should be a full day.

 
Yip feel the guilt if its going to rain  never mind a storm coming, so annoying.
Ahh i’ve been out in many a monsoon mate. Rainwater helps, its pure. Wind is the issue, and lightning. I have often thought to myself in the past bloomin heck i should’ve gone out today but then i wake up in the morning after a gale, see that the windows are in tatters with crud all over them, and think yeaaaahh, many a customer would have been pretty peeved off at having their windows cleaned the day before. Especially at todays prices. I use a day off well, i changed the oil in the mower, did some paperwork, visited my nan and gramps, banked the cash & cheques. Makes me feel like i’ve been productive then even though it’s been incomeless.



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You have got to train em better, tell them from the beginning you work in the rain and water-filled pole wash works fine, warn them in a jovial manner that it affects the window cleaner more than the windows and they will be fine, offer them a "will do them again guarantee". if they are not satisfied ( I have never had to redo a window because of rain),

As for the cancellation because of "its gonna rain" then this one has to bee an X customer,they are no good and you will lose them eventually you cannot be dictated to by people like this, its always "gonna rain" sometime, somewhere in the UK, these types are a drain and you spend time, money and effort pleasing them until you and they part, make a start by dropping this one, you know it makes sense.

 
This one with a 35cm 4 jet brush, a bit wobbly when fully extended but manageable at this height.

https://gardinerpolesystems.co.uk/all-products/water-fed-poles/telescopic-poles/slx-ii-carbon-fibre-pole/pole-slx-47.html 
Cheers, Im after a pole of this height but unsure what to go for. Fortunately there is a place near me that sells poles so I'm going to wave a few about and see how they perform. Need to know if the extra investment worth the hype. weight not really an issue for me but would like the rigidity.

 
Use text local or a similar service so they can't reply, What everyone needs to realise the UK is at the hands of one of the most volatile weather systems in the world and the weather forecast is never going to be accurate so we have to crack on whilst the weather is favorable, Our job is to maintain the cleanliness of the windows not keep them clean or guarantee that they will stay clean whether its 2 hours or 2 days after a clean.  

 
Cheers, Im after a pole of this height but unsure what to go for. Fortunately there is a place near me that sells poles so I'm going to wave a few about and see how they perform. Need to know if the extra investment worth the hype. weight not really an issue for me but would like the rigidity.
I'm a fairly big unit but even I know I've been working if I use it at height for more than 3 hours a day.

 
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I put up with the 'leave it this time' and 'not if it's raining'  types while building the business as the month's they did have them done meant I got some more money in.  The problem comes when you're at capacity and then these people cost you money so you need to drop them sometime before that point .  As I got busier I started dropping them.  Someone on here suggested a RADS list (replace and drop) which I've found useful.

One thing I would add is that even now one or two will occasionally reply with 'weather looks bad, would you mind doing them another time?', to which I've replied and just explained I clean in all weathers and they've been fine so it's worth explaining to see if that settles them.  Some you'll never please though and will need dropping.

 
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Remove from round. If you dont earn from them theyre just a number on your round that doesnt provide an income. Iv always seen custys like this as a false statistic. If you dont cull the **** then when you think you have a £100 or £200 day it will be more like £50 or £100 a day because of the junk you didnt scrap. If you havent got many customers yet still dont worry, as the more spaces you see available for each day, the harder you'll work to fill them up

 
Todays forecast was absolutely horrendous, there was supposed to be a day long deluge, lightning, thunder...all we really had was a wash out until 10am and its been pretty reasonable since. We’ve had the day off. I feel kind of comfortable because we are set for 50mph winds tonight, so if we had cleaned the windows today, the chances are they would get stinking again tonight.

Next week is looking much more favourable. Have gutters to do in the morning but more 40mph winds in the afternoon, dont fancy swinging ladders around in that so im hoping to hit and hide & be home by mid day, that’s the plan anyway

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You've been lucky, in Swansea we had about 20 mins respite all day! Then the wind started again and rain followed, just been to get something from car and got drenched! Tomorrow looks ok so I'll try get out for at least 2-3 hours see how it goes. 

 
Text Local is quality. Sort all your sheets out for the entire week on a Sunday evening, schedule the messages for the whole week to go out the evening before. It works out cheap enough, all comes offsetable on your tax return and saves all the messages and then customers responding all the time. I used to do it by texting off my phone and would just spend every evening replying to customers replies. Done my nut in

 
Use text local or a similar service so they can't reply, What everyone needs to realise the UK is at the hands of one of the most volatile weather systems in the world and the weather forecast is never going to be accurate so we have to crack on whilst the weather is favorable, Our job is to maintain the cleanliness of the windows not keep them clean or guarantee that they will stay clean whether its 2 hours or 2 days after a clean.  
I don’t understand why ones txt a customer the night before it’s not worth the hassle, when I quote I tell them we will turn up every 4 weeks sometimes get a bit behind if weathers bad or away on holiday , the only jobs we informe are big commercial which I don’t mind but ime certainly not txting 50+ customers a day , I think if you start running a business like that you are making a rod for your own back , if it’s done to get them to leave a gate unlocked then we wouldn’t take on a job like that in the first place , I think it was green pro who had a list of certain things that he wouldn’t accept with customers and that would certainly be on my list , I know we are all different but shortly we all want as easier days work as possible so why start something like this ? 

 
I know exactly what you mean, if I didnt have to message the evening before Id be well happy. Problem is all my customers have gates and are always locked so I dont have a choice. Id have no customers if I wasnt to message. Im not sure if its like this in all areas but in the area I work id have no graft as every gate would be locked when i turned up if I wasnt to give a message the eve before

 
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