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Start up costs.

About £50, borrowed a ladder, printed some fliers at my local library and bought some basic trad tools


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It depends what the £10k is going to be used for. If you have financial commitments then you will probably manage with a basic set up as you will need a financial buffer. If you haven't any commitments then I would be looking to get started as £10k will buy you a decent van and set up. Then again it cost me £20k as I was one of the original "all the gear no idea brigade" and bought a nearly new van, 2 man hot water system etc etc.

 
Probably about £300 when trad about 25 years ago. When I changed over to wfp about a year ago about 2 grand. Got a van with everything apart from poles for £1100, about £800 on poles and £80 for a old power reel ( the add onto the reel one ) . The other things I've added over the year are a extra di vessel, a inline tds meter, a few brushes and the rince bar . Probably more but can't remember atm.

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Oh sorry I thought you just meant start up. I’ve invested more money as I built my business which was buying a van, then a bigger one, then wfp system, a pressure washer, gutter vac etc


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My first window cleaning setup was about a grand, thats including the van and a van mount system

But god knows how much ive invested since then, probably 15k

 
£1800, not including van as I sold car and use it for everything. But add on £350 today for new booster pump, brush and filters.

 
Started with a Clx 22 pole, 2x Gardiner back packs, 6 containers so about & trad gear, in the back of my old Peugeot 206. So about £400?

oh plus abit for leaflets & liability insurance etc 

If I was to do it again, I would of bought a very cheap van & cheap van mount. Maybe couple of grand. 

 
Thats well cheap wish I lowballed it first then built it up.


My first Vanni paid £500

My first wfp setup consisted of a tank for £50 second hand, d.i vessel £30, pump £15, hoselock plastic reel £30, 6mm microobore £45. My pole was a £15 Harris pole with a £3 Tesco brush head.  70ah Battery was £45. Throw is some fixtures and fittings. I got the van signwriting done for about £50. Add some business cards, built my own website and advertised for free on FB. £50 or so on some uniform and I was away...

Ive spent most my money since then not on acquiring new gear but on aquiring customers through canvassers etc.

Fancy gear can wait, all you need to do is pump some water to a brush head the most important part is getting customers 

 
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Id been tradding 25 years and my knees were telling me to stop running up a ladder so I came on here and got loads of brilliant information off the wonderful chaps off here and bought a 3 year old Peugeot Partner for £5500 with vat, then I had a 500 litre double Di Grippatank system fitted with sign writing, poles, spares and pretty much everything you need for a Wfp set up it came in just over £10k.
It's all tax deductible and soon paid for itself.
I was tradding on the Tuesday and literally changed to Wfp overnight.
Best move I made[emoji3]

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Oh apart from putting on half a stone in weight.
Collateral damage I suppose [emoji488][emoji489]

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I got a cheap transit connect, £1200, 04 reg but genuine 98k miles and fully serviced. was an ex bt van. bit sluggish on the fast stretches of road but dont often go on them. very reliable though just recently got this annoying thing where somethings slowly draining the battery. this can happen, and needs diagnostic. my mate has someone he knows who checks this dirt cheap so need to do that. otherwise would buy a new battery and same thing keep happening. Im thinking in the future of electric van. I guess we dont know as yet how good they will compare with the traditional diesel, but with no tax to pay and £1.50 to charge for 70 to 100 miles seems ok.

lol yes, the old scrim cloths and bucket can earn a fortune in ambitious hands.

 
I bought a window cleaning start up kit for less than £80 but I already had ladders. Didn't need the van because all customers were my neighbours to begin with. Must have spent over a ton on cloths and now I have the liquidator channel so only really clean the sills and transoms. As I say, best £80 I have ever spent. :1f609:

 
Might be a idea to get a van on finance (HP) then invest the money you would have spent on a round, lead gen, canvassers, etc. Your money will go a lot further this way. 


Absolutely.

Knowing what I know now I would get a van and setup on hp.

Then spend the 10k I had to invest on lead gen and canvassing etc.

10k spent on gear is such a waste.

 
If someone hasn't cleaned a window before and has with respect neither real drive and ambition to run a successful window cleaning business then saying get a van on HP and spend 10k on a system, lead gen etc, this is something that needs fixing in one's mind from the outset @Chris33 & @P4dstar  are very good examples of people with a serious amount of drive and ambition and have built rounds from nothing in the last 2 years and been newbies to window cleaning. 

 
Can see it's in the WFP section but seen as i've just started up these were my costs

Squeegees: 

- 10 inch Screwfix Squeegee (8)

- Moerman Liquidator Excelerator 14 inch  (24)

- Unger Ninja Complete Squeegee 12 inch (22) I think..

- Moerman Liquidator 10 Inch + Fliq (18)

Unger Screwfix Mop (8) I think

Pole: Unger extension pole (23) 

Ladder: Youngman DIY 2 section (30)

Roof Rack for Citroen C1 (50)

Ladder Clamps (15)

BOAB (15)

Scraper with blades (4)

Microfibres (3) maybe

Then all your washing up liquid etc. In terms of marketing, maybe a tenner on facebook ads, and 35 on business cards and flyers.

First time I've actually added up all my expenses so this is interesting but about 220 quid on equipment! Trying to suggest things i'd do differently but looking at my equipment, I do use and need it all so I guess this is about right, could definitely cut down on the squeegees though - I quite like the unger squeegee so that's what I'd go with.

I would love to go WFP soon but I don't really know the expense of getting pure water as I don't have anything like spotless water near me - going to keep up with the trad for a bit and see where it gets me.

 
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