made redundant, having to start over....

Hi all, new here. like so manys others I got made redundant alittle while ago.  its been soul distroying TBH. Felt pretty hopless for a while now. was in the same job for along time and it was all I knew.  then just like that it was gon.  been trying think what to do as im really to old to start an aprentiship " 40 ".  and I cant get full time hours in my previouse line of work " retail ". nor do I really want to be involved in it anymore as its increasingly becomeing  more unstable, zero hours, 6 months contracts and low payed, places going under all the time.   hence why yes you gessed it im looking at window cleaning. at my time in life I cant think what else I can turn too.  im lucky that im healthy and fit still...touch wood and sat on some redundancy money. 

Im happy to put the work in and the time. what im worried about is investing time and money in something thats just to over subscribed already " like everything seems to be these days sadly "  to get anywhere in. I'm based in gloucestershire.  iv read alot on here from people all over the country. its hard to get a grasp of it. some say theres too many doing it. others say theres plenty out there and thay have to turn work away....

I know theres no conclusive ansaw to this. just hoping someone might know little about there area im in. and what really is the reality of how much can be made from putting 50 plus hours a week into it  ?  id be just as happy to work for window cleaner but I get the feeling most are one man bands or thay only really going hire people thay know which I can understand. I never seem to see window cleaners advertiseing job vacancys. least not in the time iv been looking.  so I know that starting my own is proberly the only real way forward.  

any feed back be greatly wecombe, thanks for taking the time to read this. 

Sorry to hear your news @riggy. @P4dstar is down your neck of the woods, I'm sure he'll be along in a bit with some input.

Few responses to your post.

Not sure why you think window cleaning is the only thing you can turn to or think of - there's plenty of stuff out there.

There are full-time contracts in retail and many other places, you just have to find them. 

Think you should probably be honest with yourself and ask if this is for you. The truth of the matter is if you put 50 hours a week of canvassing in you will get very far wherever you are in the country. And probably quite quickly too. I don't know what it was like 10 years ago to build a round because I didn't ? Sounds like it was a bit easier a few years ago though, yes.

The fact that you'd be just as happy to work for someone else doesn't fill me with confidence that you actually do want to work for yourself. For me I enjoy working for myself because there's not someone in charge of me and I can more or less control how much money I want to make. 

Tell you what, it costs nothing to knock doors. Why don't you spend 50 hours canvassing next week and book everyone in for the next Monday. On the Friday night, if you get a few customers, order starter equipment and go and clean them. Then make a decision?

I found once I stopped messing about things grew a lot lot faster. Bit of a given though that one.

Joshyouare said:

Few responses to your post.

Not sure why you think window cleaning is the only thing you can turn to or think of - there's plenty of stuff out there.

There are full-time contracts in retail and many other places, you just have to find them. 

Think you should probably be honest with yourself and ask if this is for you. The truth of the matter is if you put 50 hours a week of canvassing in you will get very far wherever you are in the country. And probably quite quickly too. I don't know what it was like 10 years ago to build a round because I didn't ? Sounds like it was a bit easier a few years ago though, yes.

The fact that you'd be just as happy to work for someone else doesn't fill me with confidence that you actually do want to work for yourself. For me I enjoy working for myself because there's not someone in charge of me and I can more or less control how much money I want to make. 

Tell you what, it costs nothing to knock doors. Why don't you spend 50 hours canvassing next week and book everyone in for the next Monday. On the Friday night, if you get a few customers, order starter equipment and go and clean them. Then make a decision?

I found once I stopped messing about things grew a lot lot faster. Bit of a given though that one.

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Well there are some still but very few in reality.  even the supermarkets are still only giving 24 hour contracts. some only giving out 16 hours !!  out side of that its driving work mostly. alot of that is becoming self-employed contract.  labourings ok but its all angency mostly. no job security, thay always knock your hourly rate down and cut you lose at a moments notice so its no more safe than being sefl employed ither.  plus if your just labouring your never going get over 8 or 9 pound an hour not matter how many years put in.   whe u really start looking into thinks the choices are quite limited. 

Hi @riggy one thing I can assure you is there Is plenty of work in this area. You're right most window cleaners don't tend to employ and the ones that do would be very sceptical that you're planning to nick their business. There are larger companies round here like Skyline Softwash who have a multi van set up and employ but even they would only need a handful of staff members.

You're in a perfect position in that you have some money behind you so if you act fast time is on your side. I can confidently tell you that window cleaners in Cheltenham charge a small fortune and don't worry about what they pick up, some of the small villages are crying out for a reliable windy. Everywhere I go I hear the same thing ''The last guy stopped coming''. The forum is a great tool for all sorts of advice. I don't know much about traditional window cleaning but I can tell you everything you need to know about the water fed pole, happy to show you my system and set up if it's any help. I'll drop you a message with my number.

P4dstar said:

Hi @riggy one thing I can assure you is there Is plenty of work in this area. You're right most window cleaners don't tend to employ and the ones that do would be very sceptical that you're planning to nick their business. There are larger companies round here like Skyline Softwash who have a multi van set up and employ but even they would only need a handful of staff members.

You're in a perfect position in that you have some money behind you so if you act fast time is on your side. I can confidently tell you that window cleaners in Cheltenham charge a small fortune and don't worry about what they pick up, some of the small villages are crying out for a reliable windy. Everywhere I go I hear the same thing ''The last guy stopped coming''. The forum is a great tool for all sorts of advice. I don't know much about traditional window cleaning but I can tell you everything you need to know about the water fed pole, happy to show you my system and set up if it's any help. I'll drop you a message with my number.

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@P4dstar = Legend! 

P4dstar said:

Hi @riggy one thing I can assure you is there Is plenty of work in this area. You're right most window cleaners don't tend to employ and the ones that do would be very sceptical that you're planning to nick their business. There are larger companies round here like Skyline Softwash who have a multi van set up and employ but even they would only need a handful of staff members.

You're in a perfect position in that you have some money behind you so if you act fast time is on your side. I can confidently tell you that window cleaners in Cheltenham charge a small fortune and don't worry about what they pick up, some of the small villages are crying out for a reliable windy. Everywhere I go I hear the same thing ''The last guy stopped coming''. The forum is a great tool for all sorts of advice. I don't know much about traditional window cleaning but I can tell you everything you need to know about the water fed pole, happy to show you my system and set up if it's any help. I'll drop you a message with my number.

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Thanks P4star,  if you think theres a chance of there being room for another window cleaner round here than thats great to hear. if I need any info on a set up il call you. thanks for that.  Im fairly confidant iv got the system worked out from the research iv been doing. if I do commit to this. ill prob start with the back pack on sack truck way. investing in what I think thay call an exstream WFP might be a worthwhile thing. alot of people seem to speak well of them and it seems a very important part of the kit. the rest im willing to try and budget on in the begining.  this is the thing,  I dont mind investing the time and money so long as the work is there. this has always been my main worry. If it takes acouple years to build then thats ok, as long as it exists in the first place to be found in time. 

riggy said:

Thanks P4star,  if you think theres a chance of there being room for another window cleaner round here than thats great to hear. if I need any info on a set up il call you. thanks for that.  Im fairly confidant iv got the system worked out from the research iv been doing. if I do commit to this. ill prob start with the back pack on sack truck way. investing in what I think thay call an exstream WFP might be a worthwhile thing. alot of people seem to speak well of them and it seems a very important part of the kit. the rest im willing to try and budget on in the begining.  this is the thing,  I dont mind investing the time and money so long as the work is there. this has always been my main worry. If it takes acouple years to build then thats ok, as long as it exists in the first place to be found in time. 

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See to be honest, mate, once you’ve gotten the hang of cleaning the windows well and doing a decent first clean, the rate of building work is all down to yourself. I’ve said on here before I wasted 6 months not bothering to build, all of last summer, just working what I had. Between canvassing, Facebook posts, Lead Gen and even flyer drops, if you have the cash and the motivation you can quickly build work. So by all means take a few years to find your feet, if you wanna, but remember you can build quicker if you feel you can take it on and want to. 

What I will say is that all the advice on here is bang on, there are windows everywhere you look, loads of work out there you just have to go and get it.  I started at the end of Jan / Feb and everything that was advised on here is what I'm currently experiencing.  Also, if you go for it then don't price yourself cheap just because you're new to it, price yourself high and act like you've cleaned windows for years.  The higher you price the less customers you need to make your money.    

If you're serious then bite P4stars arm off with that offer, he is somebody you want to listen to.

What part of Gloucestershire are you in?

solarpanelcleaningltd said:

What part of Gloucestershire are you in?

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gloucester. 

There are several ways to earn money as a self employed sole trader , window cleaning is just one . Only you can decide exactly what you want to do . Personally i've made a decent living from it , i still however have days where i'm fed up due to bad payers or bad weather . the Weather i can put up with , it's my decision not to work in pouring rain; like today . Give it a go mate , you've got nothing much to loose and if you can buy a small round from another window cleaner to get you started. 

Rowan said:

There are several ways to earn money as a self employed sole trader , window cleaning is just one . Only you can decide exactly what you want to do . Personally i've made a decent living from it , i still however have days where i'm fed up due to bad payers or bad weather . the Weather i can put up with , it's my decision not to work in pouring rain; like today . Give it a go mate , you've got nothing much to loose and if you can buy a small round from another window cleaner to get you started. 

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If there are other things that are acessable as a sole trader I kind think of many.  not without being an apretise for years on end. some things might seem acessable but when you look closely at them, more offen there not really visable.   thanks for the input. im abit warey of buying a round, you just dont know what ur really getting.