S/E Window cleaner,new and struggling

Charliecherry

Hi
Any Advice would be appreciated;

I bought a small window cleaning round in September 2008 with some borrowed cash,£1500....after a year on the Dole.
I am married with 2 children aged 4 and 6 and my wife receives Child tax credit,i am getting working tax credit and the 30hr element along with Council
tax credit.
After 5 months i am really enjoying the cleaning ....although not the quickest!!! however after crunching the numbers with expenses/petrol etc
i am earning about £3.50 an hour!,although topped up with the tax credits
it takes it upto about £5.50 an hour.
I really want to carry on as i do enjoy it but it seem s quite tight out there at
present and apart from adding 4 new customers,it seems to be taking an age
to build up ,even though i have done flyers door knocking etc......
if it wernt for the tax credits i would be really struggling....luckily my wife and i live quite frugally (no drinking or smoking) but i am wondering whether i am
ever going to be able to build this up in the current climate...AM I MISSING
ANYTHING ??I dont want to sign on again but im begining to wonder!!

cally6008

how about adding it gutter cleaning as a service ... coming out of winter, maybe some people need theirs cleaning (if you have long enough ladders)

or how about cleaning people's inside windows ?

dacouch

Good ideas Cally, how about cleaning wheelie bins.

Incidently how much do you charge to clean a house?

It might be worth you trying to get some of the shop windows in your town centre as they normally pay about £5 a week and it takes the cleaners 3 mins tops

mystery07

Charliecherry wrote: »

Hi
Any Advice would be appreciated;

I bought a small window cleaning round in September 2008 with some borrowed cash,£1500....after a year on the Dole.
I am married with 2 children aged 4 and 6 and my wife receives Child tax credit,i am getting working tax credit and the 30hr element along with Council
tax credit.
After 5 months i am really enjoying the cleaning ....although not the quickest!!! however after crunching the numbers with expenses/petrol etc
i am earning about £3.50 an hour!,although topped up with the tax credits
it takes it upto about £5.50 an hour.
I really want to carry on as i do enjoy it but it seem s quite tight out there at
present and apart from adding 4 new customers,it seems to be taking an age
to build up ,even though i have done flyers door knocking etc......
if it wernt for the tax credits i would be really struggling....luckily my wife and i live quite frugally (no drinking or smoking) but i am wondering whether i am
ever going to be able to build this up in the current climate...AM I MISSING
ANYTHING ??I dont want to sign on again but im begining to wonder!!

Hi Cc

Seems to me you are definately missing something....Firstly, I would check your figures & make sure you haven't made a mistake....failing that you need to reduce overheads as much as possible, then reflect your prices to accomodate your overheads, so that you are back in profit.

My guess would be that you are under charging, as I can't see your overheads being too high, perhaps that & travelling by car too much?!

Perhaps, you could give us a couple of example prices to look at?

Hope this helps a little

dacouch

pop into your local Business Link or click https://www.businesslink.gov.uk its run by the government to help businesses and its all free, they might be able to help

beyond_skint

Hi there

We are window cleaners too hi :j

Not sure what you are doing, what would you charge for say a 3 bed house, no conservatory?

I tend to canvass for my hubby works alot better than him going out. And knock on doors to, no leaflets.

Are you in the yellow pages?
Can you sign write your vehicle?
Can you tackle a certain type of business each monthe to canvass, say, doctor surgeries, hotels, old folks homes, b&b's that way you get around all the businesses in your area.
If you need any help, please pm me. All the best.

chris_spackman

Hi there. I run a cleaning firm and i use a local window cleaner for my clients. Try and get in with them and also when you see people having new windows etc put in give them a try too or estate agents even

If you can keep it going through the current climate you may pick up other peoples customers.

As stated above clear gutters and drains etc.....maybe cars!?

moneypooh

With spring coming up, maybe patio or decking cleaning too (small pressure washer usually enough).

koru

£3.50 sounds very low. We pay £14 for our 4 bedroomed house, though it is an affluent area, so prices are probably at the high end of the range.

If you don't already do it, think about offering (for extra cash) cleaning the PVC surrounds of double glazing. Our guy gets the glass shining, but ignores a huge dollop of bird poo on the window sill, which seems silly.

ukbill69

I pay £5 for 3 windows!

A good way to advertise products is provide a receipt with your services on the back. Maybe saying want more often window cleaning then I can offer a discount.

GiveItBack

Alright mate, I'm not a window cleaner but here's my thoughts.

Tryyour existing customers - if you're doing a good job, and they're happy, get them to recommend you to people they know in similar areas. If they get you someone gie them a discount once they become a regular.

Try local shops etc.
If you have a customer that is a say, florist, contact other florists, and mention that florist x, use you.
Try people like letting agents / estate agents. They might be having a tough time, but they need clean windows to shift their places.
Keep an eye out for any new offices / office moves - perhaps tie in with any movers etc to get them to recommend you to someone moving.

If these don't work, come back to me (pm better), and we'll get creative...
All the best

M