[Phil Thomas]

Hi All,

Sorry if this is on the wrong catagory.

I am looking to completely change my career and am in the process of  business planning / starting up.  I am looking to specialise in gutter cleaning / clearing, render softwashing, solar cleaning etc.

I was wondering if you might be able to let me know of any unexpected things that happened when you started up or what you wish you had known when you started.

Any advice you might be able to offer would be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Phil

[Cookie]

All three of these tasks will be one-off jobs (or at most twice a year with the solar panel cleaning). That makes it quite difficult to get work if you're just starting out. Why not add window cleaning to your portfolio as well and then the rest can be add-ons.

A lot of the equipment you use for gutter/render/solar panel cleaning can also double up as window cleaning equipment.

[Phil Thomas]

Hi Cookie

Thanks for the advice.  I really appreciate your help.

[Stoots]

Advertising.marketting - you will need to spend a lot of time or money or both doing a lot of this, with one off type jobs like gutters its always going to be a constant effort unlike windows when it will be an effort for a few years then you can stop all advertising if you want to. Not that it cant be done.

My opinion, i would always look to start a business that was recurring, repeatable, like window cleaning.

I would definately get a window cleaning round up first, gives you a reliable income and a good platform to offer gutters or any other services you like to your customer base. Then go from there. Of course if you are determined just to do gutters then go for it but you will need to put systems in place to get repeat work, reviews, adwords, facebbok, leaflets, website, email marketting, offers and follow ups will be par for the course. You might find you spend more time looking for work than doing the work.