[Crystal-clear]

ye i guess you are right , i need to stop going for the high end stuff to soon,

Just a thought , whats it like in guildford , or Deep Surrey? or sussex or somewhere! im talking 30 miles away from london. is the mentality i bit better?

cheers

I am happy to travel 60 miles a day if i have to.

[niceandclean]

I work close to Guildford, but as i run my business a lot different to how you do, i can not comment on customers mentality as you put it, as all mine are treated to the same level of service. I think what you are trying to say is, can i get my customers round to thinking my way?

[Paul Coleman]

i would go along with their set time/appointment idea for the VERY FIRST CLEAN ONLY. once they trust you,you might have to pander to their wishes for a while ,but then you can start to  hurdle the gate or whatever - on that first clean explain that the rain can often unsettle your diary (use the sympathy vote)

 i have a pole with a pair of small scissors jammed sideaways into the end,this is great for unlatching bottom drawbolts

I carry a crowbar myself for hooking around bolts (from up a stepladder).  It doesn't reach the very bottom ones though.  I used to use a claw hammer but more bolts are reachable with a crowbar.  I must admit that carrying a crowbar for some jobs wouldn't look so good if someone saw me who didn't know what was going on 

Paul,
I carry a broom stale with a screw at the bottom of it. It manipulates all my bolts without me looking like I'm tooled up
Lee

No no no.  You're doing it all wrong.  Broom handles are meant to be used as ground floor poles 

[Crystal-clear]

I work close to Guildford, but as i run my business a lot different to how you do, i can not comment on customers mentality as you put it, as all mine are treated to the same level of service. I think what you are trying to say is, can i get my customers round to thinking my way?

how do you run yours m8t? i guess you call and it works?

And yea are people more (relaxed) over there thats the main thing.

[niceandclean]

I work close to Guildford, but as i run my business a lot different to how you do, i can not comment on customers mentality as you put it, as all mine are treated to the same level of service. I think what you are trying to say is, can i get my customers round to thinking my way?

how do you run yours m8t? i guess you call and it works?

And yea are people more (relaxed) over there thats the main thing.

Some customers are great, some are ok, and some are a pain the rear, but hey ho, thats customers for you! Everybody is different!

[Paul Coleman]

CC
Maybe you need to target private estate houses, and leave the bigger individual houses alone?
I contact all customers the night before, and normally after meeting the customers on the first or maybe second cleans, we get given entry codes, padlock codes ect, but they still get a call or text to let them know we will be turning up. I also agree with what Vince has said, maybe you need to decide what you want, you cant have your cake and eat it!

Yes there is a big variety in the domestic market.  I would have no problem with a very limited amount of gated work if the price compensated for the extra downtime working around such jobs.  Indeed I do have a couple of jobs like this.  On one of them I phone up a few days before cleaning to arrange which day.  In doing so, I do my other, smaller work in the area on that same day to reduce travel.  If I had realized that it would have been that tricky getting access, I would have stuck a bit more on the price - though the price is reasonably OK anyway.  The other job I do that is front gated is gradually getting around to letting me have an access code for the gate.  I live in hope  

[Paul Coleman]

ye i guess you are right , i need to stop going for the high end stuff to soon,

Just a thought , whats it like in guildford , or Deep Surrey? or sussex or somewhere! im talking 30 miles away from london. is the mentality i bit better?

cheers

I am happy to travel 60 miles a day if i have to.

I cover some of the Surrey/Sussex border area .  There are jobs with access issues but, for the most part, I leave them to other cleaners.  Like most places, work isn't quite so easy to come by as it once was but it depends what you want really.  60 miles sounds a bit excessive unless the work is top class.

[lee09]

i would go along with their set time/appointment idea for the VERY FIRST CLEAN ONLY. once they trust you,you might have to pander to their wishes for a while ,but then you can start to  hurdle the gate or whatever - on that first clean explain that the rain can often unsettle your diary (use the sympathy vote)

 i have a pole with a pair of small scissors jammed sideaways into the end,this is great for unlatching bottom drawbolts

I carry a crowbar myself for hooking around bolts (from up a stepladder).  It doesn't reach the very bottom ones though.  I used to use a claw hammer but more bolts are reachable with a crowbar.  I must admit that carrying a crowbar for some jobs wouldn't look so good if someone saw me who didn't know what was going on 

Paul,
I carry a broom stale with a screw at the bottom of it. It manipulates all my bolts without me looking like I'm tooled up
Lee

No no no.  You're doing it all wrong.  Broom handles are meant to be used as ground floor poles 

I'm sorry, I have no idea. (Although my input was about the way he must look carrying a crow bar to the gate at the side of a semi)
I will try to move to that there London so I too can worry about access to million pound houses, you coming too Gold?
Lee

[Crystal-clear]

ye i guess you are right , i need to stop going for the high end stuff to soon,

Just a thought , whats it like in guildford , or Deep Surrey? or sussex or somewhere! im talking 30 miles away from london. is the mentality i bit better?

cheers

I am happy to travel 60 miles a day if i have to.

I cover some of the Surrey/Sussex border area .  There are jobs with access issues but, for the most part, I leave them to other cleaners.  Like most places, work isn't quite so easy to come by as it once was but it depends what you want really.  60 miles sounds a bit excessive unless the work is top class.

Paul i just want to go to an area say ok there is £500 per 2 months ,

I just wana clean it and get paid on the day or cheque in post

no calling/texting (i have enof of these)
ill take a pay cut in profit i just want a stress free round(i think its fair that i am after this?)
I just wana know what i am going to earn as i did up north.

[gewindows]

The words

'New window cleaning round'

and

'Stress free' do not compute in the same sentence.


Sorry mate, but you're asking a little too much if you're intending on turning over enough work to make a living by with all its associated bills.

[Paul Coleman]

ye i guess you are right , i need to stop going for the high end stuff to soon,

Just a thought , whats it like in guildford , or Deep Surrey? or sussex or somewhere! im talking 30 miles away from london. is the mentality i bit better?

cheers

I am happy to travel 60 miles a day if i have to.

I cover some of the Surrey/Sussex border area .  There are jobs with access issues but, for the most part, I leave them to other cleaners.  Like most places, work isn't quite so easy to come by as it once was but it depends what you want really.  60 miles sounds a bit excessive unless the work is top class.

Paul i just want to go to an area say ok there is £500 per 2 months ,

I just wana clean it and get paid on the day or cheque in post

no calling/texting (i have enof of these)
ill take a pay cut in profit i just want a stress free round(i think its fair that i am after this?)
I just wana know what i am going to earn as i did up north.

From what I've read on here you should turn over more per hour than in the north.  However, living costs tend to be lower up there too - especially rents and mortgages.
I too regard low stress levels as an important part of my lifestyle.  I ran into bigg problems with stress many years ago and it affected me badly.  I tried all sorts of things to work around it such as therapy, relaxation exercises etc etc.  Then came the eureka moment.  I realised that I was doing it the wrong way round.  I was trying to find ways to cope with a high stress life when what I really needed to do was to live a low stress life.  It's probably why I've remained a sole trader for 19 years instead of empire building.  What's the point of having loads of money if you become a nervous wreck in the acquisition of it?  I leave such scenarios to those who can cope with stress better than I.

[Londoner]

I've worked the posh London suburbs for years. You get used to it. But big security gates are becoming the norm. You either go with it or you don't.

[Gav Camm lammy 283]

cudnt jv price help u out m8

[Crystal-clear]

Thanks for all the feedback guys i have learned alot . end of the day it looks like A) new round so i will have stress! B) Posh london is just like this if you cant come on a time and day they will not entertain you!

Its so weird thou in the north i found my self filtering bad payers out
in london its good payers that want you to turn up at 2.25pm lol

[Darranvps]

i can see what you mean i guess its totally different here then up there.

By the way Darren if you think you would be happy with a days work of £20 houses by time and date i invite you down here for just half a day! you must see what its like.....you said you will be happy as the price is good but when you leave you will never wana come back! lol

Oh great can you come at 12pm answer ok.
Oh great can you come at 12 pm , answer= hmm i dont think so , how about 1pm
Ah i think we will be out by 12.45

Your whole days work ask for 1 time you cant be everywhere. alot of people agree with me on this £20 appointments £45 appointments which ever they are
they are no good mate.

Andy work is very good i even trad the bottems 1st time round to make sure the thick dirt is out.

i think the canvasser over priced or did not do his job properly also like others have said people from different parts of the world, dont have the mentality

and to go back on the appointments thing just now i have called 14 customers for monday ,guess what. 5 not answering phone not calling back , so what happens now? do i go and clean the front? = risk upseting a cutomer do i not clean the house= risk upseting a cusotmer its crap im sorry guys who ever saying just call or give them times etc it just doesnt work , looks like my earnings will be cut down on monday that is not the way im used to work.


By the way £20 for a 3-4 bedroom house might sound good, but there is alot of driving time traffic parking, u dont normally get 5 in a row like you do up north.

when i first got here i was like OMG £20, i was shaking lol i used to charge like £6.00 but then i learned why

Its probably the shandy swigging southern window cleaners who have mucked it all up.

I agree with you totally.

[Nick Wareham]

Do they understand that they do not have to be at home when you come?

[Crystal-clear]

Do they understand that they do not have to be at home when you come?

They are starting to... some of them are in shock when i inform them that ill complete the work and leave my details and await payment by cheque.


Its just a case of filtering out people that insist on being in or the ones that dont let me clean fronts if they are out.

later on i might try and give them options and days. but right now i aint out everyday so its crazy to say ill be there at 2pm when i finished my work for the week yesterday so i go out to clean 1 house for £20.... and cos of traffic etc it just dont work out you need a days work in each postcode,