[sunshine windows]

Here's one that everybody can participate in. 

My question is how many average sized domestic cleans can you knock out in an 8 hour working day. Either traditional or wfp

My best so far is 18 but that was working from 8.15 - 18.00 last friday.

I'm interseted mainly on how many cleans you can get through in a day using wfp, as i'm going to be purchasing a system once we've sorted out our house move.

I think i'm a pretty slow traditional cleaner so i'm hoping that by going wfp i should be able to double my average daily cleans of around 10-12 a day to somewhere in the region of 20-25ish.

SO WHO'S GOT THE FASTEST POLE IN THE WEST. 

Sunshine

[callum macleod]

hi the most i've done in one day is 17 though i'm not one for rushing!! i like to take it easy! I use george to plan the week i usually only work 3 days at the most sometimes 2 days i used to work 4-5 days a week before wfp I would never go back to ladders by choice. I now am able to get better jobs more money less time.

[Tim Morton]

Well, I suppose it depends on what you call a average house !!  I have one estate of semi's that I have about 31 houses in, they have 3-4 std upstairs windows, 1 awkward dorma window 5ft up the roof and 4 biggish downstairs, 2 doors and 1 bay window on each house. The most I've managed in a day was 21, that was startin at 7.45am and finishing at 3.00ish, and that was pre-wfp!!!

Now that I'm wfp I'm hoping to get all 31 done in one day that's if the weather will hold out

Tim

[Chris Cottrell]

I only work from 9am after the kids go to school, home for lunch usually about 12.30 for an hour then out again untill 3.30pm or 4pm and can usually do around 12 to 15 most of these are 4bed houses on avg

[Ian_Giles]

This one is always a bit like asking how long is a piece of string, and before someone comes up with; 'It's twice as long as half it's length'...I've heard it before!

A decent trad cleaner will knock out a standard semi (12 windows) in 15-20 minutes.

WFP used correctly can do the same job in 8-15 minutes.

SAome on here will boast that cleaning trad they will blast such a house out in 10 minutes or less, that's under a minute per window and they are the exception and not the rule.
Some can do it of course, but they are absolutely flying to be able to manage that. Mr Average will not do so.

It also depends on just how compact your round is, and of course most rounds are made up of a variety of different size and different style houses.

On a standard semi, with WFP  Mr Average window cleaner will be far quicker than he was before, but it will still take him a few months to get up to speed, he will have to re-learn his craft, and there really is a surprisingly big learning curve.

Once he has re-learned his craft, what he was taking 15 or 20 minutes to do he will now be doing 8 to 12 minutes, maybe less, and the biggest difference is that it is taking far less effort to do so.

But don't think that just to have WFP means you will have a magic wand that will earn you double what you were earning before, it really will take a couple of months to start getting any real speed up.


Ian

[mlscontractcleaner]

Blimey lads, I think I'm going to have to rethink my working hours.

My day starts at 5am, sometimes earlier, and finishes around 6pm.

Mind you, we look after the day to day cleaning at a night club, a school, a childrens play area and holiday let cottages, on top of domestic and commercial window and carpet cleaning!!!

Am I working too bloody hard??   

Time to go fishing me thinks   

[gaza]

SORRY TO TELL YOU BUT YOU SEEM TO BE LIVING TO WORK
INSTEAD OF WORKING TO LIVE
 my father was the same but died 3 weeks before he was due to retire,and your along time dead and certainaly will have a long rest then.

I think its allright to work long hrs for short periods,but to work long hrs for a long time your health will start to decline,

  gaza

[pjulk]

I tend to do on my own 10 - 15 house a day.
Most of the houses i clean are 3 or 4 bed

Paul

[rosskesava]

I don't think it matters how many places you do. It's the end result - profit. That is what matters.

I'm not one for going nuts and bashing out place after place and then driving like a nutter to the next job, jump out the van and get it all up and going like a lunatic on speed. That way of working will all come tumbling down one day. I've done that and in the end it wore me down to a frazzle.

Better to have good priced jobs and a steady rate of working. Especially when a bit older like I am at 47.

I'd rather earn a bit less and have a bit more of a sedate working life and an enjoyable one.

For me, real organisation and efficiency is more important than speed.

[sunshine windows]

Thanks for your responses so far everyone. It would appear that i'm not the slowest cleaner in the world then. 

I take on board all that you are saying Ian, with regards to re-learning your craft. Surely though, if it's taking me on average between 30-45 minutes a house at the moment i should be just as quick when i make the switch to wfp from the start. Or is it really a case of the first few weeks taking hours to get the hang of things.

Regards,
Sunshine

[macc]

hi sunshine, when i switched to wfp i wasted most of my time in setting up, learning how to use it & the easiest way using less effert. i could shoot myself in the head the way i went about it 6 months ago. it took me about 3 cleans to get it sussed, i dont rush cause i dont see the point.

depending on how compact they are 15-20 max 4 bedders, 6-7 hrs. by 3pm i had enough & earnt my money so it time to pack up & go home.

macc

[Ian Rochester]

This is the age old question, we very rarely do a full 8 hours cleaning, but one person should be able to clean a 3/4 bed semi (11 windows)  in less than 20 minutes using ladders, or 10-15 minutes using WFP.

I always have my lads work as pairs, one with WFP or ladders for the tops and the other doing the bottoms and collecting the money or putting tickets through the door.

There are a couple of estates we have which are each a full days work, one has 61 houses and the other has 62 houses, all detatched or semis some have conservatories, prices vary from £7 - £15. 

Two people can do these in about 7 hours using the above method.

I was recently talking to a window cleaner in one of the villages we clean, he was walking up a big hill with a set of triple ladders on his shoulder, a rucksack full of towels on his back and a set of small steps and bucket in his hands.  He told me that he does "about one house an hour and normally charge a £5-£6 per house!!" 

He also told me a rubber for his blade "normally lasts a couple of months!"  Out of sympathy I gave him a 36" length of Unger soft rubber (99p) and he thought his Christmas had come early!

Time for a change of career for him I think.

[Trevor Knight]

Agreed it depends on the size of the house. I would expect from my teams a minimum return of 30 houses per day cleaned and in some of the areas at least 45 houses per team. Commercial is different, but then I would look to get a £450 per day return from our team.

Yes, I guess I ask alot but in return I pay far more than any other company in my area and all my lads except 1 have been with me 3 years or more.

I used to pay less, plod along and found they had no loyalty whatsoever. Now I drive them hard but in return they all earn a minimum £20k per year each so they do a good job and stick with it!

Its the old, pay for what you get scenario.

regards,

Trev

[JM123]

most I've done so far is 43 3bed semi's at £6 each.  started about 8.15am finished about 5.30 with an hours break.

[Ian_Giles]

Sunshine, if you are taking that long to do a fairly standard semi, you will certainly be quicker just about right from the start.
Ideally you need to tag along with someone for a few hours to see just what can be done and how quickly.
I don't honestly see how it would be possible to take any longer than 20 minutes or so on a standard semi using WFP, even for a complete newbie.

This of course is on a house that is being regularly cleaned, windows that haven't been cleaned for years are a different matter altogether.


This morning for instance I did a first time clean on some flat windows in the middle of our high street.
3rd floor windows and all georgian, they haven't been cleaned since the developers finished work on the site...actually they haven't been cleaned for a lot longer than that, not properly anyway.
10 big georgian windows, and as I said, all third floor and all really dirty.

Time taken;  20 minutes, and every window was cleaned twice, also more time spent on each clean that will be spent on just the normal repeat clean the next time they are cleaned.
Subsequent cleans will be around 8-10 minutes max.

No point comparing to trad, just too high and awkward, sloping pavements, parapets you'd have to climb up on and then drag the ladder up onto and so on.

I also did the flat next to it, 1st floor, 5 georgian windows, 18 panes per window.
Again, first time clean and minging, but only 10 minutes, half that next time.

But it really does depend on the type of windows of course.

Ian

[sunshine windows]

Ideally you need to tag along with someone for a few hours to see just what can be done and how quickly.
I don't honestly see how it would be possible to take any longer than 20 minutes or so on a standard semi using WFP, even for a complete newbie.

 

Ian,

This is something that i've been wanting do do for a long time but can't seem to find anyone on this site that is local to me. I live in Swindon and all the other cleaners i know (only about 3 of them) are still cleaning the traditional way.

I know that a lad in Swindon has bought a Freedom Trolley from Andrew McCann (sorry if the name's wrong) but he was unwilling to have an audience while out working.

If anybody that reads this post is within 15 miles of me and would be willing for me to tag along for the day to see what it's all about i would be very thankful.

Regards,
Sunshine

[Spruce]

Hi

Personal experience has very quickly taught me that you also have to strike a balance between speed and customer perception of value for money.
If you always did a £10.00 job trad in 20 mins and then reduced that to 10 min WFP and charged the same then the customer starts to see you as a 'rip off artist.' He doesn't usually see the cost of your equipment as being part of the equation.

[JM123]

Hi Spruce - I used to think that but as long as the customer is getting the same high quality service that they atre used to then most don't mind, the ones that do mind and actually want to see blood, sweat and tears for a few pound don't stay on my books for very long - who cares how quickly the job gets done, as long as it does get done.

[Trevor Knight]

Spruce is right to some degree and so is JM.

If I get a customer complain about the speed I usually tell the customer not to pay me now and to see how they dry, if the finished result is as good as before then pay me, if not we can discuss it. I also explain that I am changing the way we clean to ensure my insurance stays valid and that I am complying with the WAH directive.

Haven't had any probs yet, touch wood, OUCH!