[dryfus]

Hello im new to the site and also new 2 the window cleaning business..

Was looking to know if someone could answer afew questions for me..
- if i start my own window cleaning business would i need insurence or any kind of licence to do so ?
-and if the business is there, what should be the average amount of houses i shud get done aday ?

Thanks for the help..
Sean..

[Roy Harding]

You wil need public liabity insurance, also  it is a good idea to have personal accident & sickness cover. But you do not need a licence unless you live in scotland. I think the public liabilty ins you have to have by law the other two are your choice.

[dryfus]

what kind of money are we talkin about for public liabity insurance?

Thanks..

[Roy Harding]

Aprox £80 for1 million cover

[Ian_Giles]

believe it or not, public liability is not a legal requirement, but it makes sense to have it, and it isn't that expensive either.

Average amount of houses will depend on many factors.
But as an example:
a 3 bed semi, 4 windows on the front, including door, 4 on the back including a patio door, and 3 small windows on the side, including a door.
Providing they are standard type windows, and not of the georgian variety, this will take most window cleaners between 15 and 20 minutes
Most will be charging anything from about £6.50 to about £10.00.

You will take at least 3 or 4 times as long as this to do it to a professional standard. It will take a couple of months before you get up to speed.

It will take several months to build up your round, but once you are cleaning at the required speed, you should be earning between £80 and £150 per day.

It will also depend where in the country you are and the type of houses you are cleaning.
Bare in mind that you will only actually work about 6 hours in any one day, you may well be starting at 9am and finishing at 5pm, but productively you will only have actually worked for 6 hours.
Chatting to customers, drinking tea and coffee, loading and unloading, driving between accounts and so on and so on, will eat into the time you are actually cleaning windows.

Best of luck, and keep posting your questions on the forum!

Ian

[dryfus]

£80 for1 million cover

Could someone please explaine ?

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

in a nutshell you are covered by accidents caused by yourself to anyones property upto the value of 1 million

[Philip Hanson]

As Grafters has quite rightly said, £1million of public liability means that you're covered for any damage you may cause upto £1million (per claim)

I have had customers laugh when I've told them I had £2million of cover, and say "What damage could you possibly do that would cost £2million to fix?!!"

The answer is perhaps not as obvious as you might think.  Damage to a building, or even if you dropped some equipment on a customer's car would probably only cost a few thousand to repair at worst.

However, imagine if you (perhaps using ladders) clumsily allowed them to fall on someone and injure them?  What if (heaven forbid) your ladders crashed down onto a baby's pram or onto a child and caused a serious injury?  It can and has happened, and the family would sue you for compensation that would be in the hundreds of thousands.

Your insurance will underwrite this risk and this is why you need such a high value of cover.  Its well worth having.

A few months ago I read about a girl aged 6 who was walking down the road when some builders on scaffolding abover her accidentally dropped some rubble on her, causing serious and permanent brain injury.

They were not insured, and when the family sued they simply went bankrupt and the family now has to bear the burden of her lifelong care with no compensation whatsoever.

This is of course, not fair.  So even though public liability is not a legal requirement, no professional tradesman should be without it, simply from a moral standpoint.

-Philip