[Carl@Cwc]

for those that operate multiple vans really.

do u run your vans as 1 man or 2 man vans

i ask as i see 1 man vans as the way forward, u give them worksheet and its upto them to complete, no its because of him etc.etc.

currently inundated with work and looking at either splitting work into multiple vans or doubling up vans.

what in your honest opinion is the best way forward??

im getting loads of extra work at the minute because of leafletting etc etc and am struggling to keep up with them.. when i quote them and they accept ,i want to get them done out the way before things change.
instead of waiting 1/2 weeks to do them.

currently got about £800 of extras im shoving in the way of commercials that are monthly , just to get the cash flowing and getting them onboard us.

picking up 10+ custies a week as well as extras and with our continuing leafletting & dont see it changing any time soon , so really really
need to get sorted to handle all the new custies and extras...

any advice or help appreciated

[Ian101]

The traditional thought on this is 1 van and 2 lads however I think along lines of you and 1 small van and 1 trustworthy man.

Not at your stage yet but will be next year with putting second van on road.

Only problem I forsee is that 1 man becomes "their windie" and sooner or later yer man is going to think why do I need the middle man (You / Me) and decide to cut us out.

Can get round this to a certain extent by swapping work around
Threats of violence ( if your that way inclined) 

or by getting him to buy into the business or summit like that ........ still a work in progress ??

[Ian101]

or pay him enough so its not worth his hassle to go self employed  ??


hmmmm tough one but there is those on here that it works for so it is possible

[George P]

we find that having 1 man per van works best, and then on bigger jobs 2 or 3 vans together, this works well on upto 2-4 hours work on each site, however as said it could be easier for it to become there customer, if and when we start to get bigger properties then i would be thinking of 2 per van,

[Spruce]

Working 2 man teams from 1 van will never double the amount of work done in most cases.

Saying that, this is very dependant on the type of clean as there are jobs that lend themselves to 2 man teams such as larger houses where 1 person cleans the back and the other cleans the front with the sides being done by whoever is finished first.

When the wife and I ocassionally work together I sometimes find her sitting in the van having a bite to eat and I end up winding in both hose reels and putting the gear away for both of us. After that I'm the one who writes out the slip. So when that happens the time she saved me on the same glass on my own ends up with very little time gain. When you employ you will find the same thing happening, but the distraction will be with his mobile phone - this addiction to keep in touch with his mates every 5 minutes of the day.

Apart from the time my son and I work together 1 day in 6 weeks doing blocks of flats, at other times we each work off our own van but in the same street. He starts at the top of the road, I start at the bottom and we meet in the middle. If you can do that and then swop ends over, those customers also see you and they will never become the employee's customers.  If you don't have streets with rows of houses you can work the same way - he starts off at one end of the estate and you the other and you meet in the middle. That way if you are doing an equal amount of work each, you can monitor his performance. If he gets delayed with a conservatory roof clean say, you continue on the work he was allocated and you will meet him later at a different point. His job list for the day will be a mirror image of yours.

But this needs planning and forethought and won't work in all cases.

Spruce

[William McCafferty]

There are both good and bad points on having either 1 man or 2 man van set-ups, personally I prefer a 2 man set up.

There are a lot of benefits for a start on large commercial 2 men are faster than one, on domestic although they will not be able to do twice as much work as a one man van, the costs saved from only using one van instead of two and the extra amount they can do is just the same as having two vans on the road.

The other thing is sick and holidays, you need to plan for both of these, on a two man set up if one is off at least the other can carry on, with a one man set up, when he is off that van is not earning.

With regard to the customers and them getting only to know the cleaner who turns up, well I always call the night before, so I am always meeting all my customers every month, even though I don't clean their properties.

and as for the cleaner doing odd jobs on the side or taking my customers and starting up on his own, well the first is easy, the van is set-up with a gps tracking device, I know where its been and for how long.

and on the second point I have a water tight employment contract in place and if they do take on any of my customers within the first year of leaving my company and I can sue them for the lost income, so thats what I will do, I will wait 50 weeks and then take them to court and get the past 50 weeks of work they have done and been paid for, paid to me.

Of course getting the right cleaner and paying well should stop this.

[Dave Willis]

Do you have many vans Pure?

[bobby p]

2 men or 3 men per van. this is for trad working. theres so many benefits to having 2 men, more laughs to be had for starters,someone to foot the ladder if you do 3 storey work ,+ theres  more energy to take on unexpected sideline jobs on the day
  if its a day stacked out with work ,3 men in a van is really good as the extra man can grab a ladder and start further down the street.  

[Crystal-clear]

clear view ,

sounds like you need to sub some work out ,im sure you will be able to find a decent hard working person up there with his own van and kit who works to your standards.

expose him to your worst priced work first,to see how he goes once you build a bond then keep going

well done and good luck

[brianbarber]

I work alone at moment

If I was stacked out, I would try employ one guy to work with me, and agree he takes same hols as me.
That way should mean more productivity, and less chance of stealing customers.

Just my thoughts

Mr B

[Carl@Cwc]

having spoken to Lee Pryor today ( absolute top bloke by the way for those that do and dont know him ) ,
He is  like my YODA at the minute in fairness to him, i seem to be shadowing his early problems and he is more than helpfull, an absolute godsend to me

i am gonna get another van and get the new employee on just maintenance cleans.
That will leave me to do my commercials , first cleans, 1 off big jobs  as well as helping out on maintenance cleans with him and quoting in sensible hours rather than still quoting at 8.30pm

Aswell as collecting some cash thats getting neglected due to quoting at all hours.

thx for all your input fellas its really appreciated   

[Mike #1]

I am not surprised your working flat out Carl that website of yours looks top quality it must be bringing in a good amount of work . MIKE

[Carl@Cwc]

I am not surprised your working flat out Carl that website of yours looks top quality it must be bringing in a good amount of work . MIKE

thx m8, i worked really hard on the NEW site www.CannockWindowCleaning.co.uk

i think its working really well alongside the mass leaflets we are dropping weekly.
It gives the potential customers something to look at and verify us before and after calling.

MY Best buy if im honest is the ghost landline that diverts straight to mobile.
it even records the conversations online so u can take all the customers info whilst still working, without taking too much notice and then just listen to them back at home and write
down all there particulars. its absolutley brilliant.     AQL I USE

[Mike #1]

Are you using glossy leaflets for your mass dropping , I think this is the way forward if they are done properly and the right areas are targeted . MIKE

[Carl@Cwc]

Are you using glossy leaflets for your mass dropping , I think this is the way forward if they are done properly and the right areas are targeted . MIKE

yep 150gsm A3 triple folded. and they work .
very costly in relation to a5 d/s but worth it imo

[Mike #1]

Thanks for that Carl , looking to get which simply outline the key benefits of a professional window cleaner with statement pieces , not sure wether to go with a flyer with more detail

Along with headline statements , MIKE

[Small but perfectley formed]

Nice website did you build yourself or purchase

[Carl@Cwc]

Nice website did you build yourself or purchase

both really,
someone built it as i dont get HTML yet lol
i did layout and all graphics.

takes a long time to do though lol...

[mgba_78]

for those that operate multiple vans really.

do u run your vans as 1 man or 2 man vans

i ask as i see 1 man vans as the way forward, u give them worksheet and its upto them to complete, no its because of him etc.etc.

currently inundated with work and looking at either splitting work into multiple vans or doubling up vans.

what in your honest opinion is the best way forward??

im getting loads of extra work at the minute because of leafletting etc etc and am struggling to keep up with them.. when i quote them and they accept ,i want to get them done out the way before things change.
instead of waiting 1/2 weeks to do them.

currently got about £800 of extras im shoving in the way of commercials that are monthly , just to get the cash flowing and getting them onboard us.

picking up 10+ custies a week as well as extras and with our continuing leafletting & dont see it changing any time soon , so really really
need to get sorted to handle all the new custies and extras...

any advice or help appreciated

We run as 3 guys and 2 vans, trad.

The 2 men do all the messy jobs/big jobs and the 1 man does all the easy stuff, bungalows, standard house type stuff ETC ETC

We do 5 days as 1 and then switch it up so we all have a pop at working on our own for 5 days ish in a working month.

We then have days that we call CARNAGE that we do as a 3, like yesterday, we did a golf course/hotel place, £100 fascia clean, £70 con roof clean, a few out of the loop houses and some quarterly cleans, which are messy and then to top it off did some door knocking!!

Personally i would say you need to be behind ££ wise at least half of what you are gonna pay someone, eg if your behind £600 worth of work constantly and youre gonna pay some one £1200 a month i would say time its time to look at employing as you only need not much more than £600 worth of work to be taking the same amount of money as you were doing before you employed.
Obv youll have the extra cost of new van, emp Liab, emp NI, uniform equip etc etc but most of this is a one off cost.

The biggest issue as we all know is finding the right person!

[Carl@Cwc]

for those that operate multiple vans really.

do u run your vans as 1 man or 2 man vans

i ask as i see 1 man vans as the way forward, u give them worksheet and its upto them to complete, no its because of him etc.etc.

currently inundated with work and looking at either splitting work into multiple vans or doubling up vans.

what in your honest opinion is the best way forward??

im getting loads of extra work at the minute because of leafletting etc etc and am struggling to keep up with them.. when i quote them and they accept ,i want to get them done out the way before things change.
instead of waiting 1/2 weeks to do them.

currently got about £800 of extras im shoving in the way of commercials that are monthly , just to get the cash flowing and getting them onboard us.

picking up 10+ custies a week as well as extras and with our continuing leafletting & dont see it changing any time soon , so really really
need to get sorted to handle all the new custies and extras...

any advice or help appreciated

We run as 3 guys and 2 vans, trad.

The 2 men do all the messy jobs/big jobs and the 1 man does all the easy stuff, bungalows, standard house type stuff ETC ETC

We do 5 days as 1 and then switch it up so we all have a pop at working on our own for 5 days ish in a working month.

We then have days that we call CARNAGE that we do as a 3, like yesterday, we did a golf course/hotel place, £100 fascia clean, £70 con roof clean, a few out of the loop houses and some quarterly cleans, which are messy and then to top it off did some door knocking!!

Personally i would say you need to be behind ££ wise at least half of what you are gonna pay someone, eg if your behind £600 worth of work constantly and youre gonna pay some one £1200 a month i would say time its time to look at employing as you only need not much more than £600 worth of work to be taking the same amount of money as you were doing before you employed.
Obv youll have the extra cost of new van, emp Liab, emp NI, uniform equip etc etc but most of this is a one off cost.

The biggest issue as we all know is finding the right person!

lol u are not kidding m8

had a new starter today aged 50 but fit for his age.

done 3 decent jobs today.

guttervac and totally clean all whites on a 4 bed detatched.
fascias & gutters  and windows on 3 bed.
guttervac then fascia & gutters on bungalow ( a big one) then all windows inc a conny.

he said on drive back home that its too much for him, and he was gobsmacked at the work i got thru as realistically i had to do everything he had done again.
and his opinion of windies was changed forever lol.

thats one less on the dole gonna be starting up

said he was going home to lie down