Actually I think the suppliers are probably worrying more than the users, there are a great many now making up their own systems, or at least adapting and canabilising as they go along.
With the proliferation of new systems, and many getting involved with making and selling their own designs it just has to put a dent in the major suppliers profits at the end of the day.
Not everybody is getting into it, there are always windows to be cleaned, it does concern me that prices may end out going down though, but if that happens who is going to be affected the most?...........
The Trad cleaner is who
If, for arguements sake, prices are forced down through so many getting into it, the reason prices will come down is because it is considerably quicker than trad.
I keep my prices at the same level as trad cleaners (or at least at the level I would charge if I was forced to clean them off a ladder)
If you start charging a fiver for a house you would have had to charge a tenner for if you had to do it trad, you'll get by because you'll be quicker, but the trad guy is going to suffer as a result.
And as for georgian windows, you are so much faster with WFP that there isn't the slightest comparison, what would take you an hour trad will only take about 15 minutes WFP, so if you actually charge accordingly you will wipe the trad cleaner out of the market on certain types of work (leaded, georgian and other multi-pane windows)
It won't happen of course so DON'T PANIC!!
On your standard housing estate semi the difference in time taken just isn't enough to affect prices enough to make a difference.
If you are going to spend thousands on a van and the kit to go in it, if you wish to stay solvent you aren't going to slap in silly prices.
Those that think it is a license to print money will come unstuck, no matter what business these types go in for, they want an easy life, and whether you are trad or WFP, the easy life it isn't.
And of course you still need all the skills of the trad window cleaner too.
There is no reason at all why Morph shouldn't go on to earn a perfectly good living from WFP window cleaning, I'm sure he will do so. He'll be safe, and his body won't be overloaded.
It's a monday, we're all allowed to be a bit dispondant on a monday!
There will always be more windows out there than we can get around.
In our little town of Chepstow there are at the very least...12 window cleaners that I know of, and I am still picking up work on a regular basis without having to go out and tout for it, AND it is work at the prices that I want too!!
Ian
