[g.brookes]

evening chaps.  i have been offered a round at 5x the monthly value.  it is well established and quality work.  it is also very compact which is great as a lot of my work is spread out.  the hourly rate is £5 to £10 less than i normally get, but apparently the prices are due for a rise.
the two main issues i have are that its all ladders, and that its either pay on clean, or collect on weekends.
now i am nearly all wfp, and i never collect.
so i would have the task of converting all the customers to wfp, and also converting them to online payments or leaving cash, and both of these will result in at least a few cancellations.

what do you think? im not desperate for the work but its in my area and very compact so would deffo be worth it in the future.

thanks for your advice

[g.brookes]

any opinions or similar experiences chaps?

[pristinewindows]

You need to pay less about 3x. Then you can afford to lose some ...and you will lose quite a few!

[davids3511]

If the round is due a price increase why isn't this guy doing it before selling? That way he would get 5x the price increase too. I would take that part of the deal with a pinch of salt.

[g.brookes]

yeah, my natural inclination is to go for it but yeah, i just worry i will lose quite a few whilst converting them to wfp and on line payments. 

anyone had experience of converting new work from trad to wfp?

[david wood]

its a hard task converting from ladders to pole you could lose quite a few jobs so you want to pay as cheap as possible what part of stockport is it are they good size houses and how under priced are they give me a ring or email if you need any help

[g.brookes]

cheers, email sent

[roundbuilder]

i doubt you will get it for 3 cleans as no one seems to sell that low any more but id push for 4 cleans as price rise is needed and also you must expect to lose some with changeover so make sure he aggrees to replace any dropouts within the however many cleans you purchase for.

[4S Cleaning]

On wfp and trad, at the weekend I had a walk up and did it, they told me they had a guy with wfp but he refused to clean the window above the flat roof garage so they asked me, I can't for the life of me understand this wfp windies reluctance too clean one window trad, his loss my gain 

[Nameless Drudge]

This is simple,take a walk/drive to every house with the vendor.

On paper it sounds like a full round of grudge cleans due to price and thats if they all paid online or by cheque never mind collecting.

[landy2]

hello g brookes i was wondering if the round you are talking about in the bramhall area and heaton chapel area  as had phone call asking if i wanted to buy one in that area , if it is not and you are interested i will pass you the number on as i know you work in them areas but no interest  to me . 

[andyM]

On wfp and trad, at the weekend I had a walk up and did it, they told me they had a guy with wfp but he refused to clean the window above the flat roof garage so they asked me, I can't for the life of me understand this wfp windies reluctance too clean one window trad, his loss my gain  

Because it's not worth getting the ladder out to just clean one window.
I only have one property I clean like that, and I told them at the beginning I couldn't reach the window above the garage because there is a small wall on the garage roof which makes it impossible to get the pole at the right angle.
The customer seems happy with the situation and it's not worth my while getting ladders out to climb on the garage just so I can earn an extra pound.  

[4S Cleaning]

On wfp and trad, at the weekend I had a walk up and did it, they told me they had a guy with wfp but he refused to clean the window above the flat roof garage so they asked me, I can't for the life of me understand this wfp windies reluctance too clean one window trad, his loss my gain  

  this guy has lost a custy for the sake of two minutes

Because it's not worth getting the ladder out to just clean one window.
I only have one property I clean like that, and I told them at the beginning I couldn't reach the window above the garage because there is a small wall on the garage roof which makes it impossible to get the pole at the right angle.
The customer seems happy with the situation and it's not worth my while getting ladders out to climb on the garage just so I can earn an extra pound.  

[George P]

evening chaps.  i have been offered a round at 5x the monthly value.  it is well established and quality work.  it is also very compact which is great as a lot of my work is spread out.  the hourly rate is £5 to £10 less than i normally get, but apparently the prices are due for a rise.
the two main issues i have are that its all ladders, and that its either pay on clean, or collect on weekends.
now i am nearly all wfp, and i never collect.
so i would have the task of converting all the customers to wfp, and also converting them to online payments or leaving cash, and both of these will result in at least a few cancellations.

what do you think? im not desperate for the work but its in my area and very compact so would deffo be worth it in the future.

thanks for your advice

I say leave well alone - even if re-offered at 3x.  There are two very major differences to the way you normally work and an attempt to switch the customers will probably lose you at least 40% of them and probably more.  Also, it is likely to stunt cash flow initially as payments get delayed with them being unused to sending payments.  Hell!  Unless I was seriously desperate, I wouldn't take this work if it was free.

disagree mate. may lose 10% at most if done right. should be even less

[AuRavelling79]

I agree with Paul Coleman ... if you've a full round it's way too much hassle changing them over and getting them to pay without collecting.

[johnny bravo]

hire someone to do the donkey oops sorry,  ladder work for you,   establish it for a couple of months then raise price    gently  a couple of houses at a time,  if you loose them due to price increase   sell it on,    5x clean,   too much to loose if customers drop out.  you will get odd customer also

[g.brookes]

cheers for the replies chaps.  landy, please do pass my number onto  them as i dont think its the same round.  nice one

[Crystal-clear]

Hi there,

NO is my answer 5x the clean is too much to pay for a ladder worked round that involves collecting

now if it was 3x then its worth it,

but being compact has a big disadvantage that not alot of people look at they normally say wow i can do the whole street and make xyz however i have had compact rounds and i actually prefer a NON compact round , the reason is because if mrs jones doesnt like water on her windows nor does her neighbour so you lose 2 and maybe the neighbours next door neighbour and so on, it becomes a knock on effect where as if mrs jones doesnt like water on her windows you only loose her and drive on a few streets away to your next job
so you cleaning with the pole here and NOT collecting will anoy them which can result in an above average drop rate cos its a compact place where next door could be influenced by next door.Not saying keep away from compact rounds just keep it in mind that you WILL most likley need to put up with say an anoying customer sometimes cos of all the good customers next door.so it has a downside to dont get excited cos its compact!


it sounds that you have a decent sized round right now so i would only take it on at your own terms offer him 3x cleans 1.5 cleans now and 1.5 cleans after say 2nd clean at that point make sure you meet all the customers and drill it in their head that you are the new window cleaner this is your system (yes they will have wet windows) and you no longer collect or at least not go out of your way to, then pay the balance based on what remains would be the best.

gl anyway.

[William McCafferty]

Go to him with this price, you will pay him 3 x the cleaning rate straightaway, but after 3cleans you will pay another 2 cleans minus the ones you lose after you have increased the prices, converted them to your payment methods and they are all wfp.

you could also offer him a bonus if you keep more than 80% after 6 months.

[g.brookes]

thanks for the advice chaps.  very much appreciated.  i learn a lot from you bunch