[roundbuilder]

I have 2 vans full to the brim with work with 1 man in each. (roughly 20-25jobs a day each van) I'm thinking instead of kitting out another van and having to train somebody up I could add an extra £100-150 a day of new work on each van and get another guy in to work alongside.
From my working out id be better off this way doing it to 2 vans than to buy and kit out a 3rd one.

So who has 2 man teams going out and can they do £150 more than being on there own??.

Cheers

[Smudger]

Hi mate - sorry i'm not going to talk £££ notes on this open forum but i would defo upgrade 1 man vans to 2 man vans

it will depend on your work and how compact you are but in general 2 man van does approx 70% more than 1 guy on his
own for general window cleaning ( domestics ) but for larger domestic and commercal work or where you can park up and
do 6+ properties then its virtually double output per day

best regards
Darran

[Total shine cleaning services]

I think it depends how compact your work is,2 man definitely on compact.

Graham

[windiewasher]

If you charge 15 pounds for a front surely a extra person can add 500 pound extra a day.

[Total shine cleaning services]

when I go 2 up I do struggle to hit the £150 extra but my round is not as compact as some so I'm gonna go to a 2nd van in march and take a full timer, we will work a van each on the villages I cover (3-4 days a week) and then double up into one van only for the pockets of compact work I do, hopefully this will improve as I grow the segmented work into compact, then I will re evaluate, also taking into consideration at this stage that I'll be hitting the vat level, will be very interested on feedback on my plan please.

Graham

[Window Washers]

Hi mate - sorry i'm not going to talk £££ notes on this open forum but i would defo upgrade 1 man vans to 2 man vans

it will depend on your work and how compact you are but in general 2 man van does approx 70% more than 1 guy on his
own for general window cleaning ( domestics ) but for larger domestic and commercal work or where you can park up and
do 6+ properties then its virtually double output per day

best regards
Darran

you must have very compact work to create 70% more per day, 1 van 1 man will always make more than 2 per van its logic.
if you work out the cost of van and costs etc it is plain to see (long term it makes more 1and 1) short term it doesnt., only if your doing commercial jobs daily that are large enough would it be more of a benifit imo I have tried both and thats my findings.
The only benifit I see is if you dont have enough work, or your using ladders

[Smudger]

WW - not sure i follow ? 2 men on 1 van easily do more than 1 man and 1 van but as the percentage ( on average ) i gave
then 2x 1 man van would do more than a 2 man van as 2 1 man vans should do more or less double a single van,

but you have to look at the cost of having 2 vans on the road - more insurance/fuel/servicing etc... and then theres the cost of purchasing a van and the equipment to go inside it...


I'm pretty rural and would not class my work as compact but we do have 'pockets' of work where 5 or 6 houses can be cleaned per stop and we also have larger properties that take 1 man an hour to clean ( these usually take 30mins with 2 )


Darran

[Robin Ray]

I have not found 2 men producing the same amount of extra turnover one can do alone as there is the temptation to stop and talk. However 2 men in one van producing a little less is better than paying for an extra van, system, fuel, insurance etc...

[Total shine cleaning services]

not always, 2 men in 2 vans producing only £50 more would give you a £250 extra weekly turnover which would cover another van,I have a 2nd man out with me sometimes and usually only make an extra £100 to what I can do on my own, I can comfortably do £200-when we double up it's not as productive as you think unless you have lots of compact work, the other benefit in my opinion with 2 vans is if one goes down your still covered by the other van, just my opinion chaps

Graham

[roundbuilder]

not always, 2 men in 2 vans producing only £50 more would give you a £250 extra weekly turnover which would cover another van,I have a 2nd man out with me sometimes and usually only make an extra £100 to what I can do on my own, I can comfortably do £200-when we double up it's not as productive as you think unless you have lots of compact work, the other benefit in my opinion with 2 vans is if one goes down your still covered by the other van, just my opinion chaps

Graham

Yeah that's the sort of figures I was thinking extra £100-150 I think it will out weigh having to get another van and save money in the long run.
Thanks all.usefull info

[robertphil]

2 men  or (3 men per van if the workloads high )is how i do it-trad .     4 in a van makes more money rather than 2 seperate vans and make more per man im sure ,as fuel etc on the 2nd van is so pricey now

[concept]

Hi mate - sorry i'm not going to talk £££ notes on this open forum but i would defo upgrade 1 man vans to 2 man vans

it will depend on your work and how compact you are but in general 2 man van does approx 70% more than 1 guy on his
own for general window cleaning ( domestics ) but for larger domestic and commercal work or where you can park up and
do 6+ properties then its virtually double output per day

best regards
Darran

you must have very compact work to create 70% more per day, 1 van 1 man will always make more than 2 per van its logic.
if you work out the cost of van and costs etc it is plain to see (long term it makes more 1and 1) short term it doesnt., only if your doing commercial jobs daily that are large enough would it be more of a benifit imo I have tried both and thats my findings.
The only benifit I see is if you dont have enough work, or your using ladders

Spot on.

2 man vans are really not that great for a number of reasons.

Productivity goes down as there is more chats, distractions, fAg breaks, etc, than a guy on his own, and you still ca only go as fast as the van can get you between jobs.

2 men on our large commercials out of 1 van, is fine, domestics, compact or not, 1 man per van works much better.

For the reasons stated above, I'm just about to pop van no. 3 on the road.

[Total shine cleaning services]

you going vat then concept.?

Graham

[roundbuilder]

Hi mate - sorry i'm not going to talk £££ notes on this open forum but i would defo upgrade 1 man vans to 2 man vans

it will depend on your work and how compact you are but in general 2 man van does approx 70% more than 1 guy on his
own for general window cleaning ( domestics ) but for larger domestic and commercal work or where you can park up and
do 6+ properties then its virtually double output per day

best regards
Darran

you must have very compact work to create 70% more per day, 1 van 1 man will always make more than 2 per van its logic.
if you work out the cost of van and costs etc it is plain to see (long term it makes more 1and 1) short term it doesnt., only if your doing commercial jobs daily that are large enough would it be more of a benifit imo I have tried both and thats my findings.
The only benifit I see is if you dont have enough work, or your using ladders

Spot on.

2 man vans are really not that great for a number of reasons.

Productivity goes down as there is more chats, distractions, f*g breaks, etc, than a guy on his own, and you still ca only go as fast as the van can get you between jobs.

2 men on our large commercials out of 1 van, is fine, domestics, compact or not, 1 man per van works much better.

For the reasons stated above, I'm just about to pop van no. 3 on the road.

See I'm in exact same boat as you then. 2 full rounds. I'm thinking another £100 each van would work out a lot cheaper than new van and equipment, tax, mot, fuel, maintenance. Only difference being 2 more wage bills instead of the 1. I did my workings out and as good as it would be to get third van out on road it would benefit me by waiting because as long as min £100 extra is cleaned on each van I'd be quids in going the 2 men a van route by over £200 a week which over the year is a tidy sum to save.

[roundbuilder]

If you charge 15 pounds for a front surely a extra person can add 500 pound extra a day.

What drugs are you on! Who said I charge £15 for fronts??

[Total shine cleaning services]

the only problem with the £100 extra only is does not leave enough profit to pay a wage that will keep good staff, not if you want a £200 profit, if I'm getting this wrong then somebody please tell me

Graham

[roundbuilder]

the only problem with the £100 extra only is does not leave enough profit to pay a wage that will keep good staff, not if you want a £200 profit, if I'm getting this wrong then somebody please tell me

Graham

I pay percentage of what gets cleaned, admit idly I didn't think that 1 through. May have to recalculate how will work as will be hard to work out who does what or if both working as hard as each other then paying the driver more. Maybe I will be best just getting another van.
Graham you have thrown a spanner in my works. Cheers for that. 

[Window Washers]

not always, 2 men in 2 vans producing only £50 more would give you a £250 extra weekly turnover which would cover another van,I have a 2nd man out with me sometimes and usually only make an extra £100 to what I can do on my own, I can comfortably do £200-when we double up it's not as productive as you think unless you have lots of compact work, the other benefit in my opinion with 2 vans is if one goes down your still covered by the other van, just my opinion chaps

Graham

Yeah that's the sort of figures I was thinking extra £100-150 I think it will out weigh having to get another van and save money in the long run.
Thanks all.usefull info

Out of that you will have to pay a wage, mick give me a call mate and I will explain what I mean, it will not outweigh the cost Trust me it will also eat into your cash flow if you don't collect

[Total shine cleaning services]

one man and a van I think 170-£250 is achievable, taking out the 5.6 weeks in holiday pay and downtime 35k-40k a year for that van, take out a reasonable wage and running costs, worse case scenario would still leave you with a company profit of 10-12k plus your company grows in stature and your now seen as more of a brand.

one man extra in a van making an extra £100 a day on average would not leave you a £200 profit or you would only be paying about £260ish a week gross as your employers nic's would take this to your £300 a week wage cost, out of that they would take home £220 a week..!

the scenario above that one is you could possibly pay 16-18k and still make the company profit of 10-12k

if I'm wrong please shout loud

Graham

[Total shine cleaning services]

to anyone out there who is multi van, do you have some kind of fleet insurance or separate policies per van..? also thinking about a prepaid fuel card for the 2nd man,anyone use these...?

Graham