[colin purewater]

Afternoon all,

For thoses of you that no me I'm a small domestic and commercial
Window cleaner, doing well at the minute tbh

But I've Been offered a national contract, I've seen the
Prices toget want me to do it for and looked at the sites
Over the last few days,

The sites are spread across middle and northern England
And will be a lot of traveling involved but this
Work will take me well over the vat threshold
And I've done the maths and there is a good
Profit to be made, I would have to employ an extra
lad and
The one I have  could go full time,

Please don't ask what the work is as i won't
Say,

It will mean many hours on the road, massive fuel bill
Lots of extra paper work ect

But my main question to those that do this
Type of work

Is the work no matter how much you make
Worth all the extra hassle and head ache at the end
 of the day??

Many thanks
Colin

[supernova77]

Hi Colin,

It's good that you've been offered the contract. If it pays well and won't encroach on too much personal time then go for it.

But it doesn't sound like a national contract if its middle northern England?

Andy

[Small but perfectley formed]

How many days work will it require it could be ideal wet work so you are earning every day

[Ben wood]

I would say if you can make more money per hour just cleaning domestic local houses stay as you are and put the extra effort in building a big buisiness. But if it pays well go for it as long as you make a good profit after all the extra time traveling anfd fuel bill go for it.

[Halfadaylee]

A tough call for you and Im not much help.
What I will say though is Dean Tabs seems to do ok with a decent lifestyle for his hard work.
Although I seem to remember he was posting for a partner because of the level of work and stress and when I read his turnover to his expenditure, I was happy to be like you.
Dean is young and has far more drive than me which is why he makes it work

Gav seems also to work for a nation although he comes over very differently.
I dont know either of them other than on here.

I would say if you can and want too ant the figures are right, fill your boots.
Good luck

[g.brookes]

none of us can answer this question really.  all just depends on how much you value your free time.  what will this extra money enable you to do? do you need this extra money? or are you better off having the time to spend with friends and family etc.  do you live to work, or work to live.  ive said before i put high value in my free time, whereas others would prefer t work as get bored in their free time.  really is up to you.  i would suggest go for it, if you dont like it then just stop doing it

[James chapman]

Go for it it might then lead on to something else....if you don't you'll never know.

[Knocker]

If it's shop work no no no....

[wightsurf]

Or take the work on and Sub it out,still make money but less of a head ache.

[colin purewater]

Cheers for the relys lads!

It ain't  shop work and it can't be subbed out
Big jobs on each site and has to be done by same
Contractor

[Steve Sed]

This isn't advice, but my opinion is that if you want to grow your business, growing it locally would be a lot less hassle and more profit.

[robbo333]

What happens if the contract folds?

[jarvy]

Depends how much of it could you cover?
You have seen it when people come on here begging to get an area covered,then all the hassle that comes if a subby does a pi55 poor job,and sorting out tons of paperwork.
Not for me,but fine for others..

[david thomas]

I done this some time back the biggest problem I neglected my own rounds which had taken years to build up for the sake of working for another company keeping them happy did it for 4 months totally stressed me out had to give it up.

[bobplum]

a leap of faith ?

can i just throw a question here...how come your getting it?
i dont want to sound nasty when i say that colin but why would a company like this want to have it all serviced by a sole trader and a part time lad?
why have the bigger cleaning companies not got it?
is it your price?
are they just using you?

i would say go for it as your young enough to bounce back but dont put all your eggs in one basket...good luck and now you can you use all them brushes in the back of your van

[Ian Lancaster]

There's a very good rule of thumb that states no single customer should account for more than 30% of your turnover.  As Robbo 333 pointed out, you would have an insurmountable problem if, after you invest in equipment, time, new employee etc the contract is suddenly terminated (which they all have a tendendy to do). 

The way you describe it, this contract would take up all your available working time - lose it and you've lost your business, livelihood etc. plus you could be heavily in debt.

Don't be blinded by the thought of huge rewards, think of the consequences first.

[Moderator David@stives]

Hi Colin

I have had dozens of dilemmas like this over the last 5 years, none of them easy decisions, there is a lot I could tell you, but haven't really got time to type it all out, I am on the end of the phone you want a quick chat and ask me anything.

One thing I can tell you here is, Remember all that glistens is not Gold, some of the so called nationals are terrible at paying and put huge demands on you. As such do a full credit check on them, There are some free services out there, but a paid for service can come back with the finer detail.

[Dave Willis]

Dave, did that bank ever pay you?

[Gav Camm lammy 283]

colin listen to dave morris he offering gud advise
only you can decide what your doing
as always im more than happy to help
some nationals are slow paying others not so
im 100% straight saying this most payment terms 60 days +
its a struggle getting into their payment systems at first  

[Gav Camm lammy 283]

A tough call for you and Im not much help.
What I will say though is Dean Tabs seems to do ok with a decent lifestyle for his hard work.
Although I seem to remember he was posting for a partner because of the level of work and stress and when I read his turnover to his expenditure, I was happy to be like you.
Dean is young and has far more drive than me which is why he makes it work

Gav seems also to work for a nation although he comes over very differently.
I dont know either of them other than on here.

I would say if you can and want too ant the figures are right, fill your boots.
Good luck

different types of ppl lee lol
the work i do for nationals fits in well with my own work
i also try not to take just anything also it helps if i like em
if you get me ppl knock john nolan for an example
i seem to have a gud working relationship with him
and he pays quickly which helps