[Stephen.C]

As my book is almost full I'm finding it very hard to take on any new work.
I'm Having a chat at some point with a ciu member about how he went about taking on someone.
I will be interested to see how you guys went about it. I have done weeding in the round bad payers slow payers
and rubbish work replaced with better quality and pricing much higher than normal.
Thanks Steve.

[robertphil]

i put an ad in my local shop window "helper wanted ,parttime"   . keep all the details of those that ring up so you dont have to rely on any 1st call waster.    first question i ask is "what height are you?  what weight? "   if they say im not telling you my weight  alarm bells should ring.
  later -when you meet them and see they are just about 5foot 6  and not 6 foot as they told me ,indicates a liar, its a small detail but believe me best dont get involved if they are loud braggers and/or liars

[Total shine cleaning services]

I took on a mate of mine and it's the best thing I ever did, he is in his 50s but completely trustworthy and a real grafter, we run 2 vans and occasionally double up together , prior to that I had part time youngsters but they didn't work out as slightly work shy

Graham

[Jim Waugh(Albright & Shiny)]

what about all the hassles of doing wages working out NI. risk assessments, training and the like . Is it worth the hassle ? I ask as Its something I may have to consider in the next year or so..

[robertphil]

everybody seems to have a rocky start when you first start employing, i know i did 

 but well worth it in the end in my opinion , the paperwork isnt too bad and you go online to get a employers disc from Her Maj

[Smudger]

Totally worth it

It can move your biz forward faster than you think and your roll changes from operator
To manager you spend less time on the glass and more getting more work etc..

You need to be fair with your pay and work conditions. And trust them you can only do that by doing proper interviews and trial periods

I now watch the vans go out some mornings without me and that's a very strange feeling !

Darran

[britishwill]

Sounds good to me Smudger!
Bet your still grafting but in a different way...

[Smudger]

Yep never seems to stop 

Darran

[Wheeliebin]

Hi all,
I am new to window cleaning but do have a wheelie bin cleaning business as well.
The thing I don't get from reading a lot of back posts is how much people think a second employee/van on the road should make them.
Surely if you pay someone roughly £10 an hour to clean windows for you(which is what I do), and they clean around £25 an hour worth of work(which is what they do), that equates to £15 an hour  profit every hour they work (give or take a bit). I have read on here that people cant be bothered putting someone on if they are not making them in excess of £500 a week or so. Surely in this industry earning another £250 or so a week(12,000) a year will make a massive difference to their income at the end of the year, especially considering you aren't the one doing the actual work.
Could someone explain to me why they think it necessary to make so much from adding an extra person. I can't think any other industry where you wouldn't bother hiring someone cause they can only make you £12,000 a year more profit.

[Jim Waugh(Albright & Shiny)]

I think the problem is the transition from Solo to a crew of two. The round needs building to double the number of jobs. Until this happens the solo operator is naturally taking an income hit...

[Stephen.C]

I think the problem is the transition from Solo to a crew of two. The round needs building to double the number of jobs. Until this happens the solo operator is naturally taking an income hit...

Yes you hit the nail on the head, but i'm stuck I just don't have any more room on my own. I'm having a chat two lads on ciu about it all that I know who have taken on staff.

[Total shine cleaning services]

Stephen you cant build to a two man teams worth then employ, you will never cover it unless you have casuals on board, i started employing on a speculate to accumulate basis, my employee has most of the round and im canvassing and doing first cleans, you will take a slight income hit but if you work hard the work will come at a steady pace, the route i took prior to employing was to have a part timer and ran off a trolley system then i went to a 2nd van with a full time employee.

Graham

[Wheeliebin]

Would it not be easiest to put on a non experienced window cleaner, a decent fella looking for a job. Get him to learn the ropes doing bottoms only, or organising hoses etc if you are WFP. After about a week, he would be able to cover his wage at least in the speed increase, you can then take on those extra houses that you get asked to do.
Once he has got up to speed, teach him to use ladders(or better still employ someone with ladder experience in a different field perhaps). Then when he is right to go, send him on his own. He will still only need £10 an hour max and you can use some of your free time to go and get more business.
Find a people person to do the job and make part of his role to do some door knocking as well. Get a bloke with his own van too. Those aren't too much criteria to ask for when choosing someone, there are plenty of out of work plasterers, brickies, painters etc that would gladly take up a wage these days.

[supernova77]

Could someone explain to me why they think it necessary to make so much from adding an extra person. I can't think any other industry where you wouldn't bother hiring someone cause they can only make you £12,000 a year more profit.

But it's not £12000 a year extra profit. It's £12000 a year extra turn over.

Andy

[Smudger]

Hi all,
I am new to window cleaning but do have a wheelie bin cleaning business as well.
The thing I don't get from reading a lot of back posts is how much people think a second employee/van on the road should make them.
Surely if you pay someone roughly £10 an hour to clean windows for you(which is what I do), and they clean around £25 an hour worth of work(which is what they do), that equates to £15 an hour  profit every hour they work (give or take a bit). I have read on here that people cant be bothered putting someone on if they are not making them in excess of £500 a week or so. Surely in this industry earning another £250 or so a week(12,000) a year will make a massive difference to their income at the end of the year, especially considering you aren't the one doing the actual work.
Could someone explain to me why they think it necessary to make so much from adding an extra person. I can't think any other industry where you wouldn't bother hiring someone cause they can only make you £12,000 a year more profit.

If your paying £10 ph for only £25 on the windows you are making no where near 12k (which as stated is turnover) you have not allowed for holiday pay 20 days/ bank holidays  addition tax contributions employers insurance addition running costs etc..

Darran

[MATT BATEMAN (OWC)]

Hi all,
I am new to window cleaning but do have a wheelie bin cleaning business as well.
The thing I don't get from reading a lot of back posts is how much people think a second employee/van on the road should make them.
Surely if you pay someone roughly £10 an hour to clean windows for you(which is what I do), and they clean around £25 an hour worth of work(which is what they do), that equates to £15 an hour  profit every hour they work (give or take a bit). I have read on here that people cant be bothered putting someone on if they are not making them in excess of £500 a week or so. Surely in this industry earning another £250 or so a week(12,000) a year will make a massive difference to their income at the end of the year, especially considering you aren't the one doing the actual work.
Could someone explain to me why they think it necessary to make so much from adding an extra person. I can't think any other industry where you wouldn't bother hiring someone cause they can only make you £12,000 a year more profit.

Too true. There's a muppet on here reckons he clears £400 a day, so after all associated expenses, per two man team.

[home6442]

He is employing at £10 an hour and bringing in £25 an hour.
Over 30 a hour week minus wages that £450 per week.
Working 40 weeks in a year is £18000.
30 days holiday pay at a 6 hour day  £1800
Come on guys he is clearing well over £12000.

[Jim Waugh(Albright & Shiny)]

I found a calculator on an accountants website that helps you to work out the true cost of an employee allowing for all the things. paying 10 an hour equates to between 33 and 35K in true cost.. it seems the basic rule is take the base rate and multiply by between 1.6 and 1.7
so £10 an hour x40 x52 =£20,800 flat rate.
20800 x1.7 = 35360 in real costs... or 1.6 =33280
seems crazy but before you start making profit from an employee they need to break through 33 to 35K in turnover..

this means that each employee has to bring in just short of 150 a day 48 weeks a year to break even??

the calculator is here
http://www.accountingservicesforbusiness.co.uk/calculators1/true-cost-of-an-employee/

go through and strip out the bits that aint relevant to your business.. and see what you get for your business.

[Richard iSparkle]

Hi all,
I am new to window cleaning but do have a wheelie bin cleaning business as well.
The thing I don't get from reading a lot of back posts is how much people think a second employee/van on the road should make them.
Surely if you pay someone roughly £10 an hour to clean windows for you(which is what I do), and they clean around £25 an hour worth of work(which is what they do), that equates to £15 an hour  profit every hour they work (give or take a bit). I have read on here that people cant be bothered putting someone on if they are not making them in excess of £500 a week or so. Surely in this industry earning another £250 or so a week(12,000) a year will make a massive difference to their income at the end of the year, especially considering you aren't the one doing the actual work.
Could someone explain to me why they think it necessary to make so much from adding an extra person. I can't think any other industry where you wouldn't bother hiring someone cause they can only make you £12,000 a year more profit.

Too true. There's a muppet on here reckons he clears £400 a day, so after all associated expenses, per two man team.

i wonder if I am that muppet you are talking about? 

[MATT BATEMAN (OWC)]

That sounds like you're volunteering yourself for the role?