[stuart webster]

All WC's who have changed over from trad to WFP say they have an increased turnover 30-50%

What % increase in expenses has WFP incured?

Please provide 2 figures in % (No £'s please)

Increase in turnover =%
Increase in expenses=%

ie Turnover up 50%
    Expenses up 20%


Just out of interest.....?

[windows_chepstow]

Bear,

That's a difficult question, because my books aren't up-to-date and won't be till January 2007 and I've only been using a WFP for about six months.

From from my daily takings, purely from a financial point of view:

I'm averaging about a 15% to 40% increase.

But overall, I'm not earning a fantastically massive increase in my turnover.

I'm getting a bit lazy to tell the truth and have been quite happy to plod along in some of the Winter months, working a four day week and earning exactly the same as I was when I used ladders; working a five day week.

I've taken on some new work, ideal for WFP, and find I can earn the same as when I worked trad, but in much less time.

I think the biggest plus for me at the moment is a huge percentage increase in my 'quality of life'.  I'd say around 50%!

[stuart webster]

I think the biggest plus for me at the moment is a huge percentage increase in my 'quality of life'.  I'd say around 50%!

Thats worth a lot though!!

[edd]

yep i really enjoy making more money 4 alot less fear from the dreaded LADDER plus got rid of Victor  Meldrew and his merry men too .No more under £10 houses any more yeeha!!and we have got quite a few nice new ones Edd

[Sarah Sarill]

Good Question The Bear,

Financially we are not making any more money however we are saving on 1 salary as hubby is doing it all on his own and he is home earlier every night as well.

We are probably saving £180 pw on the additional salary.

The biggest plus for me ' the wife' though is the knowledge that I a not going to get that dreaded phone call to say he has hurt himself.  Was with him once when he fell and landed ON the ladder and am totally at ease now he wont do it again.

Thats enough for me. 

Sarah

[sair]

from a money aspect last year was up 300% in takings .this year is about the same see what next year brings , 7th year wfp now .

[stuart webster]

I would like an idea of the extra cost per year to run WFP.

Fully understand the safety issues, but need projections before I speak to my accountant and Bank

It's not enough for me to say turnover up by 50% if costs go up 60%

Do you get my drift.....?

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

since going wfp (1 year now) i have double my work load taken on another guy and hope to double it again by the end of next year

[AuRavelling79]

OK - I'm a one man band "bottom end" pole user. (No rude jokes please!)

This time last year I bought a trolley system (including R/O, pole, pump etc) from Peter Fogwill for £1350 including vat. I also bought a 210 litre water butt, fitted a fast flow tap and ten breeze blocks to sit it on.

Total start up cost £1500. (I'm still using the same estate car now as I did on trad.)

Since then I have bought a replacement top 3 sections of a cheap unger pole £50
An autobrush £60
An 85 a/h battery £30
Resin £25
Filters £15
4 extra 25L water barrels £20

Total spend in one year including £1500 initial start up cost. £1700.

Less not replacing ladders (I bought light, cheap and cheerful triples at £100 and replaced every two years) £50
Squeegie rubbers £25
GG4 £25

Extra money earned this year £6000 approx (of which I put down £4000 to pole and £2000 to upping prices and pruning round.)

I fully expect to turnover a further extra £6000 this year but intend buying a trailer and tank and replacing bits as they wear out - so an extra grand on costs this coming year at a guess.

Hope this helps.

[preston powerblast]

My main business is power washing, but in nov it died off, hence no money coming in.
Then I took over a small compct window round, which got me about £400 a month, but these were a load of old moaners and still wanted it doing the old trad way most of these houses were under priced.
I then got a cheap diy wfp set up and these customers moaned and groaned. In the end I sacked the lot off and built up two nice little rounds on new estates were a lot of the windows were inaccesable by ladder because of apex roofs on garages etc.
I put a load of lealets out and the phone rang its head off.
Now I have got windows all over the place, shops offices, houses and also do it for other cleaning firms locally.
I now have three poles two pumps one employee and loads of customers.
Apart from the initial start up fee of £300 its cost me nothing.
Now I offer a full exterior cleaning services.

[Paul Coleman]

All WC's who have changed over from trad to WFP say they have an increased turnover 30-50%

What % increase in expenses has WFP incured?

Please provide 2 figures in % (No £'s please)

Increase in turnover =%
Increase in expenses=%

ie Turnover up 50%
    Expenses up 20%


Just out of interest.....?

I can't give definite figures but, so far, my turnover has been a lot less and my expenses have been a lot more.  However, I've only been doing WFP for a short while and I started in the Winter which also gives a skewed impression.  Once I've done a major re-jig of my round and obtained the type of work that I want (much of which I couldn't do off a ladder), I anticipate doubling my turnover by October 2007 from its level as of October 2005.  TYes, the expenses will be higher too.  In the past few days I have started to seek new work.  It looks like I may already have a job worth about £180 that I could do in 4 hours with WFP.  In fact the earnings potential for that one would be even better but they want the insides done every other time.  Won't count my chickens on that one.  It looks hopeful going by the feedback I've had but I haven't secured it yet.

[windows_chepstow]

Bear,

The running costs are very low.  If you buy a 200 Gallon per day RO/DI, a bag of £90 resin will last a year at least and you need to change the filters every six months or so; they're about a tenner.

Say you buy a new pole per year, that's around £60.

So running costs over the year is under £200.00.

If I pull my finger out, I can earn £200 more in one week using a WFP than I could using ladders.

The main issue you should be thinking of is what system to buy!

[callum macleod]

Turnover up by 30%
Cost 20%

though quality of life improved greatly i certainly don't regret buying this system 

[genesis_windows]

initial set up costs were £2,500 of which van was £1,500
i use 1000 ltrs daily 3/4 days a week and running costs are £30.00 daily including fuel,insurance filters,replacement poles and even replacing a similar priced van at end of year, everything really, right down to the cost of the accountant.
overall i'd say profits up 50%
costs up20%
with less time at work (3.5 days instead of 5 off a ladder) which if i wasnt waiting for work to come to me would be time spent canvassing means more profit overall.
its a no brainer for me really, you cant lose if you have the correct set up and training.

[windows_chepstow]

Bear,

I've just added up how much I've earnt so far this week (Mon to Thu) and it's £30 over what I used to earn using ladders working five days; on average.

To keep things in perspective; I'm also a 'bottom-end' WFP user with a 95% residential round and have been window cleaning for just over three years.

I consider myself slightly-above-average with a squeegy and I keep myself reasonably fit for a 36 year old (or am I 37?).

I've also got quite a few accounts, maybe a 'days worth', all added up, which I still use ladders for.

Anyway, I'm definately not feeling as tired as I used to after a day of humping my 13 stone body (more maybe - we haven't got bathroom scales) up and down ladders all day.

I'm surprised you haven't already transferred over to WFP.

What's your WFP budget and what's your main type of work?

[stuart webster]

Tosh,

Like you 95% domestic, like you sub £1000, unlike you i'm 10 st 10 lb.

(although i was 15 stone at one time, and only 5' 7")

[matt]

i have a 60 gall per day unit

i spent 10 quid on resin last year

i work 3 days a week and use about 100 - 150 L's a day

i brought 2 new Batteries for 40 quid

oh and a new locking cone for my unger pole and a new angle adaptor

total cost 62 quid APROX

to be honest, i can earn that extra a day if i try

[windows_chepstow]

Tosh,

Like you 95% domestic, like you sub £1000, unlike you i'm 10 st 10 lb.

(although i was 15 stone at one time, and only 5' 7")

Given your budget, you're going to have to either go DIY or Shurflo backpack.

What vehicle do you use for work?  Family car?

[Count Phil]

My turnover did increase just by doing everything on time (I was always late by about a week). I've taken an axtra few hundred quids worth of work on as well. I'm now always on time and work 9-3 instead of 8-4. Tell you the truth I've got lazy. If I pulled my finger out I could be loads better off. As it is I'm a bit better of and loads lazier. My running costs largely consist of trying out different brushes so not really expenses. By the way, my resin lasts for-absolutley-ever. I shake it vigorously before I turnon the filter and let it run for ten minutes to the drain through the resin. It seems to loosen and flush out the dirt. the tds goes up to about 60ppm then drops slowely to below 10ppm. If oyur happy with around the ten marks ( it works just as well as 0ppm) the resin lasts for months. Honestly the cannister (about a litre) has the same resin in it I put in 4 months ago and it's still below 9ppm. So low running costs.