[HampshireWindowCleaning]

I started a new round 2 years ago and I'm nearly full now, don't think I could have done it any quicker as i've canvassed like mad for 2 years, also i'd been a window cleaner for 10 years previous so I knew already how to canvass, how to do first cleans etc.
I think you're dreaming if you think you can build up a round in a couple of months.

[Mick Kent]

Lol i love this forum!!!
Ok go and build a full round in 2 months of course it can be done easy peasy!!!
Get real, a half decent round cant be built in 2 months! 6 months at a min to get a customer base thats reliable with someone who has never done window cleaning or canvassing before.
Im honest and am not ashamed that My average was 25% dropout rate over a 6 clean average from my canvassed customers which i was more than happy with. if you would only lose 2 or 3 a year whilst building up from all your canvassing/leafletting then you must be blessed with finding the best customers ever so fair play to you.
Why ask how long it will take if your gonna throw it back in peoples faces??
In the real world where im from good things dont just happen over night.
 

[Mick Kent]

Mick- there is no reason whatsoever why it can't be done you require 8 customers day at £10 average at the of 12 weeks. That's £80 a day for four weeks, canvass hard from 5.30 till dusk now every evening will get you between 2 and 6 per night even at the lower end 3 cycles gets you 168 customers in 12 weeks

And your telling me you can't manage 3 first cleans in a day

On the second cycle you'll have a few regular cleans and another 3 new cleans



Darran

No i managed much more than that! I have a big head when it comes to round building and have hit it from all angles but i have been in the game a verey long time.
This topic was how long for a new starter who hasnt cleaned or canvassed before to build a reasonable round. Its not as easy as it was 5 years ago otherwise these how long questions from already established guys wouldnt come up.

[Smudger]

Have to agree 25% dropout is high! I personally would have had to question my ability at that rate! at worst it run at 2 to 3%

I do think some have got the wrong end of the stick, it was asked how long would it take for the guy to get a 'living wage' not an all singing all dancing refined full to the max round, these provide far more than a 'living wage'

The round should always be developed and improved gaining better customers and prices dropping those that you priced too cheaply or mess you around.

Darran

[Ste b]

Why ask how long it will take if your gonna throw it back in peoples faces??
In the real world where im from good things dont just happen over night.
 


[/quote]


I was thinking the same , he asked for peoples opinions yet has disagreed with everyone. 

[dazmond]

He always does ste.groundhog  is a bit arrogant and argumentative to say the least!anyone remember his ridiculous video of him racing round a house with his harris pole a few years ago!comical!!haha.

[8weekly]

Have to agree 25% dropout is high! I personally would have had to question my ability at that rate! at worst it run at 2 to 3%

I do think some have got the wrong end of the stick, it was asked how long would it take for the guy to get a 'living wage' not an all singing all dancing refined full to the max round, these provide far more than a 'living wage'

The round should always be developed and improved gaining better customers and prices dropping those that you priced too cheaply or mess you around.

Darran

2 to 3% in the first year? That is remarkably low. I reckon of the first 30 customers I lost half at least in the first 6 months. Messers, one offs etc. I agree on 2/3% eventually if your prices are keen. I reckon I lose maybe 5% a year.

[ben M]

when i said 2 years, i should have said at least 2 years!

[HampshireWindowCleaning]

You're right Smudger, I did miss-read the original post, it's taken me 2 years to make an almost full round, ie top money day in day out all month.
To get it to a 'living wage' which I would guess is £1.5-£2.5k a month could probably be done in 6 months to a year.

[richywilts]

id recommend him starting next year get as much money saved up as possible begin canvassing for new round in jan or feb to begin cleaning in march for beginning of spring this way he get to just concentrate and focus solely on getting customers without having to cram in all the first cleans he could begin helping u one or two days a week now to get up to speed by then.its getting a bit late in the year now id say with winter round the corner all those frosty morning will put him off if he capable at canvassing he should be able to get 20-30 customers a week minimum by march he could have 150-200 customers to crack on with first cleans he will prob lose 30-40% of these over next few months so he should continue to canvass and leaflet etc

[richywilts]

Have to agree 25% dropout is high! I personally would have had to question my ability at that rate! at worst it run at 2 to 3%

I do think some have got the wrong end of the stick, it was asked how long would it take for the guy to get a 'living wage' not an all singing all dancing refined full to the max round, these provide far more than a 'living wage'

The round should always be developed and improved gaining better customers and prices dropping those that you priced too cheaply or mess you around.

Darran

i think it depends on areas you have canvassed to be honest on nice estates with older people in late 40s to 50s drop outs are low on council estates i think people just are happy getting windows cleaned once or twice a year and do drop out and use any old excuse to cancel

[advanced]

it takes years and I mean years   to build a descent round  not months ;
a lot of the custies you take on will be time wasters  and users  maybe one in every four will be solid  good custies .

[SeanK]

21 years!(to build a very decent round!)

Ok I can see that I'm not going to get any sensible answers here! I am going to help him build his round, and I reckon that if he does as I advise him then he should have a reasonable sized round in a few months time. The thing with window cleaning is that like most things in life, the more effort you put in, then the more rewards you get out of it!

How do you expect a sensible answer when you didn't ask a sensible question.
A half sensible question would have been.
How guys I'm looking to build a round in xxxxxxx could anybody tell me how saturated this area is with window cleaners
and would it be possible to build a decent round here in a reasonable time frame.
Doesn't matter how much effort you put in, if the customers in that area all have shiners that they are happy with then you
wont get the custom.
If there is a shortage of decent window cleaners then your in luck.

[Mick Kent]

Have to agree 25% dropout is high! I personally would have had to question my ability at that rate! at worst it run at 2 to 3%

I do think some have got the wrong end of the stick, it was asked how long would it take for the guy to get a 'living wage' not an all singing all dancing refined full to the max round, these provide far more than a 'living wage'

The round should always be developed and improved gaining better customers and prices dropping those that you priced too cheaply or mess you around.

Darran

With respect i think a 75 percent stay rate is great after all the roundbuilding i did, i dont doubt my ability at all as now with over 1200 domestics mainly being £10 fronts i lose at most 1/2 a month for various reasons which i always replace when gets to 10! And i have everything running like clockwork which was my 5 year plan but luckily i did it in just over 3.
I dont believe anyone who say they lost only a few percent whilst building up!. Did you not drop customers/have 1 off's have bad payers who you had to drop?? Customers who simply just wast happy with wfp or the finish??.

[capn sparkle]

its taken me 2 years to get to 360 customers - Good customers with the average of £11 per a customer.

It took about 2 months of solid weekend and evenings to build up the first 100 and about 4 months to be on £1500 PM.

that being said I have dumped a lot of time wasters and hard cleans over the years to get to where I am now. George database is showing almost 600 customers I have gone through.

I'm close to that 301 custys and 104 dumped / moved out
 

[Johnny B]

When I first got into window cleaning 17 years ago, a friend of mine took me on part time and showed me the ropes.

After working with him for about 3 months, he encouraged me to try and build up some custom of my own. After a couple of weeks of canvassing, I had enough work to more than cover my wages, and I went it alone. After about 2 years of picking up work by word of mouth and walk ups, I was full to the brim. Very few messers, in fact work flooded in without any effort. The hardest thing was being able to keep up with my workload.

Three years ago, we sold up and moved to Ireland, where I started up again. I canvassed for a few months, knocking on around 5000 doors (around half of the town) and picked up some customers but found it very different to my earlier experience. Drop off rate was high, with plenty of messers, and I began to wonder if I was going to succeed. Having told myself that failure is not an option, I ploughed on, building, culling and building some more. It took me about 18 months to 2 years to make what I would call a living wage. We survived, but it was tough going.

I have just completed my third year, and am now around 80 per cent full. I am continually refining my business, and this will be ongoing, with culling and replacing with better work.

I believe my experience to be a fair reflection of what any new starter can expect.

John    

[davids3511]

Lol i love this forum!!!
Ok go and build a full round in 2 months of course it can be done easy peasy!!!
Get real, a half decent round cant be built in 2 months! 6 months at a min to get a customer base thats reliable with someone who has never done window cleaning or canvassing before.
Im honest and am not ashamed that My average was 25% dropout rate over a 6 clean average from my canvassed customers which i was more than happy with. if you would only lose 2 or 3 a year whilst building up from all your canvassing/leafletting then you must be blessed with finding the best customers ever so fair play to you.
Why ask how long it will take if your gonna throw it back in peoples faces??
In the real world where im from good things dont just happen over night.
 

I agree with this 25% in the first 6-12 months is the norm. I've built a round in Dublin - 25%, three rounds in Manchester over 7 years, 25% again. We do a very good job, no splash and dash.

[8weekly]

If you continue to build, you continue to lose customers. Here's an example from last week. A £35 8 weekly job had put a bike lock on a 5 bar gate at the side of the house. I climbed over a dragged the hose. Mid clean she returned and the first thing she said was "you'll have to let me know you are coming from now on". I asked why and she pointed to the main property gate in front of the drive and said that one will be locked from now on. Ok, says I, but I can tell she is not happy that I went over the 5 bar gate and when the cheque arrived a couple of days later a note said her husband was going to do them from now on. If you want to grow, you will lose them all the time. Unavoidable.

[andyM]

I've just looked at George and taking in to account one-offs, messers I got rid of, people sacking me, and people moving home, my drop out rate is also around 25% over the years.
That's the reality.

[Smudger]

Hmmmm..

So mick, I am a liar then? You choose to call me this because I have built a round up in 3 months that replaced a 28k salary paye job. - you say that can't be done, but you can canvass and get 50 customers in an evening - well done mick !!

It's a shame that for one one who posting constantly on success that anyone else's experience must be fictional.

Anyway my experience is as follows, of the first 50 customers I canvassed 35 are still customers after 5 years - none of these dropped out in the first year, over the years some moved, one died, a few did did stop and I put the prices right up on the others because as you do when starting out are a little cheap (£7 for a bungalow with conny)
So they 'left' currently our fall out rate is maybe 2 customers per month is does vary on the time of year so that is around 0.02% of our domestic customer base. Been focused on building up pressure washing at the moment so not canvassed for windows, only leafleting and ad in the local rag but these bring in approx 100 enquiries per month of which I price and convert 65% of them

I'm always happy to help people on this forum and share experiences, ideas etc, I try to do it in an unbiased way

Darran