[Edge Clean]

When I started window cleaning 30 years ago I couldn't drive, so I walked every where to clean windows.

Today, I decided to walk the days work, 2.4 miles to first job, around 400m between the first and last job of the day (20 council houses) and left ladders and gear at relations house ready for another day of the same tomorrow.

It was knackering, so got bus home, but think I can get used to doing it this way again.

Any other window cleaners on here still walking their rounds or know of many who still do?

[Matt.]

Definatley not me mate 

My rounds are to spread out, but truth known I won't even walk the shop

[duncan h]

A few still do it round my way. Think its a small amount and cash in pocket type. I drive past and see them carrying ladders. I think NER. Ill stick to my van and pole

[Shane sharples]

Definatley not me mate 

My rounds are to spread out, but truth known I won't even walk the shop

+1 

[dazmond]

naw!not for me!

even though i have loads of compact work it would take me a while to walk 5-10 miles to my first job!then go back to ladders?

even the thought of it makes me shudder!!

it would probably take me 3 times as long to get around all my work and id be working 7 days a week doing 12 hour days for a lot less money!unless i get round 12 weekly and put my 3 bed semis up to £27 a pop!

[AuRavelling79]

When I started window cleaning 30 years ago I couldn't drive, so I walked every where to clean windows.

Today, I decided to walk the days work, 2.4 miles to first job, around 400m between the first and last job of the day (20 council houses) and left ladders and gear at relations house ready for another day of the same tomorrow.

It was knackering, so got bus home, but think I can get used to doing it this way again.

Any other window cleaners on here still walking their rounds or know of many who still do?

That you Baz? Got any more Trad Top Tips?

[Steven Biggs]

Sussed me out again eh gold .  I only walked it this morning cos the mot on the corsa ran out and there was 2 off licences to stop at to keep me refreshed .

[rosskesava]

There's a windie who works only in Whitechapel and Bethnal Green in the East End of London who doesn't drive. He has all his trad gear and a fold up ladder on a large trolley and he wheels the lots to each job.

All his rounds and jobs are all within throwing distance. It makes sense in a way. No van, no nightmare parking problems and almost no overheads and no hassle. His customers know he's limited in what he can do because of what he can't carry with him and he has full books and turns down work.

One road where he has about 15 terraced houses he bought a ladder just for those houses, leaves it at a customers house whose windows he then does for free, and uses the ladder for the rest. Smart eh?

I saw him last Sunday and stopped and had a chat while he was cleaning the shop front of a quite famous East End cafe along Bethnal Green Road called Pellicci's that has been owned by the same family for 120 years. While chatting 4 people stopped and asked him about window cleaning.

I reckon for inner city work he's got it sussed.

[sunshine windows]

I'd have done a marathon on my furthest distance from home by the time I got back.

[paulben]

furthest I walk is to car that's why I am a fat lazy sod

[Ian101]

this thread reminds me of one of my earliest childhood memories of Bob the window cleaner.

My mum let him keep his ladders in our back garden and I can remember him chamioing my bedroom window and him singing some old crappy song ... my mum was happy to do this as it meant we had clean water as was 1st job on round ... used to love filling his bucket and giving him the 50p he used to charge was early 70's ( I was about 4 or 5) .. he used to get bus in from Kirby then walk his round around West Derby Liverpool (anyones Dad from on here ?)

[Walter Mitty]

this thread reminds me of one of my earliest childhood memories of Bob the window cleaner.

My mum let him keep his ladders in our back garden and I can remember him chamioing my bedroom window and him singing some old crappy song ... my mum was happy to do this as it meant we had clean water as was 1st job on round ... used to love filling his bucket and giving him the 50p he used to charge was early 70's ( I was about 4 or 5) .. he used to get bus in from Kirby then walk his round around West Derby Liverpool (anyones Dad from on here ?)

I have vague memories of a guy called "John" when I was little.  He and another guy used to clean many of the windows around where I lived.  He used a bicycle with some sidecar type of attachment.  I got a ride home from him once.  The dog ran off (again) and I chased after it and got lost.  He spotted me and returned me home on his sidecar .
The milkman was called "John" too.  Wonder if they were related.

[richard groves]

Not on foot, but there is a guy in my town who cycles with a small trailer , water barrel, unger pole, short extension ladder and trad gear. Think he mainly does shops though. Sometimes I'm quite envious of how simple things are for him when streets are busy, heavy traffic and nowhere to park, very little in the way of overheads too. But I just wouldn't be able to earn enough / get enough well priced work done that way.

[rosskesava]

Mr Bitt, I take it you mean the short dumpy bloke.

He tells all his customers that he'll do his best on their upstairs windows as he doesn't have a ladder and he said that most seem fine with it.

He aims for £70 a day which don't sound much but with no over heads and no equipment other than water, mop, applicator, and a few cloths and an unger pole, what a simple life.

All his work is in central Brighton so he doesn't have to cycle far.

There's also another bloke who has a 7ft A frame attached to a bike, somehow, along with water, bucket, etc, on a trailer who looks like a slightly larger version of the short dumpy bloke.

[richard groves]

There's also another bloke who has a 7ft A frame attached to a bike, somehow, along with water, bucket, etc, on a trailer who looks like a slightly larger version of the short dumpy bloke.

Ha ha Ross 
Know him too
He hates it when people get them confused, he's a good foot taller 

[Frankybadboy]

Love to be able to walk that far

[Dave Willis]

How's it going Franky?

[M & C Window Cleaning]

I live on an estate that is no more than two square miles and 99% of my work is on the estate. I've worked it for 38 yrs and the first five years I lived on a neighboring estate.  A friend who lived on the estate looked after my ladders for me so I would walk or cycle to their house collect my ladders and then walk my round.  Then when I married we moved onto the estate. Though I continued to walk to work,  we had problems insuring our first car for SDP only, as no insurance company I dealt with at the time  would believe I wasn't using it for work when they found out what I did and refused to insure me unless I included business use. So as I had to have it insured for business I started using it on occasion when my wife didn't need it. In time I came to depend on it and we ended up with two cars.  For the last 7 or 8 years I've been almost entirely WFP so I can't do without a vehicle even if I wanted to, but now I have a different problem as the insurance companies don't want to believe my annual mileage is so low and query it every year (about 500 - 700 miles a year between MOTs).  However, the end result is my insurance is quite low and of course my fuel costs are very low. I only fill it up four times a year!

Mark

[Stoots]

id be embarrased, saw a chavvy looking windy today walking round with ladders no top on, looks so unprofessional and cheap.

[Edge Clean]

Yeah, I thought I would be embarrassed as well, especially as I drag my 4m lyte ladder around on a trolley I made from my old omnitrolley and the hooks from a ladder stand off to hold ladders in place. The trolley doesn't look to bad and is easy to manoeuvre.

The reason I have decided to walk my round......... last tax year I found that the cost of running a van to do my round set me back £104.24 per week, that's fuel, tax, insurance, repairs, etc and I just decided that i could not afford that sort of outlay this year again.

My other business costs totalled £21.75 a week.

On top of this I had my sons wages and the costs associated with that.

However, he took the mick last year, run van into the ground resulting in endless repairs, he dumped work he didn't like doing totalling £4003 per annum and by not turning up to do jobs on time cost me almost £6000 in lost turnover. If it wasn't for Aworka, I wouldn't have detected just how much he cost/lost my business, I would have just submitted accounts to accountant and let her got on with it I wouldn't have been any wiser.

The end result was that in 30 years of trading and the first year of my son being given free reign over this round, I made my first ever loss off over £2200

And after his attempts to try and sell my round behind my back on a facebook site he has now been sacked.

Over the last 2 months I have been trying to restructure my business, the van has gone and replaced by a new bike which I will be using in a few weeks to tow my ladders around once I figure out a way to hitch it to bike.

Prices have been increased and I have been swapping work with other window cleaners to make my rounds more compact and sold the furthest away customers that I can't swap or are not viable to go and do by foot or bike.

I now have 15 days work instead of 20 spread over 7 estates, each with at least a full days work in each estate, thereby reducing my days walking to between half a mile and a mile at most.

The fact I have lost 5 days work doesn't bother me as the savings I am making in not paying wages and costs makes up for those lost days easily, and with the price increases I could even reduce my round further and not be any worse off.

The only thing I don't like about my restructuring is that I now have to go back to using ladders for now.

Next project wfp bike