[8weekly]

looks like commercial cleaning only. by your title

yup as from few weeks back we only take commercial on now and hope to be 100% by end of 2017 will all residential sold off

Hi Ian

I've noticed on a couple of posts that you've mentioned you are going commercial only...

What are your reasons for selling off all domestic work (apart from larger houses) and going commercial only?

Andy

Hi Andy ...... short answer is longevity and money

long answer is im now 47  and by 55 want to be in a position where I can take a few weeks off several times a year and still keep the £££ coming in - in my current set up I cant do that as im the guy doing the graft.  So for the last 2 years on and off  Ive been looking at different ways I can achieve my long term goal. 

FRANCHISING - would only work for me if I had about 6 - 8 franchisees and I think that would take a long time  to find these people who are prepared to hand over a lump sump then 15% to 20% of their turnover every month. YES it can be done but not I think / feel in my geographical area plus I would hate to start on this path only to start struggling a good few years into it. Also seems a lot of effort for what is still going to be eventually a limited / capped income level for me.

EMPLOYING - again it can be done 4 or 5 vans ... 8 to 10 staff .. another 3000 customers to keep the vans fully loaded with work but I think it would be soooooooooooooooo stressful every day plugging holes in a leaky d**e with staff problems, customer issues, trying to find customers, holiday cover, enough pure water, premises etc etc etc then the VAT will take a chunk out of the profit margin plus potentially a massive overhead inbalance towards whats coming in .. I foresee a slow and painful process to get where I would want to be at.

So because of the above which yes all of it so far is how I imagine it would turnout but some of it is from knowing a guy who used to run a multi van business and from seeing others problems on here I think my way forward is going to be thru commercial which of course will be a walk in the park with no issues and problems what so ever (joking  )

Why commercial - on the right job the £££ per hour are a lot higher and I have a good few of these already as a regular clean, the true big money is on the large one off jobs but not just windows think along lines of cherry pickers, other services inc pressure washing, façade cleaning - purple rhino - jv price etc. once u have done a big job worth for example £3850 and you take out staff costs or in this case subbies invoices (profit would have been higher still with staff)  what's left over makes the £11 from Mrs Jones for her bungalow look a little bit of a comedown (btw im not saying im not grateful or its not worthy as Mrs Jones has been paying for my existence since 2010 just its time to start doing better and to stop coasting)

Problems - obvious one is finding the big jobs hence the website question originally which TBH I kinda knew the answer to plus the first 2 replies confirmed it for me, VAT not a problem in fact bigger customers see a VAT registered supplier as more legit  yup strange world innit .. staff and van problems yes potentially still there but less staff needed to do a bigger turnover on commercial v residential ... finding the time to find the big jobs i.e. canvassing / emails / post this will be a struggle at the moment as 100% chokabloc on residential however last week gave away 25 jobs to a newbie that were taking longer to get there than do them this has freed up a day or two at least, starting at 8am instead of 9.30am and working an hour longer (new van with 800 litre tank is a massive help with this) has by the looks on George for May taken another 2 days from the schedule so now got 3 to 4 days free to start getting the big commercial stuff. I tried Becci Swann which didn't go to plan and there is a locked thread of mine from a few weeks back 

It will be a gradual transition so 2017 may turn into 2018 and basically will need to sell of the residential to fund the equipment needed  ...........Torik machines aint cheap 

What's the worse that can happen ? - my plan don't work out so what then ? just keep doing what im doing now so not a problem 

For the interest of the forum and cos I like to post long boring dribbly self serving posts I will post updates on my progress with lots of boring photos .. if your all lucky I may get so much abuse and become all upset and toys outta cot like others that have gone before e.g. solar stevey / purple rhino that I strop off and ................... then rejoin weeks later to see what theyre all saying about me 

Told you this was the long version 

Ian, I think you are a bit Dazmondlike - blowing with the wind. Please don't take this the wrong way, but (haha) you need to make a plan and stick to it.

Franchising - I agree. It's too long term and too many people are needed to make it work.

Employing (commercial) - All my experience is that the regular contracts pay poorly. One off type contracts seem to pay well but then you have insecurity.

Employing (Domestic) - Regular work and very well paid. One van turning over £550 a day with two people would give you a minimum of £320 a day without having to lift a pole. You could stop there if you wanted. But get them out in two vans & it's £650 a day & £400 profit, Three vans and it's £600 profit a day. It's so simple that I can do it.

The key getting is good people.

[Ian101]

8 weekly dont mind being compared to Dazmond 

Agree about the wind ... last 2,years been trying to find a way to grow that i will enjoy and follow through with and one I will commit to properley .... taken a while but making a start.

Insecurity i dont mind if rewards are there ... selling since 18 motor trade so used to insecurity

Thanks for opinion 

[Smurf]

The likes of Rhinoman has invested heavily in kit, new vans and manpower over the years so he must be doing something right.
Mind you they are so say national now so are prepared to travel anywhere in the country for work are you?

[Cookie]

Ian, great van setup - Grippatank I guess...

Just out of interest what's the purpose of the 4 DI vessels?

[Clever Forum Name]

It's a custom setup from Stephen Scargil

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1526003394351183/

[Ian101]

Ian, great van setup - Grippatank I guess...

Just out of interest what's the purpose of the 4 DI vessels?

As Matt says Steve Scargill system .... 4 vesseld as 2 man system with double di on both ... my tap water only about 50 tds

[Clever Forum Name]

I hope you don't think i am Matt Bateman 

[Tosh]

You are, don't muck about mate.

[Ian101]

Will the real matt bateman stand up ............ too many name changes ive lost track of him 

[H20cleaning]

I have been wfp since I was 17, I'm now 24 and looking to take someone on this year.

I started in 2010 in the middle of a recession with nothing but a £800 van, i was quite lazy so my first 2 years were a waste.

Anyway to cut a long story short, I started a business in a recession and yearly I'm seeing between £8000/12000 growth the last 2 years, this is 95% domestic.
I can sleep easy at night knowing that whenever I get dropped by a customer, usually by the end of the week I pick another 2 up.

However commercial is a cut throat industry, I have heard people loosing contracts over £10.00 per month 

So commercial really doesn't interest me, I wouldn't mind another 10% commercial but that would be enough.

I like sleeping well, chasing money and worrying about undercutters is to much strain on me haha

[lal]

I have been wfp since I was 17, I'm now 24 and looking to take someone on this year.

I started in 2010 in the middle of a recession with nothing but a £800 van, i was quite lazy so my first 2 years were a waste.

Anyway to cut a long story short, I started a business in a recession and yearly I'm seeing between £8000/12000 growth the last 2 years, this is 95% domestic.
I can sleep easy at night knowing that whenever I get dropped by a customer, usually by the end of the week I pick another 2 up.

However commercial is a cut throat industry, I have heard people loosing contracts over £10.00 per month 

So commercial really doesn't interest me, I wouldn't mind another 10% commercial but that would be enough.

I like sleeping well, chasing money and worrying about undercutters is to much strain on me haha

Nice to hear that your doing well H20, good luck to you mate.

Lal

[Tom-01]

I have been wfp since I was 17, I'm now 24 and looking to take someone on this year.

I started in 2010 in the middle of a recession with nothing but a £800 van, i was quite lazy so my first 2 years were a waste.

Anyway to cut a long story short, I started a business in a recession and yearly I'm seeing between £8000/12000 growth the last 2 years, this is 95% domestic.
I can sleep easy at night knowing that whenever I get dropped by a customer, usually by the end of the week I pick another 2 up.

However commercial is a cut throat industry, I have heard people loosing contracts over £10.00 per month 

So commercial really doesn't interest me, I wouldn't mind another 10% commercial but that would be enough.

I like sleeping well, chasing money and worrying about undercutters is to much strain on me haha

That's a good point H2O. A guy I know lost a contract, it was worth £45k. With mostly residential you're not going to lose £45k in one phone call.

We're similar, we do mostly residential but have a good base of well priced commercial, mainly for property management companies. That way if I lose any it's not going to stress me out.

Commercial works well if you have a good sales setup as you constantly need new work. Each to their own though, there's companies out there who do it.

[H20cleaning]

Thanks guys! I was just giving my opinion, everyone's is different and I'm still young and one day might choose the commercial route who knows!

All I'm saying is I'm glad I didn't follow my dad and brother into the oil industry (I was suppose to but my dad couldn't get me a job as the recession hit)
I can actually say I love me job!!!