[Lee Pryor]

Lee I assume you also omit the prices from their daily job sheets?
Otherwise if you did not you could soon have mutiny on yer hands...Arrr! 

No I don't. How would they bill the customer? They also get paid a % of their day so they are very aware of what they generate. Those numbers also go up each day on the office whiteboard.

A good employment contract stops the mutiny. I spent £3k on ours with a very good employment specialist.

[Smurf]

Why do they need to bill the customer as it's not them the customers are paying surely 
 

[Lee Pryor]

Why do they need to bill the customer as it's not them the customers are paying surely 

Er? So we get paid! Lol....... Am I missing something?

[Clever Forum Name]

You can't compare an owner/cleaner vs employee.

Employee won't care as much etc.

That's actually quite wrong. We tell our customers that we guarantee all our work, if they arnt happy we re do it for free. If my cleaners get to manycomplaints or don't do a good job they get the sack. Everything is monitored. I also take on people who were earning quite a bit less in their last job so I would say they do care about doing a good job. The fact we make good money each day is nothing to do with being slap dash as your post implies. My team go out at 7am, work till 4,have large 700l tanks each so can work with a high flow. Our work is very well priced and routed in the best order each day. Believe me those things all add up.

Matt to answer you the age really doesn't matter. I thought it did but experience especially this year has taught me that everyone is different. I have a guy who is 22 and is honestly one of the best I've had in years.

Where does it say in my post anything todo with cleaning abilities.

Do you think your cleaners know the dogs name? When Mrs jones birthday is etc etc. It's a job. They don't have a interest in the customer.

[Smurf]

Why do they need to bill the customer as it's not them the customers are paying surely 

Er? So we get paid! Lol....... Am I missing something?

I would have thought you would have a system  in place for all that by now surely   

[Lee Pryor]

True they don't know those things. However it really doesn't matter. People forget that I spent many years as a single operator on my own. Both trad then wfp. Yes I knew all my customers well, the dogs name ect ect, and I miss those days. From a business point of view it makes absolutely no difference. I feel very qualified to make that statement having been at both ends of this business. People want clean windows not a friend.

[Lee Pryor]

Why do they need to bill the customer as it's not them the customers are paying surely 

Er? So we get paid! Lol....... Am I missing something?

I would have thought  you would have a system  in place for all that by now surely   

We do. Putting a bill card through the door is part of that system. Even for direct debit customers it's still nice to acknowledge we have been at their house today.

[Smurf]

Why do they need to bill the customer as it's not them the customers are paying surely 

Er? So we get paid! Lol....... Am I missing something?

I would have thought  you would have a system  in place for all that by now surely   

We do. Putting a bill card through the door is part of that system. Even for direct debit customers it's still nice to acknowledge we have been at their house today.

Bill card  That is so last year Lee lol

[richard groves]

Lee I assume you also omit the prices from their daily job sheets?
Otherwise if you did not you could soon have mutiny on yer hands...Arrr! 

No I don't. How would they bill the customer? They also get paid a % of their day so they are very aware of what they generate. Those numbers also go up each day on the office whiteboard.

A good employment contract stops the mutiny. I spent £3k on ours with a very good employment specialist.

I think what Smurf is getting at is that any worker with half a brain is soon going to work out how lucrative the window cleaning business can be. I know I did. Lets face it , its not exactly rocket science. They will soon realise they are lining somebody elses pockets and with a bit of effort can achieve the same for them self. They then no longer have ( if they don't want to ) start work at 7 am in a howling wind/ freezing cold/ torrential rain to earn a living wage ( or there abouts ) .

[Smurf]

Lee I assume you also omit the prices from their daily job sheets?
Otherwise if you did not you could soon have mutiny on yer hands...Arrr! 

No I don't. How would they bill the customer? They also get paid a % of their day so they are very aware of what they generate. Those numbers also go up each day on the office whiteboard.

A good employment contract stops the mutiny. I spent £3k on ours with a very good employment specialist.

I think what Smurf is getting at is that any worker with half a brain is soon going to work out how lucrative the window cleaning business can be. I know I did. Lets face it , its not exactly rocket science. They will soon realise they are lining somebody elses pockets and with a bit of effort can achieve the same for them self. They then no longer have ( if they don't want to ) start work at 7 am in a howling wind/ freezing cold/ torrential rain to earn a living wage ( or there abouts ) .

Exactly my point and it doesn't matter how much you spend on an employee contract as if they want to do the dirty on you try inforcing it.  Between the 9 of them they have your full customer list and prices too lol

[Clever Forum Name]

True they don't know those things. However it really doesn't matter. People forget that I spent many years as a single operator on my own. Both trad then wfp. Yes I knew all my customers well, the dogs name ect ect, and I miss those days. From a business point of view it makes absolutely no difference. I feel very qualified to make that statement having been at both ends of this business. People want clean windows not a friend.

That proves my comment, thanks.

[richard groves]

Lee I assume you also omit the prices from their daily job sheets?
Otherwise if you did not you could soon have mutiny on yer hands...Arrr! 

No I don't. How would they bill the customer? They also get paid a % of their day so they are very aware of what they generate. Those numbers also go up each day on the office whiteboard.

A good employment contract stops the mutiny. I spent £3k on ours with a very good employment specialist.

I think what Smurf is getting at is that any worker with half a brain is soon going to work out how lucrative the window cleaning business can be. I know I did. Lets face it , its not exactly rocket science. They will soon realise they are lining somebody elses pockets and with a bit of effort can achieve the same for them self. They then no longer have ( if they don't want to ) start work at 7 am in a howling wind/ freezing cold/ torrential rain to earn a living wage ( or there abouts ) .

Exactly my point and it doesn't matter how much you spend on an employee contract as if they want to do the dirty on you try inforcing it.  Between the 9 of them they have your full customer list and prices lol

Its not so much doing the dirty though Smurf, to steal customers would be low and underhand and Lee sounds like he's written that in to a contract. I have no idea what Lee's employment contract stipulates but doubt very much that it could prevent an employee going solo. Surely, that would be an infringement of their human rights ? and like you say - if that were the case, could it be enforced ?  But pricing - any idiot is going to work that out for themselves and if they have the inclination will do it for themselves eventually.

[Lee Pryor]

I hear what your saying but it just doesn't happen. There are lots of cleaners that employ. There's a very big difference between going to work, going home and forgetting it and getting paid, compared to working for yourself or running a business. Most just don't have it in them. I also now pay around the 25-27k mark which is good money for the stress free job they can forget after 5pm. No admin, no expenses, no messing from customers, no vehicle maintenance and the list goes on as you well know. Enforcing a contract is easy if you bother to get a proper contract. Otherwise why would any business have one if they don't work.

I worked as an advertising sales manager for the daily mail. I ran a team of 6 people which hit annual sales of about 2million pounds. I personally sold about a quarter of that. Did I leave and set up my own agency expecting to pay myself 500k a year? No I didn't. My point is lots of jobs in lots of industries have their staff generating large numbers that they can see. Doesn't mean they all run off and set up on their own.

[Smurf]

Lets wait and see when you have the other two van on the road if it takes that long. Regardless how much you are paying them I'm betting at least one will stab you in the back.

[richard groves]

Some people have greener eyes than others, and you never know whose watching.

[Lee Pryor]

Lets wait and see when you have the other two van on the road if it takes that long. Regardless how much you are paying them I'm betting at least one will stab you in the back.

I'm not sure if you do or don't know but I've been employing for 8 of the 12 years I've had the business so I don't think I need to wait and see. I've waited 8 years and seen nothing. What else are we waiting for?

[Smurf]

So are you saying in all that time no worker you have taken on has done the dirty on you?.. Come on tell the truth now 

[Lee Pryor]

Lol joking aside I see what your saying. If someone wants to leave and set up on their own then good luck to them. They will need it. I guess it would be hard to stop them. It would also be hard to stop me following them, noting all their customer address and putting a letter through each of their doors on the same day offering them free window cleaning for a year. I wonder who would say no to that. So that's him out of business over night.

Oh I'm only joking 😉

[Smurf]

So my point is why the hell are you letting them see your prices on their daily job sheets when they don't need to know. 

[Balraj]

How do you generate new work my Pryor ?
Just interested in how someone successful like you builds their rounds ?