[k.diver]

what dyou think is the failure rate?     

 my estimate is  4 out of 5  dont make it past year one

[Stoots]

what dyou think is the failure rate?     

 my estimate is  4 out of 5  dont make it past year one

I would say 4 out of 5 make it.

Dont really see how you can fail with enough effort. Its pretty foolproof.

[k.diver]

what dyou think is the failure rate?     

 my estimate is  4 out of 5  dont make it past year one

I would say 4 out of 5 make it.

Dont really see how you can fail with enough effort. Its pretty foolproof.

really?  so in your area, you see 4 making it .   in my area [suffolk]  its definitely 4 out of 5 that fail.    ive been in the biz almost ten years and  very few make it round these parts .   Each year i see the new boys  this time of year [often starting in a  people carrier / 4x4 ]  and theyre  never there by the time winter sets in
   by contrast it seems if you start up in a very modest car such as a fiesta youre the 1 who is still at in the following spring

[Spruce]

what dyou think is the failure rate?     

 my estimate is  4 out of 5  dont make it past year one

I would say 4 out of 5 make it.

Dont really see how you can fail with enough effort. Its pretty foolproof.

really?  so in your area, you see 4 making it .   in my area [suffolk]  its definitely 4 out of 5 that fail.    ive been in the biz almost ten years and  very few make it round these parts .   Each year i see the new boys  this time of year [often starting in a  people carrier / 4x4 ]  and theyre  never there by the time winter sets in
   by contrast it seems if you start up in a very modest car such as a fiesta youre the 1 who is still at in the following spring

Sometimes you can go for years without seeing the same cleaner and then you see him again.  This has happened to us recently and we work the same street.

We have a guy who used to have a V8 Dodge pickup with a 1000 liter IBC tank on the back. Did window cleaning and pressure washing. Haven't seen him for years. Then I see him with the same IBC tank on a twin axle trailer towing it with a newish RangeRover.

[Stoots]

what dyou think is the failure rate?     

 my estimate is  4 out of 5  dont make it past year one

I would say 4 out of 5 make it.

Dont really see how you can fail with enough effort. Its pretty foolproof.

really?  so in your area, you see 4 making it .   in my area [suffolk]  its definitely 4 out of 5 that fail.    ive been in the biz almost ten years and  very few make it round these parts .   Each year i see the new boys  this time of year [often starting in a  people carrier / 4x4 ]  and theyre  never there by the time winter sets in
   by contrast it seems if you start up in a very modest car such as a fiesta youre the 1 who is still at in the following spring

The answer is I've no idea what other window cleaners in my area are doing or if they have failed or not.

I must have seen 20 different vans in my area over the past couple of years. I don't know if they are all still going or the size of their round etc.

I can't speak for others but I don't understand how it's possible to fail with enough motivation.


I dont get  into things to fail, once I start something I finish it. Never entered my head that i might fail.

Broken down to its simplistic form this business is fail proof.

Go out every day form dawn till dusk banging on doors and cleaning and in a very short space of time you will be up and running and away you go.

Maybe a lot do fail but I wouldn't really class these people as being serious in the first place. If you fail at window cleaning you deserve to be employed as it has to be one of the easiest businesses to start from nothing.

[dazmond]

i know a few people who ve tried window cleaning over the years and failed to get enough work, make enough money,got bored and jacked it in within 12 months.

others are doing ok.its all second guessing though isnt it?

[slap bash]

|I do wish people would not say it's easy as it`s not. It requires a lot of perseverance. Just starting out your own is difficult enough. Just because we have the ability and good fortune does not male it easy. One needs a lot of luck as there is a lot of window cleaner out there. The easy thing is expressed by many who started a long time ago.  Try starting now and see.
One of the most difficult things is earning and income immediately and this can be a soul killer. Underestimating the task is also a   soul destroying, aswell as going out for small amounts of cash. Filling up your book with good paying work is a mammoth task.
It can make you feel good when you have an achieved your goal but don`t say its easy.
Last year I had two knee replacement opps. and had to practically start from scratch become more difficult since I first started. Don`t B/s yourself its only getting harder.
The statement I just love is"THERE IS ENOUGH GLASS OUT THERE FOR EVERYBODY" 
That is just a B/S story as more glass does not want to be cleaned than what want your service.
WE should have a standard list of uphills for starters to read and be more truthful current advice.

[andyM]

Always see new faces every time around this time of year, just the Beer Brigade, Boys Of Summer innit?

[nathankaye]

what dyou think is the failure rate?     

 my estimate is  4 out of 5  dont make it past year one

I would say 4 out of 5 make it.

Dont really see how you can fail with enough effort. Its pretty foolproof.

really?  so in your area, you see 4 making it .   in my area [suffolk]  its definitely 4 out of 5 that fail.    ive been in the biz almost ten years and  very few make it round these parts .   Each year i see the new boys  this time of year [often starting in a  people carrier / 4x4 ]  and theyre  never there by the time winter sets in
   by contrast it seems if you start up in a very modest car such as a fiesta youre the 1 who is still at in the following spring

The answer is I've no idea what other window cleaners in my area are doing or if they have failed or not.

I must have seen 20 different vans in my area over the past couple of years. I don't know if they are all still going or the size of their round etc.

I can't speak for others but I don't understand how it's possible to fail with enough motivation.


I dont get  into things to fail, once I start something I finish it. Never entered my head that i might fail.

Broken down to its simplistic form this business is fail proof.

Go out every day form dawn till dusk banging on doors and cleaning and in a very short space of time you will be up and running and away you go.

Maybe a lot do fail but I wouldn't really class these people as being serious in the first place. If you fail at window cleaning you deserve to be employed as it has to be one of the easiest businesses to start from nothing.

Now i am very fortunate as i have a large round comprising of several areas. But this has been established or built over many years and so yes i see newbies come and go but thats because i have the huge majority of the work in these areas. So they may be lucky to get one or two on this street and one or two on that street. Thats if they are lucky!   This must be demotivating as alot of their time is moving from A to B to try and get a foot into an area.

So Yes its easy to start up in this business especially if doing trad work as all you need is a couple of hundred pounds to get some basic tools and ladders and away you go. But that is just to set up, not actually start working.....thats the hard part because of the likes of me and other long time cleaners who perhaps dominate the areas. There might be an increase of newbies so those perhap ten houses you dont clean are hounded by all the newbies battling it out and thats if the householders actually want them doing.

I expand my work by word of mouth and sometimes that gets me into a new area. After a couole of cleans where people get to see me i will then canvass the street and only pick up 1 or 2. Now for me thats ok as im not dependant on new work, but for someone starting up it will totally be hard work. Im glad i started when i did and not now.
However........there are things in which newbies can make it easier for themselves and NO thats not under cutting. But with patience and determination they can build on that. Thats if their funds or next egg allows them to do so

[Tom-01]

A few guys I know have started up or are considering it.

There's definitely a lot more people doing it. But to do it properly takes perseverance and time. I might lose a couple of customers every now and then due to cheaper newbies but business is growing all the time. But with decent, well paid work.

A guy I know said he is thinking about starting up trad doing 5 days a month (he had another job) doing £300 a day.

I tried telling him it takes time to get to that day in day out, and that's a lot of work trad.

A lot of them when they realise building a successful business is different than 'cleaning windows' give up because it's too much like hard work.

[Marc Stock]

It's very saturated. It makes you wonder though how much profit they are making. Today I saw three different window cleaning vans come and go just doing one property in the same road each.

I was i the same road today doing one property after another bang bang bang £40 a pop.

[Johnny B]

When I relocated to Ireland I started up again from scratch in the middle of the recession in 2011.

I have some friends over here who are also either in the window cleaning game or who used to be. They told me I wouldn't be able to make it work. My target was purely residentials and they said that there wasn't enough demand to build a run.

Puzzled by this, I told them that there must be 5000+ houses in this town, and if I could get just 400 of them, that would be enough.

The price structure I had in mind probably fuelled their pessimism, as apparently a typical 3 bed semi would earn one €20+ in the Celtic Tiger era. (My prices would be nearer €12-€15).

Nearly 6 years later, I am still here, with work now coming out of my ears and this includes a good number of shops in the town centre.

My friends still wonder how I made it work. I just tell them that failure was not an option and with enough determination and grit you can do ok.

John.

[slap bash]

I have often seen a new van with all the equipment and image to go with it. even the Oakley shades and all. And I will them around for maybe three to four weeks. Then as quick as the appear they are gone never to be seen again.
I have wondered if they move to another area or just drop out and do freelance parcel deliver.y.
 The investment into these vans is staggering, to just shut up shop just like that.

[nathankaye]

Ive been working a part of my round for 15 yrs and i thought i knew most of the other cleaners in the area. Then last time i worked it, i got talking to a trad guy who said hes been there 20yrs. Mind you what used to take me 2 n half days trad now takes me 1 n half days wfp.
My point being.......how long are we in an area to know who else is working in it. Ive never seen this chap in all these years. Guessing obviously this is the first time we both worked it at the same time. So have the new chaps fell by the road side or simply work on a day your not there

[Dry Clean]

I know every long term shiner in my area, that said the newer shiners tend to have fewer properties so aren't seen around as
much which may give the impression they've quit, they may even dump an area for better work elsewhere giving the same impression.
But on the whole most newbies don't last once the reality of the job kicks in.

[k.diver]

last friday i was eating my lunch in the van and my lads were avin a fAg outside and a guy in a renault megane pulls up, "wanna buy an A frame ladder?"  it was shiney and atop his car

  i didnt and he pulled away.  id think hes already decided the jobs not for him.   it IS  tough the first few months when youre picking up bad payers  it drags you down we all know that

i later said to my lads "didnt u fancy buying that ladder,going out and doing a bit on your own?"

   "furk that"
 

[Smudger]

there were many conversations about this going back over 10 years - yes its relatively easy to start up window cleaning and you can even do it on a low budget however the long term prospects of most are dire - reasons range from cold winters to undercharging to people buying huge new shiny systems

there is a lot more to it than 9 till 3 washing windows - suddenly people realise they need to advertise or canvass which stops many
for a while your on low ££ return for the effort and looking at that its easier to go back to PAYE than be self employed

if you can last 24 months then the world is your oyster !

Darran

[8weekly]

All the new starters around here in sign written vans still seem to be going... BUT... they are still doing one offs, awkward access, "only when I'm in" type jobs.