[dave f]

I m o window cleaning gear is expensive because the large profit to be made in window cleaning.so that means we have more money to spend thus  suplyers  charge for over priced goods I m o, same has in the catering  equipment industry and many others, they know you need it so inflate prices the thrifty ones on here can get the job done for a lot less that's if you don't mined  buying brushes from asda and making your own gear e t c. the industry as come a long way since just using scrims but even so. I feel ripped off every time I get new equipment must be the Yorkshire man in me. lol

[dazmond]

I m o window cleaning gear is expensive because the large profit to be made in window cleaning.so that means we have more money to spend thus  suplyers  charge for over priced goods I m o, same has in the catering  equipment industry and many others, they know you need it so inflate prices the thrifty ones on here can get the job done for a lot less that's if you don't mined  buying brushes from asda and making your own gear e t c. the industry as come a long way since just using scrims but even so. I feel ripped off every time I get new equipment must be the Yorkshire man in me. lol

your just a tight git.everyone needs to make money.

its a bit like when i window cleaning customer thinks you ve got no overheads and are shocked when you say you spend £5k-£7k on expenses alone every year(and thats before tax!).

all these suppliers have overheads just like us(but on a much bigger scale)

[dazmond]

i do agree companies like ionics are expensive but i dont buy anything from them anyway.

[chris turner]

I would definitely consider £50 for a brush head to be expensive.
Especially when you can buy standard broom brush heads for £2 at b&q. Surely there isn't a huge difference in the manufacturing process.

[dazmond]

its the 20% VAT we all pay on everything thats the killer mate.(when you get to the shopping cart!).

[8weekly]

I would definitely consider £50 for a brush head to be expensive.
Especially when you can buy standard broom brush heads for £2 at b&q. Surely there isn't a huge difference in the manufacturing process.

Volume.

[Scrimble]

go vat registered then if you don't wanna pay the vat

[nathankaye]

Obviously its business savvy supply n demand.
My bug bare is summer holidays. When my older children were younger we spent out holidays just a couple of weeks b4 it was peak season and paid between £300 -£400 less per week for exactly the same holiday.
Now more people are doing uk summer holidays//camping holidays compared to going abroad the prices have doubled and some even trippled.  Its all about supply n demand.

Thats what makes me chuckle when pricing structures are discussed on forums and somethingbim only starting to get wise too. For instance in some of my areas there are many coyboy cleaners who come and go, many new starters with grand ideas who dont last a year and so forth. Whereas ive been there for what seems forever and do a good job. So people have actively sort me out.   Supply n demand......they are after a regular, reliable  service with quality thrown in as well. They know they will get that with me and part of the reason why??  Charging appropriately for the demand thats on you

[Dry Clean]

Its not that expensive if you don't want it to be, pre filters are a prime example one guy could spend £30 a year on them and
another could go into the hundreds simply because he's trying to protect a 4040 membrane that averages anything from £40
to £60 a year.
The secrete is to stay away from gimmicks especially gimmicks that need to be maintained by the guys who sell them.

[Stoots]

I believe in spending money where it's needed.

For example I wouldnt buy an iconics or grippa system etc they runs into the thousands when I can do the same thing fir hundreds with a d.I. y version.

But I would spend good money on an extreme pole as that's going to make a difference to my working day.

[Lee Pryor]

Interesting question this.

Personally I believe in buying quality kit, brand new vans, hot water ect.

I always think of it as money making equipment that generates far more than it costs. For example our brand new vans fully kitted out with ionics, gardiner poles, hot (gas) all in ready to work cost about £23K but they turn over about £70K a year each. I plan to keep them for about 5-6 years then sell and start again. so over the lifetime with us they generate a possible £420K I think that's a bargain!

Because I employ I made the choice to always buy a crash tested system and not do a DIY set up.

[dazmond]

Interesting question this.

Personally I believe in buying quality kit, brand new vans, hot water ect.

I always think of it as money making equipment that generates far more than it costs. For example our brand new vans fully kitted out with ionics, gardiner poles, hot (gas) all in ready to work cost about £23K but they turn over about £70K a year each. I plan to keep them for about 5-6 years then sell and start again. so over the lifetime with us they generate a possible £420K I think that's a bargain!

Because I employ I made the choice to always buy a crash tested system and not do a DIY set up.

whats laughable though lee is that your using cheap gas heaters.i agree leasing or buying new vans are the way to go though rather than old vans but i had a gas leak in my new van and a loud bang.really shook me up.took heater out straight away.i wouldnt use one now.

[Lee Pryor]

We have not had a single issue in any van in the 5 years of using gas heaters. Diesels have their share of issues and cost way more.

Not really laughable is it. Bit of an exaggeration there.

[nathankaye]

If you open the van doors and have a neb, i agree its nicer to see a van set up by grippa or ionics or pure freedom for instance. But
To be fair, who cares as no one really sees in the van. So for me its easier to simply transfer water into a tank in the van with a crash tested cage or not. (Tho totally understand if employing ones would be wise to use a tested cage).
The money maker for me is in how you get the water from the van tank to the window. This is where it counts and personally where i feel ones can stand out. If you have a diy brush on a painter n decorators pole for instance compared to a carbon pole for the job and appropriate brush and connections for the job at hand.
Thats where for me the money should be spent but its also worth shopping around for and experimenting. Ie, i know i can work with a tds of 010 for instance and not have any problems. My RO will reduce my water down to 007. My DI is raising above 000 so do i go spend money every so many months because im paranoid about using 000tds water............NO for me thats wasting money. Once it goes higher than my RO i might consider refilling at that point. But thats where my knowledge of my work, my climate and my water enables me to decide.
My current brush is just less than £40 delivered and will need replacing perhaps by time its a yr old. Will i wait to replace, NO because a good brush makes my money faster and you soon make that back.

[dazmond]

We have not had a single issue in any van in the 5 years of using gas heaters. Diesels have their share of issues and cost way more.

Not really laughable is it. Bit of an exaggeration there.

i didnt have any problems either mate for years but you will one day.i know 4 window cleaners now who also have had gas leaks.its not worth it.also 2 heating engineers told me to take it out.

[dazmond]

back on topic.as my tap tds is so low (029)i only need to use a DI vessel to purify my water.if i had to use a RO i would of probably gone for a more expensive pro system install as got nowhere to make water at home and store it so RO would have to be in the van.

so i DIY delivery system is absolutely fine.although i have got a crash tested cage for my 500L tank these days.its worth spending money on good equipment and vans just got to use your common sense.

i have been guilty of overspending on WFP over the years but lots of us have as its developed.i think now we have some good products on the market(streamline pumpboxes,carbon poles,coxreels,uni valves etc)

[Dry Clean]

We have not had a single issue in any van in the 5 years of using gas heaters. Diesels have their share of issues and cost way more.

Not really laughable is it. Bit of an exaggeration there.

i didnt have any problems either mate for years but you will one day.i know 4 window cleaners now who also have had gas leaks.its not worth it.also 2 heating engineers told me to take it out.

There are window cleaning dealers who sell gas heating systems which have everything built into the unit,  if Lee is using these then he should be safe enough, agree a mate is a gas engineer and he just rolls the eyes when I tell him what some shiners are
up to.

[Splash & dash]

If you open the van doors and have a neb, i agree its nicer to see a van set up by grippa or ionics or pure freedom for instance. But
To be fair, who cares as no one really sees in the van. So for me its easier to simply transfer water into a tank in the van with a crash tested cage or not. (Tho totally understand if employing ones would be wise to use a tested cage).
The money maker for me is in how you get the water from the van tank to the window. This is where it counts and personally where i feel ones can stand out. If you have a diy brush on a painter n decorators

pole for instance compared to a carbon pole for the job and appropriate brush and connections for the job at hand.
Thats where for me the money should be spent but its also worth shopping around for and experimenting. Ie, i know i can work with a tds of 010 for instance and not have any problems. My RO will reduce my water down to 007. My DI is raising above 000 so do i go spend money every so many months because im paranoid about using 000tds water............NO for me thats wasting money. Once it goes higher than my RO i might consider refilling at that point. But thats where my knowledge of my work, my climate and my water enables me to decide.
My current brush is just less than £40 delivered and will need replacing perhaps by time its a yr old. Will i wait to replace, NO because a good brush makes my money faster and you soon make that back.

I found that several of our commercial clients were very intrested in what was in the van Evan insisting that there maintenance manager take a look to make sure that I had the equipment in it that I stated I had , as several previous window cleaners claimed the had ro systems but turned out they were just using tap water and two of these company's are well known national names , they were also very impressed with the van fit out and thought if the van looked that good that we would do a good job rather than the untidy diy vans that some people had been to quote with , needless to say we have a number of contracts with these  firms although others have tried undercutting us we still have the jobs . Many people want to know how it works when you show them inside the van and explained it all they rarely question the price 😂😂😂😂.  Win win

[Perfect Windows]

I seem to remember loads of threads about four or five years ago about how utterly mavellous it would be to buy poles directly from China.  I don't see them any more.  And I haven't noticed anyone on here singing their praises.  perhaps what we're buying isn't so grossly overpriced after all.

Vin

[Martin Lane]

We have a client  that is very interested in what is in the van even to the point where we had to give them the whole system spec that they sent off to a water treatment company  to see if it was safe to use on site
They were worried about their staff inhaling the spray on a windy day
Now they are talking about us giving them a water sample every 12 weeks  so they can send it off for testing as we use hot water