[dazmond]

this is my new target for larger domestic jobs now.i have a few jobs that earn me these figures but their only an hour here and there during a typical working month.i am picking up more stand alone larger jobs and pricing them higher than i would of previously and over double the price some other local window cleaners charge.

as a one man lifestyle business there is only so much you can earn in any  given week/month/year without working weekends/longer days so this is my last push to earn more money for the same hours.i think im almost on the limit as to what i can earn without working harder now)(or employing which im not going to do!)

im happy with my earnings in general but dont want to rest on my laurels too much.im always pushing to earn that bit more year on year(which has been the case over the last 7 or 8 years).

what do you one man band guys do?the refining of our rounds never stops really does it?

[Stoots]

Mines only just reached what I would call somewhat/almost/nearly full. (Just edged past 300 custies)

Of course if you are a one man band you should be refining all the times otherwise it will just stagnate. But personally I think it will be easier and faster to get another van out than  spend years refining and looking for better work.

[nathankaye]

For me im not interested in another van nor employing.
Im also happy with all the work i have. So not much refining work to be done for me but similar to you daz its just a case of of being confident when you charge for new work and getting the fair price that your after. So in that sense im refining my attitude as ive still walked away thinking i should have quoted more, on a couple of new jobs that ive recently picked up.

[paul alan]

Im nearly there with quantity, but will be watching for replies here to see what is regarded as quality.

Along with my wife l would aspire to earn £75 ph 4 hrs per day 4 days per week.

£1200 per week for 16 hrs.

Sometimes we can do this rate in certain places, mostly not.

It varies from day to day also, some days l just cant get into a flow. Things get in the way and some are unavoidable, customers are usualy the worst distraction. They just want to chat!!! Sometimes my anxiety levels hit the roof, lm stood there 3 houses ahead in my mind all set out with timing etc and theyre just going on and on. I try the "well we must dash as lve got to pick up the kids on time" and it goes right over their head.

 Your trying to find a break in the conversation to use a finishing line. its almost an art form to end the conversation without them being offended, nightmare. Happily it doesnt happen too much.

Hoses can be a time thief also.

Dissorganisation another one.

Having said all that some days can be a walk in the park, everything goes well and your hourly rate is acheived.

[paul alan]

What kind of hours do you guys work?

Hours that are sustainable accounting for weather, we go for 16-20 hrs per week so that if realy pushed we have a buffer zone where we can still complete the work in the right week.

We also push fairly firmly, some days can be physicaly challenging especialy if going to 7-8hrs. Im not sure l would want to work7-8hrs on a daily basis. I mean lm in good health and in good shape but if working long hard hours long term all that could change.

I am entertaing the idea of employing part time small small but l would also like to know what can be achieved on our own so l can weigh up the best way forward.

[nathankaye]

This is why i get angry when accused of splash n dash poor quality etc etc. Because im not racing around each day or each week.

Ive been doing  this for many yrs (which i keep harping on about) and have established rounds. The advantage that gives me is that i have compact rounds segmented per week. So as long as i get the weeks allocated work done then im happy.
How its been for last several months is;
Week 1 is my smallest round that if i raced round as in no breaks and no chatting would be done in a day n half. So that gives me many days that week to play with either for add on jobs or family time or even any overflow from the proceeding week.  Mostly its 2 days or i can drag it out for three depending my mood.

Week 2 is my largest round which can be done comfortably in 4 days but again depending mood i have that 5th day to play with.

Week 3 i do 3 rounds which take between 1.5 - 2 days each.

Week 4 is the last part of my entire round which steadily gets done by wed or by working solid it would be complete by tue.

Im mostly helping with my young family in a morning and so not setting off till 9am and im mostly back home by 4 or half four at the latest.

With having the set work, i earn x amount per month. The day rate to me is irrelevant  as it depends how i feel, but provided it all gets in the bank by end of the month i dont pay attention to hourly rates. Because as you rightly mentioned this can fluctuate. I have houses as cheap as £8 per clean (before i set the 10 min charge) up untill £50 - £90.......so dont really get hung up on those details n dont drive you n your wife into the ground worrying overly much

[CleanClear]

Im nearly there with quantity, but will be watching for replies here to see what is regarded as quality.

Along with my wife l would aspire to earn £75 ph 4 hrs per day 4 days per week.

£1200 per week for 16 hrs.

Sometimes we can do this rate in certain places, mostly not.

It varies from day to day also, some days l just cant get into a flow. Things get in the way and some are unavoidable, customers are usualy the worst distraction. They just want to chat!!! Sometimes my anxiety levels hit the roof, lm stood there 3 houses ahead in my mind all set out with timing etc and theyre just going on and on. I try the "well we must dash as lve got to pick up the kids on time" and it goes right over their head.

 Your trying to find a break in the conversation to use a finishing line. its almost an art form to end the conversation without them being offended, nightmare. Happily it doesnt happen too much.

Hoses can be a time thief also.

Dissorganisation another one.

Having said all that some days can be a walk in the park, everything goes well and your hourly rate is acheived.

I'd guess if you have quality then you won't be bothered about someone chatting for a bit and interupting your 16 hours week and putting you out ?

[paul alan]

Im nearly there with quantity, but will be watching for replies here to see what is regarded as quality.

Along with my wife l would aspire to earn £75 ph 4 hrs per day 4 days per week.

£1200 per week for 16 hrs.

Sometimes we can do this rate in certain places, mostly not.

It varies from day to day also, some days l just cant get into a flow. Things get in the way and some are unavoidable, customers are usualy the worst distraction. They just want to chat!!! Sometimes my anxiety levels hit the roof, lm stood there 3 houses ahead in my mind all set out with timing etc and theyre just going on and on. I try the "well we must dash as lve got to pick up the kids on time" and it goes right over their head.

 Your trying to find a break in the conversation to use a finishing line. its almost an art form to end the conversation without them being offended, nightmare. Happily it doesnt happen too much.

Hoses can be a time thief also.

Dissorganisation another one.

Having said all that some days can be a walk in the park, everything goes well and your hourly rate is acheived.

I'd guess if you have quality then you won't be bothered about someone chatting for a bit and interupting your 16 hours week and putting you out ?

I think you may have mis-read my post?

I nearly have quantity and am still aspiring for quality.

[CleanClear]

Im nearly there with quantity, but will be watching for replies here to see what is regarded as quality.

Along with my wife l would aspire to earn £75 ph 4 hrs per day 4 days per week.

£1200 per week for 16 hrs.

Sometimes we can do this rate in certain places, mostly not.

It varies from day to day also, some days l just cant get into a flow. Things get in the way and some are unavoidable, customers are usualy the worst distraction. They just want to chat!!! Sometimes my anxiety levels hit the roof, lm stood there 3 houses ahead in my mind all set out with timing etc and theyre just going on and on. I try the "well we must dash as lve got to pick up the kids on time" and it goes right over their head.

 Your trying to find a break in the conversation to use a finishing line. its almost an art form to end the conversation without them being offended, nightmare. Happily it doesnt happen too much.

Hoses can be a time thief also.

Dissorganisation another one.

Having said all that some days can be a walk in the park, everything goes well and your hourly rate is acheived.

I'd guess if you have quality then you won't be bothered about someone chatting for a bit and interupting your 16 hours week and putting you out ?

I think you may have mis-read my post?

I nearly have quantity and am still aspiring for quality.

Sorry, you're correct. Sift through the chatters and get rid of them. Then they won't impinge on your hourly rate.

[JandS]

Some people make an easy job hard...

[CleanClear]

Some people make an easy job hard...

You mean the custys or the windys ? !     

[Mick Kent]

Your all missing a trick!
4 weekly Compact £10 terrace fronts! Can do 8-10 an hour every hour all day long. Licence to print money!

 

[dazmond]

Your all missing a trick!
4 weekly Compact £10 terrace fronts! Can do 8-10 an hour every hour all day long. Licence to print money!

us up north wouldnt get away with charging £10 for fronts only.obviously down south they have a totally different economy(most things are twice as expensive) so £10 is probably a fair price.

[dazmond]

Im nearly there with quantity, but will be watching for replies here to see what is regarded as quality.

Along with my wife l would aspire to earn £75 ph 4 hrs per day 4 days per week.

£1200 per week for 16 hrs.

Sometimes we can do this rate in certain places, mostly not.

It varies from day to day also, some days l just cant get into a flow. Things get in the way and some are unavoidable, customers are usualy the worst distraction. They just want to chat!!! Sometimes my anxiety levels hit the roof, lm stood there 3 houses ahead in my mind all set out with timing etc and theyre just going on and on. I try the "well we must dash as lve got to pick up the kids on time" and it goes right over their head.

 Your trying to find a break in the conversation to use a finishing line. its almost an art form to end the conversation without them being offended, nightmare. Happily it doesnt happen too much.

Hoses can be a time thief also.

Dissorganisation another one.

Having said all that some days can be a walk in the park, everything goes well and your hourly rate is acheived.

im never disorganised so thats not an issue in my day to day working life.

some customers do keep me talking occasionally but its only the odd 5 mins here and there and is usually accompanied with a nice cup of coffee so i dont mind.if anything it helps my day along.

snagging of hoses is part and parcel of the job on occasions.

i usually do more than 4 hours a day.my average is around 6 hours a day 4 or 5 days a week.

[dazmond]

Mines only just reached what I would call somewhat/almost/nearly full. (Just edged past 300 custies)

Of course if you are a one man band you should be refining all the times otherwise it will just stagnate. But personally I think it will be easier and faster to get another van out than  spend years refining and looking for better work.

the thing is adam you need double the work you ve got now and a decent honest worker to earn more money.it wont be easier thats for sure.

its far easier to stay on your own and refine your work over time without the hassle of employing and all the stress and faffing about that comes with it.not to mention the extra overheads,wages,etc,etc.

 the extra £22,000-£23,000 i earn a year compared to 7 years ago has come from price rises,new work ive picked up mainly from recommendation and word of mouth and the odd bit of canvassing/leafleting.

ive virtually had to do nothing to gain better paying work apart from cleaning my regular work to a good standard and on time.

depends what you want and how you want to live your life.i dont handle stress very well so i try and keep it to a minimum.employing would just add to the stress/hassle for me plus i dont trust other people when it comes to work/money.

[paul alan]

Some of our customers are actually quite interesting, some just aint!

Another good point dazmond, I'm neither trusting nor tolerant .

I do suppose it would be nice to have someone trained up to help out if we needed some time off or something or maybe to do a bit of extra work but then finding someone to be willing to do that and be up to standard could be a task.

Just see how things turn out, I'm ok with the current situation.

Mick has given me some food for thought there though........!

[dazmond]

This is why i get angry when accused of splash n dash poor quality etc etc. Because im not racing around each day or each week.

Ive been doing  this for many yrs (which i keep harping on about) and have established rounds. The advantage that gives me is that i have compact rounds segmented per week. So as long as i get the weeks allocated work done then im happy.
How its been for last several months is;
Week 1 is my smallest round that if i raced round as in no breaks and no chatting would be done in a day n half. So that gives me many days that week to play with either for add on jobs or family time or even any overflow from the proceeding week.  Mostly its 2 days or i can drag it out for three depending my mood.

Week 2 is my largest round which can be done comfortably in 4 days but again depending mood i have that 5th day to play with.

Week 3 i do 3 rounds which take between 1.5 - 2 days each.

Week 4 is the last part of my entire round which steadily gets done by wed or by working solid it would be complete by tue.

Im mostly helping with my young family in a morning and so not setting off till 9am and im mostly back home by 4 or half four at the latest.

With having the set work, i earn x amount per month. The day rate to me is irrelevant  as it depends how i feel, but provided it all gets in the bank by end of the month i dont pay attention to hourly rates. Because as you rightly mentioned this can fluctuate. I have houses as cheap as £8 per clean (before i set the 10 min charge) up untill £50 - £90.......so dont really get hung up on those details n dont drive you n your wife into the ground worrying overly much

you still must  be pushing it to clean 15 houses in 2 hours.why are you faster than lots of other window cleaners that have been cleaning for years too?

3 or 4 three bed semis  an hour (if their all compact)going at a steady pace cleaning all sills,doors,frames as well as glass is the norm.maybe 5 if pushing it a bit but 7 or 8 in an hour?corners are well and truly being cut somewhere mate.

[dazmond]

Some of our customers are actually quite interesting, some just aint!

Another good point dazmond, I'm neither trusting nor tolerant .

I do suppose it would be nice to have someone trained up to help out if we needed some time off or something or maybe to do a bit of extra work but then finding someone to be willing to do that and be up to standard could be a task.

Just see how things turn out, I'm ok with the current situation.

Mick has given me some food for thought there though........!

taking a week off here and there is no problem.i just move my work schedule forward a week or two.customers are fine with this and i earn enough money when im working to afford time off no problem.

im off to egypt at the end of the month(yep 5 star (adults only) hotel for me and the missus!) for a week.a well deserved holiday.i also have 2 weeks off at xmas,usually another holiday abroad during the year and i sometimes just take a week off to do a bit of DIY in the flat or to simply have a break and recharge my batteries.

i very rarely get behind schedule due to bad weather as i virtually work in all bad weather throughout the year.i have a healthy "emergency fund" too if the worst comes to the worst and i cant work due to snow/ice etc(like winter 2010!)but even then i find i can usually keep ticking over working a reduced shorter working day.

[Slacky]

Where in Egypt are you going Daz?

I'm off to El-Gouna end of the month. 15 miles from Hurghada?

[dazmond]

Where in Egypt are you going Daz?

I'm off to El-Gouna end of the month. 15 miles from Hurghada?

hurghada but further down the coast(sahl hasheesh)premier le reve hotel.one of the best hotels in egypt!(allegedly!)