[Marc Stock]

I think there will definitely be some huge business in the next decade that operate national or at least county wide doing residential windows.

However unless some large business comes along and seriously undercuts the market (which is not really possible on a large scale as the profit margins are not there) there will always be room for sole traders and small businesses.

Maybe eventually  20 years down the line it will all change, there will be better ways to clean windows or it'll all be self cleaning or all done with nationals etc, who knows...

I plan on getting my piece of the pie whilst I can though, but I would be surprised if I was still involved in window cleaning in 30 years time. I want to grow as soon as possible and look into other businesses, I think it's better to have numerous interests and investments rather than out all your eggs into one basket with residential window cleaning.

Amen to that.

[dazmond]

This happens at the turn of every new year on CIU....... a couple to half a dozen would-be entrepreneurs get all over exited, over-encourage each other and 99.9% of the time their enthusiasm exceeds their will/capability. A great storm is whipped up, lots of bollox is spoken followed by the mandatory willy measuring contest and then shortly after everything continues as normal and usually as it did before the great frenzy!! LOL.

It does make for great entertainment though- if a little "cringe" at times!!

P.S. this is not a dig at anyone, just a general observation..... before anyone starts crying!

I have to agree to a certain point mate...

God loves a tryer though.........

just be careful as ambition can cut you down and make you ugly(not just on the outside either).......

[lee_dewing]

Anyone on here used Ian Lancaster's franchise plan and happy?

Especially small one man bands?

Good luck to you Marc!

I'm too content and definitely room for improvement.

 Guess I'm lazy, I get worn out reading these goal setting posts.   

[David Kent @ KentKleen]

Some really good points made on this thread.
Marc, seriously consider franchising. Do not think you need loads of money behind you and be well known. If you can show someone how to clean windows to a really good standard and then get them all the work they ever want,  you are more than capable of franchising your business. Contrary to popular belief, you will have people fighting to sign up if you do it right. Good luck with your expansion.

[Don Kee]

Oh..Don Kee?

You deleted your thread?

I wonder why?

Because it was unnecessarily harsh, and I can never be bothered arguing with someone that knows it all.

Good luck to you mate, genuinley.

[swanson]

I just like living in a 5 bedroom house
Driving my nice car
Having two nice holidays a year
Wearing designer clothing .
To have nice things in life you work hard.
That's what I taught my two children  and they have very good jobs .

[Mick Kent]

I like being able to eat Steak 7 times a week, sadly because of the weather i can only afford to have it 6 times next week which is such a shame!

[lee_dewing]

Some really good points made on this thread.
Marc, seriously consider franchising. Do not think you need loads of money behind you and be well known. If you can show someone how to clean windows to a really good standard and then get them all the work they ever want,  you are more than capable of franchising your business. Contrary to popular belief, you will have people fighting to sign up if you do it right. Good luck with your expansion.

Have you used Ian Lancaster's franchiseing package?

[Splash & dash]

Yes it is a  bit tight, but these are 4-5hour working days maximum, so.

By time i am hitting 60k a year i will have another van and a part time worker to balance out the work a little.

As i approach 80k i hope to have a full time employee, and then onwards to stage 2.

Yes I think so and still say you don’t need to be earning that much before employing Evan if you and your wife are working together I know several cleaners who have one or two employees earning far less than you are doing now what you are earning now is very good on your own on the glass , to earn what you are most employed people should have to be doing a senior management job  so I think you are doing very well do you really need to earn 80 k is it worth the hassle?  Why do you want to earn that much ? Running your own buisness is a personal thing we all do it differently but sometimes if the bar is set to high it can become a burden , personally as long as I can pay the bills wages and make a small amount to cover unexpected things that’s all Ime intrested in , I wish I could earn what you do for the time you spend working you must be in a good area why not just keep going as you are ? Why work more if you don’t need to , Ime trying to cut back from 5 days a week to 3  the way Ime doing it is to dramatically price jobs higher so I don’t get to many but the ones I do are very well paid and then drop the poorer paying ones hopefully I will end up with less work for the same money that’s the plan anyway have to wait and see how it goes good luck with your plans hope you achieve what will be best for you 👍




I dont understand why you need to be earning 60-80 k before getting an employee I know lots of window cleaners that employ 2 or more people and they don’t earn that much ?

Have you read the thread thoroughly?

[gsw]

Hi Marc

Have you got an email address I can contact you on?

Cheers Greg

[wfp master]

Hi Marc

Have you got an email address I can contact you on?

Cheers Greg

iwanttobeamillioniare@aol.com

[David Kent @ KentKleen]

Some really good points made on this thread.
Marc, seriously consider franchising. Do not think you need loads of money behind you and be well known. If you can show someone how to clean windows to a really good standard and then get them all the work they ever want,  you are more than capable of franchising your business. Contrary to popular belief, you will have people fighting to sign up if you do it right. Good luck with your expansion.

Have you used Ian Lancaster's franchiseing package?

Ian’s package enables you to start up your own franchising window cleaning business, you don’t become one of his franchisees. I follow a very similar business model to Ian’s and have very happy franchisees. I’m now in a position where I do not need to clean windows to make my living with my window cleaning business. I still work in the business every day as I’m currently re investing and working hard to make it even bigger. (I want a total of 30 vans within the next 6 years) I will then retire completely from working (I could retire now but have an income level I want to hit before doing so) and draw a  ‘healthy’ living from it without any work whatsoever. Hopefully one of my sons will then take up the business and grow it even bigger. It has been really hard work and a lot of sacrifices have been made to get it to where it is now.
I would suggest anyone looking to build a larger then one/two man business to consider the franchising route.

[Marc Stock]

Ok my email is

Info@stockclean.co.uk

David & Greg

[Bungle]

Marc have you based your £80k on working 50 weeks per year then? That doesn't leave a lot of wriggle room - we have 8 bank holidays a year alone and as this week has shown a few days can be lost, and this doesn't include holidays.

The windows we have due next week along with the gutters we didn't do this week we have £10k to get done, between two of us - don't think we'll get it all done! We'll get some extra help in I think and work a few Saturdays to get the cash flow back up to speed. Although this doesn't include the extra jobs that have come in this week.

I'm in a bit of a pickle though as I have to have shoulder surgery in May, which means I can't do any physical work for 6-9 months. I need to work out a plan to help cover the work I won't be able to do.

Hi Tom 👍10k of work between two in a week 😂

[֍Winp®oClean֍]

Refer to reply #26 

[Bungle]

This thread reads like a scrip from only fools and horses!!

More like Jackanory 

[lee_dewing]

Some really good points made on this thread.
Marc, seriously consider franchising. Do not think you need loads of money behind you and be well known. If you can show someone how to clean windows to a really good standard and then get them all the work they ever want,  you are more than capable of franchising your business. Contrary to popular belief, you will have people fighting to sign up if you do it right. Good luck with your expansion.

Have you used Ian Lancaster's franchiseing package?

Ian’s package enables you to start up your own franchising window cleaning business, you don’t become one of his franchisees. I follow a very similar business model to Ian’s and have very happy franchisees. I’m now in a position where I do not need to clean windows to make my living with my window cleaning business. I still work in the business every day as I’m currently re investing and working hard to make it even bigger. (I want a total of 30 vans within the next 6 years) I will then retire completely from working (I could retire now but have an income level I want to hit before doing so) and draw a  ‘healthy’ living from it without any work whatsoever. Hopefully one of my sons will then take up the business and grow it even bigger. It has been really hard work and a lot of sacrifices have been made to get it to where it is now.
I would suggest anyone looking to build a larger then one/two man business to consider the franchising route.

Hi David, thanks yep meant how you said but wrong choice of words.

So you don't use Ian's model?

Have spoken to a few franchisees over the years oven kleen, chips away.

As Marc says all unhappy with there lot.

But with yourself I'd imagine it's alot more one to one hands on.
I'm sure your only to happy to help your franchisees👍

That's why companies mentioned don't work well.

Oven kleen doesn't give you a customer base for their franchisees (hope got terminology right😁)

Just training then tied into their van lease deals.

I think franchiseing a window cleaning business could be a really good thing.

But knowing how to get from one man band to your 1st  franchisee would be quite an achievement.

 To be honest I don't know how complicated and stressful I would want things to get.

Hats off to you David you've worked very hard id imagine and deserve the fruits of your labour.

I take it you must have employed like Ian Lancaster in the past and come to the end of your rope with it😁

[Tom-01]

Marc have you based your £80k on working 50 weeks per year then? That doesn't leave a lot of wriggle room - we have 8 bank holidays a year alone and as this week has shown a few days can be lost, and this doesn't include holidays.

The windows we have due next week along with the gutters we didn't do this week we have £10k to get done, between two of us - don't think we'll get it all done! We'll get some extra help in I think and work a few Saturdays to get the cash flow back up to speed. Although this doesn't include the extra jobs that have come in this week.

I'm in a bit of a pickle though as I have to have shoulder surgery in May, which means I can't do any physical work for 6-9 months. I need to work out a plan to help cover the work I won't be able to do.

Hi Tom 👍10k of work between two in a week 😂

Ah Bumgle, you took your time!

If you read it properly you will see it's because we didn't work at all last week - so with what's due window cleaning wise this coming week and what we didn't get done last week (gutters)that is what we have due - I never said two of us will get it done. Marc said what he had due to get done and I said what I had due to get done.

If you're that concerned I can email you the screenshots of aworka?

[Mick Kent]

When i was canvassing i had a few guys from the Ezy clean franchise call and ask me to build them some work. They had the hump paying 20 percent of everything they did as royalties but such is life if you pay into a franchise, It isnt for me but never say never.

[Marc Stock]

When i was canvassing i had a few guys from the Ezy clean franchise call and ask me to build them some work. They had the hump paying 20 percent of everything they did as royalties but such is life if you pay into a franchise, It isnt for me but never say never.

This is exactly my point.

Im not saying franchising as a business model is bad, or doesn't work. It works alright, for the franchisor.

But to have truly happy franchisees, the intrinsic value of the brand needs to be there, and in my opinion in the majority of cases, setting up a new business & brand with no real market penetration to start with, as a franchise, yeah ok you might get some success, but in most cases (not all cases) the franchisee becomes disillusioned with paying royalties to someone for a brand with no real market recognition or penetration.

Now going back to Ian Lancaster, he used to be an avid poster on another forum, and is and remains a very very respected individual. He already had an established brand to build his franchise on as he has been window cleaning since (if i remember rightly) the 1960's. So in my opinion he has a good basis to franchise.

And again with Lee Pryor, yes he is a young business in comparison to many on here, he has already achieved a market penetration of over a million households, but again give it a few years and 15k customers later, he had enough market penetration to sell what i would call a big ticket franchise.

Am i making sense.