[Stoots]

What software do you use?

Do you give them the same work all the time or mix it up?

Also with vans do you get them to organise there own van for the next day?

seem like im spending ages on a night sorting both vans, charging batts, filling tanks, making sure has slips, cloths, marking off work done, printing off sheets for next day, chasing my arse when he doesnt get round them all etc.

need some organisation! god know how you lot cope who have multiple vans

I was thinking the easiest way is to give him the same work each  week (an amount that i know will get done) so in effect a seperate round. Just print off his worksheet for the week rather than the day and say once its done its done.

Or im considering going back to one van, getting rid of the extra faff, the downside is of course it wont be quite as profitable.

[Marc Stock]

The way i always imagined it when i employ eventually, would be to give him a round to do and let him do those same customers for a while.

I would choose the easiest most profitable rounds, and leave the sticky harder and less developed rounds to myself.

[nathankaye]

Wouldnt the danger being that the customers build a raport with the new worker and if he picks up extra work he will add it without telling you and pocket the difference and then eventually take over that round.

This actually happened some years back to a group of lads traditionally working in areas that I worked, hence how i got to know about it.
This puts me off taking on an employee long term

[Stoots]

Thats always in the back of the mind nathan, customers getting to know the employee as their window cleaner and it wouldnt take much for them to take those customer off you if they choose.

Theres little you can do about it. its a risk.

[duncan h]

That's what puts me off. They can try taking all your customers and there is nothing, legal you can do.
I would feel safer setting on a young lad.
Working with them is another option but not as much profit

[Phil J]

Rotate the work, that way the customers see your face. You can keep tabs on quality control, plus it helps stop the boredom creeping in.

[Dane]

I assume you have sign written vans mate, a uniform and maybe get some ID cards? Send a letter to your customers informing them of the ID of your business and then mix your employees work from month to month... alternate rounds? Faces will become friendly but not overly friendly and it will become more about the business standards / brand  that the customer is buying into. Just an idea

[Marc Stock]

Sorry i did say for a while.

Not the same indefinitely.

And if he is well paid and full time he won't want to go behind your back.

If i cant make employing work for me in this game , forget it im selling up and going into engineering.

[Stoots]

Thing is you can either let it put you off or just do it anyway.

Ive always been a risk taker though, i can live with failing i cant live with not trying.

But like you Marc, if i cant or dont want to make employing work then i would look at other things as much as i dont mind window cleaning i dont want to be doing it day in day out in 20 years time. Its great in small doses, but by the end of the week im getting fed up of it.

[johnwillan]

What software do you use?

Aworka or Cleaner planner would be fine

Do you give them the same work all the time or mix it up?

As stated you could rotate the rounds on a regular basis or run one massive round

Also with vans do you get them to organise there own van for the next day?

Make it part of the job - as they say "why buy a dog and Bark yourself"

seem like im spending ages on a night sorting both vans, charging batts, filling tanks, making sure has slips, cloths, marking off work done, printing off sheets for next day, chasing my arse when he doesnt get round them all etc.

need some organisation! god know how you lot cope who have multiple vans

By doing the above

I was thinking the easiest way is to give him the same work each  week (an amount that i know will get done) so in effect a seperate round. Just print off his worksheet for the week rather than the day and say once its done its done.

By using an app they can access work on a daily basis with limitations on accessing information

Or im considering going back to one van, getting rid of the extra faff, the downside is of course it wont be quite as profitable.

I assume from this post you haven't given up yet

[NWH]

Nathan you are spot on I would keep moving there work about so they don’t become  that familiar with customers so that they think it’s juat them,this will lead to them chatting saying I’d like to go on my own I’ve had enough of being employed etc. Before you know it they’ve sacked his boss and taken him on as there window cleaner,some on here will say contract contract contract but it means nish,it will be endless hassle trying to prove this and that it needs to be mixed up so he goes to a certain job a few times a year and so do you it stops the familiarity with 1 person. This involves more organising which is hassle for the business owner but IMO it needs to be done unless you don’t mind being fleeced.

[High-Tower]

I think mixing the rounds up makes most sense, especially with more than one employee... it’ll help with quality control if they know someone else will be doing the job next time. It means they are familiar with all the work so it’s no lost time when they need to cover other work. And it’ll help stop bickering about so-and-so always gets the easy jobs, if they all do everything at some point.

[Stoots]

On the flip side though if the employee only knows 30% of your round as that's all he does, the most he can steal is 30%.

If he gets chatty with them all he could take the lot!

So if you give him the worst 30% worse case scenario he buggers off and leaves you with a cream one man round lol


I had just been thinking today about  an idea...

I had thought to split the round into 2, me approx 70% of the workload and him 30%

Now a lot of my work is text ahead due to locked gates, not all but at least half I think.

So what I was going to do is give him a set amount each week that know he can complete in the 3 days he works. Give him the same 4 weekly work each week and make sure it's all work he can turn up and clean no texting ahead.

That way he gets in the van and goes and cleans theres no organisation required each night for his van, I make sure he fills it up at the end of each day and puts battery on charge etc.

So in effect all I need to do is print the weekly sheet off for him.

Then I can just deal with the rest of the work as if I was a sole trader, doing first cleans, add ons and any text ahead work etc.

At the moment I'm spending at least an hour a night sorting everything out which is extra hassle I don't really want and also as happened once I organised all his work only for him to ring in sick and I had to re organise it all.

[NWH]

Regardless of what the so called big boys on here say they get untold grief from staff you always do in this particular job,if they’ve got 10-12 vans out i bet a lot of the time there’s a spare seat coz of someone chucking a sicky.

[wfp master]

Regardless of what the so called big boys on here say they get untold grief from staff you always do in this particular job,if they’ve got 10-12 vans out i bet a lot of the time there’s a spare seat coz of someone chucking a sicky.

or are away doing there own  wee round  they've built up while working for you.

[Smudger]

Looking after staff can b time consuming but gets easier as you get more as you yourself come off the tools - having one employee is THE toughest time for employing

Use good round software ( cleaner planner )
Each day is it’s own round with a full days work ( 7 hrs worth ) this is why our days are scheduled
No one gets the same round more than twice in a row ( everyone knows all the rounds that way to cover holidays )
 No one has the same van - end of day they wash/clean van - fill with water - replace consumables and on return to unit fill with fuel
At unit count up days takings and sign off on tablet ( all i do is collect them and check totals )
In a he morning I drop off tablets and work sheets ( these are for sfg cleans - pressure washing etc )
Guys come in 15minutes early to check van, load any special items listed on work sheet have a coffee go
They have their own trad gear, ppe, wfp, tools and sundries
Darran

[Smudger]

Regardless of what the so called big boys on here say they get untold grief from staff you always do in this particular job,if they’ve got 10-12 vans out i bet a lot of the time there’s a spare seat coz of someone chucking a sicky.

Why o why do you spout so much cr@p on staff - it’s something you failed to do, it does not mean everyone fails at employing
My guys work hard - they now clean more in a day ( my illness aside ) than I can - that’s volume and monetary wise - with  NO customer complaints

Yesterday they were on the road at 6am and didn’t knock off until 7pm as they wanted to finish a large 1500 solar panel job

Yes you get a few frustrations but you need to take a step back and not take things personally - things break, go wrong etc but it’s no done deliberately

Darran

[wfp master]

The way i always imagined it when i employ eventually, would be to give him a round to do and let him do those same customers for a while.

I would choose the easiest most profitable rounds, and leave the sticky harder and less developed rounds to myself.

ye  & any new customers he gets he pockets the money without telling you about  them.  using your equipment to clean his customers.  nice bonus at the end of the day for him.  its a nightmare & it does & will happen if youre not around to see whats going on.

[NWH]

It sounds fantastic to the person without the knowledge of this job on a domestic basis thinking he can employ half a dozen blokes and sit back and oversee it,the short honest answer is if you think this is quiet simple to do then you will be disappointed. All companies cleaning commercial these days are so cheap I don’t know how they keep going with staff,they are cleaning stuff I used to do for 150 for 60-70 quid. If you are earning just shy of the VAT limit and are thinking of employing sit down with an accountant and work out what you need to earn net to end up with the same in your pocket with 1 employee lol,the conversation will be sobering. If you think going big is the way to go then go big but it won’t mean you’ll be earning big,it may look like you are on paper but by the time you’ve paid all wages and debts you might fancy going back on your own with a bit of help and home early to watch the snooker 😂. At the end of the day it’s what you end up with in your pocket not how many idiots you take out with you of a morning,we’ve all got mates who give it the Charlie big balls down the pub-club about how much they closed a sale on etc,they don’t tell you that when they sell that 100ks worth of kit that they struggle so hard to sell they end up with .5% profit before Tax do they it’s I sold 100 grands worth today lads,yeah maybe mate but you actually made 500 quid didn’t you. I think I read somewhere the other day on here someone turning over upwards of 7-800 grand I think to earn an income of 100k a year,I maybe wrong but I don’t think that’s particularly great tbh in this job with over 10 staff.

[NWH]

The way i always imagined it when i employ eventually, would be to give him a round to do and let him do those same customers for a while.

I would choose the easiest most profitable rounds, and leave the sticky harder and less developed rounds to myself.

ye  & any new customers he gets he pockets the money without telling you about  them.  using your equipment to clean his customers.  nice bonus at the end of the day for him.  its a nightmare & it does & will happen if youre not around to see whats going on.

You will convince no one m8 😂,they think they’ve got 5-6-10-15 staff and not one of em is bending them over on a weekly basis and giving it  to them dry 😂. Once you get so busy in this job you have a list of work if Ann old boy says here m8 clean my windows and chucks him 20 quid what’s he gonna do say oh I must let the boss know about that 1 lol I think not,a customer cancels ok that’s fine he-she gives some excuse next month one of your employees is cleaning it off your books for cash with your van and water,some say paranoid another says it happens. The truth in this job is when you get so much work even with computers you don’t know what’s happening out there in the real world even with trackers,he might be parked up near your work being tracked cleaning houses next door to the ones on your books. If you employ staff in any job they will try and dry hump you in window cleaning where there’s cash involved more so.