[Walter Mitty]

I'm 36 years of age so hoping it's not too late to build a business, I would appreciate some advice.
I only have 4 grand max in startup costs would I be better going trad & spending a larger amount on marketing or going WFP if going WFP I doubt I'd have enough left over to market effectively.
I have additional money for my rent & all bills for 6 months wile I build a sustainable window cleaning round.
I've been practicing Trad methods for a few months on my families properties & have got upto a good standard, what do you think would be best for starting WFP or Trad in my circumstances?
Any advice greatly appreciated.

It's doable with WFP or trad.
I didn't start until I was nearly 35.
If you have a car you can stick a ladder on it.  You can also invest £100 or so in a backpack (not to wear on your back) and a basic pole and brush plus some 25 litre containers.  You will also need a resin vessel for filtering.  Also, a few hoselock type fittings (or similar would be good.
Now it would be a lot more convenient if you could buy better equipment than the basics, but the above items would be enough to get you started.  Of course, it helps if you're not too bothered about the car being messy and spilling water inside it.

At a push you could connect a resin vessel onto a tap and run water through it slowly into the 25 litre containers.  You might even have a Spotless Water station near you (google it).
Obviously a van, professionally fitted tank, and quality poles etc. are better, but it's not critical to have them from the beginning.
I started in my mid 30s with a clapped out Datsun Cherry hatchback, a few scrims/bucket etc.  I even borrowed the ladder from a plumber who was out of trade.  I had about £200 left in the bank.
I won't pretend it wasn't hard for the first year starting from zero customers when mortgage rates were 15%.  There were even a few days when I lived on pasta, toast, and tomato ketchup (I kid you not!), but I got by.  This was before WFP was widely known about so I was using ladder and squeegee.

[alank]

same here Walter I  started with nothing after chucking a very stressful well paid job. No modern equipment and no clue. After making a few quid over the years and reinvesting in my business I'm now doing ok. I've just spent this evening rigging out a 64 plate pickup with the best of gear ready for work tomorrow so Seamus take on board the good advice that people offer on here and give it a go, I worked two jobs when I first started and posted thousands of leaflets once you get over the initial hurdles if you work hard for the right price you will be fine.

[Seamus F Campbell]

On that budget you could start of with a trailer system.  Do you have a car already that can pull?  You just need a towbar. This will help save you money buying a van which you can do later once you are established.

Hi Paul,
Thank you, never considered a trailer system, I passed my driving test after 1998  so I believe I would have to do a trailer test but not sure I'll have to research that because it would be a good solution.
Many Thanks
Seamus

[Johnny B]

Hi Seamus,

I moved from the UK to Southern Ireland 7 years ago for family reasons and started up again from scratch. Here's my experience:

I went out every day equipped for work and canvassed door to door. As soon as I found a customer I did the job there and then. I resumed canvassing until I got another and repeated the cycle. This meant that I was earning straight away and was in full view of neighbours or anyone else passing by so  I was in effect self-advertising and earning at the same time.

I did this for a couple of years and by year 4, I considered myself established as I was by then getting a lot of word of mouth recommendations. I'm in my 8th year now and am flooded with work.

I work differently to most in the senses that 1) I am 100% traditional and 2) I work to whatever frequencies my customers want. Some are fortnightly, others monthly, 6, 8, or 12 weekly and others contact me as and when. It works for me. I have a few weekly shop fronts in my local town centre too.

There have been a few non-payers (most of the guys on here have if they're honest) and others may say 'not today' when you turn up for repeat cleans.

If you are positive, polite, persistent (but not pushy) and professional in your approach though, you will do ok but do expect it to take a few years to build a reasonable run, but don't get discouraged by any setbacks you get along the way.

Best wishes and look forward to hearing how you get on.

John

[Oliver James]

Seamus,

I know someone working from a car using barrells and he got started for under £400. Invest in a decent pole like a Gardiner SLX 25 to start with, and  get a medium supreme to go with it.

On many jobs, a trolley with a barrel on it is actually faster than a van mount...

You can start at any time of the year. The only time when we don't canvass is in December.

While you are learning, I would do the side of the house that has the sun shining on it first. Then you can go back when you've finished the house and the windows that have the sun shining on them should be kind of dry so you can check your work.

Get a basic, one page website set up, and have something on it so that the customers can sign up online to Go Cardless. Go Cardless will save you all the hassle of dealing with money and cheques and also checking your bank statements for bacs transfers. Go cardless will also save you all the hassle of debt chasing, collecting and you'll avoid non-payers.

Go Cardless is a good 'barrier to entry' onto your round. Make them sign up to Cardless before you clean their windows; and you will get committed customers who really want a window cleaner.

Be uniformed, get some magnetic signs for the car.

Don't do one-off's, hand them to another window cleaner.

Access is key. When you are canvassing, target houses with clear, open air access to the back via a garden gate.

Sign up to Cleaner Planner from the get-go; it will save you headaches from trying to manage a round manually.

Don't obsess over equipment. You need the basic kit, and you need to be using systems (eg. Go Cardless, and Cleaner Planner) that take some of the headache and stress out of running a business.

Be firm but fair with your customers.

Don't do inside work, hand them to another window cleaner.

Make canvassing easier by handing a flyer thru the door, and then door knocking a few days later, hold up the flyer (we clip it to a clipboard) and open with the line: "I put this through your door a few days ago, would you like a quote?"

Read these peoples back posts, they are close to 'legend' status in window cleaning ;-)

Ian Lancaster
Lee Pryor
Vin Kennedy / Perfect Windows

May the luck of the Irish be with you ;-)

OJ

[Oliver James]

Also:

1. Watch Alex Gardiner's videos on how to WFP.
2. Pricing: You NEED to be billing AT LEAST £35-45 an hour. You can see mine, Vin Kennedy's and Lee Pryor's pricing menu's on our websites.

Pricing  is one of the most important decisions you can make as a business owner. You may think the prices we are charging are high, but remember, you, yourself are directly in control of the quality of your work, so charge a decent price, for quality work, from a professional operator.

Following a pricing menu will take all the stress out of pricing, and also save you travelling to quote.

Finally, call some local window cleaners and ask if you can come out with them for the day so they can show you the ropes. I called about 25 local window cleaners when I started, and two of them gave me a chance.

This is a good warm up for canvassing.

Finally, remember that when babies are born they are born with two fears: loud noises and falling.

NO-ONE  is born with a fear of cold calling ;-)

OJ