[John Mart]

My old boss had a saying. "I don't want to die beautiful".

[tlwcs]

1 not interested.
Like you but a sole trader, I don’t need or take this type of work. There’s plenty of easier stuff.

 Bungle, he’s not expensive for the areas he works.

[AuRavelling79]

1.

[Bungle]

1 not interested.
Like you but a sole trader, I don’t need or take this type of work. There’s plenty of easier stuff.

 Bungle, he’s not expensive for the areas he works.

 2 bedroom house £27 

[Shrek]

1 not interested.
Like you but a sole trader, I don’t need or take this type of work. There’s plenty of easier stuff.

 Bungle, he’s not expensive for the areas he works.

 2 bedroom house £27 

He’s 3 monthly though , that’s £108 a year which is very good for the customer and good for him. I take it your still charging 2.50 every 2 weeks 

[Bungle]

1 not interested.
Like you but a sole trader, I don’t need or take this type of work. There’s plenty of easier stuff.

 Bungle, he’s not expensive for the areas he works.

 2 bedroom house £27 

He’s 3 monthly though , that’s £108 a year which is very good for the customer and good for him. I take it your still charging 2.50 every 2 weeks 

It's 'you're', sugar t/ts 

[Walter Mitty]

Like most window cleaners, I've struggled with houses that have access issues.

This summer I implemented a '3 strikes and you are out' rule.

If we can't get access on the day we don't do the work.

If we can't get acccess 3 times, we write the customer a polite letter, and let them go,

I am going to potentially build some technology that will allow customers to get scheduled appointment times for access issues houses (by 'access issue', I mean houses that do not have clear, open air access to the back via a garden gate).

How it works is that the customer can see on a booking screen when the vans are in their postcode area.

So, for example, if the customer lives in B17, then the screen will show that the vans will be in that postcode area for 10 days at the start of the month.

The customer will see 10 open booking slots (for the first job of the day), for the 10 days that the vans are in his/her area.

Then they will be able to book their homes onto the existing van routes.

Just to be clear, I'm not talking about giving the customer appointment times or bookings that the vans have to travel miles to do.

I'm proposing that access issue customers (that do not have clear access) will be able to  'hook' or 'slot' their home onto existing routes, and get the back of their home cleaned AS THE FIRST job of the day, WHEN the vans are already in their postcode area.

On a scale of 1-3 how interested are you in this?

1 - not interested
2 - indifferent
3. Interested.

Part of my attraction to window cleaning is its simplicity.
I've already been close to getting nutted off at least once in my life, so I certainly wouldn't want to overcomplicate things too much.

[Walter Mitty]

Sorry, I wasn't clear in my post.

Access Clear: Clear, open air access to the back via a garden gate
Access Issue: Does  NOT have clear, open air access to the back via a garden gate.

I'm NOT talking about the situation where the house has clear, open air access to the back, and the home owner forgets to open up the gate.

I'm talking about

houses where access is through the house or through a garage / covered side passageway,

So the home owner needs to be IN for you to clean the house (and they are not happy about the front only being cleaned, they want the front and the back).

Only being able to clean if a customer is home is a non-starter for me.  I don't touch those.  Too much hassle.  I even begrudge texting the evening before, but do it for some jobs.

[Shrek]

1 not interested.
Like you but a sole trader, I don’t need or take this type of work. There’s plenty of easier stuff.

 Bungle, he’s not expensive for the areas he works.

 2 bedroom house £27 

He’s 3 monthly though , that’s £108 a year which is very good for the customer and good for him. I take it your still charging 2.50 every 2 weeks 

It's 'you're', sugar t/ts 

Business comes naturally for some people, obviously not you. Oliver is obviously doing something right or he wouldn’t have any customers would he

[Richard Groves]

I think you need to find out if customers would use such a facility too. Some even struggle with the basics like paying on time. If not, then its of no interest to window cleaners.

[Oliver James]

THANK you for the responses.

I've often thought about how the software we use (eg. Cleaner Planner / George / Aworka)  we use could be improved and here are my ideas:

1)   All Debt chasing texts and emails to be sent out automatically. And for the system to stop sending out these chase texts / emails when the customers account is settled.

2)   To have the ability to work out how much each customer is contributing to profit from the software. How we have refined our rounds is that we've a) worked out how much it costs to run each van per minute, and then we've b) timed the jobs and c) worked out profit margin on each job d) increased prices for customers so that they are ALL profitable.

It is a hassle doing this, because you are working with excel spreadsheets, and manually inputting timings on each job into an excel spreadsheet so you can work out how profitable each job is.

If the software had a functionality wherby it could calculate how much it was costing to run the vans per minute from the ‘acccounts’ part of the software, then you could input the timing for each job, and the software would then calculate how profitable each job was, and you would have some solid data for making business decisions about 'contribution to profit' by each customer.

From this data (profit margin on each job / contribution to profit by each customer) you would  be able to sort your customer list into ‘A-grade’, ‘B-grade’ and ‘C-grade’ customers, depending on their contribution to profit.

Over time you could increase the prices of the B-Grade and C-Grade customers to increase the profitability of your business.


3)   Be able to run it on a mobile device. The apps that the software providers supply work well on a mobile device, but if you need to do anything on the ‘main’ software website, it is difficult to make the main software site work from a mobile device (but the app works well for the worksheets).

4)   Be able to take card payments direct, using an app, without faffing about with a card reader, I'm talking about something like 'apple pay', where YOUR phone camera scans the card, and payment is made.
 
5) Your payment card reader is be linked directly to the books, so you are not manually inputting payment.

6)   The round software's ‘accounts’ are linked directly to acccounting software like Zero / Quickbooks, so you don't need to check your accounts in the software are the same as your bank statements.

7)   New customers can input their data directly into the software from the your website. So you don’t need to manually input customers data for new customers.

EIGHT) Route optimisation of: a) worksheets and b) rounds, using a ‘route optimiser’ that orders the jobs on the worksheets and in the rounds automatically, to save on travel time and van fuel costs. 

Of the above features, which ones (eg. 1,3 and 5) are of interest to you?

[Dry Clean]

There is not much point in building this tech if it does NOTHING for window cleaners.




One word, Vision, and don't worry guys like Dazmond and NWH will buy it anyway, lol

[colin bird]

Sorry mate it's a 1 from me

[dazmond]

THANK you for the responses.

I've often thought about how the software we use (eg. Cleaner Planner / George / Aworka)  we use could be improved and here are my ideas:

1)   All Debt chasing texts and emails to be sent out automatically. And for the system to stop sending out these chase texts / emails when the customers account is settled.

2)   To have the ability to work out how much each customer is contributing to profit from the software. How we have refined our rounds is that we've a) worked out how much it costs to run each van per minute, and then we've b) timed the jobs and c) worked out profit margin on each job d) increased prices for customers so that they are ALL profitable.

It is a hassle doing this, because you are working with excel spreadsheets, and manually inputting timings on each job into an excel spreadsheet so you can work out how profitable each job is.

If the software had a functionality wherby it could calculate how much it was costing to run the vans per minute from the ‘acccounts’ part of the software, then you could input the timing for each job, and the software would then calculate how profitable each job was, and you would have some solid data for making business decisions about 'contribution to profit' by each customer.

From this data (profit margin on each job / contribution to profit by each customer) you would  be able to sort your customer list into ‘A-grade’, ‘B-grade’ and ‘C-grade’ customers, depending on their contribution to profit.

Over time you could increase the prices of the B-Grade and C-Grade customers to increase the profitability of your business.


3)   Be able to run it on a mobile device. The apps that the software providers supply work well on a mobile device, but if you need to do anything on the ‘main’ software website, it is difficult to make the main software site work from a mobile device (but the app works well for the worksheets).

4)   Be able to take card payments direct, using an app, without faffing about with a card reader, I'm talking about something like 'apple pay', where YOUR phone camera scans the card, and payment is made.
 
5) Your payment card reader is be linked directly to the books, so you are not manually inputting payment.

6)   The round software's ‘accounts’ are linked directly to acccounting software like Zero / Quickbooks, so you don't need to check your accounts in the software are the same as your bank statements.

7)   New customers can input their data directly into the software from the your website. So you don’t need to manually input customers data for new customers.

EIGHT) Route optimisation of: a) worksheets and b) rounds, using a ‘route optimiser’ that orders the jobs on the worksheets and in the rounds automatically, to save on travel time and van fuel costs. 

Of the above features, which ones (eg. 1,3 and 5) are of interest to you?

too much tech for my liking....too much automation is not good IMO.....

[Cookie]

THANK you for the responses.

I've often thought about how the software we use (eg. Cleaner Planner / George / Aworka)  we use could be improved and here are my ideas:

1)   All Debt chasing texts and emails to be sent out automatically. And for the system to stop sending out these chase texts / emails when the customers account is settled.

2)   To have the ability to work out how much each customer is contributing to profit from the software. How we have refined our rounds is that we've a) worked out how much it costs to run each van per minute, and then we've b) timed the jobs and c) worked out profit margin on each job d) increased prices for customers so that they are ALL profitable.

It is a hassle doing this, because you are working with excel spreadsheets, and manually inputting timings on each job into an excel spreadsheet so you can work out how profitable each job is.

If the software had a functionality wherby it could calculate how much it was costing to run the vans per minute from the ‘acccounts’ part of the software, then you could input the timing for each job, and the software would then calculate how profitable each job was, and you would have some solid data for making business decisions about 'contribution to profit' by each customer.

From this data (profit margin on each job / contribution to profit by each customer) you would  be able to sort your customer list into ‘A-grade’, ‘B-grade’ and ‘C-grade’ customers, depending on their contribution to profit.

Over time you could increase the prices of the B-Grade and C-Grade customers to increase the profitability of your business.


3)   Be able to run it on a mobile device. The apps that the software providers supply work well on a mobile device, but if you need to do anything on the ‘main’ software website, it is difficult to make the main software site work from a mobile device (but the app works well for the worksheets).

4)   Be able to take card payments direct, using an app, without faffing about with a card reader, I'm talking about something like 'apple pay', where YOUR phone camera scans the card, and payment is made.
 
5) Your payment card reader is be linked directly to the books, so you are not manually inputting payment.

6)   The round software's ‘accounts’ are linked directly to acccounting software like Zero / Quickbooks, so you don't need to check your accounts in the software are the same as your bank statements.

7)   New customers can input their data directly into the software from the your website. So you don’t need to manually input customers data for new customers.

EIGHT) Route optimisation of: a) worksheets and b) rounds, using a ‘route optimiser’ that orders the jobs on the worksheets and in the rounds automatically, to save on travel time and van fuel costs. 

Of the above features, which ones (eg. 1,3 and 5) are of interest to you?

All potentially good ideas which might be useful for larger operators and perhaps useful add-ons for some of the window cleaning software we use but to be honest as a sole trader this is all a bit 'over the top' and would spoil the enjoyment of the job for me.

[Bungle]

1 not interested.
Like you but a sole trader, I don’t need or take this type of work. There’s plenty of easier stuff.

 Bungle, he’s not expensive for the areas he works.

 2 bedroom house £27 

He’s 3 monthly though , that’s £108 a year which is very good for the customer and good for him. I take it your still charging 2.50 every 2 weeks 

It's 'you're', sugar t/ts 

Business comes naturally for some people, obviously not you. Oliver is obviously doing something right or he wouldn’t have any customers would he

Do you know me? Do you know my business? No? Pipe down Sonny Jim.

[Shrek]

From what you’ve told everyone, you are cheap, a lot cheaper than Oliver . It shows in the way that you and your cheapo customers wouldnt pay his prices. It also shows that you are too thick to operate your business in a profitable way like Oliver , you would prefer to drive to your customers houses 26 times a year instead of 4 and earn 50% less 

[Bungle]

From what you’ve told everyone, you are cheap, a lot cheaper than Oliver . It shows in the way that you and your cheapo customers wouldnt pay his prices. It also shows that you are too thick to operate your business in a profitable way like Oliver , you would prefer to drive to your customers houses 26 times a year instead of 4 and earn 50% less 

I presume the above post is aimed at me. Your post is based on supposition (google will tell what the word means  )

No I don't clean every 2 weeks.
No I don't charge £27 for a 2 bed house
Yes I know the areas Olly works
Yes I know most other shiners in the area
Yes the other shiners think he's over priced
Yes I have had customers show me his leaflet
Yes the customers who have shown me the leaflet have said he's too expensive
Yes if Olly can get away with his pricing then good luck
Yes/No does he retain his customers?
Yes I do well for my self
Yes I own my own house outright
Yes I have a 2 year old van from new
Yes I have a 1 year old sports car from new
Yes I have a motorcycle
Yes I have savings
Yes I'm going somewhere hot for a holiday after Xmas
And finally my Mrs has got bigger t/ts than yours 

I think I've covered it all for you 👍

[John Mart]

From what you’ve told everyone, you are cheap, a lot cheaper than Oliver . It shows in the way that you and your cheapo customers wouldnt pay his prices. It also shows that you are too thick to operate your business in a profitable way like Oliver , you would prefer to drive to your customers houses 26 times a year instead of 4 and earn 50% less 

I presume the above post is aimed at me. Your post is based on supposition (google will tell what the word means  )

No I don't clean every 2 weeks.
No I don't charge £27 for a 2 bed house
Yes I know the areas Olly works
Yes I know most other shiners in the area
Yes the other shiners think he's over priced
Yes I have had customers show me his leaflet
Yes the customers who have shown me the leaflet have said he's too expensive
Yes if Olly can get away with his pricing then good luck
Yes/No does he retain his customers?
Yes I do well for my self
Yes I own my own house outright
Yes I have a 2 year old van from new
Yes I have a 1 year old sports car from new
Yes I have a motorcycle
Yes I have savings
Yes I'm going somewhere hot for a holiday after Xmas
And finally my Mrs has got bigger t/ts than yours 

I think I've covered it all for you 👍

All good, but because a couple of customers think he's overpriced and jealous competitors do too, it doesn't stop him having asuccessful business.

[Walter Mitty]

I'm not sure what anyone else's business has to do with another shiner so long as it doesn't affect their own work.  If someone else has high prices, surely that's a good thing as it shows what might be possible for others.