[Arnold Palmer]

Brexit.

[JBC88]

The rapid growth of canvassing companies popping up everywhere and social media advertising etc it means that competition is getting higher and will continue to as more and more come into window cleaning.

The internet has been responsible for pushing prices down in all businesses and ours in no exception.

No longer can you sit on your backside and expect work to come to you, you have to be constantly looking for it with  either your time or your money. I budget £200 a month at the minute, some growth and some simply replacing drop offs.

Hi Gomo out of that £200 do you spend any on ppc or fb ads? I've just started using Google for ads but not having much joy atm

[John Mart]

The rapid growth of canvassing companies popping up everywhere and social media advertising etc it means that competition is getting higher and will continue to as more and more come into window cleaning.

The internet has been responsible for pushing prices down in all businesses and ours in no exception.

No longer can you sit on your backside and expect work to come to you, you have to be constantly looking for it with  either your time or your money. I budget £200 a month at the minute, some growth and some simply replacing drop offs.

Hi Gomo out of that £200 do you spend any on ppc or fb ads? I've just started using Google for ads but not having much joy atm

My experience is that when domestic customers turn to Google they usually want a one off and they will get other quotes.

[Stoots]

The rapid growth of canvassing companies popping up everywhere and social media advertising etc it means that competition is getting higher and will continue to as more and more come into window cleaning.

The internet has been responsible for pushing prices down in all businesses and ours in no exception.

No longer can you sit on your backside and expect work to come to you, you have to be constantly looking for it with  either your time or your money. I budget £200 a month at the minute, some growth and some simply replacing drop offs.

no you dont......i never advertise or very rarely go looking for new work and ive been picking up steady new jobs for many years,ive even built  entire new pockets of work with better prices in some areas over the last 7 or 8 years.....

the only advertising is sign written van and  logod workwear.....

by the way there are over 20 different window cleaning companies that i know of that work my areas too....

Two things

1. I've been going 4 years and you have been going 20 odd and have i more work than you and it didn't come by sitting and waiting. (In the nicest possible way just making a point  )

2. You don't live in my area, maybe yours is much easier .

[Splash & dash]

January is always a bit quite, but we are getting a lot of enquires , ime not generally interested in more estate type of houses only big detached and commercial work so turn a lot down  there arnt many window cleaners around my area  , those that are are either unreliable , or do a poor job , so we get lots of enquires, many start up window cleaning but soon give up , I have no idear why , there is a lot of new housing estates being built and no ware  near  enough window cleaners to do all the work , perhaps some on hear should look at relocating

[Stoots]

The rapid growth of canvassing companies popping up everywhere and social media advertising etc it means that competition is getting higher and will continue to as more and more come into window cleaning.

The internet has been responsible for pushing prices down in all businesses and ours in no exception.

No longer can you sit on your backside and expect work to come to you, you have to be constantly looking for it with  either your time or your money. I budget £200 a month at the minute, some growth and some simply replacing drop offs.

Hi Gomo out of that £200 do you spend any on ppc or fb ads? I've just started using Google for ads but not having much joy atm

I spend all my budget online mate.

Since Jan I've spent about £400 for £700 of work but it's a bit skewed as it was a fresh area which is always easier.....generally I look to get a 1:1 ratio of money spent for work gained £ per month

Of course you get drop offs etc so you have to factor it in but the R.O.I kills leaflets or paying canvassers. The o it downside is unlike canvassing it's not going to be compact.

[NWH]

There are more WCleaners I agree but there are lots of new houses going up,everywhere you turn you’re head there is a pane of glass in the world there’s plenty of work if you’re willing to look for it I think you can get a bit paranoid I’ve felt like it myself over the years experience tells me don’t pannick.

[Anthony Jardine]

December was the quietest month I’ve ever had for new jobs calling which I don’t mind as they mostly want one off cleans, which I’ve stopped doing now same with gutters and conservatory roofs only done for existing customers all the others enquiries are given to someone local starting up

But January and February nearly back to normal I generally get 10-12 new customers every month which is enough to keep up with

[dazmond]

The type of customer is changing. Less and less prepared to commit to a regular service than a few years back.

Out of the 12 website  enquires I had this year so far, only 4 of them actually wanted to go onto a regular service 3 out of 4 choosing to go to a quarterly clean, all the others were one off requests which I didn't get or want anyway, the interesting thing is that these people had used several window cleaning companies in my local area before.  Social media enquiries are ignored now, as last year out of the 30 odd, every single one of them was looking for the cheapest price with no commitment.

I have said this before, window cleaning  saturated with guys starting up thinking they are going to make a fortune. Over the last 8 years I have seen a number of window cleaners start up, buy a flashy van with lots of thermo pure logos all over it, for them to pack it all up in 4 or 5 years.

This is why I am looking into other business ventures, as I do feel that in the next 5-10 years window cleaning will have changed to such an extent that you will need to supplement your income with something else, which is the way most things are going anyway.

Good news is for us who have established rounds, the value of them should increase with the demand for work going up.

So £350-£400 a day is not enough for you marc?that you'll need to have a second income stream too?.......I don't know any  one man band window cleaners who earn as much as you,I certainly don't earn that much a day...nowhere near......

[Ooooooog]

Brexit.

I blame Tosh and Chepstow house prices.
We’ve just signed our biggest contract.

[cleaniac]

The type of customer is changing. Less and less prepared to commit to a regular service than a few years back.

Out of the 12 website  enquires I had this year so far, only 4 of them actually wanted to go onto a regular service 3 out of 4 choosing to go to a quarterly clean, all the others were one off requests which I didn't get or want anyway, the interesting thing is that these people had used several window cleaning companies in my local area before.  Social media enquiries are ignored now, as last year out of the 30 odd, every single one of them was looking for the cheapest price with no commitment.

I have said this before, window cleaning  saturated with guys starting up thinking they are going to make a fortune. Over the last 8 years I have seen a number of window cleaners start up, buy a flashy van with lots of thermo pure logos all over it, for them to pack it all up in 4 or 5 years.

This is why I am looking into other business ventures, as I do feel that in the next 5-10 years window cleaning will have changed to such an extent that you will need to supplement your income with something else, which is the way most things are going anyway.

Good news is for us who have established rounds, the value of them should increase with the demand for work going up.

So £350-£400 a day is not enough for you marc?that you'll need to have a second income stream too?.......I don't know any  one man band window cleaners who earn as much as you,I certainly don't earn that much a day...nowhere near......

That's my turnover, it's not my wages or earnings, and I work 4 days a week.

[dd]

The type of customer is changing. Less and less prepared to commit to a regular service than a few years back.

Out of the 12 website  enquires I had this year so far, only 4 of them actually wanted to go onto a regular service 3 out of 4 choosing to go to a quarterly clean, all the others were one off requests which I didn't get or want anyway, the interesting thing is that these people had used several window cleaning companies in my local area before.  Social media enquiries are ignored now, as last year out of the 30 odd, every single one of them was looking for the cheapest price with no commitment.

I have said this before, window cleaning  saturated with guys starting up thinking they are going to make a fortune. Over the last 8 years I have seen a number of window cleaners start up, buy a flashy van with lots of thermo pure logos all over it, for them to pack it all up in 4 or 5 years.

This is why I am looking into other business ventures, as I do feel that in the next 5-10 years window cleaning will have changed to such an extent that you will need to supplement your income with something else, which is the way most things are going anyway.

Good news is for us who have established rounds, the value of them should increase with the demand for work going up.

So £350-£400 a day is not enough for you marc?that you'll need to have a second income stream too?.......I don't know any  one man band window cleaners who earn as much as you,I certainly don't earn that much a day...nowhere near......

That's my turnover, it's not my wages or earnings, and I work 4 days a week.

Unless you are doing something wrong, as a sole trader overheads should be quite low.

[Perfect Windows]

I think this thread sums it up well: http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=45909.0

Vin

[p1w1]

I think this thread sums it up well: http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=45909.0

Vin

exactly

[Spruce]

I think this thread sums it up well: http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=45909.0

Vin

I don't recognise most of those posters on this thread Vin. I see only a couple have been active at the end of last year. The others, 5 and 10 years ago were last active. I wonder if they have given window cleaning up or just not bothered with the forum any longer.

[John Mart]

I think this thread sums it up well: http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=45909.0

Vin

I don't recognise most of those posters on this thread Vin. I see only a couple have been active at the end of last year. The others, 5 and 10 years ago were last active. I wonder if they have given window cleaning up or just not bothered with the forum any longer.

Too many new ones about. 

[Walter Mitty]

I imagine several things are going on at once.

There might be a small brexit effect, even before it's happened (if it happens).  Tales of future economic woes often become self-fulfilling prophecies.

When a window cleaner used to start up it involved ladder work and a relatively small outlay - especially if they already had a vehicle.  The winter often filtered them out, and some people would discover that climbing ladders all day was a bit too energetic for them - or even a little scary.  However, starting with WFP requires a larger outlay and no ladder climbing.  If you quit, you've potentially lost a lot more.  So new window cleaners are more likely to stick with it.

I have had very few enquiries for some time now.  I did start door knocking last October for a short while and gained a few new jobs.  I will be re-starting that soon.  Of the jobs I picked up, some were one-offs who pretended different.  Others are still around though.

[KS Cleaning]

The type of customer is changing. Less and less prepared to commit to a regular service than a few years back.

Out of the 12 website  enquires I had this year so far, only 4 of them actually wanted to go onto a regular service 3 out of 4 choosing to go to a quarterly clean, all the others were one off requests which I didn't get or want anyway, the interesting thing is that these people had used several window cleaning companies in my local area before.  Social media enquiries are ignored now, as last year out of the 30 odd, every single one of them was looking for the cheapest price with no commitment.

I have said this before, window cleaning  saturated with guys starting up thinking they are going to make a fortune. Over the last 8 years I have seen a number of window cleaners start up, buy a flashy van with lots of thermo pure logos all over it, for them to pack it all up in 4 or 5 years.

This is why I am looking into other business ventures, as I do feel that in the next 5-10 years window cleaning will have changed to such an extent that you will need to supplement your income with something else, which is the way most things are going anyway.

Good news is for us who have established rounds, the value of them should increase with the demand for work going up.

So £350-£400 a day is not enough for you marc?that you'll need to have a second income stream too?.......I don't know any  one man band window cleaners who earn as much as you,I certainly don't earn that much a day...nowhere near......

That's my turnover, it's not my wages or earnings, and I work 4 days a week.

Unless you are doing something wrong, as a sole trader overheads should be quite low.

I think a chunk of his earnings go to his chartered accountant?

[robbo333]

Bit slow for me at the moment, plus i've been lazy over the last couple of years, so i've decided to fire it up a bit.
Starting March through to August, I shall be:
Advertising in local magazine: 3 different areas over 6 months.
Leaflet campaign in my 2 favourite areas, total about 15K.
Sold houses campaign.
Google My Business
Adwords Express
And I've just produced a leaflet showing all the other services I offer, (this is to existing customers only).
Plus I am doing some selective canvassing and leafleting myself.
See how it goes...

[Johnny B]

I have a Facebook page, there's a local 'do you know' page (Facebook again) with 15000 members, some of whom are customers.

I don't have logo' uniform, my van is old, battered and not sign written, and my advertising budget is zero.

Despite all this, I keep on plodding away and still pick up new customers most weeks without trying.

John