[Richard iSparkle]

Hey everyone.

I'm wondering what business decisions you chaps are making regarding corona?

I have 4 staff and some overheads so loosing a months income if our Gov't go down the route of italy (and dont let us out of our homes to go to work) is a genuine concern for me.

beyond keeping hands clean and minimising (stopping) contact with customers what steps are you taking strategically ?

I am playing with the idea of moving some cleans forward so we get them in before any shut down, so we come 4 weekly normally but could move some of those a week forward..

we ask for 1 months notice on cancelling so hopefully that should mean we get that month even if they decide to miss it.

im also going to get in touch with HMRC and my van lease and ask to defer payment of taxes or fees to help cushion any blow.

what are you doing?

[Stoots]

Well I'm just a one man band atm.

I was looking to try and franchise my business this year....but that's on hold for now.

I was going to put prices up,  that's on hold also.

I was possibly thinking of buying or financing a new van, but again thats on hold.

Basically I don't want to make any big financial commitments or decisions at the moment. I want to just concentrate on keeping what I've got and seeing what happens over the next few months.

[Slacky]

Im going to work.

[TomCrowther]

Depends on the size of your business and how good your cash flow is.  I’m a v small business. Me full time plus one franchisee so it will have to be an extended period of time before I struggle. Larger businesses with lots of leased vans and big expenses could feel the pain big time quite quickly.
Read a story this am about a hotelier who said simply “we have two months money and then that’s it” v scary.

[Status Check]

We have stopped all marketing and leaflet delivery. This is due to a near non existent response rate over the last four weeks.  Window cleaning is going to carry on as normal due to us being lone workers and we hardly come in to contact with the public.

[Shrek]

Not making any decisions, just carrying on as normal until this has passed. If worst comes to worst iv got around £15k on 0% credit cards so that should do me if I get stuck for cash

[Arnold Palmer]

Keep going as fast as possible until we're told otherwise.

[david mark]

I have to 3 employees not sure if complete lock down means nobody can work in all industries. How can they monitor people movement

[Richard iSparkle]

I have to 3 employees not sure if complete lock down means nobody can work in all industries. How can they monitor people movement

in italy i understand you need a letter to say you have an official authorisation to say you can leave your house. you are able to get a letter if you need to go to the shops for food, health reasons, or certain jobs. i dont think window cleaning jobs will be a priority job for them, although there might be a chance we can get it saying we are a cleaning company. esp if we call it commercial cleaning. if you are out of your house without a letter you receive an on the spot fine from police

[Richard iSparkle]

Keep going as fast as possible until we're told otherwise.

good call. we work on 4 weekly rounds and give due dates for our next clean. i can move some commercial forward a bit though and get that in.

i could also text customers the night before to say we're coming early, but im loath to contact them typically as they might just cancel the clean in the circumstances. if we just turn up on the day they've often forgotten

[NWH]

If your just working outside unless you are told you can’t go out of your house you can work.

[simon w]

I have to 3 employees not sure if complete lock down means nobody can work in all industries. How can they monitor people movement

in italy i understand you need a letter to say you have an official authorisation to say you can leave your house. you are able to get a letter if you need to go to the shops for food, health reasons, or certain jobs. i dont think window cleaning jobs will be a priority job for them, although there might be a chance we can get it saying we are a cleaning company. esp if we call it commercial cleaning. if you are out of your house without a letter you receive an on the spot fine from police

I read yesterday that construction work and construction workers are still continuing in Italy

[nathankaye]

Its just common sense decisions. I understand it might be harder for ones who employ but for me, a one man band, its just business as usual.  No spending if not required as we dont know how these months are going pan out until May time.

However keep washing hands n face and being aware of suroundings etc.  I rarely do insides and for now, i certainly wont be doing so

[Dry Clean]

Cows will still need milked and unless we plan to pour it down the drain the milk will still need processed, then you have NHS workers and so on, I suspect it will only be non essential work that will be put on hold.
The whole thing is BS, people who are at a high risk of death from this virus need to self isolate, the rest of us will experience nothing more than a mild cold and unless our jobs involve coming into contact with those high risk people then we have no real reason to stop working and continuing on as normal.

[Granny]

Not too bothered about myself and the missus it's this kind of thing that worries me:

"Hotel, cafe and bar jobs could be 'gone by May' trade body warns as restaurants announce temporary closures and Britain's usually busy strips resemble ghost towns amid coronavirus outbreak"

If people can't work they can't pay for a window cleaner.
I haven't been to a pub in a fortnight and I used to go everyday!
Businesses are suffering - might go into Toilet Roll sales it seems like the market is booming!

[Dave Willis]

I’ll just tidy the office and put my prices up.

[Richard iSparkle]

Cows will still need milked and unless we plan to pour it down the drain the milk will still need processed, then you have NHS workers and so on, I suspect it will only be non essential work that will be put on hold.
The whole thing is BS, people who are at a high risk of death from this virus need to self isolate, the rest of us will experience nothing more than a mild cold and unless our jobs involve coming into contact with those high risk people then we have no real reason to stop working and continuing on as normal.

cows need milking but windows don't need cleaning

it looks like in spain it is shops and restaurants etc that have been banned from opening. no mention of business on the BBC report

hopefully

[Slacky]

I have to 3 employees not sure if complete lock down means nobody can work in all industries. How can they monitor people movement

in italy i understand you need a letter to say you have an official authorisation to say you can leave your house. you are able to get a letter if you need to go to the shops for food, health reasons, or certain jobs. i dont think window cleaning jobs will be a priority job for them, although there might be a chance we can get it saying we are a cleaning company. esp if we call it commercial cleaning. if you are out of your house without a letter you receive an on the spot fine from police

I dont think its quite that severe in Italy. Theyre practising social distancing. bars are open, so people can socialise but you have to keep a distance. The bars etc are closing in accordance witha curfew set at 6pm. I believe.

[Richard iSparkle]

I have to 3 employees not sure if complete lock down means nobody can work in all industries. How can they monitor people movement

in italy i understand you need a letter to say you have an official authorisation to say you can leave your house. you are able to get a letter if you need to go to the shops for food, health reasons, or certain jobs. i dont think window cleaning jobs will be a priority job for them, although there might be a chance we can get it saying we are a cleaning company. esp if we call it commercial cleaning. if you are out of your house without a letter you receive an on the spot fine from police

I dont think its quite that severe in Italy. Theyre practising social distancing. bars are open, so people can socialise but you have to keep a distance. The bars etc are closing in accordance witha curfew set at 6pm. I believe.

Two weeks after the first 10 towns in northern Italy were declared a "red zone" and put under lockdown, he said they had no new infections.  This then served as a model to tighten measures across the country.

Movement has been limited to urgent medical or professional need. All shops are now closed, except for pharmacies and those stocking food; companies have been ordered to shut non-essential departments; a wide range of venues - from theatres to schools and hairdressers to museums - are closed. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-51852320

[Stoots]

My girlfriends sister lives in Italy...

Apparently the last I heard is ALL shops are shut apart form food stores and pharmacy's.

People are allowed out only to go to work, medical reasons or food shopping.