[Suffolkcleaners]

Thought this would be an interesting  thread (although may have been covered as a thread  before( not sure)

How did you get into Window Cleaning? Be good to hear people’s stories.... 😀 Also had you not got into window cleaning what do you think you would have done?

[AuRavelling79]

I had part ownership of a struggling office equipment company and when I sold my share it was only for about a years wages. I signed an agreement that I wouldn't sell office equipment for a year in competition and needed to work. A friend was selling about £300 worth of window cleaning per month which I bought. I also sold office equipment consumables to new customers intending to build that up.

At the end of the year (1997) the window cleaning had reached about £1000 a month and the consumables was at about £500 a month. I also dabbled in self employed insurance sales. By 2000 the windows had overtaken the other two income streams and so I stuck with window cleaning.

In 2005/6 I switched from trad. to wfp and got a new Doblo van with a home built 400L system. (which is still running as it has been bought by a member of this forum!)

[Stoots]

By chance really, I started valeting cars on a weekend around my full time job, then a few months later when my ex decided to kick me out I got a bit depressed and quit my job. I turned to the valeting but quickly realised it wasn't going to be enough so as I was using pure water already to clean cars I cobbled together a trolley and the rest is history... A window cleaner was born.

[windowswashed]

It was a temporary job between welding jobs.  Started working for someone for three months and realised the potential  so I took a chance and started up on my own twenty two years ago. Took a big chance as I had a mortgage on my own to pay each month, but stuck at it and house became mine three years ago.

[Smudger]

Made redundant from engineering/racing company (pro drive) - 3rd third time in 10 years so Mrs said why not go clean some windows 

went out brought  a sponge and a bucket - no idea what a squeegee was - made up cards and leaflets and door knocked
- six months in I had a reasonable round plus houses - fell off ladders - then searched for a safer way to clean and learnt about wfp on here ..

11 years later I cover just about everything for cleaning outsides - windows - roof cleaning - graffiti removal - pressure washing etc..

Darran

[zesty]

Left college, did window cleaning with a family friend whilst I ‘thought about what I wanted to do’.

Enjoyed it, saw the amount of dough my mate was earning. Thought ‘this is a great job!’

Started on my own a couple of years later.

Then went WFP in 2014 and never looked back.

[swanson]

Started a cleaning business with the wife .
Domestic cleaning ,end of tenancy and carpet cleaning,
Kept getting asked if we would clean the windows as well.
And the rest is history.
Wife got fed up with the cleaning but I carried on with the windows.

[Panorama]

After a 12 week placement from a YTS scheme 1984, got a job with a firm who cleaned Camerons public houses from Newcastle to Hull.

[Smudger]

YTS - they were the days £30 a week 

Darran

[Panorama]

£25 a week, a weekend millionaire

[Suffolkcleaners]

Some amazing stories there guys. Looks like for a lot of us we have all started from nothing and knocked on doors and built our mini or maxi empires that we have today. Think it’s something we should all be proud of particularly those of us who started from nothing. 👍👍😀😀

[jonboywalton75]

£25 a week, a weekend millionaire

Weekend millionaire
Isn't that a quote from a Genesis song???

[dazmond]

I'd got sacked from a landscaping job aged 20...I hated it....then my dad kicked me out of the house 2 days later...threw a suitcase into my room at 7am on a cold November morning.....so I was homeless for 10 months on the dole.......I was sleeping on  a mattress at a mates  flat....after a heavy night of drinking I was deep in thought and absolutely skint...needing a job/money.......

THEN!........the window cleaner turns up to clean the flat windows so I asked him for a job!

He said "I'll pick you up at 845am tomorrow morning".......and that was it!within 12 months I'd saved enough for a cheap van and ladders and started up myself......this window cleaner had a huge round so I worked 5 days a week with him...

Even now after all these years he says I was the best worker he ever had(hes still window cleaning trad at 72!)......👍😄

[nathankaye]

Fell out with management at my previous job and signed on  as I had a young family at that time.  Yet that was a joke the amount of money I received. Lol it hardly covered the food bill for a family of 5 and so I needed money quick.   Applied for various selling jobs but they were taking too long and so I went and bought the basics for window cleaning and got stuck into that. Thankfully a friend was renting a small round at the time and so that gave me a base to work from. 
I did window cleaning before this, when I was at college and so it was easy for me to get back into.

Switched to wfp 6 years ago and remarried 7 yrs ago.  Then several months ago, sold up and became a carer working one (well 2 half days) day a month doing a mix of wfp and traditional cleaning.

Agree with you, its no easy task to set up a business and make it last. Cleaning the windows is the easiest part of the job/business and so every now and then its important to recognise that.
I think more so in the recent years because it feels like each village, town or city is saturated with window cleaners compared to when I set up 18 yrs back.

[Smudger]

Fell out with management at my previous job and signed on  as I had a young family at that time.  Yet that was a joke the amount of money I received. Lol it hardly covered the food bill for a family of 5 and so I needed money quick.   Applied for various selling jobs but they were taking too long and so I went and bought the basics for window cleaning and got stuck into that. Thankfully a friend was renting a small round at the time and so that gave me a base to work from. 
I did window cleaning before this, when I was at college and so it was easy for me to get back into.

Switched to wfp 6 years ago and remarried 7 yrs ago.  Then several months ago, sold up and became a carer working one (well 2 half days) day a month doing a mix of wfp and traditional cleaning.

Agree with you, its no easy task to set up a business and make it last. Cleaning the windows is the easiest part of the job/business and so every now and then its important to recognise that.
I think more so in the recent years because it feels like each village, town or city is saturated with window cleaners compared to when I set up 18 yrs back.

er....  who are you ? 

[Panorama]

£25 a week, a weekend millionaire

Weekend millionaire
Isn't that a quote from a Genesis song???

yes, the cinema show

[jonboywalton75]

£25 a week, a weekend millionaire

Weekend millionaire
Isn't that a quote from a Genesis song???

yes, the cinema show

Thought so
Great songs

[Suffolkcleaners]

I'd got sacked from a landscaping job aged 20...I hated it....then my dad kicked me out of the house 2 days later...threw a suitcase into my room at 7am on a cold November morning.....so I was homeless for 10 months on the dole.......I was sleeping on  a mattress at a mates  flat....after a heavy night of drinking I was deep in thought and absolutely skint...needing a job/money.......

THEN!........the window cleaner turns up to clean the flat windows so I asked him for a job!

He said "I'll pick you up at 845am tomorrow morning".......and that was it!within 12 months I'd saved enough for a cheap van and ladders and started up myself......this window cleaner had a huge round so I worked 5 days a week with him...

Even now after all these years he says I was the best worker he ever had(hes still window cleaning trad at 72!)......👍😄

I had to leave the family home also. Was in a toxic environment. Lived in an awful bedsit and couldn’t even pay the rent. Went door knocking fast. Luckily I had a cheap car and ladders and bucket to earn just enough to eat (never mind my rent)

18 years trad and moved over to WFP 5 years ago 😀

[jonboywalton75]

I packed a good shift job with ICI in, took the money and spent it on a ladder and 3 small rounds and made them into big rounds in 1999

[Dave Willis]

I was over qualified for anything else.