[Arnold Palmer]

The traffic on here seems to be a bit light recently.

My guess is that CV-19 has killed off loads of prolific posters. They did say that it targets old folk and I've always got a whiff of gammon from CIU.

[swanson]

Killed off a bit dramatic
Everything has it highs and lows

[Shrek]

Maybe people are realising they are shooting them selves in the foot by showing every single detail about our trade on an open forem for every Tom dick and Harry to start up. It was said years ago the market is flooded with cleaners and new start ups, it will only snowball. Giving advice out to time served Windy’s is one thing but helping a newbies start a round , tell them what equipment they need, show them videos on how to clean is just asking for trouble long term.

[zesty]

Maybe people are realising they are shooting them selves in the foot by showing every single detail about our trade on an open forem for every Tom dick and Harry to start up. It was said years ago the market is flooded with cleaners and new start ups, it will only snowball. Giving advice out to time served Windy’s is one thing but helping a newbies start a round , tell them what equipment they need, show them videos on how to clean is just asking for trouble long term.

That’s why I don’t ever put my website on here, or business name.

Don’t want locals snooping around my ideas/knowing what work I’ve got.

I keep it stealth on here. You never know what competition is lurking.

It’s a good forum, but by its very nature, it’s wholly repetitive. Same subjects every month or so.

[Arnold Palmer]

Maybe people are realising they are shooting them selves in the foot by showing every single detail about our trade on an open forem for every Tom dick and Harry to start up. It was said years ago the market is flooded with cleaners and new start ups, it will only snowball. Giving advice out to time served Windy’s is one thing but helping a newbies start a round , tell them what equipment they need, show them videos on how to clean is just asking for trouble long term.

That’s why I don’t ever put my website on here, or business name.

Don’t want locals snooping around my ideas/knowing what work I’ve got.

I keep it stealth on here. You never know what competition is lurking.

It’s a good forum, but by its very nature, it’s wholly repetitive. Same subjects every month or so.

Me too, I have in the past, then had my website plagiarised verbatim.

[Smudger]

Summer is usually a little quieter but I have to say from a personal perspective the raging brexit threads followed by the corvid slanging matches d then the troll have led to a lot leaving the forum or expressing a point of view

I think as the bad weather returns so will some healthy debates 🤞

Darran

[Kev Martin]

Helping others is in my mind why forums exist.  Some forums are a complete and utter waste of time.  However,  I think this one is on the whole OK.  Whether you are a Carpet,  Window or Hard Floor Cleaner  I think most would agree that they have got or had some good advice and help out of sensible posts on here, if I am right it must have done some good.  There will always be those that lurk and there will always be the disingenuous amongst the audience but does it matter?   As long as someone, somewhere has got some help out of a sensible post then it has done some good.   IMHO the narcissists can just sod off and do what they like.

[Shrek]

Helping others is in my mind why forums exist.  Some forums are a complete and utter waste of time.  However,  I think this one is on the whole OK.  Whether you are a Carpet,  Window or Hard Floor Cleaner  I think most would agree that they have got or had some good advice and help out of sensible posts on here, if I am right it must have done some good.  There will always be those that lurk and there will always be the disingenuous amongst the audience but does it matter?   As long as someone, somewhere has got some help out of a sensible post then it has done some good.   IMHO the narcissists can just sod off and do what they like.

You do a completely different job to us window cleaners so you won’t understand the market. There is a lot less Carpet / floor cleaners than window cleaners , in my town there are 4 companies that do carpet/floor cleaning. There are 15 window cleaners, you would support and advise as many carpet/cleaners as possible because you own a business that sells chemicals to them so it’s in your interest to do so and will profit massively off the back of it. IT IS NOT in a window cleaners interest to help newbies start up a window cleaning business and WILL end up losing business/new opportunities  in the long term. No need for the name calling

[Smudger]

Sorry shriek, I think your wrong, the forum as Kev has said should be here to help, which in the most part does, but to think it will take your customers away is wrong, I bet out of all the window cleaners in the country barely 10% know of ciu 

People will always start up window cleaning and the very basics don't need a forum, you need customers and to get customers you need social skills - I have found, in the early days customers to be very loyal to their current windy (when starting out) and now I'm established, quite often when ringing up to pay I told someone has tried to 'steal' my work - their words not mine

Yes we all lose the odd one here and there, we gain as well, that's customers for you, but the only way you lose a significant amount is - poor work or  poor service  for these you have to look at yourself not others

Darran

[Shrek]

I’m not saying every new window cleaner knows about ciu, but the knock on effect of helping 1 new window cleaner which then turns into a team of window cleaners etc etc on here could and will have a snowball effect long term. Kev profits from selling chemicals to cleaners so he will obviously be in favour of a million new start ups. If you google maps carpet/floor cleaners in your area or any area and compare window cleaners in your area , you’ll see a massive difference in numbers.

[Shrek]

Look at what happened to Royal Mail after they lost the monopoly, look at what happened to local shops (butchers,newsagents etc) after all these supermarkets started opening. Losing business is inevitable once more people want a share of the pie. Royal Mail , tescos , even Mr Pryor etc certainly wouldn’t be helping people start up the exact same business as them on a public forum because the end result is that the piece of the pie gets smaller and smaller and smaller.

[Smudger]

Thank god they did- look at how it exposed the absolute tragic way the post service is run - personally I think competition  is a good thing - if memory serves, Starbucks always sets up near other coffee shops, not just for the sake of trying to out do the competition but raise the profile of coffee shops- where the customer sees more than one coffee shop they tend to use at least one of them where in the past may simply have not used the single shop available.

Tesco's etc....  have become what they are by giving us what we wanted when we wanted for the price we want - something the local shops failed to do  (limited stock, silly opening hours  like half day closing on Wednesday locking the doors at 4.45pm when the open times were till 5pm etc..)- now thankfully some have learnt this lesson by providing real quality items and personal service  - I shop at the local butchers as the chicken is free range and not injected with water like the supermarket stuff - it costs more but tastes better and feeds more people

Darran

[Stoots]

This forum has always been slow compared to the other one so no I dont think it's a problem.

I think most noobs flock to the other forum because it's much more active and much more info is posted.

This forum is more for the seasoned window cleaner who doesn't really have much to learn. I can't say I've learned much from here I just enjoy the different characters that frequent it.

And yes Shrek is absolutely right, if you just come on this forum then you would probably not think there is much of a problem but on other forums and in particular the Facebook groups there's a new start up everyday and the information is handed out freely.  It only takes one to start up, then tell his mates who tell their mates etc. Window cleaning is far too accessible these days and the arse will fall out of it eventually.

That said, it's the curse of the Internet as a whole, you can find out how to do anything online so it's probably not just limited to window cleaning but I don't think there's much we can do about it now in the digital age it's just the way the world is, everyone knows everyone's business and there's no where to hide.

[zesty]

You kind of can hide Adam, to an extent...

I’m very careful about posting exactly where I live. I don’t want local competition to know much about what work I’ve got etc.

I don’t and won’t post my business name. For the reason above.

I don’t name the exact commercial jobs I’ve got, nor  the car show room brand names I clean.

Now obviously the local cleaners all know who I am, and will be aware of some of the work I do. But I do try and limit it as much as possible on here.

For example, I would never say:

 ‘I clean (insert a commercial job) on a 4 weekly basis for (£400 or whatever) quid. Through so and so estate management company.’

Because by doing that, I’m telling everyone and anyone in my area exactly what I clean, and through whom I clean it. That’s just asking for trouble with undercuts.

So my way of using this forum is being very vague about my own business, whilst helping people with menial stuff/getting help with menial stuff, like system issues etc.

I don’t mind people knowing how much I earn (roughly) if the thread turns that way (which this forum is famous for) but I’d never tell anyone my business name, exact location, and what work I clean.

I also have to be honest, you are all my competitors, so that’s always in the back of my mind.  I don’t want to help other local guys set up with the same knowledge and experience I have. I don’t want more competition. I want all the commercial to myself. 

Obvs, if you live miles away, doesn’t really matter to me, but I suppose the point I’m making, is, I don’t want locals knowing my business.

Other than that, I’m here for the BANTS 

[Arnold Palmer]

You kind of can hide Adam, to an extent...

I’m very careful about posting exactly where I live. I don’t want local competition to know much about what work I’ve got etc.

I don’t and won’t post my business name. For the reason above.

I don’t name the exact commercial jobs I’ve got, nor  the car show room brand names I clean.

Now obviously the local cleaners all know who I am, and will be aware of some of the work I do. But I do try and limit it as much as possible on here.

For example, I would never say:

 ‘I clean (insert a commercial job) on a 4 weekly basis for (£400 or whatever) quid. Through so and so estate management company.’

Because by doing that, I’m telling everyone and anyone in my area exactly what I clean, and through whom I clean it. That’s just asking for trouble with undercuts.

So my way of using this forum is being very vague about my own business, whilst helping people with menial stuff/getting help with menial stuff, like system issues etc.

I don’t mind people knowing how much I earn (roughly) if the thread turns that way (which this forum is famous for) but I’d never tell anyone my business name, exact location, and what work I clean.

I also have to be honest, you are all my competitors, so that’s always in the back of my mind.  I don’t want to help other local guys set up with the same knowledge and experience I have. I don’t want more competition. I want all the commercial to myself. 

Obvs, if you live miles away, doesn’t really matter to me, but I suppose the point I’m making, is, I don’t want locals knowing my business.

Other than that, I’m here for the BANTS 

https://youtu.be/7T5K1HxEBCU

[Kev Martin]

I’m not saying every new window cleaner knows about ciu, but the knock on effect of helping 1 new window cleaner which then turns into a team of window cleaners etc etc on here could and will have a snowball effect long term. Kev profits from selling chemicals to cleaners so he will obviously be in favour of a million new start ups. If you google maps carpet/floor cleaners in your area or any area and compare window cleaners in your area , you’ll see a massive difference in numbers.

You couldn’t be further from the truth if you tried I am afraid.  Firstly you need to understand my business!  I don’t sell any chemicals at all which are related to  either Carpet or Window Cleaners which is at least 85% of this Forum.  With hard floor cleaners on here most mainly use Hypo as their go to chemical and I don’t sell that or advocate the use of it at all.  In fact I benefit financially very little from being on this forum., so much so, I would estimate the profit from actual sales from this forum at under a tenner a week.  I mainly come on here to wade in with my 10p’s worth  and offer advice where I can.   I have however, taught over 250 people  (some from this forum) to clean hard floors correctly and some of those in turn have become trade customers  who do spend money with us as a company.  But if I relied on this or any other forum  for a living I would have gone out of business and been bankrupt  many years ago!

[Forum Admin]

Hi Guys,

We have noticed a higher usage in the past few months, the stats and site usage are still growing, here's a comparison to this time last year for your information:

Month	New topics	New posts	New members	Most online at one time	Page views
June 2019	168	3619	84	596	1417402
May 2019	205	3516	99	472	1656865
April 2019	219	4059	91	571	1479567
March 2019	251	5447	111	629	1468102

Month	New topics	New posts	New members	Most online at one time	Page views
June 2020	251	4943	135	543	1587048
May 2020	273	6886	151	769	1555357
April 2020	258	7576	110	681	1367950
March 2020	394	9202	135	981	1510060

[AuRavelling79]

Hi Guys,

We have noticed a higher usage in the past few months, the stats and site usage are still growing, here's a comparison to this time last year for your information:

Month	New topics	New posts	New members	Most online at one time	Page views
June 2019	168	3619	84	596	1417402
May 2019	205	3516	99	472	1656865
April 2019	219	4059	91	571	1479567
March 2019	251	5447	111	629	1468102

Month	New topics	New posts	New members	Most online at one time	Page views
June 2020	251	4943	135	543	1587048
May 2020	273	6886	151	769	1555357
April 2020	258	7576	110	681	1367950
March 2020	394	9202	135	981	1510060

And that's despite Tosh disappearing ... 

[Shrek]

I’d say Nigel was a big contributor to those figures! 😂
It’s not surprising the figures went up , probably the same people spending longer on the forum as we’ve been in lockdown for months!

[NWH]

🤣🤣 good forum this one all you need to know if you are starting could be found on here,there’s people on here from all parts of the country.