[NBwcs]

Nothing to do with the fact that they can’t get bits imported and the posting process is slower at the moment then lol,I don’t think you’ll find the delay is down to all and sundry wanting to start window cleaning me old m8.

In which case they wouldn't have specifically mentioned "high demand". Letter post is definitely slower at the mo, I'm getting  most parcels though as quick as ever.

[Phil J]

Got a bank loan 8 years ago, quit my job, bought a round, second hand van and have never looked back. Just wish I'd done it sooner TBH.

[NWH]

The above scenario is what makes someone stick at it they’ve invested money so they are serious about giving it a go,I never worry about the chancers that just get a bucket and ladder or brand new van come to that and just start knocking doors.
If a customer jumps ship for the sake of saving a few quid when you’ve done their windows for years they ain’t worth having anyway,it my mind it would be good riddance.

[Smudger]

I started at the bottom.....



11 year later..........







I'm still there 

[dazmond]

if you had said to me 10 years ago that you could earn £300 for 5 hours of maintenance window cleaning work id have called you a liar......same for earning £1200-£1500 for a 30 hour week mon-fri.........i can earn that with ease some weeks these days.....

a newbie?....not a chance for a good few years(at least!).......

[james peters]

what I find amusing , is that sometimes a new start up with a nice shiny van will give me a daggers look, like how dare I be window cleaning in the same area.....I started in 19 91.......
some of them were not born, or in nursery when I started....
what I have noticed is that a lot of the new start ups ... need to push more for add ons to fill their week up....
nothing wrong with that, I do a fair bit march through to october myself , but (only for regular customers mainly } also , I know they can  charge silly prices which is bonkers.

I think they struggle in the winter months if they dont have enough window cleaning work...
for me , the window cleaning is the back bone , the bread and butter . the extras are the cream.

[Mike Burd]

Gardiners website had a message all last week on its home page advising that delivery of stuff would be  upto 3 days due to high demand. I've never known them take that long and just reflects how many newbies they're are out there.

Pure Freedom are the same. Had too wait three weeks for a system. It’s all a result of window cleaners spending their self employed grants. Those that worked through and claimed the grant buying electric reels.

[NWH]

what I find amusing , is that sometimes a new start up with a nice shiny van will give me a daggers look, like how dare I be window cleaning in the same area.....I started in 19 91.......
some of them were not born, or in nursery when I started....
what I have noticed is that a lot of the new start ups ... need to push more for add ons to fill their week up....
nothing wrong with that, I do a fair bit march through to october myself , but (only for regular customers mainly } also , I know they can  charge silly prices which is bonkers.

I think they struggle in the winter months if they dont have enough window cleaning work...
for me , the window cleaning is the back bone , the bread and butter . the extras are the cream.

If they haven’t got enough for the winter they can’t have much work then can they lol,blimey bit of dodgy weather in the winter and you should be way behind. I just think in general people assume it’s easy to start cleaning windows the bottom line is it takes months to get some work but it takes years to make it a proper paying on time business,it’s only in the last 5-10 years it’s been realised in the general public’s eyes that you can actually earn a decent living from it and that’s my honest opinion.

[Spruce]

Got a bank loan 8 years ago, quit my job, bought a round, second hand van and have never looked back. Just wish I'd done it sooner TBH.

Maybe it wouldn't have worked out if you started it sooner. I believe that 8 years ago was the right time for you to start.

I often think I should have started 25 years ago when the opportunity was staring me in the face. But I wasn't ready for it in many ways. It was all trad working in those days. I could have fallen off my ladder and been disabled or even dead now.

[TomCrowther]

About 25 years ago, I had to borrow some ladders off a mate because I managed to lock myself out of my brothers first floor flat.
Carrying the ladders all of 1/4 mile no less than five women came running out of their front doors asking if I would start doing theirs. I remember thinking “crikey, there’s an opportunity here”.
I think that was lodged in the back of my mind when I got the heave ho ten years ago.

[robbo333]

I've wasted a fortune on crap and cleaned the worst properties you could ever imagine...for no money!

It's the easiest thing in the world to clean windows.

The hard part is building a compact, well priced, round with good customers, that are loyal, respectful and actually want you to clean their windows.

I've built my round the hard way. Would I change a thing...absolutely not.

[NWH]

That crap you cleaned once is what makes all those start ups fail and walk off scratching their heads because they think the majority of the work is like that because that’s all they are getting with either some sort of lead generation or a cheap website,there’s no quick way to get cream work you can get work-jobs but you won’t get what I call quality work till you’ve been at it years.
Big setups with multiple vans lots of work maybe but most of it is not the sort of work I’d want to be doing every day-week,I can’t think of anything worse than having to worry about dealing with cancellations day in day out due to having to run my cleaners ragged for the sake of the turnover.

[james peters]

if I was starting from scratch today ...... I would go door knocking , just as I did when I started in 1991.
I would base it all on numbers and percentages.....
probably along the lines of a 30% drop off of all new customers due to being messers / bad payers.
I think most newbies rely on social media which from my experience  has a 50% amount of messers.

however unlike when I started out knocking on all types , this time around I would only knock on certain types of properties.
ie { no bloody plant pots } lol

[harleyman]

Most of em have  all the gear and no idea watched a couple to day who ive not seen on a new estate  it was like watching  the chucle brothers

[james peters]

Most of em have  all the gear and no idea watched a couple to day who ive not seen on a new estate  it was like watching  the chucle brothers

like us when i started lol.... didnt have a clue

[dazmond]

Most of em have  all the gear and no idea watched a couple to day who ive not seen on a new estate  it was like watching  the chucle brothers

That's the best/ funniest post you ve ever posted mate.....keep it up!it did make me 'chuckle'!👍🤣🤣🤣