[dazmond]

I very rarely get any messers old or young....and I dont get messers just because I send a text to some customers the night before either!sometimes it's for access,sometimes it's a courtesy text...

I find some of my larger stand alone,longer frequency jobs really appreciate a text so they know I'm coming rather than just turning up out of the blue...

What if you turn up a day late/early and can’t get access? Still charge them?

I’d personally hate to be tied to such a strict schedule, I simply couldn’t make it work with my workload.

I dont give a next clean date danny.....just some customers get a text the night before so they know I'm coming or for access reasons....🙂👍

[deeege]

I very rarely get any messers old or young....and I dont get messers just because I send a text to some customers the night before either!sometimes it's for access,sometimes it's a courtesy text...

I find some of my larger stand alone,longer frequency jobs really appreciate a text so they know I'm coming rather than just turning up out of the blue...

What if you turn up a day late/early and can’t get access? Still charge them?

I’d personally hate to be tied to such a strict schedule, I simply couldn’t make it work with my workload.

I dont give a next clean date danny.....just some customers get a text the night before so they know I'm coming or for access reasons....🙂👍

Sorry Daz, I was supposed to quote Richards post, not yours.

[Smudger]

I'm sort of with Richard on this one - we give next clean date - everything runs like clockwork, I understand that not everyone likes to run like this but works well for me

if customer has left gat locked (rare) or we are a day late (even rarer) then we clean the front and charge 1/2 the normal price - I don't think charging full price is correct as the works not been done altho I see why Richard would do this

Darran

[dazmond]

I can be a day early or a day late or a whole week late...it doesn't make any difference....

My schedule is not that strict to the exact day their due on CP!as I sometimes juggle some jobs around here and there to suit me...

[Richard iSparkle]

I very rarely get any messers old or young....and I dont get messers just because I send a text to some customers the night before either!sometimes it's for access,sometimes it's a courtesy text...

I find some of my larger stand alone,longer frequency jobs really appreciate a text so they know I'm coming rather than just turning up out of the blue...

What if you turn up a day late/early and can’t get access? Still charge them?

I’d personally hate to be tied to such a strict schedule, I simply couldn’t make it work with my workload.

I dont give a next clean date danny.....just some customers get a text the night before so they know I'm coming or for access reasons....🙂👍

it does add some pressure to be tied to a schedule yes.

but on the other hand i have staff whose wages i have to pay on the same day every month, and thats pressure to get the jobs done on time

and also chopping and changing dates is pressure to so i think its a case of choosing your poison.

we don't usually turn up late or early, though if we do we text them to let them know

if they complain we refund them some the first time it happens, but ask them next time to please remember as they will be charged... we refund them about 33% for the cost

but it doesnt happen much to be honest, and nobody really complains about it when we charge them

[P @ F]

P&F it could be because as you stated you don’t bother to text the day before coming and Mr Clean has probably offered to do this. I know lots of new customers I get are often impressed that we text the day before. (Sometimes it’s because they have pets that get distressed etc) Also you sound like the type of guy who would want to argue back and forth if they texted you and told you the actual reasons why they changed cleaner and probably cba with the hassle.

My lord Mike , you sound like a doormat mate 
If you wish to fanny about then so be it , I just go in and do the windows and get gone , if they have a cat that shats it’s knickers at the sight of a Gardiner brush then it’s their problem not mine , I’m in it to make money not kiss butt !
As stated before , they usually don’t get a response from me but this one deserved a reply for the entertainment value , I can just see his cat curling one out as I type , priceless that is , you keep wasting time texting and I’ll just crack on cleaning windows and not being a social worker 

[P @ F]

Actually Mike I take that doormat bit back , a bit harsh me thinks ,  we run how we wish to run , I used to run what I thought was a tight ship until 2015 when I had a stroke which I think pressure was a major part of .

Since then it’s been sole trade only and how I want to run things with no exception, it’s my way or the highway , I don’t do stress no more

[swanson]

Well said

[robbo333]

I text, or call, every customer the night before (even the ones I have access to) and it works well for me; I clean 8 weekly.

I wouldn't call a customer 3 times. I would leave one answer phone message and turn up the next day. If it was a new customer and they weren't in, I wouldn't clean it, i'd just not bother contacting them any more. If they have no answer phone, then I wouldn't even take them on.

I don't mind texting at all, it's quick and easy, but about 10% of my work is calls and i'm not a fan of phoning. They are usually old people who tell you about their lumbago, and then tell you again about their lumbago when you turn up the next day.

The irony is, I am working towards building a round of just bungalows...and who owns bungalows?...old people!   

[Smudger]

wait till they move on to their bladder problems.....

[davids3511]

.

I find this hard to believe. A render clean is usually a multi hundred job, no way I'd just turn up and clean incase they moved, died or went bankrupt. A year is a long time, especially a covid year.

[Slacky]

I text, or call, every customer the night before (even the ones I have access to) and it works well for me; I clean 8 weekly.

I wouldn't call a customer 3 times. I would leave one answer phone message and turn up the next day. If it was a new customer and they weren't in, I wouldn't clean it, i'd just not bother contacting them any more. If they have no answer phone, then I wouldn't even take them on.

I don't mind texting at all, it's quick and easy, but about 10% of my work is calls and i'm not a fan of phoning. They are usually old people who tell you about their lumbago, and then tell you again about their lumbago when you turn up the next day.

The irony is, I am working towards building a round of just bungalows...and who owns bungalows?...old people!   

Particularly with lumbago 😆

[Spruce]

I text, or call, every customer the night before (even the ones I have access to) and it works well for me; I clean 8 weekly.

I wouldn't call a customer 3 times. I would leave one answer phone message and turn up the next day. If it was a new customer and they weren't in, I wouldn't clean it, i'd just not bother contacting them any more. If they have no answer phone, then I wouldn't even take them on.

I don't mind texting at all, it's quick and easy, but about 10% of my work is calls and i'm not a fan of phoning. They are usually old people who tell you about their lumbago, and then tell you again about their lumbago when you turn up the next day.

The irony is, I am working towards building a round of just bungalows...and who owns bungalows?...old people!  

This was the aim of most trad windies reaching retirement age. Try to hold onto a few bungalows to clean to supplement their pension. Its more difficult with WFP.

The other problem we have experienced is that bungalows are easy targets for trad cleaners who will do them for peanuts. I think we have only got 2 bungalows that we have done for 12 years and 1 we have done for 8 years; the rest come and go.

We had 1 cancelled last month when she spotted me in the Sainsbury's car park. "My husbands retired now and I'm going to do them and the dormer next door to save money." (The lady in the dormer next door is disabled and lives on the ground floor so the upstairs windows don't need cleaning apparently.)
We drove past there the other day cleaning the other houses in the street and a 20 plate new car was in the driveway ahead of her 16 plate Renault Captur she has had for 4 years.

[Always shining]

All I will say is when you come across some difficult customers. Whenever you feel aggrieved at having to text or phone them. When occasionally you have to jump a back gate. When sometimes they may be a bit off with you. Sometimes they are a bit late paying etc etc etc
Just remember that when you eat your steak and chips. When you get in the shiny new van with heated seats.
When you use your electric reels etc etc
When you sun yourself on the beach in Spain or wherever.
When you chip away at that mortgage year after year.
It’s THEM that are paying for it all.
Find it hard personally to feel anything but grateful to all the customers I have and have had over the years.
So big up the ones with the scatty cats and dogs.
Raise a glass to the ones that put you out for the seconds it takes to text.
Cheers to the grumpy ones who look at you like you’re on the bottom of your shoe.
Makes no odds to me. It’s all about what THEIR money does for me and my family.
If it wasn’t for the customers where would we be???

[AuRavelling79]

All I will say is when you come across some difficult customers. Whenever you feel aggrieved at having to text or phone them. When occasionally you have to jump a back gate. When sometimes they may be a bit off with you. Sometimes they are a bit late paying etc etc etc
Just remember that when you eat your steak and chips. When you get in the shiny new van with heated seats.
When you use your electric reels etc etc
When you sun yourself on the beach in Spain or wherever.
When you chip away at that mortgage year after year.
It’s THEM that are paying for it all.
Find it hard personally to feel anything but grateful to all the customers I have and have had over the years.
So big up the ones with the scatty cats and dogs.
Raise a glass to the ones that put you out for the seconds it takes to text.
Cheers to the grumpy ones who look at you like you’re on the bottom of your shoe.
Makes no odds to me. It’s all about what THEIR money does for me and my family.
If it wasn’t for the customers where would we be???

A nice sentiment but too sentimental.

By weeding out the "my pet gets precedence, the you are like muck on my shoe, the tell me what day and time you're coming and add in the not today they don't need doing, skip for winter, leave it when I'm on holiday" brigade I get a much happier and financially reliable round.

Decades ago someone on here posted that having a little too many customers is the key to a good round. Another said to set out your terms clearly before you take anyone on and don't waiver on those terms.

They were right because then you drop a PITA knowing that the incoming well trained and  good customers will pay for your heated mortgage, shiny new chips, electric holiday in Spain and you can raise a glass with your steak and chips.

[Always shining]

Just too much whining sometimes for me. I left school before the exams a very long time ago and was deemed stupid. Done really nicely for myself despite what people said at the time. So I ‘personally’ feel grateful and always have done. So there are some awkward customers out there. So what! The colour of their money is the same as everyone else. If you don’t want them that’s absolutely fine. I will take them no problem.
So ‘shiny chips’ to you my friend and have a wonderful day!

[james peters]

Just too much whining sometimes for me. I left school before the exams a very long time ago and was deemed stupid. Done really nicely for myself despite what people said at the time. So I ‘personally’ feel grateful and always have done. So there are some awkward customers out there. So what! The colour of their money is the same as everyone else. If you don’t want them that’s absolutely fine. I will take them no problem.
So ‘shiny chips’ to you my friend and have a wonderful day!

whilst I agree with this to a point, I  don't agree entirely
sometimes there comes a time where you have to much work and not enough time .
Not everyone wants to employ. (I am one of them )
so I have to either let  go of some or put some to a longer cleaning frequency.
or put all of my prices up

who am I going to let go.
mrs davies , who greets me with a smile , and pays cash on the day
or mr grumpy who can be rude , and always pays late ?   its a no brainer

however I do agree that whilst you are building, if you have a family to feed, then sometimes you just have to tyake it on the chin
or mr grumpy

[dazmond]

Just too much whining sometimes for me. I left school before the exams a very long time ago and was deemed stupid. Done really nicely for myself despite what people said at the time. So I ‘personally’ feel grateful and always have done. So there are some awkward customers out there. So what! The colour of their money is the same as everyone else. If you don’t want them that’s absolutely fine. I will take them no problem.
So ‘shiny chips’ to you my friend and have a wonderful day!

I have an allotted time 'window' for cleaning every week(currently it's around 20-25hours per week)....

Stipulations...

1.no work that earns me less than £40-£50 an hour at the very least.
2.no messers/skippers for no reason
3.must pay in a reasonable amount of time(14 days or soon after a text reminder)

That's it!😄👍

[Always shining]

Have to agree with you both James and ‘Dazmond’. If you get full up then of course streamline the business to how it suits you. Takes years and a lot of graft to do that 👍

[Always shining]

No need for the constant mentioning of money though. Bit boring to be honest mate.
Just hope you are making it work for you and can retire to the nice house and be comfortable. If not then it’s a bit of a waste of time really. This as always is just my opinion.