[dazmond]

Lost a few to house moves and gained a few, but the new enquiries have been veeeeery quiet for a few weeks now.

Have also lost a good sized commercial job to someone cheaper, multi sites, was worth roughly £400 a month so not ideal.

Ouch!that's not far off £5k a year.....all my work is smaller and cheaper so no big hits in income when I lose one or two

[deeege]

Lost a few to house moves and gained a few, but the new enquiries have been veeeeery quiet for a few weeks now.

Have also lost a good sized commercial job to someone cheaper, multi sites, was worth roughly £400 a month so not ideal.

Ouch!that's not far off £5k a year.....all my work is smaller and cheaper so no big hits in income when I lose one or two

Yep. It’s certainly a downside of doing this type of work.

On the plus side, I also lost a £180/month job, after a couple of crap cleans from the new company I’ve started again at a new price of £280/month.

As you say, our rounds are built on shifting sand  so you’ve gotta take the ups with the downs.

[Mike Burd]

When the price cap on fuel was announced, things settled quite a bit. We definitely didn't see the growth we expected through the summer, but we still grew by an additional van.

We expect to lose 2.5-3% of customers between November & March so we may start to struggle slightly in the Spring before the marketing fires up as a result of less growth. For the first time I'm actively promoting add ons this winter & just in 3 days we've picked up 40 gutter clears so  all will be well here. The scary time was the dithering over domestic fuel help. It was inevitably coming, but we could see there was worry & costs were being cut. Things are calmer now.

[SB Cleaning]

When the price cap on fuel was announced, things settled quite a bit. We definitely didn't see the growth we expected through the summer, but we still grew by an additional van.

We expect to lose 2.5-3% of customers between November & March so we may start to struggle slightly in the Spring before the marketing fires up as a result of less growth. For the first time I'm actively promoting add ons this winter & just in 3 days we've picked up 40 gutter clears so  all will be well here. The scary time was the dithering over domestic fuel help. It was inevitably coming, but we could see there was worry & costs were being cut. Things are calmer now.

Until April when help is stopped and the cap rises again.

[DJW]

That’s when the heating gets turned off 

[SB Cleaning]

That’s when the heating gets turned off 

Mine hasn't been turned on yet

[andycap]

Not so much cancels,but definitely more lengthen the clean time..8 jobs last week monthly to 2 monthly 🥺
With a small part time round that is significant,with other variables at play..🙄

[NWH]

It’s inevitable cleans that are monthly etc will get pushed back been saying this for months.

[AuRavelling79]

It’s inevitable cleans that are monthly etc will get pushed back been saying this for months.

'inevitable' meaning certain to happen; unavoidable.

So if a window cleaner gets a couple of customers who ask to go from monthly to 2 monthly then all the rest will do so to? Of course not. Not inevitable at all.

[Klean07]

We've lost a few this year but have probably gained more to replace them. I always say you lose one and gain two which always seems to work.

[NBwcs]

Not so much cancels,but definitely more lengthen the clean time..8 jobs last week monthly to 2 monthly 🥺
With a small part time round that is significant,with other variables at play..🙄

I would definitely go down the route of pushing these customers to go for a winter break ie no clean in Dec, Jan or Feb rather than change frequency. Once they go 8 weekly it's highly unlikely they'll ever change back to 4,your literally halving your turnover with these people. I politey but firmly decline when asked to change  frequency and explain it doesn't work for me and then offer the "break" as a compromise and usually it works. I'm very honest with them and explain if I let them lengthen their clean times, others will copy and it halves my income, they're generally very understanding of this and as long as you come back with the compromise so they get a saving of some sort they're ok. It does me a favour anyway as long as not too many do it as can't stay on top of things anyway during the dark months.

[KS Cleaning]

Not so much cancels,but definitely more lengthen the clean time..8 jobs last week monthly to 2 monthly 🥺
With a small part time round that is significant,with other variables at play..🙄

I would definitely go down the route of pushing these customers to go for a winter break ie no clean in Dec, Jan or Feb rather than change frequency. Once they go 8 weekly it's highly unlikely they'll ever change back to 4,your literally halving your turnover with these people. I politey but firmly decline when asked to change  frequency and explain it doesn't work for me and then offer the "break" as a compromise and usually it works. I'm very honest with them and explain if I let them lengthen their clean times, others will copy and it halves my income, they're generally very understanding of this and as long as you come back with the compromise so they get a saving of some sort they're ok. It does me a favour anyway as long as not too mant do it as can't stay on top of things anyway during the dark months.

Or you tell them that their price was based on a 4 weekly schedule, the 8 weekly price will be £??.

[NWH]

Once they get you to 8 weekly yes I would definitely agree 99% won’t go back to monthly,I’ve had it in the past when they’ve said that’s worked better for us let’s stick to 8 weekly.
In this climate I would also say that if you was to start talking about putting the price up for extending the time between cleans you’d get pushed down the road lol,I know I would I always put myself in their position and that would be enough for me to sack you off.

[EandM]

When the price cap on fuel was announced, things settled quite a bit. We definitely didn't see the growth we expected through the summer, but we still grew by an additional van.

We expect to lose 2.5-3% of customers between November & March so we may start to struggle slightly in the Spring before the marketing fires up as a result of less growth. For the first time I'm actively promoting add ons this winter & just in 3 days we've picked up 40 gutter clears so  all will be well here. The scary time was the dithering over domestic fuel help. It was inevitably coming, but we could see there was worry & costs were being cut. Things are calmer now.

Until April when help is stopped and the cap rises again.

Oil price is down $30 a barrel since this all kicked off which bodes well for the new year.
But January is significant because the pricing link between gas and electricity is to be abolished which should see the cost of electricity fall dramatically.

Well, until some new reason is invented to raise it of course...

[NBwcs]

Not so much cancels,but definitely more lengthen the clean time..8 jobs last week monthly to 2 monthly 🥺
With a small part time round that is significant,with other variables at play..🙄

I would definitely go down the route of pushing these customers to go for a winter break ie no clean in Dec, Jan or Feb rather than change frequency. Once they go 8 weekly it's highly unlikely they'll ever change back to 4,your literally halving your turnover with these people. I politey but firmly decline when asked to change  frequency and explain it doesn't work for me and then offer the "break" as a compromise and usually it works. I'm very honest with them and explain if I let them lengthen their clean times, others will copy and it halves my income, they're generally very understanding of this and as long as you come back with the compromise so they get a saving of some sort they're ok. It does me a favour anyway as long as not too mant do it as can't stay on top of things anyway during the dark months.

Or you tell them that their price was based on a 4 weekly schedule, the 8 weekly price will be £??.

I never had much success doing this, i tried charging a premium  for 8 weekly as oppose to 4 weekly in my early days and lost them all shortly afterwards. Too many wc's working in a small rural town happy to charge peanuts for a one off. I know it works as a business model for some but not for me. These days im more 5 to 6 weekly which seems to suit the custys needs more, not too short or long a wait between cleans. Still get the odd one wanting to skip.

[andycap]

Thanks guys for your feedback,experiences really appreciated 👍👍

[NWH]

I would be more welcoming with extending the time between cleans what’s the alternative at least you still have the customer,ok love that’s fine but I’ll be wanting more money when I come when you want me to join you back in again,imo I don’t think that’s a good idea but yeah all good if you want to dump em lol.

[KS Cleaning]

I always give any new customers a 4 weekly price and 8 weekly price, that way if they go with the 4 weekly option then later down the line ask to change to 8 weekly, they know the price will change.

[NWH]

I’ll be honest with you I’ve never really bothered with charging more for slightly longer between cleans I’ve found it’s not needed especially with hot water,i say initially 6-8 weekly weather dependant to a degree.
I would say times ahead will be unlike previous tougher periods we’ve had in the past,if someone just said put me back to X instead of 6 weekly I would say that’s a good customer that should be respected because over the next 18 months people have the perfect excuse to sack you off.

[Splash & dash]

It’s inevitable cleans that are monthly etc will get pushed back been saying this for months.

Well I don’t  think that’s the case at all out of 4500 customers I have had one ask to go to 8 weekly , down hear 99% ask for monthly cleans we only offer 4 or 8 weekly on domestic and only have a very small number of 8 weekly , as of next spring I will probably drop the 8 weekly stuff as far to busy .