[jo5hm4n]

Okay so contrary to a post i made last year where you guys said really my staff needed to be doing way more than £250 a day to be in profit, my newest member of staff whos now been with us 9 months and 6 months in his own van is absolutely smashing it.

This week he did £400+ on 2 days back to back and was still back at the office at 3pm.

Bear in mind this is up north, so honestly im not even sure how this is possible.....  My initial reaction was to think that hes cutting corners and doing a bad job, but honestly he puts 110% into everything he does so i dont think its this at all and hes genuinely the best member of staff ive ever had.

I think hes just really fast and really good.

I thought well if hes doing a bad job, i'll soon find out as we will be getting complaints right?

I was right.  Complaint came in yesterday.  Customer who is a £20 job was kicking off saying he did the job in 8 minutes.

I apologised but asked if she could check the windows and just answer me honestly if they were clean or not including the frames.  She messaged me back today saying the windows and sills look clean, she just wasnt happy how fast he cleaned them and then in a rage she cancelled the GoCardless direct debit lol.

How would you even handle this?  Shes basically admitting that even though he spent 8 minutes on a £20 job the windows are clean and shes only kicking off because it was too fast.

This is a problem i am not used to having 

Not sure whether to have a word with my cleaner to tell him to slow down, or to give him a bonus for hitting insane daily targets that i didnt think was possible and it appears the quality of his work is still spot on.

Any ideas? 

[zesty]

I always say ‘you’re not paying for my time, you’re paying for clean windows’

[KS Cleaning]

Tell the customer he will take an hour next time if she’s happy to pay the hourly rate.

[Slacky]

You’d be fast if you’d cleaned as many windows as I have.

[Stoots]

Sometimes staff can clean quicker than you and do a good job because they are not as anal.

I would like to think I'm quick, but I also make sure to do good job but I once had a lad working with me that I couldn't keep up with. He was on his way back to the front when I was still cleaning it. Like you I assumed the complaints would surely  come but they never did.

When I watched his technique he didn't rinse as much as I did and that's where the extra speed was. I've always been an advocate of high flow and a good rinse but he was "getting away" with a quicker rinse than I thought was adequate.

Just goes to show you can be really quick in this game and for the sale of 1 complaint I certainly wouldn't be telling him to slow down unless complaints start to come in.

Having said that this is the type of weather where you can get away with a poorer job. When it's overcast,dark and rainy you can go quicker.

See what it's like in summer when it's hot maybe you'll start to get spotting problems then. I doubt he has the experience to know when he can go quicker and when he needs to slow down a bit or spot problem windows.

[Bungle]

Cleaned my own windows when I got home yesterday. The sun was low and full on on the back. To be honest they weren't great when they dried. A bit of a run on the patio door and insect poop left on the glass. If I was paying for the service I'd sack myself 😂

[Splash & dash]

Okay so contrary to a post i made last year where you guys said really my staff needed to be doing way more than £250 a day to be in profit, my newest member of staff whos now been with us 9 months and 6 months in his own van is absolutely smashing it.

This week he did £400+ on 2 days back to back and was still back at the office at 3pm.

Bear in mind this is up north, so honestly im not even sure how this is possible.....  My initial reaction was to think that hes cutting corners and doing a bad job, but honestly he puts 110% into everything he does so i dont think its this at all and hes genuinely the best member of staff ive ever had.

I think hes just really fast and really good.

I thought well if hes doing a bad job, i'll soon find out as we will be getting complaints right?

I was right.  Complaint came in yesterday.  Customer who is a £20 job was kicking off saying he did the job in 8 minutes.

I apologised but asked if she could check the windows and just answer me honestly if they were clean or not including the frames.  She messaged me back today saying the windows and sills look clean, she just wasnt happy how fast he cleaned them and then in a rage she cancelled the GoCardless direct debit lol.

How would you even handle this?  Shes basically admitting that even though he spent 8 minutes on a £20 job the windows are clean and shes only kicking off because it was too fast.

This is a problem i am not used to having 

Not sure whether to have a word with my cleaner to tell him to slow down, or to give him a bonus for hitting insane daily targets that i didnt think was possible and it appears the quality of his work is still spot on.

Any ideas? 

As zesty said they aren’t just paying for time it’s ware and tare  of equipment , investing in the best kit to do a quick and quality job all has to be paid for it’s not just 10-15 muinits you see , etc I had this situation years ago I said are you happy with the job the guy said yes  ,I said you are happy with  the job and agreed to the price so wether it takes 5 muinits or 5 hours what’s the problem.  He said I don’t pay my staff xx per hour and ime not paying you that and slammed the door in my face never did get paid 😂😂😂 I would just dump him this situation is very unusual, I would give your staff member a pat  on the back and give him a bonus as an incentive to keep doing what he’s doing .

[Spruce]

I believe it takes us as long or even longer to clean the gap out between the frame and the sill than it does to wash and rinse the whole window.

I know many window cleaners don't bother to clean the gap out, so not doing so will reduce cleaning time per house. I once helped a fellow window cleaner when his van was off the road and he was shocked when I started on the gap. He just told me to wipe the sill with a towel and remove any visible bits from the sill you could see.

[zesty]

I believe it takes us as long or even longer to clean the gap out between the frame and the sill than it does to wash and rinse the whole window.

I know many window cleaners don't bother to clean the gap out, so not doing so will reduce cleaning time per house. I once helped a fellow window cleaner when his van was off the road and he was shocked when I started on the gap. He just told me to wipe the sill with a towel and remove any visible bits from the sill you could see.

Once you start rinsing those gaps, you can say goodbye to time as we know it. The never ending dirt isn’t worth it!

[Splash & dash]

I believe it takes us as long or even longer to clean the gap out between the frame and the sill than it does to wash and rinse the whole window.

I know many window cleaners don't bother to clean the gap out, so not doing so will reduce cleaning time per house. I once helped a fellow window cleaner when his van was off the road and he was shocked when I started on the gap. He just told me to wipe the sill with a towel and remove any visible bits from the sill you could see.

Once you start rinsing those gaps, you can say goodbye to time as we know it. The never ending dirt isn’t worth it!

This is why we charge double for the first clean we remove all this dirt then  the next clean takes a lot less time

[NBwcs]

It happens in lots of businesses, very few members of the public work out the hourly rate they're paying, but sometimes it's obvious, and people always equate it back to what their earning. Take your watch into a jewelers and ask them to fit a battery, you get asked "have you any more shopping to do? Pop bank in half hour" that's because it literally takes them 2 minutes and they sometimes get grief for it. Mechanics and plumbers are always stringing out jobs because sometimes it's a quick fix but they charge an hourly rate. And truth be told, I bet most of us at some time or other have thought the same about other trades too its quite a natural train of thought.
I remember changing over from trad to wfp and getting the odd cynical comment "that's quicker" as they hand over the money. Thankfully, it's more of a fleeting awkward moment than a problem, can't imagine your going to lose much work through it and the positive side of working fast will heavily outweigh the negatives as long as the end quality result isn't suffering.

[simon w]

Apart from making your employee aware of the complaint and the reasons for and against it , I wouldn't worry any further. One complaint out of hundreds of properties cleaned isn't much cause for concern and you can't please everyone always.

He could be slow as hell and still missing windows, so politely keep good communications with your worker over quality of work and how it reflects your business and reputation , might even be time to reward hard work with small wage increase  to keep him and keep him earning for you. He'll leave one day and you'll need to fill his boots which isn't always easy.

[simon w]

Okay so contrary to a post i made last year where you guys said really my staff needed to be doing way more than £250 a day to be in profit, my newest member of staff whos now been with us 9 months and 6 months in his own van is absolutely smashing it.

This week he did £400+ on 2 days back to back and was still back at the office at 3pm.

Bear in mind this is up north, so honestly im not even sure how this is possible.....  My initial reaction was to think that hes cutting corners and doing a bad job, but honestly he puts 110% into everything he does so i dont think its this at all and hes genuinely the best member of staff ive ever had.

I think hes just really fast and really good.

I thought well if hes doing a bad job, i'll soon find out as we will be getting complaints right?

I was right.  Complaint came in yesterday.  Customer who is a £20 job was kicking off saying he did the job in 8 minutes.

I apologised but asked if she could check the windows and just answer me honestly if they were clean or not including the frames.  She messaged me back today saying the windows and sills look clean, she just wasnt happy how fast he cleaned them and then in a rage she cancelled the GoCardless direct debit lol.

How would you even handle this?  Shes basically admitting that even though he spent 8 minutes on a £20 job the windows are clean and shes only kicking off because it was too fast.

This is a problem i am not used to having 

Not sure whether to have a word with my cleaner to tell him to slow down, or to give him a bonus for hitting insane daily targets that i didnt think was possible and it appears the quality of his work is still spot on.

Any ideas? 

Depending on your local competition and who she finds to replace you, she may come crawling back by Easter when her windows aren't looking how they used to. Don't let her sour relationships with an otherwise good employee,as people are fickle and she may just not have liked the way he looked or the fact he didn't find the time to stop chat and answer her bone questions on each visit. Down my way their all working 60 plus hours a week to pay the mortgage so don't have time to rock the boat with the window cleaner or complain. Sounds like the bint has too much time on her hands 

[Smudger]

Joshman - Having had this several times over the years and even been accused of this myself -I wouldn't give it a second thought and its not a legit complaint there are customers that only see the actual time on the glass - not the travel to/from and running costs etc..

If the windows were clean and acceptable then there is nothing more to be done - as mentioned in the course of the conversation  we ask are the windows OK and if so politely say thats what you pay for not the time taken.

Its good to see you have got a dedicated employee who's putting in a good shift - these people are about

Notes:

You may find you will lose that customer - not because you do a bad job but because they cant reconcile the price with time and will always "feel" your not doing it correctly

Sometime for properties like that we used to get the guys to "play" to the customer - you know maybe on the kitchen window - stop for a few seconds - double check it - walk back inspect a spit like it might need some extra cleaning...
it keeps that type happy

Now, a clean is a clean - if they cant fault the quality - they have to lump the time it takes

Darran

[Stoots]

It's because they compute it in their daft heads.

£20 in 8 minutes to £150 per hour x 40 hours a week is 6k.

So they think we are making 300k plus a year when the reality is more like 50k BEFORE TAX 

If only we were robots who could work 40 hours every week of the year  with no emotion, fatigue, illness holidays or life , no travel time between jobs and no expenses...most of us would be millionaires 

[simon w]

It's because they compute it in their daft heads.

£20 in 8 minutes to £150 per hour x 40 hours a week is 6k.

So they think we are making 300k plus a year when the reality is more like 50k BEFORE TAX 

If only we were robots who could work 40 hours every week of the year  with no emotion, fatigue, illness holidays or life , no travel time between jobs and no expenses...most of us would be millionaires 

I aspire to your last paragraph 

[Stoots]

It's because they compute it in their daft heads.

£20 in 8 minutes to £150 per hour x 40 hours a week is 6k.

So they think we are making 300k plus a year when the reality is more like 50k BEFORE TAX 

If only we were robots who could work 40 hours every week of the year  with no emotion, fatigue, illness holidays or life , no travel time between jobs and no expenses...most of us would be millionaires 

I aspire to your last paragraph 

I wish I could.

Sadly my body or mind isn't up to it. Usually fed up and knackered by Wednesday.

[Rob.Hall]

Jo5,
Have you considered it might be you that's being slow and your guy is just normal. 

[jo5hm4n]

Thanks for replies guys.  Pretty much inline with what i thought.

Issue is with the customer itself not the quality of the job.  Which i am glad to hear about as i really dont want to tell my worker to slow down as for the first time for us we have a worker doing really high amounts per day, i guess i may just have to get tons more work in for him as hes literally running out of work by 2pm most days and finishing early by end of the week.

Hes only a part timer but hes doing almost the same amount of work in 3 days as my main worker does in 5 days.

I may need to rethink everything at this point LOL 

[robbo333]

I wonder what amount of time she would have considered reasonable?
She has obviously cancelled your services and sounds like a bit of a nightmare to be honest.
Just send a nice reply and crack on.

PS I would just double check your guys work on a few houses, just for peace of mind and if it's all good, maybe a small bonus.