[Pj]

Right, now listen up you lot!

I'm getting very bored of climbing ladders and doing the same old stuff for £100-130 a day.
Two issues here:  Tired of doing same stuff.  For £100 - £130 a day.
Answer: If you are doing lets say £550 a week trad consistently, as you say you are, if you were doing that same work wfp you will do it in less time.  At the end of your first year you will have got into a routine of doing that amount in a maximum of 4 days a week, at your average day.  So if you pick up extra work for that 5th day only, you will make an extra £100 per week minimum.  That is a pessimistic estimate.  Don't forget I am much slower than you, I don't do time trials, but I know on your figures I am being conservative.
I'm tired and fed up.
Yes, that doesn't go away.
Luckily for me it's bungalows tomorrow.
Still do bungalows mainly trad, makes a nice change, as it always did.
Looks like if I'm going to carry on I'll need one of these Bogbrush things.
You will need to spend more than usual..Take it one step at a time, you already have a good business
I can't do much about it now, as I've got no ready cash, and no van or place to make water.
You know about vehicles, engine size is important, get the biggest box on wheels you can afford
However.....
You must be wasting a lot of money from week to week already on your private life, re-evaluate your spending, re-invest a bit more back into your business

Am I really going to be that much better off?
.Enough to make it worthwhile
Is it really that much less tiring?
Physically, yes!  But you will be spending more time and money on the learning curve, which is quite interesting.
Am I going to get annoyed with constant problems, like it seems on here?
No.  Most of them are from novices, with no-one they know to ask.  you have a personna already, which most like, strangely enough.  The teething problems are solved quite quickly.I need to make enough extra to pay for equipment and a van and still be better off.
It is up to your business accumen.  It won't take someone like you more than a year, max.
I know some like Neil are going to say I'll be an overnight millionaire, but I'd be interested to hear from Ross or Dave of St.Ives, as they seem to not had a major increase in profits.
I was disappointed you didn't include me, maybe because you are secretly hoping to make big money.  That is why Dave hasn't posted lately, I'm sure!  He is simply working like mad.  There is so much work for wfp if you are in a built up area!  I'm not, but I am not stupid.

As for Ross, well he works as a foursome, in a breadbasket of Britain, sorry Ross.  I work in a depresseed area.  Do it Rog, while you still can mate!Lets have some good answers, not "it's safer", I know that. :

Lets not have a load of abuse either, I never said I was going to prefer the results, just the effort and the money.

Cheers, Rog. (sorry it's been a long post)

Even longer now!

[poleman]

BH   well good luck mate  

Andy  

[macleod]

DONT DO IT SQUEEKY 

There are down sides to it and id be happy to give you my comments.
I do commercial mostly so it will be biased.

Give me a shout tomorrow 07725077862

[Easyclean Windows]

Admittedly I don't have large commercial jobs, and I'm never going to make his ort of money, but even on my round he'd surely make more...wouldn't he]Admittedly I don't have large commercial jobs, and I'm never going to make his ort of money, but even on my round he'd surely make more...wouldn't he

Squeaky i went into this 3 years ago after giving up a £500 a week job driving lorries in and around london all day getting up at 2am it made me ill and i couldnt do anything with my family.

I have 4 daughters 2 of my own 2 step so a past marraige too.

No water fed poles dont make you a millionare, but what they can do is make your window cleaning a more speedier procces than doing it by hand which i know you allready know.

I have a few commercial accounts but i only do blocks of flats and the "special" office block the rest i dont do because in this game i want to make a decent living by doing something i like doing.

When i started by hand i couldnt even knock a door because i was afraid of the door being slammed in my face and being told to f@*+ off tosser we allready got one.

Lucky for you you allready have your customer base so you could intergrate them into water fed poles.

I dont want to make millions i just want to make enough to take my family on holiday,pay my bills and have a great weekend.

I get up at 8am ok some on here even yourself up and out for 7 but i know what i can do in a day with wfp whic is more than by hand.

I was lucky, a chap stoped quick in his car one day and asked if i wanted to clean some flats, ok i said i went and looked 3 floors about 200 windows £400 i said . thats great he said it takes 3 days 3 blokes to do on ladders it takes me 3 hours for £400 wow so then he gave me more work customers were pleased.


I had a call this year from a building company for a quote they needed 4, but ladders were not an option.

So i quoted £300 for a square block of flats which i cleaned every friday for 3 months and because they were cleaned that regular the time it took was less and less £300 for 3 hours work and they paid without fail.

Houses my standard minimum is £10 per house ok it varies in areas but  i only do 20 day if i havent got ant £40 to do .

But i dont do less than £200 a day in houses when i do.

My biggest house used to get cleaned by two chaps on ladders it took 2 days all lead glass 3 fllors up 200 windows i charge the same £200 it takes 4 hours.

I can and have eraned £1,500 per week ok not every week but i can.

I come home early i dont work weekends if i dont want to i got a nce house and car ...not that im into flash cars or houses any way.

My girls get what they want ..almost but most of all im happy now im not as ill as i was then.

I know you havent heard great things on here regarding wfp but like anything they all have faults most can and have been sorted.

There you go and for the record when i started 3 years ago i had a ladder and a fiesta and the reason i went wfp wasnt for safety because the wahd hadnt chaged then it was when someone asked me to clean their windows but icouldnt reach half of them.Not because they were to high but in awkward places above roofs with wooden slates.

I then invested in wfp and havent looked back.

If you want to email me i can show you my accounts and invoices for some big jobs i have done so you can see you can ern more.

               

[jeff1]

What ever way you go Rog, good luck! if you do go wfp at least you can chase those big contracts, and I do mean it when I say good luck.

[macc]

Hi Squeaky.

It wont make you a million but yes you do earn more. What used to be a long hard day takes me to about 2pm now, thats including chats & extra coffees.

Trust me, its a lot less effert, a major plus for me.
The odd bit of grief but i can live with it, wfp is not brain surgery, if i can sort problems out anyone can.
Since swiching my work is done every week, no lost turn over.
I felt the same as you when i was trad, bored & nackered, not now mate, i enjoy my job & its easy now.
What took me 5 days to complete takes 3 to 3.5 days now. So i can take on more work & have more days off.

A mate of mine told me about wfp 4 years ago, i laughed at him, said all the things you have said, i wish i had listened.

What ever you decide mate good luck.  

Macc

[Sir Squeaky]

Cheers guys, so far so good.

It seems to be pretty much the same story so far.

Any bad points?
I'm sure it won't put me off, I'd just like to know what I'm getting myself into.

I know it's more bother at the start and end of the day.
That bugs me a bit.

[AuRavelling79]

Squeaky - what car you driving? You may not need a van straight away as you can transfer all of your kit into it later. (except the bigger tank you'll buy or the extra one you'll add.) Don't forget the trailer option.

I'm fully wfp and still running out of my honda estate with about 250L (175L tank plus 2-4 barrels) and water saving devices (autobrush/varistream/backpack).

[ronaldo]

Come up and do a few days with me Squeak we,ll have a right laugh earn a few bob and drink a few beers and clean plenty of windows and i,ll let you loose with wfp without any l plates 

[macc]

Getting over the fist few cleans, i hated that bit. It does take longer.
Working out the best routine on each house.
Loading up with water for next day.

To be honest, for me there is nothing to hate about it.

When i'm at home loading water or cleaning the filters or something else needs sorting, it does not seem so bad when i'm home early sorting out the above with a stella.

Oh yes, a big downer to me, my musels are a bit smaller now & i've put a bit on the belly, i think its because work is so much easier going. Cant win them all.

Macc

[james cairns]

rog you have mail

jinky

[Pj]

Notice anything Squeaky?

32 replies, and all with sound advice to help you.  Not one insult, not one criticism, not one put-down.

Why?

Are they all trying to trick you?  For crying out loud!

I must admit, there is a lot of rubbish, as far as I am concerned about wfp, but, when you get the hang of it, it's a bit like the squeegee, the bucket on the belt etc.  There is no going back, and you wonder why you resisted so long!

It is a pain in the neck with costs, and learning how it works, but you had to do that trad??  It's not much different.

Why should I bother advising you?  I don't even know you!  I'll tell you why, because someone took the time to help me!  I resisted for 3 years.

[Bonzer]

I'm into my 5th month WFP and here's an honest appraisal of it;

For the first month I was either the same speed as I was with trad or slightly slower.
After all the first cleans were out the way, I sped up dramatically. I am now doing 40% more per day than I used to.
Even now, I still come home absolutely shattered with an aching neck and shoulders - although this is getting less and lessof a problem.
You WILL get complaints and you WILL probably lose one or two customers, but the extra work you will get (conservatory roofs etc) will more than make up for this.
Even after 5 months I still have a slightly uneasy feeling wondering whether I've left some marks on some windows. This isn't nice because I've always taken pride in my work and know I leave my trad windows nearly perfect. You get to realise there are some windows that will never clean well with wfp. I'm learning to deal with that and I try to only take on new customers with decent UPVC window frames or well-kept wooden frames where I know wfp will be no problem at all. I am always getting comments on how good the windows are now (stay cleaner longer, more 'clear' etc etc) so that helps to deal with the occasional negative comments.

This sounds a bit negative but I certainly wouldn't go back to ladders. I feel safer - not risking slipping on certain roofs trying to reach certain windows, I am earning more per hour and I have more opportunities to earn more. The results are getting better all the time.

[tomo]

Rog. before i went wfp i didnt have much ready cash so one way i was thinking of going was leasing a system from ionic  i looked into it it was about 60-70 quid a month for a 300ltr system might be cheaper than that but in the end I borrowed some money from one of my relatives and set up all in for about £1250


i work out of a seat ibiza carrying eight barrels of 30ltrs not ideal but saving for a van I'm using a freedom trolley. i wouldn't say i'm a millionaire but i am definitley quicker and putting an average £40 per day on my income = £200 a week more its not easy to start but once you work out the quickest way of doing things you'll be away mate.....and your experince as a trad window cleaner will definitly give you an advantage. its been 1 yr now and i average £30 per hour on my rounds as opposed to 23 or 24 on the ladders hope this helps  

regards tomo

[Pj]

You know you'll get an honest answer from me Rog.

But before I waste my time, do you want my thoughts?

Of course Pj, you're one of the people I trust most.

Davie, I intend to cut out ladders full stop, if it can't be done then so be it.
I don't want to have to carry them around as well.

I'll still do my shops trad, as it's far too much bother moving a van about shop to shop for 3 or 4 quid a time.
I know I'm quicker on them, and besides which I enjoy squeegeeing.

But everything else will be ladder-free.

Yes, keep these

Think of wfp as the ladder free option, thats where it saves you, and if you work it right, makes you more profit.

[JM123]

Oi Squeeky, no matter what Ior anyone else says, there will always be work to do with the squeegee (shops etc) so don't bin your unger yet.  What I will say is buy as good as you can afford, especially hose and pole wise, and as long as you continue to take pride in your work (which everyone here knows you do) then you will always do a great job and who knows, the extra time off could be used to canvass etc leading to more work and better money. Finally don't ever say you'll never make as much as anyone else, if I can do 200/300£s a day then you definitely can.

[Sir Squeaky]

Well I've slept on it, and it's still on my mind.

I'll have to have a try at it with one of the locals.

I hope having a bad back and neck a lot isn't going to be a problem though.
I assume you can get really lightweight stuff (which costs a fortune).

[Sunshine Cleaning]

If your angle of pole is correct you shouldn't get a bad neck.

Try to find extra work, and save a bit of money, it is worthwhile getting the best system you can for your work, rather than keep spending. If the Mrs has a car a van is ideal.

[Terry_Burrows]

he has gone soft its going to cost you big bucks to start that window brush sweeper fing,plus the every so oftern filters etc,you would not get me with all the tea in china to use one just not worth the hassle

[macc]

Well I've slept on it, and it's still on my mind.

I'll have to have a try at it with one of the locals.

I hope having a bad back and neck a lot isn't going to be a problem though.
I assume you can get really lightweight stuff (which costs a fortune).

Good idea about trying it out mate.

As for the aches & pains, yes i got them for the first few months, your using different mussels, but now nothing to realy moan about. I was always aching when trad.

Like Terry said, wfp does make you soft.

Another point Rog, its friday, my weeks work is done, i would have had to work today & saturday to get it done. But i've also done 2 con roofs & power washed a patio this week.

So today i had a exta hour in bed, going to clean my van & have a easy day at home.

Macc