[EasyClean]

It can only get harder simply because this is a PUBLIC not closed member forum and so many window cleaners love to brag of their new benchmark achievable earnings for a day which is encouraging more newbie people to start up window cleaning using WFP now that they realise they don't have to climb ladders to do the job. What do you expect, of course it's going to get harder because you are encouraging competition!!!

[Stevie G]

easyclean well said mate.  this site is not a secret! its open to everyone.

[Paul Coleman]

I notice that new enquiries have got a lot fewer over the past year.  Also, referrals don't seem to happen very much these days.  The latter may be because I've had a lot of my customers for a long(ish) time so any referrals from them happened some years back.
I think it's time to start freshening things up again and have a look around for some new work.  At least I am not desperate like when I first started in '91 so I can price well.

[window pain]

I've been out leafletting in the past month, responses are well down on what I would have expected at this time of the year.

Also, one of my customers phoned me up last week. "Hello this is Mrs McCabe from Central Avenue. I don't want you to clean my windows anymore. Thank you"

"Oh" says I "weren't you satisfied with them?"

"No no, its not that........."                but she wouldn't say what it was. She sounded increasingly embarrassed before she put the phone down. She didn't have to tell me I had already guessed

Now I know that there have been a couple of Eastern European blokes canvassing around Central Avenue. Other customers have told me.
Their sales technique is to ask how much the customer is paying now then fall about laughing when they are told and say "thats far too much, we'll do it for £8 "

It looks like they have had some success with Mrs McCabe .
The trouble is that in an area where the going rate is £12 to £15 they are putting the idea into people's minds that they could be paying £8. Even if they don't nick the customer they are doing damage.

My own house has been leafletted again this week by someone called Tom and Jay. I don't know them so they may be a new startup. We had another leaflet from somebody else a few months ago. In all the years we have lived here we only ever had one leaflet in the past.

Everything I see suggests the competition is getting tougher.

There have always been amateurs chancing there arms at window cleaning, if they stick at it they soon realise that they have charge realistic prices if they want a long term, legitimate  business. I read an article recently about a "polish" builder in greenford, he admitted he didn't have any real qualifications apart from assisting his father who was a plumber in poland. he started off using his polishness as a selling point for his services, polishness being a euphemism for "cheap",  but once he got his foot in the door he started hiking up his prices. he had realised that it cost a lot off money to live in london,  he didn't see why he should work for less than any one else.

[window pain]

Another point, this is what the people of this country voted for,a bit like turkeys voting for Christmass, with further intergration into the E.U. ahead it won't get any better.

[Clive McDonald]

Stop whineing and moaning and get on with it. Don't you think other sectors in this country are under pressure too.

Most of you if you are unskilled and over forty left to fend for yourselfs in the emploment market would, if you were lucky enough to get an interview be looking at jobs for six pounds an hour.

Notice that on that parade of shops near where you live or your local high street every time a shop closes it reopens with A4 consent, and reemerges as either a sandwhich shop or a takeaway of some kind.This is not happening just by you it is happening everywhere.
The number and type of business's that can make it out there is shrinking rapidly due to supermarket domination, out of town shopping, internet, parking costs and yellow lines etc. Imagine if you've had a chip shop for years and then a pizza a kentucky and a sandwhich bar open up nearby. That is what is happening as people dive into the diminshing number of opportunities. There has to be limit to how many of us can earn a living making sandwhichs though.

I made the decision to start a window cleaning business independently of this forum. I found this forum when I was researching the market and have stuck with it.

The good news is that despite the low barriers to entry and possible rewards sometimes alluded to on this forum the brightest and the best often dismiss us as a business immediatly.This may have something to do with the perception of low social status ,the idea that the slightest blip in the economy and the window cleaner is the first person to be dropped, and the fact that many weeks if not months of hard work are required to biuld an acceptable wage.

So you're in a great business which is expanding rapidly, and fortunatly  overlooked by many smart operators. We should think ourselves lucky.

[Moderator David@stives]

Put it in another perspective, my turnover is growing 25% year on year.

When it stops growing i will worry then and not before.

Dave

[Paul Coleman]

Put it in another perspective, my turnover is growing 25% year on year.

When it stops growing i will worry then and not before.

Dave

25 - 30% looks like being my turnover growth from last year to this as well.  It's much better than it looks though because it is being achieved in a LOT less work time.

[Clive McDonald]

Funny that you should mention the unmentionable on the other post Shiner. I do mention it and mostly they do want 8
weeks. Not sure if this is a trend or an own goal by me. I asked Vince Green about this and he said it was a trend and not to blame myself as he still gets it wrong.He also said that pre George it was more of a problem.

I remember you or Tosh saying that it used to be everytwo weeks when you pushed a pram with your ladders on top around your local area, when we all lived in terraces and had smoking chimneys.

The quality of my work(accounts) is good otherwise and I have a high takeup. Maybe thats why. Best not disscus it on here as it puts ideas into others heads, but I just thought I'd mention it to you.Part of my strategy is sustainabiltiy, and these are people are not going to cancel even if they are on good prices.

[Lakes and Pennine]

I have notice that a few wcs are now employing these from other countries..and not being funny but I have seen the prices some of you pay your men...These people arnt daft, they will  be in this industry in no time especialy with the big boasts. I knew blokes who never even showed the wife their pay packets.  descresion is the better part of vallor.

Who is going to pay for some one eles's foreighn holiday and have a week in skeggy because they only get £60 a day and put another £100 on for their employer. I'm one of them Why should someone sit in the cabin whilst I'm laid in water breathing dust and shoveling coal? Disneyland here I come If we all knew the winning lottery numbers then the payouts would be small. So lets be wise in all our buisness dealings. Licencing and training and keep the oppertunists out. If it cost you 10k to set up rather than  70 quid for a ladder, 90p for some fairy and an orenge bucket from B&Q then we may have some protection to out livleyhood and our childrens livleyhood

[mattywig]

Ive just sat down and read this entire topic from start to finish and it's just exactly what been on my mind for ages!!  Im bricking it from the point of view of polish workers who are over the moon to work for minimum wage thinking 15 per hour what most of us wouldn't spit on is all their christmas's come at once!
  Im in the north east and the polish invasion hasn't hit us too hard yet but going back to the comment about really smart people discovering window cleaning am I the only one who has had nightmare about a major brand such as Tesco launching into window cleaning and making a national franchise type operation of it?  Im sure that with the right marketing and tv advertising someone like Tesco could absolutely clean up (excuse the pun!).  Infact I'm definite that Tesco won't have another business with a higher profit margin than window cleaning.

Sorry to mention this hope my fears are ill founded, don't have nightmares do sleep well!!!

[AuRavelling79]

One thing not mentioned are  the recent rises in interest rates.

I think the heavily mortgaged set are just beginning to feel the pinch and dropping w/c. (I've had two younger couples cancel in the last six months who have had first babies and so their income must be tight.)

On the other hand the "fifty/sixty-plus" home owners are often financially well off. Their savings are attracting more interest and lifespans are increasing. I've had a few of these come on board.

I'm still gaining more than I lose and am still looking to drop poorer paying work at the end of the summer.

But there is a change in the air but I'm not quite sure what is causing it.

No obvious Eastern Europeans encroaching on my round yet.
 

[Helen]

Business is business and we will all experience highs and lows along the way (even if we don't want to admit to the lows )
As with any industry you get back what you put in and you evolve if you want to! Competition is good for your business, it keeps you focused and on your toes. Too many industries have sat back thinking that "this will always be the same" to be hit very hard, when fresh ideas come about. Want to hold on to your customers.....offer something different to other WC's, be it price wise, phone calls or whatever. Speak to your customers, don't be afraid to ask "to improve my service to you, what ideas would you have?" Be original, this will work with some customers, but not all. Expect to lose some to competition, but sit back and think when you have taken new customers on, how many times have you heard, "I am uphappy with the WC I have at present, that is why I have called on you!" Keep positive and keep taking your business where you want to take it.