[dave0123]

Is it just me or have work died down??

Iv never really had it like this.. but just dont seem to be getting people ringing up wanting a window cleaner! i had to check if my phone was still working 


Dave

[MJH]

Alright Dave

Do you advertise?

[pylofm]

Here in Holland during July/August, practically everybody leaves their house to go camping or jet out of the country with the kids....Most builders have their holidays...the place is like a ghost town....could it be the same there..??

Dave.

[KarlJones]

Thats a good point actually, with the big hols so close you might get more of a "I will do them myself in the holidays" mentality creeping in.  Along with the annual influx of summer cleaners and the cost of actual holidays, interest rate rises it is not that surprising.

For some unknown reason though, I tend to get calls come along in a bunch then I get nothing for a while.  Though I am newer than you so I probably experience it more.

[Davew]

Same here, nothing new for days then you get a sudden burst of new customers only for it to all die off again.

[Russell Macdonald]

I used to moan that i wanted to work when i was trad, now i'm Wfp i'm fed up with not having any time off

[RO-Sheen]

I must be very lucky then cos I have had 10 new regular customers since the beginning of Jul. Then again i have leafletted a couple of estates.

[Paul Coleman]

I used to moan that i wanted to work when i was trad, now i'm Wfp i'm fed up with not having any time off

It's the exact opposite for me  

In spite of pumping out a few hundred leaflets in recent days, I've not had a single phone call.  Early days yet as sometimes it takes people a few days to get around to responding.  However, I have met a few people while I've been leafletting and they are my most promising leads to date.  Have done several quotes but only for people I've actually met.  It reinforces what I already knew that canvassing is a better way of doing things.
Also, I have been targetting mostly larger houses - the sort of places where they probably already have a window cleaner (although some of the windows were a bit grimy).

[DASERVICES]

I get them when my customers want me to do something else other than window cleaning. Yesterday was to help move some stuff for someone who was moving house.

Today was can you cut the ivy growing up the wall, did it but had to stop half way as there was a birds nest.

Also noticed this week a lot of customers had gone on holiday so short collection this week.

[dave0123]

Its never really been this slack before!

Yes i no they all come at once then stop for abit then come haha weird that is!

dave

[john tomkins]

Never mind getting new customers, I'm finding it hard to contact the ones I got, loads must be on holiday, did one Monday afternoon, went back of the evening to collect and the neighbours says they went away this morning for 2 weeks

[simon knight]

I used to moan that i wanted to work when i was trad, now i'm Wfp i'm fed up with not having any time off

But I thought the whole idea of wfp was that it was quicker than trad so giving you more time off.

[NWH]

The thing is simon if you go WFP and do the work you`ve been doing for years trad you soon get up to date with it with days to spare sometimes longer,he probobly means that he now has more work due to going WFP therefore more work less time off.

[simon knight]

The thing is simon if you go WFP and do the work you`ve been doing for years trad you soon get up to date with it with days to spare sometimes longer,he probobly means that he now has more work due to going WFP therefore more work less time off.

So then that was his choice for taking on more work....yes?

So why be "fed up"?

[Russell Macdonald]

I used to moan that i wanted to work when i was trad, now i'm Wfp i'm fed up with not having any time off

But I thought the whole idea of wfp was that it was quicker than trad so giving you more time off.

I've taken more on plus i keep getting fascia/ soffit jobs & the ammount of con roofs i can't believe. I'm not moaning but it's hard to say no. I just wish i was 30 not 40.

Macc

[simon knight]

I used to moan that i wanted to work when i was trad, now i'm Wfp i'm fed up with not having any time off

But I thought the whole idea of wfp was that it was quicker than trad so giving you more time off.

I've taken more on plus i keep getting fascia/ soffit jobs & the ammount of con roofs i can't believe. I'm not moaning but it's hard to say no. I just wish i was 30 not 40.

Macc

Ahhh!...so now we come to the point ...having spent £££s on wfp you want to recoup your money and then some...make you right Guv'

I'm 50 in 2 weeks...f##king feel it after the week I've had...nice earnings though!

[LWC]

dieing down? come and give me a hand!! they havent stopped recently, i went into a new village the other day for 1 new customer, then her friend across the road watned me, and then another, got 5 new ens down there yesterday morning! she said window cleaners are like gold dust down there...never tell a window cleaner that lol  it makes it a few quid more exthingyve! 

i worked 3 days this week and got 10 new ens

[Londoner]

Its the economy in general thats slowing down. Somebody was telling me recently that on the industrial estate where he works half the units are now empty. The businesses have all gone bust.
This is happening slowly but steadily all over. All those people who worked on that estate are probably on the dole now so there is no point knocking on their door to see if they want their windows cleaned.
In fact some of them are probably thinking of starting up themselves.

[Paul Coleman]

Its the economy in general thats slowing down. Somebody was telling me recently that on the industrial estate where he works half the units are now empty. The businesses have all gone bust.
This is happening slowly but steadily all over. All those people who worked on that estate are probably on the dole now so there is no point knocking on their door to see if they want their windows cleaned.
In fact some of them are probably thinking of starting up themselves.

That's right.  There are always more window cleaners around in a recession and recession is where we seem to be heading.
One thing that concerns me is that it took sustained, double digit interest rates to trigger the last recession but this time, we seem to be heading that way when rates are still at a relatively low level historically.  When I say historically, I'm only referring to the last 30 - 35 odd years BTW.

[Londoner]

Its not just interest rates, although that plays a part. Its Globalisation, manufacturing is all going to China, call centres etc going to India and everything else is on the internet. Traditional companies cannot compete.

Migrant workers such as the Poles and Lithuanians come here to earn money to take home with them so they don't spent a penny more than they have to to live while they are here.