[gsw]

There I am last night texting my customers to get them to leave their gates unlocked, and one comes back with "I did mine myself yesterday, can you leave it this month!" No i think to myself I dont work like that, I have cleaned her 15 times before, never a problem or a moan.

3 story semi, new upvc £15.00.

I text her back and say now that she has done them and put aload of soap on the glass its going to take me longer to get them back to standard, if she is going to do them herself in the future I will have to drop her off the round.

"ok, take me off the round!"

Right I think no problem, dropped.


I do next door but one...... pulled up there this morning and would you believe it there is a window cleaner getting his ladders off his van ready to do " i did them myself yesterday's"

hello mate blah blah blah, he is charging £8.00! just started out cant get the top floor and doesn't wipe the sills. I'm pole so frames sills and glass and third floor as standard.

anyway he has bought a round from PDS, not his fault and I'm NOT about to start moaning about this being my patch, as I believe there is no such thing......its a free market place........infact i got him another new customer while we were chatting (minimum charge £10.00) and then gave him the forum website and a few others to help him out.

Now my minimum is £10.00 and i learnt that from reading on here, I am expensive for most of my work but i do a good job and my standards are high. I have never intentionally undercut anyone when canvassing, another good practice adopted from on here.

SO someone please explain why not only is PDS undercutting work to gain it but he is also underpricing to novices and taking advantage of their naiviety and GETTING AWAY WITH IT!!!

What a muppet!

RANT OVER

I will be replying to everyone of his new posts of work to sell on this forum in the future with suitable comments as I am sure you can imagine

[niceandclean]

I use a canvassing company to get new work, and that is one thing i was worried about, turn up and the guy who used to do them doing next door.  But they told me that if they say they have a window cleaner, they will not price the job and walk away. I have not cleaned a new job that has had a window cleaner, apart from the ones that have not been back for months.

[Paul Coleman]

Well at least give the guy (PDS) the chance to respond before saying too much.

[niceandclean]

he advertises in my local paper saying earn £600 a week rising to £800, no experience necessary

says it all really 

Now you mention it,  i had a customer say to me the other week, you window cleaners must make alright money, as he had seen a local ad saying you can earn £800 a week.

[gsw]

yeah a response would be nice, in my opinion what sort of gives it away when canvassing is CLEAN WINDOWS, it usually means they have a window cleaner! 

[windowwashers]

Well at least give the guy (PDS) the chance to respond before saying too much.

I have used pds in the past and never had a problem to be honest, Pats a nice bloke he sells rounds to make money.  IF  canvesser is under cutting prices and the customer leaves is that really a customer you want, cheap window cleaners are ten a penny, it's the good ones that are hard to find well thats what my customers say to me   

[Pat_Dudley-Smith]

I have been selling quality rounds since 1988, I know that kind of money can be made from good rounds, and guarantee the income quoted to my customers.

£25/ hour, 8 hours/day, 4 days/week = £800.

Lots of fridays off! Simple.

[gsw]

I'm not disputing how long you have been selling rounds,

I just dont like the way you build them, in this instance, by undercutting me to gain the work, everyone bangs on about ethics on here and how you are not supposed to undercut each other to gain the work, well for someone who has been "selling quality rounds since 1988" i thought you would know better.

maybe we should all be like you, perhaps cutting each others throats is the way forward, wont be long before we are doing houses again for the price of a pint.

perhaps more people here will have something to say as and when you build a "quality round " in the area they work in.

I just wasn't about to let it pass by without making it public knowledge on how this particular "quality round " was put together

[Russell Macdonald]

Under cutting to get work helps no one & i would be upset if this happened to me.

There are many of us on this forem who would use a round builder but it's this type of thing that has stopped me from using one.

For me i will carry on builing my own. The last thing i want is to take another's work by under cutting. I know we don't own the customer but there is plenty out there withoutdoing the dirty.

[groundhog]

That would really annoy me as well!! There is some company near to me who keeps phoning my customers, some of them have been phoned 3 times now, and they have said to my customers that I am not a proffessional and have also said that they will clean 25% cheaper than me, none of my customers have gone to him but it is starting to bug me, and I can't find out who it is yet, I would like a word with him if I can!! I contacted doorknockers when I first started, but decided against it as they seemed quite keen to undercut other window cleaners, which is not how I like to work.

[Russell Macdonald]

At your hourly rate if it's true, i think most would under cut without trying.

[groundhog]

Many have tried to undercut me, but I have never lost a customer to another window cleaner!!! I strive to be the best window cleaner not the cheapest!! 

[jouk45]

the rule is simple, no matter who it is, window cleaners or professional canvassers. if a customer says they already have a window cleaner, you appologise and say sorry for troubling you,  and move on to the next house
its called respect for other window cleaners, remember it could be you,  also pat, it would help if you had a policy with your canvassers, if a customer has a window cleaner, to move on to the next house, also more importantly, the client you hires you should also state this, DO NOT TAKE, OR TRY TO CONVINCE,  OTHER WINDOW CLEANERS CUSTOMERS, pat if you did this you would get a lot more respect from us,

[Londoner]

But do the customers say they have another cleaner? I have quoted for houses before and when I get to the price ( I am never cheap) they have said things like "oh no my present window cleaner only charges....." and thats the first indication there is another cleaner on the scene.

Some customers will take a lower quote even if they are totally happy with your service simply because the other bloke is £2 cheaper. They can't help themselves its in their nature.

[Paul Coleman]

But do the customers say they have another cleaner? I have quoted for houses before and when I get to the price ( I am never cheap) they have said things like "oh no my present window cleaner only charges....." and thats the first indication there is another cleaner on the scene.

Some customers will take a lower quote even if they are totally happy with your service simply because the other bloke is £2 cheaper. They can't help themselves its in their nature.

One lady once told me that for her,  getting a window cleaner is like buying a tin of beans from the supermarket.  I agreed and pointed out that some tins of beans taste nice and some taste awful.

[Londoner]

Exactly right. To many people we are just a commodity, we have a high opinion of ourselves and how good our work is but they just see us as another domestic expense.

[Ian_Giles]

I have been selling quality rounds since 1988, I know that kind of money can be made from good rounds, and guarantee the income quoted to my customers.

£25/ hour, 8 hours/day, 4 days/week = £800.

Lots of fridays off! Simple.

But almost no window cleaner works 8 hours a day, and anyone new to window cleaning will not make anything like £25 per per even on very well priced work, window cleaning may only be semi skilled work, but it takes many many months before you can clean windows at a decent pace.
And if canvassers are chopping prices to the bone then there isn't a snowballs chance in hell of them achieving those kind of figures.
It is a complete miss-sell to say that a newbie can go out, buy a round and make that kind of money, they are being totally ripped off.  

Ian

[groundhog]

Well said Ian, this business takes time to build up to a quality high paying round, and you are far better off doing it yourself than paying a company to go round knocking on doors and undercutting other cleaners and then handing you a cheaply priced round that you then have to effectively clean twice for free!!!

[Londoner]

Yes I'm with Ian all the way on this one. There is a world of difference between a list of names and adresses and a working round. Just the same as there is a world of difference between a newbie with a bucket and ladder and a window cleaner. In time one will become the other (hopefully) but if anyone is selling the idea that all you need is a bucket and a ladder and a list of names and addresses to become a sucessful window cleaner they are mis selling.

Years ago there were always window cleaning rounds for sale in Loot. Whoever it was that was selling them used to go out on the knocker for a couple of days and get a list of about 150 people who had simply expressed an interest in having their windows cleaned. Then he would flog it as a round for about 2 grand. I seriously doubt if anyone who bought the lists ever made a go of it.

My view is if you have what it takes to become a window cleaner you will want to build your own round to suit your needs.Its the jobs you don't take on and the customers you turn down that are important.

[macmac]

I have been selling quality rounds since 1988, I know that kind of money can be made from good rounds, and guarantee the income quoted to my customers.

£25/ hour, 8 hours/day, 4 days/week = £800.

Lots of fridays off! Simple.

But almost no window cleaner works 8 hours a day, and anyone new to window cleaning will not make anything like £25 per per even on very well priced work, window cleaning may only be semi skilled work, but it takes many many months before you can clean windows at a decent pace.
And if canvassers are chopping prices to the bone then there isn't a snowballs chance in hell of them achieving those kind of figures.
It is a complete miss-sell to say that a newbie can go out, buy a round and make that kind of money, they are being totally ripped off.  

Ian

Well said ian.

tony