[windowwashers]

I thought a couple of years ago they were doing all the electricians out of work in the UK, then it was the chippies, I see them down at the local councils recycling centre

i guess you dont know any1 in the building game then, speak to them about it, they have taken work, they have driven down prices ( which to be fair be at a very silly high ) and they have made the building game a less inviting place for the youngsters ( who will be the future )

I live 2 doors away from a self-employed chippy and 3 doors away from a  self-employed sparky, theyve never once mentioned about being done out of work either by these guys, also did 11 years myself on building sites prior to becoming a self-employed window-cleaner.


That enough? 

I was doing some diamond drilling for a big high street chain about 6 years ago, most of the workers there that night could not speak english, telling them not to lay cables in certain places was a total nightmare all I kep getting was blank looks.  :

[Ian_Giles]

Not all Poles are pleasant and well spoken, neither are thay all hard working.
Some are chancers looking to milk a system.
In appearance many are swarthy and unkempt.
Take a look at most building sites and they'll fit in perfectly  you can get away with Scruffy on a building site in a way that you cannot get away with in something such as window cleaning or carpet cleaning.
I don't mind the inteligent and articulate immigrants, they may well build solid businesses, they will pay their taxes and blend in well.
With window cleaning, for an immigrant of any non english speaking country to be successful he will need to be articulate, neat, presentable and persuasive.

How many are going to be that? Those that come over thinking an easy way to earn some money might be to buy a bucket and a ladder and become a window cleaner, but those are the ones that are going to find it hard to actually build a round of any real substance.

They will be more of a threat to those in the employed sector, whether window cleaning or otherwise.
Employers will be more than happy to take on these people (and exploit them too in many cases) and in that respect they are a threat to jobs.

Immigration in this country is frightening and out useless government is too scared to do anything about it, a whole host of problems are going to build up as a result is something isn't done about it.
Some will feel the bite (self employed window cleaners) but I don't think it will be as bad as many anticipate.

Ian

[Pole2pole]

And there's me hoping to wake up to some good news

[bluez]

Jesus lads, talk about a load of zenophobic clap trap hitler has nothing on you lot. Only joking ( kinda)

In Ireland we have a population of 4 million and a polish/eastern european population in excess of 300,000. All my staff are polish/ romanian and I can assure you that I am now in a position to expand my business only because in the main they are reliable, presentable and hardworking and of course prepared to work fairly cheaply which means I can spend more on marketing my business and growing it.( world domination attempt)

I prefer to see an increase in forigners as an opportunity not as a negative. The more poles working in your building sector the more houses being built and money being spent in the sho[ps that pay you etc in general it is good for the economy and whats good for the economy is good for all businesses including window cleaners.

Chill out and look at the up side, do good work at fair prices and you will be all right

[xxmattyxx]

I thought most on here were trying to encourage the WAHD 

[Neil_A]

Why would a customer in England want a

Polish window cleaner that can hardly speak any English not to mention the fact they dont know the person.. - When they already have a English person who they know and trust cleaning there windows?

The price does not matter one little bit to a customer... they want a window cleaner they can trust, and know they are going to clean there windows when they say they are going to clean them.

Not 1 of my custies would sack me for a cheaper cleaner!

I dont know what you are all worried about??  Are you doing something wrong ? Or maybe you think your custies would sake you for a cheaper cleaner?

[magic1]

Reading your posts i understand that folk worry about cheap labour and all. I'm in the same boat in my area. Though the posts that are basically saying chuck all out are complete tosh!

I gave up employing staff. All born and bred in our great land. Lazy as
. Never turn up for work. Moan if new customer asked for quote while we were out working (means goto do more work). Know matter how much i payed them and i paid them well. Never enough. All ways had a attitude '' you need us more than we need you we can go on dole and rent paid and all''

In end i sacked em all. got in a businesses partner with the same work ethic as me. happy days.

I agree not all are hard working and polite but i know plenty of this land who are not. What about the summer jobbies working for beer money house for£3. Put em against the wall about shoot them we can't chuck em out coz there from here!

The answer is goto be we have a license or something like that. Where all insurances and safety procedures have to proved. I.D. that would go some way to stop fiddlers and co working on the cheap. Also the public would know no license not kosher (so to speak)

Rant over

[jikwan]

the UK is doing the same as california and a lot of the
rest of the states   cheap labour

the brits have had it good for so long theyve become lazy
and complacient
you ever come across statements like..."the english are renouned
as hard working people"?--i never had

another look at  california  (i lived in L Angeles for 2 years)
a very big gardening scene going on there..........and i looked and looked
couldent  ever see a caucasian gardener

even the mexicans are no.1 and have monopoly in gangland

poles...if theyre lucky and have ajob-get £1 per hour in poland

they are motivated and earnest and hardworking

licences?.......why cant a polish guy get a licence?

just my view about "trust"...........if the guy looks good and speaks
not so bad english---good enough

[magic1]

Not saying polish can not get license, If all is in place insurance etc then all is fair in business even if there cheap. Not fair is those working paying no insurance taxes etc

[xxmattyxx]

I worked in Agriculture in Denmark, back in the 80's, they couldnt get the staff over there in them days, we were hard-working apparently.

Great money, great beer and great women 

[GAZZA B]

If we do a good job, we have nothing to worry about

Gazza

[matt]

once upon a time the british builder was the best in the world

and the world knew it

what happened ?? ?

[dai]

It was only a couple of years ago when we were worrying about declning birth rates, and who was going to pay for our pensions. The answer, Immigrants.
I'm drawng my pension now, and taxes from immigrants are helping to pay for it.

You can't buy trust, you have to earn it. Once you have it, you can sell it. It's one of our biggest assets. I would pay more to a mechanic for fixing my car, if he had mine.
 
Reading many of the above posts is in a way heartning. If my customers are as afraid of forigners as most of you guys, I have nothing to worry about. Dai

[d s windowcleaning]

the only pole i no is the one i hold in my hands

[mark dew]

the only pole i no is the one i hold in my hands

trad cleaner are ya?? 

[steve m]

well done all those that employ the polish. First we train them up, tell them how much we charge per house so they can undercut, pay the taxes that will keep them while theyre w/cing for £5 a house. All those tha t dont moan about the easties- go look on the building sites, the whole pay structure falls. All those that were on £90 a day are now on £60 a day cs if they wont do it the easties will. Its gonna happen to us window cleaners. They might go home in the winter but others wont and the round will be handed over untill they come back in 3 months time. We must not look at our own tlittle world cos we're not the only ones, and what are you gonna do when those £20 houses are being done for £7:50!!!

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

Yesterday I had 4 phone calls 1 after the other and it went like this,
caller “want work”
me “pardon”
caller “want work”
me “pardon”
caller “want work”
me "sorry I don’t understand you, do you need a window cleaner?”
caller “want work”
me “do you mean you want a job?
caller “want work”
me “sorry nothing going mate”
caller “ you speak polish”
me “no and there are no jobs going either”

this happened 4 times within the space of 15 minutes and I got so fed up with it on the final call I said to the guy
“try Poland there’s lots of work out there”

[dai]

http://webmail.aol.com/31361/aol/en-gb/Mail/get-attachment.aspx?uid=1.19328808&folder=Old+Mail&partId=4&saveAs=El_Rey_del_martillo.wmv

This is why they are the best