[D.Salkeld_Ltd]

Birdy,

Give me a call.  I can explain easier than typing it all out.

David

[Sanity]

I use a trolly with 12x 25ltr containers.  this allows me about 15 houses.  I charge between £5 and £10 depending on the size of the house.

I can get 15 done per day.  (9am to 4pm, 1 hour for lunch)

WFP is the best move I have made.  Very worth the initial investment.  Use the WFP explaination letter around the customers and you will be fine

[birdymiller]

david ill call you later gonna go and try and get some done cheers

[Jago]

Yesterday in the rain'ish,
 spitting in morning sun all afternoon and mad thunderstorm at scool run time hee hee
I did 15 customers moved the car 4 times had a sarnie on the walk back each time.
I move the car to where I believe that I will need my next change so works out quite good for me.
I would not have been cleaning by myself in the slippery inclement weather that has been here all week so WFP is a good investment to me
 I know I am building up my round and I know my prices are cheap for this area thanx to GWC
My mates charge more than me too but one has a polish lad working with him and the other has another fireman working with him part time (he is a firman too)
but when we worked out the hourly rate we were the same on some days and he was say £20 better off on some days.
to me this is fine he is out today catching up on his work and I am canversing later and sorting out work quotes kids etc etc
WFP HAS given me that freedom God I feel like FEEN saying that lol (sorry fella)

6 hours work and a good hourley rate £20 -£25 can not knock that.

[macmac]

cheers lads. So with a 100m hose how many houses do you normally do before you move?
 There has been plenty of debate about price on here, but as already been posted on forum nationally prices vary. A normal 3 bed semi in my area is worth £150,000 it takes me and the lad about seven mins to clean. We wipe all sills and do all windows. Some of my semis are £8, they dont have a conservatory they are just high and need footing. If i could charge £15 then i would, id be on £150 an hour like you gqc, but i have to charge the going rate in my area.

Sounds to me you have a nice compact round and earning good money from it (£200 a day is good dough in anybodies language). If you're doing a 3 bedder in 7 minutes I reckon wfp would slow you down. The safety thing doesn't matter to you because you have a lad footing. Your fitness comes from running up and down ladders all day.

Mate if it ain't broken why fix it?

Spot on

With what you describe i would also think wfp would slow you down. dragging a hose around semis/terrace etc is not always an easy or quick thing to do wether it be 1/2" or microbore. acsess is a major problem with wfp, to say, you can get to most places with a hose & pole BUT with a round which was made up of say- council houses, semis, terrace etc it could be so much hassle & time wasting that it wasn't worth it.
There are many good points to wfp but IMO it is not suited to all & everyone's work, it is not always quicker or easier & is more suited to detatched, larger properties. It's not just about how fast you can clean a window, but also moving vans/trollies, filling backpacks, dragging hoses, reeling them back in, moving flower pots, hose getting cought up on every little thing that is above surface level etc.etc. It's certainly not as rosy as some would have you believe.
200 quid a day trad is a very good earner, there is a very good chance that with your current work you may not reach that figure. 

tony

[Small but perfectley formed]

To d.salkeld, nice to see sense  talked on here at last to m.uch bragging &BS

[simon knight]

To d.salkeld, nice to see sense  talked on here at last to m.uch bragging &BS

Quite right. When reading this forum you really do have to sift the chaff from the grain.

This forum is the equivalent of standing in the boozer with work mates and giving it the large

[D.Salkeld_Ltd]

Birdy,

A pic of my trailer system with Backpack

David

[birdymiller]

cheers for the photo. Just posted this on another thread, any chance of picking your brain over the weekend. Dont worry if it is not convenient, i will call you next week when it rains again if you prefer.

[D.Salkeld_Ltd]

Birdy,

Ring me today...not Sun

David

[brightnclean]

Doing what you do a backpack is as much use as a chocolate fireguard!!

7 mins for a semi is fast in anyone's book. You would spend most of your time refilling the backpack. You would do very well to get 2 small semis from 1 backpack fill. Trollies wont do it either so your only real option IF you go WFP is a van mount with 2 working from it.

To be honest it seems you have refined your working practices as much as you can and it works well for you now. WFP will definately slow you down a whole lot the 1st and 2nd time round and you may get to break even on time it takes on the 3rd time round.

With such compact work and (No offence intended) at your prices you have to really knock out the numbers to make a decent living. I honestly doubt you will get much faster overall. I guess the question you really have to answer is do you want to increase your chances of staying fit and not have a bad accident by falling from a ladder. LADDER BOYS.. I am not saying ladders are unsafe. It is fact that not using them is much safer though.

Where you will gain time is any that have to be footed. 1 man instead of 2 to do a window.

So.. you are making a decent living now. 1 fall could end all that. I would go WFP just for the safety aspect. Also you could work on days that you can't now. Over the last few days/weeks I havent lost any time due to rain. I do windows in light to moderate rain and on chuckin it down days I do Con roofs, UPVC cleans etc.

[birdymiller]

cheers steven ainger i have got in touch with him.

[Village Gleam]

I'm one of the ones you've been warned about birdy.

Having read the posts they do seem to have it right.

Going into wfp is a good move, but in your circumstances you might have to view it as a completely new and seperate business.

Start up costs to do it properly are about 12k(my scudo was 7k plus vat). You would have to work very very hard for about a year or two juggling these two.
I can see from the articulation of your posts that you've got the brains, but working that hard can come at a high personal price.

[birdymiller]

David

I have been speaking to a guy on a another forum who lives 5 mins away and does wfp from a trailor. Once i have caught up with my work a bit i am going to go and watch wfp in action. Cheers for the help and stuff. Ive got your number so if its alright with you if i need any more advice before i invest ill call you.

Birdy

[windowwashers]

I'm one of the ones you've been warned about birdy.

Having read the posts they do seem to have it right.

Going into wfp is a good move, but in your circumstances you might have to view it as a completely new and seperate business.

Start up costs to do it properly are about 12k(my scudo was 7k plus vat). You would have to work very very hard for about a year or two juggling these two.
I can see from the articulation of your posts that you've got the brains, but working that hard can come at a high personal price.

Mr S,

sry to have a pop at you but please can you stop knocking people about spelling ect just because you can write in the correct manner does not mean you have got "the" brians it means you learnt at school to do this.

I left school early (as you will tell by my spelling and grammer), I went self employed  and I used my talents of talking to people to make money for many years and still do this now ( I earnt more than my teachers at school when I was 16 (who has the brains there then) can you see my point, I now employ so others make me money. Just because people do not speak like a dictonary does not mean they do not have brains, I know you did not say this, but this is the way I am reading it. You seem a nice guy so please stop it as it makes you look bad 


Rant over.

Ian

[Village Gleam]

I mean't that he thought with clarity, and the clarity of his thoughts came over in his speech/writing. I have never thought that your thinking was muddled.

I take what you say, but there is another side to this. I think that you are a natural entrepreneur, but there are also things in books, business books, that can be helpfull too.

A lot of the things I say are not mine, they are things I have read and am repeating.

[windowwashers]

I mean't that he thought with clarity, and the clarity of his thoughts came over in his speech/writing. I have never thought that your thinking was muddled.

I take what you say, but there is another side to this. I think that you are a natural entrepreneur, but there are also things in books, business books, that can be helpfull too.

A lot of the things I say are not mine, they are things I have read and am repeating.

I can tell some of the thing you write are from books you read as I read books a few books on business subjects myself also motivation.

I took it the way I did as will others, I personally say what I think, and maybe you are coming across wrong sometimes without knowing it.

read that post again and look from anothers point of view.

I am just pointing this out to you as i see it more an more in your posts and it was never like it before on your post before you changed names m8  , maybe change the book your reading 

Ian

[birdymiller]

I havnt got a clue what you two are on about

[mattywig]

If you do go wfp I wouldn't distribute a leaflet to ALL of your customers explaining the system and the initial 'spotting' effect they may experience etc.
I would only give out this explanation to the customers who ask you for one.
The reason behind this is that a lot of your customers, that are at work through the day, will not even check their windows as they are used to you doing a good job anyway so will pay you without complaint.
Giving them a leaflet telling them that there service is changing and they may experience some teething problems is guaranteed to get the scrutinising there windows and believe me they will find spots and runs at first and may cancel as a result.
Others may disagree with this but I found this to be the case and others that I have advised accordingly have benifited from this thought.  I think its common sense.

[D.Salkeld_Ltd]

If you do go wfp I wouldn't distribute a leaflet to ALL of your customers explaining the system and the initial 'spotting' effect they may experience etc.
I would only give out this explanation to the customers who ask you for one.
The reason behind this is that a lot of your customers, that are at work through the day, will not even check their windows as they are used to you doing a good job anyway so will pay you without complaint.
Giving them a leaflet telling them that there service is changing and they may experience some teething problems is guaranteed to get the scrutinising there windows and believe me they will find spots and runs at first and may cancel as a result.
Others may disagree with this but I found this to be the case and others that I have advised accordingly have benifited from this thought.  I think its common sense.

Agree with you there Matty. Just be honest and POSITIVE about it:
Something on these lines:

"It does take a couple of cleans to totally wash ALL the muck out of All the window.  Now you get the frames and, if you wish, doors thoroughly washed.  If there are any bad marks left when they dry ring me and I will put it right. Thankyou"
But don't put this in a leaflet and post it through every door.  Just use it an explanation to those who ask.

David