[pingu]

This guy has just asked a question which he may not be aware is a bit of a 'hot spud' on this forum...easy mistake to make.

But my answer to him is simple,  that number is achieveable but when you take into consideration as a self employed one man band type chappie...there are so many expenses that eat into that pie that the end result can be very little. Nevermind start-up costs to get going.

So turnover of 30k is achieveable ...am close to that now for year end projection but I know that I will get no where near that once all is finalised and the end of year accounts are submitted.

Cheers
Dave.

[Moderator David@stives]

Roger

I am not going to tell someone they can earn £30k a year without explaining the other side of the coin.

The fact is in my area, I just bought a round off a guy £20ks worth of work, that was the best he could grow it after 8 years, he was wfp and had a merc van, in the end he was better off getting a job.

Another guy near me is selling his 20 year old business, turns over £25k, look it up on the w/c rounds for sale site

most of the other guys drive round in old cars, which goes a long way to telling me they do not earn £30k

There are another couple who are happy with £10- £12 an hour turnover, there is one guy who will clean your front windows and cut your front lawn for £5.00.


The other side

I do see the odd window cleaner who clearly turns over a lot more, but the above desriptions are more typical, yes £30k wage can be achieved but it is going to be hard work for a few years to achieve that.

I am not going to say yes £30k wage is achievable without putting things into perspective.

[Alex Gardiner]

One advantage of being self-employed is that you can earn the equivalent of £30k pre-tax salary without earning £30k!

A carefully structured business, with good accounting and tax management will allow you to experience the same level of income without actually having to earn £30k.

There are many disadvantages to being self-employed, one of the advantages is that many expenses can be used to offset against the business that you are already having to spend even if you are on a salary.

Not many sole trader WC will earn £30k after taxable expenses, but many do have the equivalent to a £30k salary and work a lot less hours.

Realistically you would only need to 'earn about' £24k as a self-employed trader to have a similar take-home as a £30k salary. This is if you have good accountancy advice and make full use of all allowances.

[jaykie]

sunshine have you been thinking about doing this since january 2004 or have you been part time since then

[ronnie paton]

One advantage of being self-employed is that you can earn the equivalent of £30k pre-tax salary without earning £30k!

A carefully structured business, with good accounting and tax management will allow you to experience the same level of income without actually having to earn £30k.

There are many disadvantages to being self-employed, one of the advantages is that many expenses can be used to offset against the business that you are already having to spend even if you are on a salary.

Not many sole trader WC will earn £30k after taxable expenses, but many do have the equivalent to a £30k salary and work a lot less hours.

Realistically you would only need to 'earn about' £24k as a self-employed trader to have a similar take-home as a £30k salary. This is if you have good accountancy advice and make full use of all allowances.

alex could you give me good accountancy advice?

ok rog 30k is achievable but your making it sound like its a work in the park which is bad advice, like some have said if thats true why are most i know  making no were near that??

you have to try and be different in your approach sunshine there will be hundreds maybe even thousands of window cleaners so why would a customer choose you??

being cheap wont get you earning 30k and nevr will having no expierence so it wil take a long time to get up to speed and get the technique, but on the way you will have people canvassing on your work people cancelling van breaking down and many more.....so dont take it lightly!

Rog cut the physics crap you show off lets explain things simply hey if i wanted to do physics i would of been present at the big bang

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

The 30k number for turnover not profit can happen. My situation is I work with my wife 2-3 days a week. The work would be 4-5 average days a week one man and not saying too much but yes aiming at those numbers.
However how often is a one man band going to get 4-5 days a week in? Certainly not every week. Also when you start up you'll end up with a lot of chaff on your books, it can take years to build up to those numbers.
Most wc I know don't even go above 20k turnover.
My point is don't leave the security of a good job to think you can make 30k a year 3 days a week cleaning windows. If your gonna give up a good job to do wc 100% be prepared for some very hard work.

Simon.

[Nathanael Jones]

I personally think that if you are business minded and put enough effort into it, then yes £30K pre-tax is easily possible. Probably not in your first year of trading though,.. but it's a target you should have no problem reaching in your 2nd year even if you are just a one man band.
Beware though of the costs of setting up and running a business. What money is coming in may seem a lot at the start,.. but it really isn't all yours!
Tax and eventually VAT with take a big chunk, as will clothing, equipment, consumables, vehicle costs and fuel costs.
35% of everything I earn goes straight to the Government through Tax or Vat etc.
I spend on average €110 per week on various work related items (new poles, resin, workwear, scrims etc) and then there's diesel on top of that too.

My first year in business I was badly organised and not too bothered as I'd just made a profit selling a house. Still I turned over €28k
That year I was surprised when the accountant told me €20K went on running costs (mostly vehicle, fuel and WFP setup)!!

€8k profit in a year sobered me up a bit,.. especially as my savings were almost gone!

Starting out is tougher than it looks at first.
My advice is to get a separate business account straight away. Pay yourself a "wage" out of this account AFTER all other bills are paid. Keep an eye on your goal, and regularly work out how close you are to achieving it, and also work out exactly what your costs are for each week. DON'T spend more than you need to,.. A thermopure unit and brand new van can wait,... for now spend as little as possible and you'll still be able to do the same job.

A huge factor that limits your earning potential is your location. If there are lots of window cleaners locally, or if prices are just generally low, then you will have to be in some way competitive to win work. To get the best possible prices, you have to offer the best possible service. Be regular and reliable, dress smart and adopt your most professional manner,... it all helps!

[gerard mcmanus]

I said it before on here, prepare for the worst and hope for the best. There are so many facts that will determin your wage at the end of the year. But in my area Trad full time should earn about 25k, WFP I would expect to be over 30k.

My advice to you would be to forget 30k for a moment and ask yourself, what if its only 15k, is it still going to work out.

Tighen your purse strings like your going to earn only 15k pre tax and expenses, and work to targets that will get you 30k.

I think if you are doing two jobs and are thinking about the WC full time, then you already know its suited for you, you just have to make the leap, so good luck mate

mind let us know how things are going

gerard 

[matt]

Hello all

Want to know if you think it would be possible to earn £30k a year window cleaning.
Been thinking about packing my regular job in to work for myself (fulltime).

Let me know what you think

regards 

S

well ignoring all the posts in this thread for 1 min

you will not walk out of a job and earn 30 K ( after tax ) straight away, this seems to have been forgotten, its not a case of walking around the street ( or paying some1 to ) knocking doors and getting work, it takes a LONG time ( though you will have people on here who will tell you, they thought big, brought a ionics system and started earning 50 K straight away  : you will learn to spot the billy liar posts )

your not going to walk out of a 30 K a year job into window cleaning and earn the same money the next month

[Oakley Windows]

but after years of hard graft not straight away.

Im glad you said that.

Me Im still struggling to put together something approaching 11K 

[john tomkins]

I got £40 and a bag of apples today

i had a sack full of green beans today..... must think i need my greens.

Show off


I hope all the folks being made redundant, customers on minimum wage,  and all the immigrants ain't reading these "course you can earn 30k" posts  :

Sometimes you just have to keep things to yourselves, although the braggers always want their say

[stig]

wot part of west mids you from m8.    poope weather again ay???

[AJ]

25 houses per day @ £8 is £200 p/d x the days you work.
how long it will take to build up that round is another matter, could be months or more likely years.
take off your start up costs.
It could be a long hard road to reach your target of 30K but, yes achievable.

[ftp]

I would agree with a lot of the posts on here - your first year will be eye wateringly bad if you go down the water fed pole route without a doubt. My first year was pretty good considering i didn't inherit a round or buy a single job, but at the end of the year it's your net profit you need to look at and mine was 14k! My gross was reasonable but the investment costs were huge compared to a traditional cleaner. Matts post was spot on, you will be extremely unlikely to gain work and still get to 30k your jobs will come in all over the place at different or maybe the same locations but at different times. It takes ages for all the jobs to slot into the correct order to give a compact round. Some days you might get close to £200 others you will be lucky to hit £50.
So given time yes it's achievable if you are in the right area.
BUT if your very canny and can pick up big commercial jobs you might get there quicker.

[dai]

First I would like to point out that if a guy wants to earn £400 a week, and does this regularly, he achieves his goal, he's an achiever,it's all relative.
I could turn over £30k, I have the work but to get round it all on time I would need to work 6 days a week.
When you are starting out building your business, you may think it helps to have a new van and nice logo, You will pick up work quicker that way.
I have worked out the sums over the years and have come to the conclusion that a new van can't be justified on the grounds of costs. I work out of an M reg escort van that cost me £350 to buy, OK it cost me £120 to get through the last M.O.T, and may cost the same next year, spares are easily available from any scrap yard and There's a semi retired guy who does any work that needs to be done.
The cost of running that van is negligible compared to having a new one, I have a tow bar on the car and a trailer I can use if the van ever breaks down. The money saved on costs goes into my pocket.
It makes no difference at all to my customers what I drive.
A guy earning 25k can be a lot better off than one earning 30k if he can keep his costs down.

[Wayne Thomas]

Your first year starting up you will make a lot of mistakes. You'll pick up all the dumped customers that other window cleaners don't want. You might have a lot of bad paying customers and get taken advantage of by your customers left, right and centre. Takes years to build up a good customer base and reputation through hard work, determination and perserverance.  A good round is not achievable in your first couple of years without a thick skin and good pricing. Also, you'll be very slow working when you first start. To earn a decent wage, you need a good business mind, good pricing, good reputation and to be reliable and regular.

[Wayne Thomas]

I clean a commercial van sales showroom which does a roaring trade selling three year old vans. He, (the owner) can't understand why tradesmen insists on buying brand new vans because of the very high depreciation values in the first three years. Value for money, it makes sense to get a really good deal on a 2 or 3 year old van with a full service history.

[Clive McDonald]

I think that Roger has been drinking, his sentences meaning and spelling were all mixed up.The point the posters were making is that they don't want to encourage anyone who thinks of this as easy money. Signal noise ratio? What's that something to do with radios? Roger is seriously deluded if he thinks we are all on here to help each other.

I come on here to be competitive and to try and nick other peoples ideas.

Ref 30k, from a standing start the answer is no. Canvass weekends, clean sat morns, or if you are on shifts as time allows. When you can earn £80 a day, come back and we will give you more advice.

wayne agree. OMG just read dai's take, don't start me off...

[ftp]

  Dai makes perfect sense to me.

[L.J.Thorpe]

Dai your talking toilet.

thats harsh nige
i agree with what dai says
my set up owes me nowt
i do it all on thecheap
works for me mate