[Steve B]

Hi all,

My name is Steve I am 42, married and have three girls I am based in Cirencester, Gloucestershire the capital of the Cotswolds. I have been my wife's carer for the last 5 years or so. Now the girls are older they can start taking care of themselves which frees up time for me and have been racking my brains of what I could do that could potentially pay well and be flexible and then it hit me...

I am about to have a go and start window cleaning (using traditional methods) in my area and decided to search on the net for help and advice which is how I came across this superb forum. Having read through 100's of posts over the last week I must congratulate this forums members for the amount of help they give others, there are certainly many wise owls out there with lots of experience under their belts. Anyway that's enough of the soft soap for now time to get to the point.

First thing is charging and fully understand from reading other posts on this subject that it very much depends on where you are etc.

Thus far this is what I am thinking:

Minimum £10
£1.00 per window opening
£2.00 per window leaded or Georgian Style
Inside cleans just double the price
Conservatories not to include roof will be priced at £1.00 per say large window.

Does that sound justifiable considering the area I'm in?

One of my reservations is the area I'm in there are some Terraced properties that have 3 standard windows at front and 4 to rear and would not take very long to do, however you would need to walk around the back and past at least one house to get to say the middle one in the Terrace. So in that example going by price structure it would be £7.00 but would minimum £10 be a bit high?

Next point is frequency I can't decide on 4, 6 or 8 weeks, I think I would like to do 4 weekly but have a nagging feeling may be considered to often?

Now the next thing is and I'm probably being stupid so please forgive me, is lets say for example you are doing 4 weekly and you have a full round and you pick up some new good paying work and they want 8 weekly how do you factor this in because when it's time to do them on the 8th week you should be doing your 4th week ones.

If you are doing 4 weekly do you just divide the week Mon, Tues, Wed etc and book jobs in on the days or do you do it as a list for that week as you may want to juggle some around to make things more compact and efficient.

Or do you do it as a list of jobs that week, say you can manage 50 jobs a week and week 1 is full and someone while you are working that week asks you to do a job do you say I'm full this week and book them in on a week where you have space etc. (Sorry to be dim) I just want to get it all straight in my mind.

I will probably keep it all written down to start with but have read about various programs George for one and have downloaded the trial version, but I am also looking at Round Management system Version 1 by Snowdream Software http://www.snowdreamsoftware.co.uk/home.html which looks much cleaner and user friendly to me. Does anyone know or have have any experience of it?

I have started to purchase some equipment and used Midland Ladders who have been recommended numerous times on here, the ladders I have purchased can be seen here http://www.midlandladders.com/products/Double_3_5m_11_5ft_Trade_Light_Industrial_Ladder-11-7.html I also included a pair of factory fitted Supagrip feet, does that seem okay? I will also buy a safety ladder device in due course.

I have the other tools of the trade equipment to buy and will look around for best prices etc. Any recomendations, free delivery would be good.

So sorry to ramble on for my first posting please be gentle with me, I'm sure there were other things I wanted to ask so will need to post again.

[ok cleaning]

hello steve wellcome to wc world you just discovered where the money is window cleaning of course my advice  is be reliable wear a uniform be friendly work hard set yourself a minimum price regardless of the size or tipe of the house dont worry about the weather go to work everyday if it is raining door knock or drop liflets and find a good canvasser if you can afford ( plenty of them in this forum) when you got a job do a very very good job dont forget best way to advartise is word of mouth be flexible about week days and weekends work any day of the week at the begginig till you got a proper round most important be determint and set yourself some targets and chase them if you can do all that tings window cleaning is a sort of business that keeps you fit and financehially gives you much more than many other job can i hope that helps all the best

[Steve B]

hello steve wellcome to wc world you just discovered where the money is window cleaning of course my advice  is be reliable wear a uniform be friendly work hard set yourself a minimum price regardless of the size or tipe of the house dont worry about the weather go to work everyday if it is raining door knock or drop liflets and find a good canvasser if you can afford ( plenty of them in this forum) when you got a job do a very very good job dont forget best way to advartise is word of mouth be flexible about week days and weekends work any day of the week at the begginig till you got a proper round most important be determint and set yourself some targets and chase them if you can do all that tings window cleaning is a sort of business that keeps you fit and financehially gives you much more than many other job can i hope that helps all the best

Hi ok cleaning and many thanks for taking the time to reply you make some good observations, what sort of uniform would be acceptable?

[Jimmy1]

Hi and welcome. Make your self look more professional by wearing a uniform. Get a logo with your company name, you can design them on some internet sites free. It doesent have to be fancy. Its a matter of choice but you will need some/all of the following:  t-shirts/polo shirts, trousers and fleece, wooly hat and waterproof coat (I have waterprrof trousers also) Have your logo put on the the t-shirts/polo shirts, fleece, wooly hat and coat. You will also need a pair of safety boots. there is a great company but Ive lost the phone number (they are on ebay though, they are cheap and very fast) I do have there email address though its: logo.clothing@virgin.net  the girls name is Julie. Also I would get leaflets printed up too. Good luck!

[Steve B]

Hi and welcome. Make your self look more professional by wearing a uniform. Get a logo with your company name, you can design them on some internet sites free. It doesent have to be fancy. Its a matter of choice but you will need some/all of the following:  t-shirts/polo shirts, trousers and fleece, wooly hat and waterproof coat (I have waterprrof trousers also) Have your logo put on the the t-shirts/polo shirts, fleece, wooly hat and coat. You will also need a pair of safety boots. there is a great company but Ive lost the phone number (they are on ebay though, they are cheap and very fast) I do have there email address though its: logo.clothing@virgin.net  the girls name is Julie. Also I would get leaflets printed up too. Good luck!

Hi Jimmy1,

Many thanks for the tips I will send an email for more information now. When you say safety boots do you mean steel toecaps?

[ok cleaning]

Hi Steve go to www. straus direct for work wear realy good stuff

[Steve B]

Hi Steve go to www. straus direct for work wear realy good stuff

Cheers have ordered a catalogue.

Has anyone got ant thoughts about my pricing for the area I'm in as indicated in original post? Also any thoughts about keeping track of round and customers etc.

[Jimmy1]

Hi Steve, personally I wear steel toe caps. I don't know your area for pricing, but your prices sound about right, you will soon know if you dont get any jobs you quote for, but remember dont go to cheap, target your houses and areas well and you'll soon be off and running.  I did the same as you read hundreds of posts for about 6 months and then took the plunge, I started in April, Its the best thing I did and I wish I'd done it years ago. What I found is that if you do a great job word of mouth will carry you a long way. I personally use George, I love it, its the best money I spent.

[Steve B]

Hi Steve, personally I wear steel toe caps. I don't know your area for pricing, but your prices sound about right, you will soon know if you dont get any jobs you quote for, but remember dont go to cheap, target your houses and areas well and you'll soon be off and running.  I did the same as you read hundreds of posts for about 6 months and then took the plunge, I started in April, Its the best thing I did and I wish I'd done it years ago. What I found is that if you do a great job word of mouth will carry you a long way. I personally use George, I love it, its the best money I spent.

Hi Jimmy,

Yes I agree with steel toe caps may as well have the added protection. A quality service is paramount as you say the best form of advertising is word of mouth and can of course be the most damaging. Well my ladders arrived this morning what a great service from the company I used. My wife is collecting my roof bars this morning as well. Just have to sort out the other stuff now order my business cards and I'm away it's all starting to come together and getting quite exciting.

[Jimmy1]

I used midland ladders too, although I'm WFP I got a folding pair which have come in useful, your right they do offer a great service. Dont know where your getting business cards form but www.vistaprint.co.uk are good and I use www.sensecreative.co.uk for leaflets both of these offer a terrific service. I know how you feel about being excited, I'm still excited everytime I get a new client its like a rush. This morning been out since early and on Fridays always come home for fry up before going back out (just about to go now) - its a great life. You definately seen to have put a lot of thought into everything and I'm sure you wont regret it.

[Steve B]

I used midland ladders too, although I'm WFP I got a folding pair which have come in useful, your right they do offer a great service. Dont know where your getting business cards form but www.vistaprint.co.uk are good and I use www.sensecreative.co.uk for leaflets both of these offer a terrific service. I know how you feel about being excited, I'm still excited everytime I get a new client its like a rush. This morning been out since early and on Fridays always come home for fry up before going back out (just about to go now) - its a great life. You definately seen to have put a lot of thought into everything and I'm sure you wont regret it.

Hi Jimmy,

Thank you for the recommendations and words of encouragement, oh and by the way 2 eggs for me!