[AuRavelling79]

I just rent out my domestic houses only and ask for 25% of what the round is worth every month. I think that's pretty fair and it works fine for me.........

I was on the receiving end of an arrangement like this when I started up. The verbal deal - with someone I knew - was that I would get 75% of everything worked at the end of the month whether the custy had paid or not. I simply put a self addressed envelope through each door and the custy sent a cheque to the other w/c. On the rare occasion they paid me cash on the spot I told the other w/c, kept the whole amount there and then and the (75% of) amount I collected personally over the month was deducted from his cheque to me. If the custy gave me a cheque I handed it to the other w/c and it was dealt with in the normal way.

But ... if they subsequently didn't pay I would lose that amount (75%) off of next months cheque.

Also if someone came up to me and asked me to clean while I was working on the other window cleaners area then I could keep it for myself (100%) unless either of us finished the arrangement in which case the other window cleaner "got" the customer.

We set this up for 6 months and then renewed mutually quarterly. I did this for about 9 months until my own round was big enough and more profitable and I gave one months notice of my intention to quit.

[Thomas Ecclestone]

How would you stop someone canvassing the people on the round a month or so after they cancelled the contract? Presumably there's no way you can legally prevent it.

 It's the same problem as if you employ someone... very hard to be able to guarantee someone that's dishonest won't steal the work.  So it comes down to trust.

[Paul Coleman]

How would you stop someone canvassing the people on the round a month or so after they cancelled the contract? Presumably there's no way you can legally prevent it.

 It's the same problem as if you employ someone... very hard to be able to guarantee someone that's dishonest won't steal the work.  So it comes down to trust.

There has to be a decent amount of trust with such an arrangement.  It wouldn't work without that.  It is possible to get legal contracts signed but even then, policing the situation would be near impossible.

[M Henderson]

If you are helping the person renting from you by providing them extra or better work then they are less likely to do the dirty on you.

Its like renting out a house.

If the rent is cheap, the landlord looks after repairing the house and makes it a nice place to live then the tenants are less likely to want to move out and more likely to pay you the rent without begrudging it. If they like living there they are less likely to trash the place.

The key is to get good tenants and look after them.

[Paul Coleman]

If you are helping the person renting from you by providing them extra or better work then they are less likely to do the dirty on you.

<SNIP>

Yes there does need to be some mutual back scratching.  I went into the arrangement with enthusiasm and doing my best.  I passed the contractors details onto a few potential customers but these jobs never appeared on the later worklists.  So I then started doing it a bit differently.  I would take the potential customers' details and pass them onto the contractor.  I suppose I should have done that in the first place.  I did get two new jobs like that.  Unfortunately, I must admit that my interest waned when I realised that the bad debts were being passed on to me.  Although I continued to do my best with the cleaning and the servicing of the existing work, I stopped putting myself out with getting new work.  At first, I would doorknock a few houses in the immediate area where I was working but when I realised what the bad debt situation was, I just stopped doing it.  Pity really as I feel that I could have gradually enlarged that part of the business for the contractor.  As things turned out, a number of jobs were actually lost.  I felt a bit guilty about that at first but I don't really think it was about my cleaning.  I think it was more to do with people disliking change and another business came along offering a similar service during the early part of the changeover.  I was surprised at how many people asked me to work directly for them rather than doing it through a contractor.  This is where the trust came in.  To take up such offers would have made me feel like a thief and that's not my style.

[M Henderson]

I think it was more to do with people disliking change

Yeah, this is a problem I had. You can't be changing hands every 6 months otherwise the customers get unsettled and lose their loyalty.

That's another reason why you need to look after whoever is renting from you. Its in your interests that they hang around for a while.

[peter holley]

i have a lad part time, but he is eager to be fulltime, and so the days hes not working with me, he goews doorknocking, in return i let him do the first cleans, and he keeps 100% of the money....this way im not losing time on the first cleans and he earns himself somer decent money.     the customers he finds are mine and the cheques come to me.... i then transfer the money recieved into his account at the end of the week .

in  effect hes building a job for himself.....he is a good worker , and so im not greedy , i pay him well .

[peter holley]

i have a lad part time, but he is eager to be fulltime, and so the days hes not working with me, he goews doorknocking, in return i let him do the first cleans, and he keeps 100% of the money....this way im not losing time on the first cleans and he earns himself somer decent money.     the customers he finds are mine and the cheques come to me.... i then transfer the money recieved into his account at the end of the week .

in  effect hes building a job for himself.....he is a good worker , and so im not greedy , i pay him well .

works well for me anyway !