[trevor perry]

ive got a mate hes been window cleaning 25 years,he can do 10 council houses in an hour 4.50 a house off ladders,he does them properly as well 45 an hour

im sorry i think thats utter rubbish...i can if i soap up squeegie down twice..... and nothing else...otherwise its rubbish..

sorry.

i used to be able to do 12 houses in an hour from ladders they where 3 blocks of four on the fronts each house on tops had two windows but could be reached in one climb, bottoms again two windows and front door, on the backs there where 2 climbs 1 bathroom and a bedroom downstairs there was a kitchen window and a set of patio doors, so if the houses are similar then i think it is perfectly possible.

[pjulk]

I was looking on ebay a couple of days ago and there is a chap selling his round
He has 270 customers and its done on a fourtnighly basis.

I think he said he makes £1600 a month
So thats no even £3 a house.

How can people live on this.
I was charging more than that in the 80's

[trevor perry]

I was looking on ebay a couple of days ago and there is a chap selling his round
He has 270 customers and its done on a fourtnighly basis.

I think he said he makes £1600 a month
So thats no even £3 a house.

How can people live on this.
I was charging more than that in the 80's

thats £400 a week and if done trad then very little overheads, its not a fortune but better than most get for working in a factory or another unskilled job.

[Tosh]

i used to be able to do 12 houses in an hour from ladders they where 3 blocks of four on the fronts each house on tops had two windows but could be reached in one climb, bottoms again two windows and front door, on the backs there where 2 climbs 1 bathroom and a bedroom downstairs there was a kitchen window and a set of patio doors, so if the houses are similar then i think it is perfectly possible.

12 houses an hour equals one house every-six-minutes.

Each house you say has 8 windows; at least that's what I make out what you say.

So you're saying you can clean 8 windows per house, collect; or leave a note; maybe have a chat with a customer, then move on and do the next house; completing all TWELVE houses in an hour.

No way.  Maybe in your dreams. Or are these the proverbial doll's houses?

I reckon sticking your 'chit' through six letter boxes would take at least five minutes, leaving you less than five minutes per house.

 :

[birdymiller]

I can trad 9 window houses in 6 minutes, theyve got to be done this quick as i only get £3.50 :. No time for chit chat, knock whilst your cleaning and ticket in whilst you do front door.

[AuRavelling79]

Perhaps the finish is "not of the best quality?" Frames? Detailing? Every fortnight - are certain windows missed?

If he did a speedy gonzalez to prove a point he might just do it - once - but every hour? No way hoze'!

It's like the old steam trains - exceptionally they'd top 100mph, but day in and day out they'd average about 50!

[AuRavelling79]

I can trad 9 window houses in 6 minutes, theyve got to be done this quick as i only get £3.50 :. No time for chit chat, knock whilst your cleaning and ticket in whilst you do front door.

How many houses like this do you do in an average week birdyM?

[cozy]

Right, when I first started I used to get up before I went to bed. Eat a handfull of hot gravel for breakfast. Go do a 15 hour shift, cleaning 43 houses an hour, then when I got home my father used to pull my fingernails out with a swiss army knife

Those were the days...........

[Tosh]

A local window cleaner to me once met a used car salesman who reckoned he could clean 80 houses per day when he was a window cleaner.

So if you can do 12 houses per hour, and work for seven hours, that's 84 houses per day; breaking the World Waffling Record of the used car salesman's number.

 

[birdymiller]

Ive got a mixture of rounds council and private prices range from £2.50 to £17 some good and some bad. For £3.50 they dont get their frames done, they are fortnightly, dont detail no need and dont miss any windows. All of my rounds have at least doubled in value since i bought them through reccomendations and quality work. Dont count how many houses just the amount of money at the end of the day. Just want to make the point that £5 a house is good if the house doesnt take too long. All of these guys that say dolls houses, wouldnt bother for a fiver and so on wind me up :

[Tosh]

Birdy,

I'm no high-flying window cleaner, but I know what's possible and what's not for one person.

Even with WFP and a compact easy access area, five houses per hour is pushing it, and there's no way you'll sustain that level of work hour-after-hour, day-after-day.

Do you remember UBA1?  He was some supremely fit boxing/marshal arts (I can't remember which exactly) bloke, and he used to claim he could knock out five houses an hour; and he received a lot of suspicion about that claim.

So from that we've evolved to twelve houses per hour!

 :

[AuRavelling79]

I can do a 10 window house (including 2 doors) in 5 minutes and this is how I do it:-

0 - 1 minute  Open gate knock door and clean it awaiting an answer, if custy not in write chit and put thru'.

1 - 2 minutes, go round back, look about and if no one watching check for bird's muck and if none evident ignore upstairs back 2 and run scrim along base of downstairs window and door. Wipe downstairs cills.

2 - 3 minutes, check upstairs front 2 and side upstairs and if no one watching ignore. Downstairs 2 do the scrim trick.

3 - 4 minutes. Do kitchen window properly. Head for the gate.

You now have 1 spare minute which you can use on the next house you find someone in or a nosey neighbour watching you and have to take 6 mins.

This method is only allowed Oop North, in the Welsh valleys boyo or the Gorbals in Glasgow.

[Jeff Brimble]

Thanks for being honest-dis. 

[trevor perry]

Birdy,

I'm no high-flying window cleaner, but I know what's possible and what's not for one person.

Even with WFP and a compact easy access area, five houses per hour is pushing it, and there's no way you'll sustain that level of work hour-after-hour, day-after-day.

Do you remember UBA1?  He was some supremely fit boxing/marshal arts (I can't remember which exactly) bloke, and he used to claim he could knock out five houses an hour; and he received a lot of suspicion about that claim.

So from that we've evolved to twelve houses per hour!

 :

go on then tosh i will bite  its a fact i could and am confident i could still do 12 in an hour and lads i have worked with have witnessed it but there again you ex army type think if you cant do it then its impossible. i consider myself very fit and in a competition of endurance lifting which involves putting a 20kg weight in each hand above your head from waist height as many times as you can without stopping i beat 5 young marines all at once all packing in as they got tired i was still going . They where all in their prime i was fourty at the time you if lucky would manage 40 reps i have done 400.
  At the end of the day i know what i can do and it is pointless arguing about it on a forum but if anyone wants to set up a challenge and put some worthwhile money on it then bring it on.
 

[birdymiller]

What have i got to gain saying that i can clean a house in 6 minutes, im not going to win anything, why would i make this up. Im just being honest about my round and £5 houses are great if they can be done in under 10 mins. malc i think you clean in my area, do you drive a silver volvo?

[sparklebright]

I was looking on ebay a couple of days ago and there is a chap selling his round
He has 270 customers and its done on a fourtnighly basis.

I think he said he makes £1600 a month
So thats no even £3 a house.

How can people live on this.
I was charging more than that in the 80's

thats £400 a week and if done trad then very little overheads, its not a fortune but better than most get for working in a factory or another unskilled job.

I'm sorry to be picky but that might be £400 a week before, stoppages, downtime, holiday,sickness weather, vehicle costs, and the rest, it is considerably less after...

[AuRavelling79]

I was looking on ebay a couple of days ago and there is a chap selling his round
He has 270 customers and its done on a fourtnighly basis.

I think he said he makes £1600 a month
So thats no even £3 a house.

How can people live on this.
I was charging more than that in the 80's

thats £400 a week and if done trad then very little overheads, its not a fortune but better than most get for working in a factory or another unskilled job.

I'm sorry to be picky but that might be £400 a week before, stoppages, downtime, holiday,sickness weather, vehicle costs, and the rest, it is considerably less after...

so most people run a car anyway,and sick pay isnt much,with 4 week holiday and 2 week sick would still beat minium wage

But who wants to be a window cleaner for a bit over the minimum wage? I could get a local government job and have a pension and six weeks hols, full sick pay etc, at that rate.

[windowswashed]

Times must be getting hard for builders and gardeners. Yesterday I had two builders and one gardener fishing about wfp off me. Don't wish to have more competition in my area I work so sold them all the bad points of wfp naturally. Be surprised if I see them working for themselves in a few months time lol.

[collins82002]

What you pay is what you get!

[martinsadie]

I was looking on ebay a couple of days ago and there is a chap selling his round
He has 270 customers and its done on a fourtnighly basis.

I think he said he makes £1600 a month
So thats no even £3 a house.

How can people live on this.
I was charging more than that in the 80's

thats £400 a week and if done trad then very little overheads, its not a fortune but better than most get for working in a factory or another unskilled job.

I'm sorry to be picky but that might be £400 a week before, stoppages, downtime, holiday,sickness weather, vehicle costs, and the rest, it is considerably less after...

so most people run a car anyway,and sick pay isnt much,with 4 week holiday and 2 week sick would still beat minium wage

But who wants to be a window cleaner for a bit over the minimum wage? I could get a local government job and have a pension and six weeks hols, full sick pay etc, at that rate.

you might be able to but most people cant