[Adam_london_uk]

how long did it take you to make it all worth while?

Did you start on just 4 weekly.

Any advice for a newbie thanks

[pingu]

When we 1st started it took around 8 months for me to be able to pay all our bills not using any of our then savings...others I am sure will have other durations...

Started in Oct 06 and now we have a very nice income and still have plenty of time off and room for expansion.

Cheers
Dave.

[elite mike]

started on my own in 1982

took about a year to get up and running full time

never looked back

[sparklebright]

Even though I bought a round off someone worth £750 a month, it still took more than a year, with hard work canvassing evenings weekends etc. and I took whatever the customer wanted 4 weekly 6 8 or even 12 in some cases, and then pruned once my list was full.
Keep plugging away and you'll get what you need, in the end

[Andy@w.c.s]

Started over 25 yrs ago when life was sweet and my bills were small ,
 my body didn't ache no job was a hassle and life was a lot slower




drifts off into a dream :


bump back to reality
advice : keep your over heads small, enjoy your days and try to look for the positives  

[cozy]

Got made redundant in april 89, because I live in Germany I had hundreds of potential customers from Army houses and only part time W/C's around. Leafleted lots and it took me about 3 months to cover my bills and feed the family. I think it would have been harder in UK.

Took about 18 months to get a decent round of commercial and domestic but by that time I started to feel at least halfway successful.

There is a saying that I heard that says " a rocket needs 80% of its power to lift off the ground, and only 20% to keep it going" I think that applies to this game, if you know what I mean.

[pjulk]

When i first started a lot of customers used to have there windows cleaned every 2 weeks.

It used to be the best job in the world when i first started used to work hard until pub opening time.
Spend a couple of hours in the pub and then clean in the afternoon for a couple of hours often half cut.

But that was back in my younger days before i had commitments.

[kris martin]

i bought my first bit of work about ten years ago off a mate who just wanted to party and get drunk, bought if for a grand and it was worth at least five times more. bought a couple more rounds in the first few years but then realised that work will just come without paying for it.

kris

[martinsadie]

Do you not find the work comes without looking for it after you have bought enough work Kris because you are out and ab out working 

[kris martin]

Do you not find the work comes without looking for it after you have bought enough work Kris because you are out and ab out working 

yep i have never canvassed in my life and only ever knocked maybe 10 doors in 10 years, its all been word of mouth.  Been really lucky as well though because i am quite friendly with a couple of other window cleaners who have put a lot of work my way even in big chunks (£350's woth in one go once) becaue he is getting on and cant manage it.  but yeah on a bit of a role at the moment aswell and also have a list as long as my arm of new custies that need doing (probably never get round too them)

[martinsadie]

ive never canvassed and the work rolls in,word of mouth and people seeing you clean, even get cars stopping to ask 

[kris martin]

yeah its a real buzz when you get quite a lot in one go but i only really ever do about half of what i say i will do, like i said in another topic more than three and a half days scare me too much i like my home time too much.. 

[martinsadie]

yeah its a real buzz when you get quite a lot in one go but i only really ever do about half of what i say i will do, like i said in another topic more than three and a half days scare me too much i like my home time too much.. 

should take the work on Kris then sell some off to get back down to 3 days, every now and again i sell some off 

[East coast window cleaning Services]

3 years to get to the level i wanted to be at been trading ltd for 5 1/2 years now

[kris martin]

yeah its a real buzz when you get quite a lot in one go but i only really ever do about half of what i say i will do, like i said in another topic more than three and a half days scare me too much i like my home time too much.. 

should take the work on Kris then sell some off to get back down to 3 days, every now and again i sell some off 

cant really be  bothered with the hassle, this weeks a 3 day week and the others are mainly tidying up on the thursday morning sometimes being done by 9am

[leapstallbuildings]

Got made redundant in april 89, because I live in Germany I had hundreds of potential customers from Army houses and only part time W/C's around. Leafleted lots and it took me about 3 months to cover my bills and feed the family. I think it would have been harder in UK.

Took about 18 months to get a decent round of commercial and domestic but by that time I started to feel at least halfway successful.

There is a saying that I heard that says " a rocket needs 80% of its power to lift off the ground, and only 20% to keep it going" I think that applies to this game, if you know what I mean.

Good analogy.  I reckon it's about right too.

[leapstallbuildings]

ive never canvassed and the work rolls in,word of mouth and people seeing you clean, even get cars stopping to ask 

They were queueing up outside my flat 's front door the other day. The queue went right around the corner.

Then the alarm clock went off.

[Gordon Saunders]

My first days window cleaning  according to my diary 2 of us worked from 9 till 4.15pm for £89.00 between us.
after breaks we earnt  £7.41 per hr each (6 hrs) we worked in 2 streets with 2 and 3bed semis.
 I still do both streets but work(mostly) alone now, still do many of the original customers and do them in a morning(4hrs) its worth more than £89 now but how much i aint saying. For years it was one of my favorite patches, not now though, prefer larger properties.
 G

[weetot]

Started June 1983, and was making £65.00 for 3 days work on council houses, this was a lot more money from the factory i was working in for 42 hours per week on 3 different shifts for £43.00 to come out with...................God get the violins out!

[NWH]

I would advise anyone to learn the job it isn`t just grab a bucket and off you go these days you need to know at least the basics and after that you will need at least a further 6 months to learn WFP to level where you won`t lose any work due to the method used.As for having an established business and a full diary of work i would say 5-10years for cream work longer,once you have the basic skills i would buy a round and use that to build on,Rome wasn`t built in a day and all that.