First season on my own

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Long story short … cabinetmaker… slow times 2017/2018… worked for a property services company … really took to the window jobs ….
Went back to cabinetmaking a year later.
I always planned to get into windows again .
Last summer( august ) I decided to get equipped ( trad only) and started doing freebies to practise .
I shut it down for the winter, but in February I started advertising, I did some free work at a restaurant ( through a local neighborhood group on Facebook) which led to a monthly and a quarterly account… I have not really canvassed , i have a few accounts , and have done 3 residential jobs , with 3 more booked and 3 or 4 to quote , and I have quotes in on a pair of restaurants that could lead to more …
I still work full time…. So it’s one or 2 days a week… it’s not too hard to stay busy .
So it’s going pretty good.
The main problem is I’m so damn slow … also every job has been such a long first time clean , and o e house had a glass smoking patio with 40 panes that were so dirty , and stuff packed in there, and another was a ccu with 4 French windows over a larger window , and silicone city and fresh topsoil all packed in the sills… 160 panes, but it took 2 days because of the frames… I would have hosed them off and used a soft brush ( or waterfed if I had it ) but there was no grass… just dirt… it would have been a giant mess …
I have a large house coming up , and I warned them I may not finish in one day… there is lots of glass , and they want detailed tracks… which I said was slow and meticulous.

My belt is set up pretty well, and I’m fairly systematic, but I just find I’m probably doing too much before moving on .

Also , on commercial, I lack pole experience.
I used to do mostly residential, with some stores mixed in, but like once a year or first time , and you had to step ladder it up anyway…

So my storefronts are a bit slow too … but I’ve been practising my straight pulls … sorbo quicksilver with black diamond , and ninja wide body with ettore . I bought some super channels to just use one rubber style … but I did not like them much … but I was playing with one today to revisit .
I have a modded excelerator with ettore brass that I’ve been practising, but it’s pretty new…

I would like to be at 12 windows an hour in out …

How long are you guys taking to do your houses?

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Sounds like you are getting a fair amount of first time cleans, which naturally take longer. In the beginning you can expect to have a lot of first time cleans. Hopefully, they become repeat customers and then you will be able to clean them faster.

Of course WFP is faster than traditional but since the interiors have to be done traditional, your experience with traditional will eventually make you faster doing interiors.

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Welcome!
Yes, that’s a reasonable goal down the road. It takes a little while to hit the groove and get muscle-memory with your cleaning process. I was being overly meticulous when starting out. How many residential windows in an hour are you cleaning right now? (It’ll be interesting to look back in a year from now)

Most cleaners don’t do ‘deep” cleaning of tracks, unless you are charging dearly for that.

Doing a construction clean when you’re newer sounds risky, especially if you are not set up with right insurance.

You are at the point where you don’t need to give any more free work away. (Hurts the market and you) What are you charging, or what are you making per hour so far?

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Oh I’m done the freebies haha…
I’m charging $12 to $15 in/out with sills and screens …. But every job so far has just taken so long to move on to the next.
I generally don’t do post construction …
My rates will be fine I think when i get up to speed … so averaging $300 to $450… but it’s been more like $50 or $60 per hour .
I know it’s not ideal , but I needed to get out on some glass lol.

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I’ve been doing residential for 26 years and I still don’t make more than $60-ish an hour by myself if they have screens and filthy sills. Then again I’m purely trad so takes me longer.

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I’m presently trad only as well … hopefully I speed up a bit …