I’m still a newbie, but I’ve experienced enough already to have a short list of things I wish I knew before I started my window cleaning business (or at least as I was starting it). Add to this list your own items and do a solid for future newbies!
My business is window cleaning, not web site design. I spent hours and hours trying to self-teach the basics of setting up a credible web site. Eventually I was able to learn how to make mine do most of what I wanted from it, but it’s going to need a significant overhaul and upgrade once I’m doing well enough to afford a professional to do it for me. All that time I spent would have been better used scouring the WCR web site and Forums and learning my craft.
Which leads to Number 2- I should have become a paying member of WCRA immediately rather than waiting several months. The depth of resources, training and know how possessed by fellow members is worth every penny and more. For those who try to glom on the site and get everything they can for free, leaving as soon as it’s going to cost them something, they miss the powerful principle of giving back that so many WCRA members excel at. I’m convinced that true, lasting success in the business only comes through that.
Consult a good CPA [I]before[/I] setting up your entity. I was able to set up a NY LLC fairly easily by following the online application process, but missed several key things that a good CPA would have told me about or done for me. For instance, I did not know that NY requires a window cleaner to charge a sales tax on their services. Luckily, I figured that out before I started charging for my services. In the county where I live, I’m required to charge 8.65%. I also didn’t realize that I had to apply for an authorization to charges sales tax. I thought it would be enough to just collect it and send it in. Once again, a good CPA would have been telling me this.
Using a personal use vehicle for your cleaning business may require you to get a commercial tag for the vehicle. I learned this [I]after[/I] I got car magnets advertising my new business to put on the doors of our Honda CRV. I would love to have a commercial vehicle, but limited resources required I go this route initially. What I didn’t realize is that the police in my area look for just such advertising on personally tagged vehicles (particularly when you are driving on a Parkway) in order to issue tickets for failing to have commercial plates.
Your start up expenses will probably not be as minimal as you expected in the beginning. I thought I would need a squeegee to get started. The more I thought it through, however, the more I started to sound like the character Steve Martin played in the movie The Jerk. I just need this 10" squeegee. And 10" scrubber cover. And T-bar. This 10" squeegee, scrubber cover, T-Bar and bucket. And a bucket on a belt (and a belt, with pouches). I started out by doing my own house and then several homes of friends and family for free in order to get a handle on what I needed and couldn’t do without. It turned out that there was a whole lot more than I expected. Poles, scrapers, cleaning solution, towels, ladders, set offs, ladder levelers, hard water stain remover- the list went on and on. The more work I did, the more I realized I needed to be able to do it properly and to be credible. Web site expenses, phone expenses, estimate and invoicing tools- it’s really tough to know when to stop and just get out there and start doing work that will pay for it all. While everybody’s idea is different of what the basics consist of to get started, I would imagine that everyone who has been in the business awhile and comes up with such a list will include things that most newbies would never think of at first. And no matter how much stuff you invest in, there is still more out there that if you had it, your business would be improved.
Getting jobs will be the most important thing you need to get really good at (at least for me), so you need to make sure you spend adequate time on this. I love working on the expertise side of things, or the operations side of making sure the business has everything it needs in order to succeed. The marketing side come a whole lot less easily for me, but that’s the heart of growing it. There are tons of options for how to market your business. I have to gravitate to the ones that cost very little initially, but I also have to choose even the cheaper options wisely because I can’t afford to not get results. What would be nice, but I haven’t found yet, is a proven system, or method, that virtually guarantees results and can easily be followed by newbies who are on a limited marketing budget. I’ve actually encountered such systems in other businesses I’ve built, such as in residential real estate, and they are really powerful. Would love to hear if there is anything similar for window cleaning.
You can’t rely on your customer to have a working hose hooked up, so if there is any chance you are going to need one (cleaning screens, operating your WFP, etc.), you better bring your own.
As important as it is to wear shoe covers when you go inside your customer’s house, it’s just as important to remember to take them off every time you go back outside. I have forgotten to do that several times and it’s costing me a new pair of shoe covers every time I do.
Having a good quality tool to remove screens with is essential to have with you at all times. I learned this while practicing on my own house before starting for real, and broke or bent several of our cheap screens before realizing there must be a better way to do it.
I wish I would have known I could make more than $20/hour cleaning windows. If someone would have told me that, I would have started cleaning windows right out of high school. $20/hour was my goal when I started. Honestly, it was hard for me to imagine making that kind of money. I love this business!
It was no real shocker to me personally, being that my father owns a carpet cleaning company it came natural knowing just squeegees wouldn’t cut it. In fact, thats the reason I bought my chevy express(extended) for future growth, while it may seems as an over kill now might not later on as I expand and buy even more equipment.
Sure glad I didn’t have to set up a business is NY. Starting out I sold my self short and left a lot of money on the table. Working out of the trunk of an '86 Buick taught me a lot about running a business and hiring a CPA even more. Once I incorporated my business and started my guys on a payroll, business almost doubled within a year.
Are you serious? I have never heard of this NY V&T law. Although, I wouldn’t put anything past the local yokals in LI. Have you actually seen this law in writing?
Same deal here in my home town. Made me put Commercial plates and business name/phone number on my truck if I want to do any business 15 miles from my home base. No insurance on my truck or any equipment if I don’t obey.
Derryll, I haven’t seen it in print, and spent the morning “Googling” to try to find anything that would give clarity. I wasn’t able to confirm much of anything, but I did find indications that if you remove the seating in what would otherwise be a passenger vehicle in order to transport your business equipment, it might be deemed commercial and require a commercial license plate. I also say information about the NY Parkways and how they prohibit any commercial vehicle on them (with limited exceptions), so if you [I]were[/I] deemed to be driving a commercial vehicle (and I suppose the magnet signs on the vehicle would be a tip off that it might be), you can be pulled over and fined. I also found information that made it seem like whether it is deemed a commercial vehicle or not for license plate purposes, it may still be deemed commercial by your insurance company. Apparently many (maybe most) policies exclude commercial activities from their personal auto insurance coverage, so if something happened while you were using it for business and they deemed that it was being used commercially, they might deny coverage.
I had thought that if I limited my business (at least initially) to just me, and didn’t take on employees that caused me to deal with workers’ comp, tax withholding, and greater liability concerns and exposure, I could just build a nice, simple, quiet business. Unfortunately, every time I turn around there’s another “big brother” type issue I have to deal with. All the more reason I value my membership in WCRA and the chance to find out from colleagues what I would never find out on my own.
Yes no commercial vehicles on the parkways , but you can drive on the expressways . Just take your magnets off when you go in the parkways . What’s wring with us local yokals here in LI
Your insurance company can deny coverage if they deem it is being used for commercial use .
With that being said I can’t tell you
How many wimdow cleaners are driving around in non commercial vehicles
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Just one more reason why I can’t wait to leave NYS. Been here my whole life and I can’t wait to get out.
As for not driving on the Parkways, that I knew. It does make sense to take off the magnets if your in a passenger vehicle and are driving on one. That being said. I think you can drive a PU on the Pkwys as long as it is registered passenger. Not sure about vans. I will have to pay more attention next time I’m on the TSP.
As for the local yokels crack…
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Met a guy that had just moved here a few years ago who was from NYS and had lived there most of his life. He was so excited to be in Wyoming because he could ride his ATV “where ever the hell he wants.”
^this. x1000. i spent 13 years in business doing ok for myself (at least i thought so) before i decided maybe i could learn something from someone else. then i came here, to the wcra. totally blew my mind how ignorant i was when all along i thought i was at the top of my game. turns out, being a great window cleaner doesn’t mean you are a great window cleaning business owner…
