LOL, what, you guys don’t do 5-10 dollar store fronts? 1 dollar a pane? Oh yeah, there’s a reason why the OTHER GUY isn’t here anymore. The bucket bobs you speak of…I’d worry more about the bums on the street or honestly, A FISH FRANCHISE (LOL, a customer didn’t want to pay the company I work for 10 dollars for a job when FISH bid 7.50 twice a month) Google doesn’t lie, I am seeing a HUGE increase in window cleaners in my area-- these are people who have been put OUT of their own profession. They are just trying to eat, and figure they will get a squeegee and go to town. This is happening more since the virus put us into pretty much a depression-- fearful for what the next 12-18 months brings.
I do many commercial (hundreds) for the people I work for-- I do not do a single storefront for my own business. I don’t like stores, and over the last 5 years I have been saying how they will be out of business. It just took a virus for everyone to see how these brick and mortar people are barely getting by-- the thing is, they were barely getting by before the virus-- now they will all declare bankruptcy and cash out. The rise of Amazon will finish what the virus didn’t. Places like hospitals, and NECESSARY stores (CVS, Walgreens) will stay-- but they are so cheap they don’t even get their windows cleaned OR pressure wash their stores anymore to “cut costs”—
People think we are out of this virus…lol, you guys haven’t even BEGUN to see the real effects-- that won’t come for another 12-18 months once all the deferment programs are over and I would not be surprised to see THIRTY percent of ALL businesses gone. Then the real estate market will tank (the commercial market is already done for, who in their right mind will travel HOURS to/from work when they can work from home???) You think some stores closing now is bad? Give it 12-18 months, come see how they are then…they will have “for lease” on the front of them. It’s already happening big time here in Florida, no end in sight. We lost billions in tourism from March-Sept-- now these billions will be passed on to the property taxes— never let a crisis go to waste.
Residential…trust me. Residential is recession/depression proof…residential even gets you THROUGH a pandemic. The rich people did not lose much, they regained off their stocks when it rebounded…the people who you want hiring you to clean their windows ARE DOING FINE.
My two cents, sure you can build a great route in commercial. If you like commercial. I don’t. Period. You can build up 800 residential accounts and those will be worth a lot more than 800 commercial accounts (Unless those 800 commercial accounts are all HUGE buildings) 2020 was pretty much a wash for commercial-- a LOST year for hundreds of millions of people.
Store front people have STORE FRONT MENTALITY…it’s the same as a “rich man, poor dad” mentality. My thought is, if you can’t afford to pay someone to clean your windows, should you really be in business? I don’t know about you, but I don’t eat or frequent any places that don’t clean their windows or stores— if they don’t care about a minor detail like that, WHAT is in your FOOD? And boy do I feel bad when it seems I am the ONLY person who went into their store for the entire day, and THEN they have to pay me— like I am taking their last 10-15 dollars from the register…sad! It’s sad when the restaurants go out, they couldn’t get people to work for 4-5 months due to the 800 unemployment boost-- the PPP loans were gone after a couple weeks for many— and now are being led to slaughter-- I feel bad because some of these people put 100-200k into a restaurant business only to shut the doors 12 months later.
In fact, to end this-- I know many of the guys in my area-- I’m best friends with two of them who I have known for 30 years— They either lost half their commercial, BARELY clinging to it, or stopped altogether and focused residential. Hundreds of accounts gone in a matter of months, with no end in sight. Some people may read this and think I am being alarmist or pessimistic-- guys, this is what i have gathered from the HUNDREDS of businesses I service…this is the reality of commercial in 2020. I would think I have a great understanding on the economy as I am dealing with the small businesses than MAKE the economy-- and they are SUFFERING. And if they are suffering, the first person cut is THE WINDOW CLEANER— Has been that way for decades.
But, hey, one business closes and another one opens. This will weed out any of the weaker businesses, and only the strong will survive. Just like in life. Hope to get through this, but if the people don’t come back down from up north due to the virus— it might be lights out here and onto another field or company.
