So now that you have covered window cleaning and your picking up the customers daily/weekly and getting booked. Your customer Base is getting there and you can see it working.
Where do you take the business? If you drive for more how would you get more.
Hire additional staff
Take on other jobs
•Pressure washing, conservatory cleans, gutters, carpet cleaning, landscaping etc.
So how would you get into these areas, what’s the best way of progressing?
Hire a few more staff, one being slightly better at a certain role than the other or all being equally skilled and all working together and going through Job by job.
Has anyone here expanded and how did it work for them?
How did you manage to run window cleaning and also wanting to progress further?
a) I would suggest to start pricing now as if you had an employee and were paying them well, like $20/hr or even 20-25%. It all starts with your pricing. It has to sustain employees otherwise the plan falls apart.
b) Also start pretending you are training someone else when you are working. It may seem strange at first but then it will become a habit in your mind.
Your first employee should be someone you czn build around. View them as your foundation and as someone you will train for more responsibility.
This means you need to be looking around you and honing your evaluation skills of potential employees, as well as canvassing like you would for new customers. Handing out cards to people you think might be a good fit. You will probably have to find someone who is already employeed and give them a few hours to start.
If you go the cheap route, Ive read multiple threads where people say none of their employees are mgmnt material. Soooo, what was the plan then?
The less travel, the better. Im speaking from the other side - lots of travel. Travel kills profit. So if you can offer more services at the same site or just price big, you’ll find it easier to keep everyone happy, yourself included.
It is a weighty responsibility when people are counting on you to live and so you want to operate with the utmost practicality.
Btw, it is a great feeling when your business starts to roll. Best wishes in growing and may you find that balance so it doesnt roll you over.
Oh btw, if you would like any help getting into PW, hit me up. Im happy to give some help because some of the PW forums require a machete to navigate to the answer you’re looking for.
Fortunately I’m from the UK where customers get there outside only windows cleaned regularly each month. So building up a compact customer Base in a certain town is the norm.
I’m thinking of taking on a young family member and seeing where I can go with him.
I’m naturally good at training people because I was always happy to train operators in my old warehouse role than I was to actually do the job itself.
I’m just glad there is good progression. I like to set high goals and spend time thinking about ways to get there in the future.
I’d happily accept any info or tips with any add ons.
My goal as of right now is to continue building a Residential base offering Window Cleaning, Gutter Cleaning and House Washing. I am also working to build a solid base of storefront/commercial to hep get me through the Winter. I plan to also promote Screen repair through the winter…I am considering a way to advertise it as…drop your screens off to us and let us get them ready for spring…or a pick up / delivery service. Honestly, I have not researched screen repair enough to know if that is a good marketing strategy for winter work right out of my warm comfy garage.
I have had several commercial customers ask if I did floor cleaning…That’s an idea that might be worth looking into!
I plan to be in the position to hire a couple people by the end of Spring 2018 (most likely part time to start) .It’s a lofty goal, but without goals…where do we go right? That way, I can concentrate on getting more business! I have already set my radar on a couple young kids I see everyday at a local convenience store I go to for coffee…These two guys are always hustling and I have watched them interact with customers…Watching those two gives me hope for the younger generation!
Now, as far as expanding services. I’m really interested in getting into Ultrasonic Blind Cleaning. From the market research I have done…I could own this market…I can not find anyone around here that offers that service.
Right now…I’m just having fun…learning every day, creating a good reputation and working hard to take on any challenge. Honestly, if I had followed through in 2005 when I was first looking to get into this business…I can confidently say I’d be the top dog in my area right now…oh well…so goes life!
Ultrasonic blind cleaning is such a specialized market. I can’t see a good ROI unless there are customers lined up for such an expenditure, both on the part of the business model and the customers willingness to pay to make it profitable.
The thing is…my research shows no one around here does it…so therefore,it’s really impossible to find out what the demand is…I think one would need to market the service in a unique and aggressive way in order to make people aware of it’s benefit…THAT is the tricky part
I myself do not offer ultrasonic blind cleaning, I have looked into it but in the small community where I like there are already 2 companies who do it and for a 2nd hand unit it looked from 5-10k big investment and after wasting about the same trying out carpet cleaning. You have to enjoy the job you are doing imo. I hated carpet cleaning made almost no money off it coz there are already 15+ carpet cleaners in the area and then every cleaning company also does in house carpet cleaning.
Then I thought do I enjoy fiddling around trying to figure out how some of these new blinds are removed, I realized that it would just be a expensive headache.
Just last week I was offered a contract to use a floor sweeper in the local hardware warehouse store, now they wanted it done 3 times a week starting at 5am and estimated it would have taken between 4-5 hours each time then using another machine another day to wet clean, idk never used those machines before, I knew it would be easy work, but honestly I knew I would not enjoy being contracted to get up and drive those things around 4 days every week.
I currently do the concrete in their nursery area every two months and their windows quarterly, they were happy with my work and wanted me to do more, I said the only way I could do it was to sub contract it out most days, but they wanted me personally. I kindly declined.
Don’t see it as the same thing. People want things done cheap. In order to do cheap you need a lot of volume. Windows done cheap and the cleaner burns out.
If you could do blinds cheap so lots of people would essentially pay for your expensive unit, box truck, liability for their old blinds, environmental waste, and profit - then you may be on to something.
I did the windows at the same time as the blind cleaner was there on one property, they just come in take them all down and drive away to the next house, then go back to their depot( probably home garage) and clean them then dry them and take, them back to each customer.
Keep in mind that Ultrasonic can clean just about anything and better than traditional:
chandeliers
blinds
keyboards
fake plants
machine parts
tools
My understanding is that the drying process is the secret for electronics.
But you are probably looking at 30k for a good machine new. Plus the box truck. Plus modifications to truck. (Don’t underestimate the time, energy and expense involved.)
Practical advice here.
You would charge a premium. Get your pricing in order. Assess customers’ interest. Find out what is really hard for them to clean. There’s your market. Know what you need to make to recoup and then profit. Price accordingly.
I think comparing window cleaning in the UK to window cleaning in the US is like comparing apples to oranges. Different scheduling, different type of clients, different price structure, different expectations.
I looked into a place called dirtyblinds.com, you basically license their name and you go there for training and you can get set up with a complete system…trailer and all…except for a truck to pull it with. They also help with marketing. It does not look to be a franchise, you just pay to use their name. are out of Buffalo NY, just a few hours fro me. They actually have a section whee they show income potential…but the realistic guy in me knows it’s mostly in an effort to make you say WOW and dive right in…but at the same time,if you market it right…I believe it could be lucrative. My intention if I did something like that would be to invest in the system and hire one or two guys to do the work while I did all the marketing and sales.