Starting and Scaling an Exterior Cleaning Business at 21

[EthanH]

Week 3

Last week’s goals:

• Create new Flyers with up to date pricing
• Start new gym membership
• Cancel all unused subscriptions
• Set up call answering service
• Book in roof cleaning jobs
• Find a place in my community to clean for social media
• Implement inspection cam into day to day jobs
• Change phone number on website / social media
• Order new batch of uniform

This week has been good. I’ve upped my Google ads budget from £10 to £25 / day and have had significantly more leads come through.

My phone answering service is up and running so it’s really cool when I finish a job to come back and check my phone and I’ll have a couple of messages with calls that have been picked up and the customer’s info has all been taken down, then I can call them back and get them booked in.

I’ve now got 3 roof cleans booked in, all for about £550 each so ~£1600 in total which is about 16 gutter cleans so that’s cool. Quoted my first roof clean from a lead that wasn’t a previous customer and got the job for £535 so that was really cool.

I’ve started using my “inspection cam” on some jobs, but mainly I just use it for quoting jobs. It’s much more impressive for the customer when they see me using some high tech looking stuff and seems to get me more jobs so far.

Goals for next week:

• Sort through un-used subscriptions
• Clean more signs
• Update phone number everywhere
• Deposit cash / cheques
• Fix broken van windscreen (pole slipped and smashed my windscreen so that’ll cost me £400)
• Set up new computer

Note: will reformat and add to this when I have my new computer, my laptop has died on me so I’m doing this from my phone.

 

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[EthanH]

Week 4

Last week’s goals:

• Sort through un-used subscriptions
• Clean more signs
• Update phone number everywhere
• Deposit cash / cheques
• Fix broken van windscreen (pole slipped and smashed my windscreen so that’ll cost me £400)
• Set up new computer

This week has been a bit slower for the gutter cleans. Not sure whats happening with the Google ads at the moment but I haven't had a single form submission this week so I need to look into that.

Only had 3 calls come in via my virtual receptionist so that's not great, however one turned into a £650 job so that was cool to see. I have to split the profits with another exterior cleaner in my area though as he has the equipment I need to do the job but I'd rather have half of the money than no money.

I've been quoting more roof cleans, really excited about taking the business in this direction as I've quoted for about £5K worth of work this week. Even if i get 20% of those jobs it's still another 1K/Week.

I really need to get better at selling, up until now the process of acquiring a customer has been:

1. Customer enquires via phone / website form
2. I ask them for their address, check on Google maps / street-view and give them the price to do the job based on the type of house.
3. They say Yes or No
4. I book them in.

(Average gutter clean price £100)

However now with roof cleans:

1. Call customer
2. Find out exactly how / why they want their roof cleaning (there's many methods of cleaning a roof)
3. Give them my pitch of the service I provide and the results they can expect
4. Answer lots of questions
5. Give them a ballpark estimate (e.g. between £1000-£1400)
6. If they are happy with the rough price, I'll arrange an in person inspection.
7. Meet customer in person, (actually come across as likable and like i know what I'm talking about)
8. Check for access by ladders / scaffolding / cherry-picker, check condition of tiles and check the shape of the tiles.
9. Tell the customer the final price (I often will get anxious and under-quote the jobs)
10. They say yes or no

Its a much more in depth process and I know at every roof clean I quote, I'll most likely be competition with at least 2 other companies for the job.

However with the average job being worth about £800, it is going to cost me literally tens of thousands of pounds a year to be bad at selling.

I'm slightly worried about getting through the winter so I'm just going to save everything I can to make sure that I do

I'm happy that I've at least made it to week 4 of this more regular posting schedule, however I need to note these goals down in more places than just here as i get to Sunday and look at these goals and realise I've forgotten about half of them, so what's the point of setting them if I don't even look at them throughout the week.

Goals for next week:

• Find what the issue is with Google ads
• Clean Signs!!!!!
• Update phone number on website
• Organise van
• Get quotes for fixing van windscreen / brake pads etc
• Actually look at these goals throughout the week
• Complete all outstanding quotes

Does anyone have any advice for how to get better at sales? As mentioned, it's costing me a lot to not have this skill so I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks to everyone for reading!

 

[Terrylewis]

Hello mate, I just joined the Forum and out of interest read your thread- as a fellow Brit it’s great to see you cracking on! I have just left you a five star review too. I have a company that carries out a similar service and honestly mate you need to use a heat pressure washer- Therma Tech or Doff machine are good brands. They both offer onsite training and aftercare. Both good as each other and you can charge £700-£900 per day for paint removal plus you can get all the pointing work from the building- we do!!!!!!!!

 

[Terrylewis]

Week 4

Last week’s goals:

• Sort through un-used subscriptions
• Clean more signs
• Update phone number everywhere
• Deposit cash / cheques
• Fix broken van windscreen (pole slipped and smashed my windscreen so that’ll cost me £400)
• Set up new computer

This week has been a bit slower for the gutter cleans. Not sure whats happening with the Google ads at the moment but I haven't had a single form submission this week so I need to look into that.

Only had 3 calls come in via my virtual receptionist so that's not great, however one turned into a £650 job so that was cool to see. I have to split the profits with another exterior cleaner in my area though as he has the equipment I need to do the job but I'd rather have half of the money than no money.

I've been quoting more roof cleans, really excited about taking the business in this direction as I've quoted for about £5K worth of work this week. Even if i get 20% of those jobs it's still another 1K/Week.

I really need to get better at selling, up until now the process of acquiring a customer has been:

1. Customer enquires via phone / website form
2. I ask them for their address, check on Google maps / street-view and give them the price to do the job based on the type of house.
3. They say Yes or No
4. I book them in.

(Average gutter clean price £100)

However now with roof cleans:

1. Call customer
2. Find out exactly how / why they want their roof cleaning (there's many methods of cleaning a roof)
3. Give them my pitch of the service I provide and the results they can expect
4. Answer lots of questions
5. Give them a ballpark estimate (e.g. between £1000-£1400)
6. If they are happy with the rough price, I'll arrange an in person inspection.
7. Meet customer in person, (actually come across as likable and like i know what I'm talking about)
8. Check for access by ladders / scaffolding / cherry-picker, check condition of tiles and check the shape of the tiles.
9. Tell the customer the final price (I often will get anxious and under-quote the jobs)
10. They say yes or no

Its a much more in depth process and I know at every roof clean I quote, I'll most likely be competition with at least 2 other companies for the job.

However with the average job being worth about £800, it is going to cost me literally tens of thousands of pounds a year to be bad at selling.

I'm slightly worried about getting through the winter so I'm just going to save everything I can to make sure that I do

I'm happy that I've at least made it to week 4 of this more regular posting schedule, however I need to note these goals down in more places than just here as i get to Sunday and look at these goals and realise I've forgotten about half of them, so what's the point of setting them if I don't even look at them throughout the week.

Goals for next week:

• Find what the issue is with Google ads
• Clean Signs!!!!!
• Update phone number on website
• Organise van
• Get quotes for fixing van windscreen / brake pads etc
• Actually look at these goals throughout the week
• Complete all outstanding quotes

Does anyone have any advice for how to get better at sales? As mentioned, it's costing me a lot to not have this skill so I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks to everyone for reading!

Make up some business cards and go into every letting agents in a 10 mile radius and ask to speak to the property manger. Follow this up by following them on linked in and send property manger/letting agents an email every three months

 

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[Shubham Gacche]

Thankyou! As of last Friday I've done about £700 worth of work for customers I have found using an app called "Bark" It essentially allows me to purchase leads for about £7 per lead and so far I've purchased 8 leads costing approx. £60 in total and have made £510 so far with another £350 job lined up for Friday.

So overall I'm really happy with the ROI of this. Each £1 spent is making me over £14 in work. I'm aiming to hit £1000 revenue in my first week and this is only using one form of marketing / lead gen.

I want to start trying other marketing approaches such as Facebook and Google Ads but don't know where to start with this if you have any advice?

I think within a few weeks if I up my marketing I could average £2500 a week revenue.

Hey Ethan, I have also newly started a marketing Agency, where we help businesses like your get a consistent steady stream of clients booked in without having to do anything extra themselves. We generate the leads, verify them and send them to your inbox. and if you want, we can also call them on your behalf and set up the meetings so that you can directly go there and make the quotations.
and as @jclean mentioned Ads spend will be near in range of £500-£800 but i am so confident that it will work for you that if i don’t get you clients, you wouldn’t have to pay me anything. would that be worth a quick chat to you ?

 

[EthanH]

Week 5

Last week’s goals:

• Find what the issue is with Google ads
• Clean Signs!!!!!
• Update phone number on website
• Organise van
• Get quotes for fixing van windscreen / brake pads etc
• Actually look at these goals throughout the week
• Complete all outstanding quotes

Good week this week. Had my best day revenue wise of £650, however due to splitting the profit with another company and some equipment breaking I only made ~£100 for 8 hours of work so that wasn’t great. However I was able to use a scaffold tower for the first time which will be a good skill for roof cleans in the future.

I have my first roof clean coming up on Tuesday so that’ll be the start of something new for the business. Profit should be ~£400 for the day which is great. I’m starting to see much more consistent income, my goal at the moment is to get to £1500 a week consistently, then I can think about hiring an employee.

Goals for next week:

• Update phone number on website
• Get quotes for fixing van windscreen / brake pads
• Create PDF document for roof cleaning (to explain the process to customers)
• Add roof cleaning section to website
• Create spreadsheet tracking revenue / customers for the past few weeks.
• Deposit cash

 

[EthanH]

Week 6

Last week’s goals:

• Update phone number on website
• Get quotes for fixing van windscreen / brake pads
• Create PDF document for roof cleaning (to explain the process to customers)
• Add roof cleaning section to website
• Create spreadsheet tracking revenue / customers for the past few weeks.
• Deposit cash

It's been a tough week so far, I've had to re-schedule 3 jobs due to all the gutters being frozen and the jobs I have been able to do have taken more than twice as long as usual. I was de-motivated for a couple of days but I've pulled myself back together, the goal for now is to minimise my costs for the winter and just focus on surviving through to spring.

I created a spreadsheet covering the last 12 weeks tracking my revenue and costs etc and it has been super interesting, I now know that my costs each week are ~£400 so my weekly goals are much clearer. The only thing I'm super anxious about at the moment is that I need new tyres, brakes and a new windscreen which all together is about £700 I don't really have at the moment. It's all a learning experience, and I'll know how to prepare for winter much better next year.

I've started my first roof clean too which was challenging and took a lot longer than expected, the weather isn't helping much as it needs to be above 5 degrees Celsius for me to apply the chemical treatment to the roof, and it needs to be dry, so at the moment the chances of finding a day that fits this criteria is pretty impossible.

Goals for next week:

• Update phone number on website
• Get quotes for fixing van windscreen / brake pads
• Add roof cleaning section to website
• Pick up Hi-vis uniform
• Quote all outstanding jobs
• Start sign cleaning Tik-Tok

 

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[datagod]

Week 6

Last week’s goals:

• Update phone number on website
• Get quotes for fixing van windscreen / brake pads
• Create PDF document for roof cleaning (to explain the process to customers)
• Add roof cleaning section to website
• Create spreadsheet tracking revenue / customers for the past few weeks.
• Deposit cash

It's been a tough week so far, I've had to re-schedule 3 jobs due to all the gutters being frozen and the jobs I have been able to do have taken more than twice as long as usual. I was de-motivated for a couple of days but I've pulled myself back together, the goal for now is to minimise my costs for the winter and just focus on surviving through to spring.

I created a spreadsheet covering the last 12 weeks tracking my revenue and costs etc and it has been super interesting, I now know that my costs each week are ~£400 so my weekly goals are much clearer. The only thing I'm super anxious about at the moment is that I need new tyres, brakes and a new windscreen which all together is about £700 I don't really have at the moment. It's all a learning experience, and I'll know how to prepare for winter much better next year.

I've started my first roof clean too which was challenging and took a lot longer than expected, the weather isn't helping much as it needs to be above 5 degrees Celsius for me to apply the chemical treatment to the roof, and it needs to be dry, so at the moment the chances of finding a day that fits this criteria is pretty impossible.

Goals for next week:

• Update phone number on website
• Get quotes for fixing van windscreen / brake pads
• Add roof cleaning section to website
• Pick up Hi-vis uniform
• Quote all outstanding jobs
• Start sign cleaning Tik-Tok

Congrats! What a great read that was. Just a friendly reminder try to change tyres as soon as possible. When it's wet you could have huge problems, you won't stop easily. Not worth risking life.

If you need winter tires there. Go get them! Again not worth risking life.

Good luck and keep it up. Waiting on new posts.

One note. On your website : this .. today for a free quote within 24 hours! Add spacing on mobile is not redable that text at all.

 

[sb08]

Great read Ethan, keep it up mate.

Shaz

 

[EthanH]

Week 7

Last week’s goals:

• Update phone number on website
• Get quotes for fixing van windscreen / brake pads
• Add roof cleaning section to website
• Pick up Hi-vis uniform
• Quote all outstanding jobs
• Start sign cleaning Tik-Tok

Being 100% honest, I've had a terrible week. Lots of stuff going on in my personal life has meant I've had to take a step back to sort myself out. Desperately need to pull myself together. At the end of the day, shit happens, I just need to get back up and running asap. The success of the business is a direct reflection of myself so I need to work on separating the two more effectively.

One up-side this week was that I've been donated a high vis uniform to help with my signs cleaning work, I've also been given some gardening equipment to help me clear around the signs too as so many are obscured by bushes / trees etc. Nice to that people want to help me out.

Not the most interesting read but I'd rather be transparent with how everything goes.

Goals for next week:

• Update phone number on website
• Get quotes for fixing van windscreen / brake pads
• Add roof cleaning section to website
• Quote all outstanding jobs
• Start sign cleaning Tik-Tok

 

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[datagod]

Curious @EthanH how are you doing lately?