Windows Cleaning Hub - Good or bad idea?

[Eben]

Hey all,

I had one of those random business idea moments and wanted to put it forward to everyone to see if it’s a viable one.

The business would be a window cleaning marketing, communication, and logistics company. Simply put, the company would focus on the customer side, taking payments or subscriptions, ensuring effective communication, and then distributing the jobs to independent window cleaners.

Reflecting on past experiences over the last year, I had three different people knock on my door, only to never show up again, even after contacting them. This got me thinking about the industry. The first thing that came to mind was: were those gentlemen just looking for a bit of extra cash? Most likely. But as someone who has several years in the customer service industry, I thought the experience was rubbish. So what can I do to improve it?

Currently, this is where I am at with the idea. Of course, research and networking are needed.

The business would market and interact with customers, allowing them to use a user-friendly site to book a one-time service or subscribe to a monthly service. Once the customer books a service, we would contact an independent window cleaner, who has been contracted, to carry out the work. During this process, the customer would receive emails and text messages informing them when their windows will be cleaned and when the cleaning is complete.

The business will take a small cut from each booking. So yes, this is a business of scale, and in the early days, there would be a lot of goodwill.

Alongside that, I can see pros and cons to the business. The biggest negatives I keep thinking about are: why is this not being done already and what’s stopping the independents from poaching customers?

The positive I can see is that the company can potentially give independents more work, filling their schedules and providing customers with a better, seamless experience.

Anyhow, just looking for others' thoughts really, as I don’t want to start a business that has a high failure rate.

 

[fisicx]

I'd not use your service. And that's because we already have a window cleaner. When Jay retires I'll just google for a local service and give them a call.

What I wouldn't do is click on a listing that said 'Find a Window Cleaner' as that suggests some sort of lead generating service not an actual window cleaner.

But your idea might work. you won't know until you try.

 

[BusterBloodvessel]

I'm with Fisicx, I can't see how I'd use this or how it would work.

You already identified some of the problems yourself;

1. Reliability - when you've had 3 people not bother showing up at your door, why would it be any different if they'd been booked through a website? If anything they'd probably be even less motivated if you were taking a cut.

2. Poaching customers directly. Impossible to stop. You might get the first booking and then when the cleaner turns up they say "want me to come every 2 weeks?" and that's the end of that.

On top of the above, how often are people actually (a) looking for a "one off" clean, or (b) looking to switch regular cleaners from their incumbent? It can't be that often. So you're then looking at people who have moved house, want/need a window cleaner, are in a new area so can't use their old one, and that then go to the hassle of using your platform.

 

[Eben]

I'd not use your service. And that's because we already have a window cleaner. When Jay retires I'll just google for a local service and give them a call.

What I wouldn't do is click on a listing that said 'Find a Window Cleaner' as that suggests some sort of lead generating service not an actual window cleaner.

But your idea might work. you won't know until you try.

Thanks for your reply, really appreciate it!

The business would not be a find a window cleaner. The business would stand as a window cleaning business, the only difference is that we don’t carry the work out with employees but contractors.

Best way I can explain it is like Just Eat..ish. Takeaway (no pun intended) the list of restaurants you would get in touch to get your windows cleaned and then in the background we organise an independent window cleaner to do the work. Just like Just Eat collects payment and organises delivery.

 

[fisicx]

But you would need to create a GBP for every location in the country as that the place many people look when they need a local service. Or they ask their neighbours, on nextdoor, Facebook or wherever.

Maybe those who knocked on your door weren’t window cleaners, they were just people paid to go get leads.

 

[Socio South West]

I think to make this an opportunity with traction you will need to widen the scope beyond window cleaning - so you will be offering gardening, handyman services etc to householders. Maybe through one site, or a suite of linked sites.

However, my gut feeling is echoed by those earlier posts... the chances are that people already have a regular, and will simply either google or look in their local rag when time comes to change.

The majority of your target clientele aren't yet of an age that automatically goes to the internet for this type of service. Maybe another 15- 20 years....

 

[fantheflames]

Hi @Eben!

I think it's a great idea. It would require a lot of trust building with businesses and customers due to competition and the formality of how customers usually acquire cleaners i.e. word of mouth.

Managing the logistics and communication would be challenging also, on top of the marketing costs to attract businesses and customers. I'd say having a better understanding of the entire industry, both established window cleaning companies and independent cleaners would help to make a stronger marketing plan, i.e. referral programs, loyalty schemes, etc.

Also, you may find that offices or homes need to be cleaned regularly, but specialised cleaning services like deep sofa cleans may only be needed once every year, highlighting which service would benefit from promotions...

On the plus side, the business model does suggest a great potential for scalability and I think expanding to other areas either initially or as a staged service would be great i.e. gardening, plumbing, etc. There's a huge demand for these services, both domestic and commercial, so naturally there's some competition there. But a huge potential also!

There's also the risk of independent cleaners abusing your platform to then directly engage with customers, so perhaps consideration of contracts/terms and conditions, and how to keep businesses and customers on your site with incentives and reputation boosts.

 

[Shopclicks]

Good for you for identifying a perceived problem and trying to come up with a solution.

Now the bad news. It's a problem that already has a multitude of solutions (phone, flyers, email, word of mouth, plain sight, etc.) Your idea doesn't add more work for a window cleaner who wants to work. That person is already busy.

Good window cleaners are not hard to find. They're usually up a ladder somewhere.

Then there is the question of margin and commission. A good friend owns 3 high street shoe shops. I just called him to find out what he pays his window cleaner. He's been using the same guy at my local shop for about 10 years. Once a week the shop windows (4 big display windows and the glass doors) on the ground floor are cleaned and once a month the first floor windows (6 smaller sash windows) are cleaned. Total for the month £40. How much of that do you think the window cleaner would be willing to pay you? And why?

Unless you can add value for the business and the client, it's a non-starter.

 

[chappers27]

Creating a service and then offering it nationwide is tricky. You'd need a website with lots of relevant SEO keywords e.g. Window Cleaners Sunderland, Window Cleaners Portsmouth etc. Then how do you find the contractors? What is their cut and what is your cut? You'd probably only get 10% of the fee. Hows this different from Bark or TrustaTrader?

 

[Fagin2021]

Good window cleaners are not hard to find. They're usually up a ladder somewhere.

Mine is usually found in the pub. Oh, sorry, you said good window cleaners.

Creating a service and then offering it nationwide is tricky. You'd need a website with lots of relevant SEO keywords e.g. Window Cleaners Sunderland, Window Cleaners Portsmouth etc.

If they search at all, most people will search for 'window cleaners near me'.

 

[chappers27]

Well yes, and if you do that you'll find 'checkatrade' or individual Google My Business profiles or other marketplace links. As evidence, when I just did that search, one link for Checkatrade and another for Trust a Trader and another for Rated People. As I said if you have a marketplace devoted to Window Cleaners, you will get ranked higher than these multi-service websites if you use the right SEO words (e.g. window cleaning southampton) in the website. 'near me' means nothing to google, it will just use your location and use that in the search

 

[Porky]

Its a bit like if say i need an executive taxi service where i am, i get really annoyed landing on web pages from google that are gateway firms pretending to be actual taxi firms in the area when they are not, designed to extract your details to sell the leads on.

I had one just yesterday where i wanted to google the cost of car parking at a specific train station and the website asked the date time etc pretending to be the car park and it just offered parking on peoples drives or other parking near the station in its results not my intended objective.

I guess these affiliate type sites might make some money after the cost of paying google to drive traffic to them but do they have longevity, not sure as many new ones popup to replaced offline ones. I don't like them myself, even if i use a compare site i tend to look at the results and go direct to the source,

With your window cleaning idea (have seen this done with house cleaning services) i'm with @fisicx i would click on and click off as I'm looking for the source, I couldn't trust that i either pay you and the windows don't get cleaned, you send me someone that does a poor job or worse some unknown shows up who cleans my windows and robs me. Unfortunately, the latter did happen to us once, a new window cleaner came round, a couple of times did the outside, we agreed he could do the inside, and a diamond ring of my wife's went missing, could not prove he nicked it but fairly confident that is what happened.

At the end of the day you could try it but not convinced its a strong money maker. I guess cost of traffic to the site v conversion rate would be a big factor in viability. Its not for me personally but there is a market for comparison and affiliate sites that's for sure but how many would use it for a window cleaner i don't know.

 

[wayzgoose]

I think most people would just go on their local Facebook page and ask "anyone suggest a good window cleaner around here?"

 

[fantheflames]

I think most people would just go on their local Facebook page and ask "anyone suggest a good window cleaner around here?"

Definitely. Facebook and Facebook groups have become that go-to place to ask questions about local services.

 

[fisicx]

Definitely. Facebook and Facebook groups have become that go-to place to ask questions about local services.

Nextdoor even more so.

 

[iconic]

I run a window cleaning business... This idea has been tried many times and has always failed due a number of the reasons already listed above.

Also, you wouldn't want to be dealing with a load of window cleaners day in day out, trying to organise them under the umbrella of your own company... I would say 75% of window cleaners are unprofessional when it comes to dealing with customers, which in turn would have a negative impact on your business.

Andy