@HBM Malcolm,
I agree. How can this problem be solved? I see it not only as an annoyance but an expenditure of energy, time, and risk of injury. Also, there is always the chance of forgetting something important for a job when stuff is being routinely moved in and out.
All of this adds to the bottomline and eats up profit. I do not have the multiple facets that you do but I do operate out of two different vehicles and so speak from some experience. It can be a real pain.
No way of pulling the van into garage? Enclosed, climate controlled trailer?
I read somewhere that itās a habit held over from the Industrial Revolution when the air was filled with Smog and the windows all got dirty very quickly therefore they were cleaned monthly.
not really, but people are paranoid about the rain, they think it will ruin their windows, we offer a 10 day rain guarantee but iāve learned not to argue with people about it
Risk of injury is high when it is really late at night and I am very tired from the work and moving heavy stuff during winter. I try to avoid unloading late at night but with freezing temps there is no alternative. One time when I was unloading the 3/4 cubic foot DI filter it slid off the ramp and damaged a connector. I canāt put a vehicle in my garage as it is full of stuff, including equipment and supplies for my multiple services. Additional heated storage is an additional expense that I canāt afford, same for an enclosed climate controlled trailer.
Leaving something behind is maddening driving back home to get it eats into the margin. I try to keep the different services and required supplies modular and have dedicated containers for each.
Another limitation to working inside is that there is no external visibility of the services by other neighbors, other than the parked vehicle (spillover marketing). I got my first residential WC customer because she saw me doing an external WC at a one story bank. She came up to me and asked if I could access her high windows. I pointed out the poles that were leaning against the building and said I could be there in a few hours. I didnāt need the poles to clean the one story bank but I wanted to leverage the visibility of my services.
I have never had a spillover marketing while working inside a building for carpet cleaning or waxing, so those services require more advertising expense.
Keep up with the regular outside clean and offer each a quarterly or semi-annual in/out clean. Perhaps you may find a few who take you up on it. This gives an opportunity for add onās such as:
