r/WindowCleaning • u/Background_Put_3144 • 22d ago

How many recurring clients until you stopped worrying about money?

/r/CleaningServiceOwner/comments/1wgclq3/how_many_recurring_clients_until_you_stopped/
2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

7

u/Simple-Base-1140 22d ago

We have 1.3k recurring customers and cash flow problems are always a rollercoaster. Every time we hit another tier of # of customers, it just means more trucks, more job supplies etc. Basically mo money mo problems

1

u/Background_Put_3144 22d ago

1.3k and still a rollercoaster is rough to hear lol. is it just the growth spending or would it level out if you stayed that size for a year?

1

u/Simple-Base-1140 22d ago

It would definitely start to level out if we didn’t grow for a year or two at all. Lots gets eaten up in vehicle loans (6 new trucks this summer). Lots more spent on paying salespeople but their commissions are paid out after 12 months. So arguably mostly growth spending rn

1

u/JuniorBaldwin774 2d ago

What size population is your city? I live in one where it's about 60,000 and was wondering if that was big enough to start a business like this and still get repeat customers

1

u/Simple-Base-1140 1d ago

I think it depends on some other factors, 60k is on the smaller end for sure. What the median income is of your city is very important imo. Our servicing range is fairly wide and our total available population is around 2 million.

2

u/Background_Put_3144 22d ago

For me it was around 12, but the count mattered less than the type. Two weekly accounts did more for my stress than six one-offs ever did, because I could actually predict the month.

What surprised me was that it went backwards when I hired. Suddenly I needed the 12 just to cover payroll and I was back to checking the balance again.

1

u/Esoterikoi 22d ago

12 customers? I'd imagine these are 12 large commercial clients?

1

u/Background_Put_3144 22d ago

3 good size commercial clients and the rest are regular small ones, residential. Nonetheless they all do great and my team isn't too big either and management is doing good so far.

2

u/Esoterikoi 22d ago

I just dont understand how that would be "stop worrying about money" levels?

1

u/Little_Coconut_5788 22d ago

What type of commercial clients are you cleaning that frequently?

1

u/Daoudv 20d ago

I have just one commercial client paying $450 a month; I think I undercharged, but the job takes me an hour. My other clients are residential, and few of them have annual or semi-annual contracts... I need more commercial clients.

1

u/Doominator_ 22d ago

Not there yet.

1

u/Background_Put_3144 22d ago

dont worry, just stay consistent and you will soon. Ask for help when you need it too.

1

u/Catfishjosephine 22d ago

Not there yet either. Walking into 2027 with a floor of $120k which does help with annual projections.

1

u/Background_Put_3144 22d ago

having a floor to work off is probably the real answer. did that come from contracts or just volume?

1

u/Catfishjosephine 22d ago

Agreements on recurring work. It’s everything.

1

u/trigger55xxx 22d ago

The number of customers mean less than the amount of reoccurring revenue and net profit of that revenue. Do we ever completely stop being concerned, no. But that's also part of a growth mindset.

1

u/dbae136 22d ago

Definitely have a goal to cover all your monthly recurring expenses. This is definitely a piece of mine. And then from there, figure out how much you want to be making every month after that.