Gone very quiet

[TownIdiot]

M1AGM said:

And recruitment in those countries suffers accordingly. Having poor performing employees you cant get rid of is a barrier to creating opportunities for new employees to come in, thats not a good thing.

The two year period also creates a barrier for people to move jobs.

Many people are reluctant to move as they leave themselves exposed.

[Digga]

You have to question what, precise problem are Labour intending to solve with any changes?

To me, it appears, as ever, a potential case for looking carefully at unintended consequences very carefully, before meddling. Is this a sledgehammer to crack a nut? Is it proportionate? Does it need to be applied to all sizes of business, given the worst 'hire, fire and zero hours' are from larger organisations.

[jeremyc]

Final warning! Less of the politics (keep that to N,P&E forum please), more of the direct experience of your businesses.

We won't intervene again, the thread will simply be closed.

[fridaypassion]

Back on topic has anyone seen a bit of a bounce since the election? Politics aside I have felt like people have been sitting on their hands a bit. People often postpone purchase decisions when these big changes are happening. We certainly saw this during the many ups and downs of the Brexit process. I've seen a bit of an uptick but nothing huge.

[HoHoHo]

In the exhibition world we are having probably our second best year since I started the company 28 years ago.

T/O is up, profit is strong and we are looking pretty busy which is a good sign because marketing is the first budget to be cut in economically hard times.

That said, there are a number of contractors now cutting prices to win business to levels I've never seen before. That in turn affects the quality of final product, quality of service and overall customer experience. As much as we have gained good business over the last 24 months, we have lost some long-standing clients who have decided to buy on price.

Not sure how 2025 will pan out, it's looking OK currently with a good order book going forward however as I discovered during Covid, literally anything can happen and I don't count my chickens!

[Wing Commander]

My little corner of the world (domestic and commercial cleaning) seems to be doing fine. It appears that there are still *plenty* of people who are able and willing to drop between £200 and £500 per month on having their home cleaned.

I've cut back massively on pushing commercial cleaning - it's firmly in a race to the bottom and is almost entirely price driven. Not a race I want to be in. It is also much harder to automate the winning of work, as its much more focused on personal interactions and site visits before anything starts.

Domestic is lots of fun at the moment. We are hiring as fast as we can (another 4 members of staff this week hopefully), and building out some exciting marketing systems. We have certainly got an untapped seam of work which I am now working on maximising.

Profit margins in domestics are better than commercial, but still not amazing. We are VAT registered, unlike most cleaning businesses, so we have that element on top of things, but basically, it just makes a clearer line between those customers who are price driven and those who are value driven.

Planning on putting prices up soon, and using the extra funds to boost marketing. Genuinely looking forward to the rest of the year to see where it takes us

[crosseyedlion]

Wing Commander said:

My little corner of the world (domestic and commercial cleaning) seems to be doing fine. It appears that there are still *plenty* of people who are able and willing to drop between £200 and £500 per month on having their home cleaned.

I've cut back massively on pushing commercial cleaning - it's firmly in a race to the bottom and is almost entirely price driven. Not a race I want to be in. It is also much harder to automate the winning of work, as its much more focused on personal interactions and site visits before anything starts.

Domestic is lots of fun at the moment. We are hiring as fast as we can (another 4 members of staff this week hopefully), and building out some exciting marketing systems. We have certainly got an untapped seam of work which I am now working on maximising.

Profit margins in domestics are better than commercial, but still not amazing. We are VAT registered, unlike most cleaning businesses, so we have that element on top of things, but basically, it just makes a clearer line between those customers who are price driven and those who are value driven.

Planning on putting prices up soon, and using the extra funds to boost marketing. Genuinely looking forward to the rest of the year to see where it takes us

We massively 'overpay' for our cleaners. But very few cleaners seem to understand you can charge a fortune if you actually turn up and on time every time. Went through 3 others before who just proved to be horrendously flakey and wasted our time.

[Wing Commander]

crosseyedlion said:

We massively 'overpay' for our cleaners. But very few cleaners seem to understand you can charge a fortune if you actually turn up and on time every time. Went through 3 others before who just proved to be horrendously flakey and wasted our time.

True!

Is that domestic or commercial, out of interest? Not that it matters as the principle holds true for both.

Thankfully, such low standards from 95% of companies plays into our hands nicely, and forms part of our marketing even

[GardeningEcomm]

Ecommerce Gardening reporting in.

Sales continue to be worst in our 20yrs of trading.
Simply horrendous - our research suggests a 35% drop in consumer demand

Also just got our latest ocean freight quote in today for Shanghai-Felixstowe:
USD 9800/40’HC
(this was around $1800 last year)

Apologies for these gloomy stats.

[Digga]

fridaypassion said:

Back on topic has anyone seen a bit of a bounce since the election? Politics aside I have felt like people have been sitting on their hands a bit. People often postpone purchase decisions when these big changes are happening. We certainly saw this during the many ups and downs of the Brexit process. I've seen a bit of an uptick but nothing huge.

For certain, getting the election out of the way (and with a fairy settled result too) unblocks an amount of inevitable and understandable inertia.

However, for a lot of industry, the football is a major PITA. Whether you are seeing drops in demand or are just seeing staff absence/holiday impact, it is a slightly negative effect.

To see the full, post election feel, we need that distraction out of the way.

[sagarich]

Recruitment (education sector)

Dire - worst year since we started 11 years ago.

Clients sitting on budgets, paying very late and like above a race to the bottom, killing margins to get work in.

Not fun, immense stress and subsequent communication issues with my Co-Founder.

[Wills2]

GardeningEcomm said:

Ecommerce Gardening reporting in.

Sales continue to be worst in our 20yrs of trading.
Simply horrendous - our research suggests a 35% drop in consumer demand

Also just got our latest ocean freight quote in today for Shanghai-Felixstowe:
USD 9800/40’HC
(this was around $1800 last year)

Apologies for these gloomy stats.

Interesting on the container pricing jumping back up, I guess the weather is hammering your business, I've heard from the supermarket buyers that their outdoor sales have flopped due to it and clothing is down due to the awful weather.

[Digga]

Wills2 said:

awful weather.

I'm looking forward to the awful weather. It will be a fk sight better than the last week or so.

[Phooey]

Wing Commander said:

Domestic is lots of fun at the moment. We are hiring as fast as we can (another 4 members of staff this week hopefully), and building out some exciting marketing systems. We have certainly got an untapped seam of work which I am now working on maximising.

Good to hear! Out of interest is a lot of your domestic cleaning stuff like holiday lets etc (I see you are based in Norfolk)?

[Wing Commander]

Phooey said:

Wing Commander said:

Domestic is lots of fun at the moment. We are hiring as fast as we can (another 4 members of staff this week hopefully), and building out some exciting marketing systems. We have certainly got an untapped seam of work which I am now working on maximising.

Good to hear! Out of interest is a lot of your domestic cleaning stuff like holiday lets etc (I see you are based in Norfolk)?

No, not at all. In fact, I actively steer away from holiday lets due to their sporadic nature for bookings. The owners that have contacted us in the past have, almost every time, expected us to basically be on call for them. You get things like "oh its usually Fridays, but we might call you and let you know that its Sunday, except when it is not booked, in which case we won't need you".

Things like that make it very hard to scale, so I focus entirely on recurring domestic cleaning in private homes

[Louis Balfour]

Phooey said:

Wing Commander said:

Domestic is lots of fun at the moment. We are hiring as fast as we can (another 4 members of staff this week hopefully), and building out some exciting marketing systems. We have certainly got an untapped seam of work which I am now working on maximising.

Good to hear! Out of interest is a lot of your domestic cleaning stuff like holiday lets etc (I see you are based in Norfolk)?

Don’t even think about it Phooey. It would drive you mental.

[Phooey]

Wing Commander said:

No, not at all. In fact, I actively steer away from holiday lets due to their sporadic nature for bookings. The owners that have contacted us in the past have, almost every time, expected us to basically be on call for them. You get things like "oh its usually Fridays, but we might call you and let you know that its Sunday, except when it is not booked, in which case we won't need you".

Things like that make it very hard to scale, so I focus entirely on recurring domestic cleaning in private homes

Makes sense - thanks for reply. I only asked because a friend of mine lives in a touristy area and cleaners (changeovers) are very much in demand.

Louis Balfour said:

Don’t even think about it Phooey. It would drive you mental.

I quite fancied mincing around in a pinny

[Wing Commander]

Phooey said:

I quite fancied mincing around in a pinny

It's like you have a secret peep-hole into the inner workings of my operation. It's uncanny

[Louis Balfour]

Phooey said:

I quite fancied mincing around in a pinny

I’ve been through more cleaners in the business and domestically than I care to remember. The high points were the one who I caught masturbating my dog and another who used to wear a black shirt skirt with stockings and suspenders.

Cleaners generally are a nightmare.

[Steve H]

Louis Balfour said:

I’ve been through more cleaners in the business and domestically than I care to remember. The high points were the one who I caught masturbating my dog and another who used to wear a black shirt skirt with stockings and suspenders.

Cleaners generally are a nightmare.

If they had both been the same cleaner that would have been really something