Jimmy’s Property Care: A Picture of Success

We caught up with one of our favourite Instagrammers and former Spinaclean Training Day Attendee’s, to find out how he started his own business and what it means to be his own boss.

Why did you start your exterior cleaning business?

“After 15 years as an insurance broker with Lloyds of London and 7 years spent commuting to London, life threw me a bit of a curveball and I was made redundant.

I always found working in an office a bit of a soulless experience, so the change of circumstances gave me a chance to think about what I really enjoyed doing. I’d studied conservation at college and always loved the outdoors so initially, I did some gardening and a bit of tree surgery.

As I was looking into career options, I saw a gap in the market in my local area for exterior cleaning. When I was driving along, I would see all the dirty driveways and blocked gutters, so knew there was a real need and money to be made from these services. I searched online for more information and came across the Spinaclean Training Day, and booked on the course, that was over four years ago.

Has the Spinaclean Training Day helped you grow your business?

The day itself was a real eye-opener as I hadn’t really started my business at the time. The team were really knowledgeable and helpful with some great tips on how to get work, price jobs and promote my business. I hadn’t planned to buy any equipment but I was so impressed with the gutter Vac and the pressure washer that I end up buying both on the day! They’ve been brilliant over the last four years and the amount of money that I’ve made on the original investment has been really significant.

What do you like most about being your own boss?

You are master of your own destiny so the more you put in the more you get out.

Flexibility, I’ve got no one else to answer to but myself. Sometimes It’s stress on a day to day level but it’s my stress and it’s manageable. I love that every job is different so you’re always learning. I love seeing the end results of a hard day’s work and it gives me great satisfaction to see the customers are over the moon with the results.

What services do you offer?

Gutter Clearing, pressure washing driveways & patios along with Soft washing. I’ve started doing more roof treatments so moss removal followed up with biocides treatments. This is seen as more of a specialist service with specialist tools and so you can earn good money here.

Do you clean Windows?

I recently added a window cleaning round to my list of services for two reasons. Regular repeat business and an opportunity to upsell my other services.

What advice would you give to anyone starting a new business?

1) Once you’ve taken the decision then you need to commit 100%

Work 9-5 on finding work and building your business!
Talk to and connect with as many people as possible. Lettings & estate agents, business networking groups, village groups.
Get online. Build a website and get on social media with strong images of your work!
Get out there, practice and get lots of photos.

2) Be confident and don’t undersell yourself

If you’re getting 100% of your jobs, then you’re too cheap! You have to be confident in the service that you’re providing and don’t undervalue your work.

3) Create your own brand

Getting my van sign written and having my own uniform just filled me with so much pride and confidence. You look more professional and helps you to justify higher prices.

4) Quote for your time

Don’t just quote for doing the job. You also need to include the time and costs for things such as the site visit, the quotation and the invoicing. These all take time and provided you have the right image and quality of workmanship; the customer is happy to pay.

So what’s next for Jimmy’s property Care?

I will continue to add to my arsenal of already awesome machines to make my work more efficient and easier, I'm sure you will see these on my social media. I'm hoping to add a second van to expand so that I can also have a full window cleaning round as well as my other services.

I will continue to take lots more photos and I am also starting to film my work, so watch this space!”

Make sure you follow Jimmy on Instagram and Tik Tok for his mid-sussex based Exterior Home Cleaning projects jimmyspropertycare.co.uk www.jimmyspropertycare.co.uk/