With 9,000 clients and 21 years in the window-washing business, S&J has survived stormy times. But this spring, the darkening housing market clouded S&J's financial picture like never before.
Calls from real estate agents and home builders who wanted sparkling windows for new listings and open houses dried up. Homeowners began postponing their regular cleanings and corporate clients cut back their $900 window jobs from every two months to quarterly. And unpaid billings became a problem: A struggling homeowner would hire the company to wash windows, but 30 days later, when the bill came due, there'd be only a disconnected phone number.
"Our normal summer, which is usually crazy, wasn't so crazy," said Mary Livesay, who says business was off 16 percent through August. It's the first summer quarter S&J has ever seen a decrease in growth.
The family-owned business, which does carpet cleaning, window washing, rain-gutter clearing and holiday light installations from El Dorado Hills to Yuba City, is tightening up wherever it can.
If a 6-foot ladder or a window squeegee gets left at a site, it's retrieved. Instead of buying one or two new trucks, the company is maintaining the existing fleet. To cut gasoline costs, it's reducing the number of trucks that go out daily.
Perhaps the biggest change is in billing. After late payments by residential customers jumped to $15,000, S&J switched to requiring payment upon completion. That's whittled the outstanding debt down to $4,000. By eliminating most paper invoices, the company saves 50 cents apiece in postage and letterhead. "It doesn't sound like much, but with 50 to 70 jobs a day, it adds up," said Livesay. And getting the money faster cuts down on S&J's borrowing against its bank credit line.
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