Newbie questions about first cleans.

[Adams0211]

I thought about posting this on Scottie's thread but thought it was deserving of its own thread, especially as it will probably help other newbies like myself.

I'm about two weeks away from starting up and suddenly realised I'm not really sure what's expected of a first clean.

I've been practicing like mad recently (as well as working full time) and had a spare hour today so told a pal I'd go and do his windows as a freebie.

He said he's never had a window cleaner and these windows hadn't been cleaned for years. I realised this was my first first clean.

Here's how I tackled it and you can let me know how I did.

1. Brush round frames and sills to remove cobwebs, leaves etc

2. Scrub frames and sills with wet heavy duty sill cloth.

3. Mopped windows using Porcupine sleeve. They were filthy so I mopped them extra well.

4. Used my scraper in a couple of spots.

5. Squeegeed windows.

6. Bit of detailing with microfiber cloth.

7. Wiped over frames and sills with microfiber cloth.

How did I do and what would you have done differently?

At the end the glass was perfect and the frames and sills looked much better but weren't excellent. To get the frames and sills to look perfect I would have had to used other cleaning products and it would have taken much longer and my price would have to reflect that.

What do customers tend to expect from a first clean?

How do you charge for a first clean? Double the cost of a standard clean or do you prefer to price after a seeing the job first?

Do customers understand that a first clean is actually a thing or do they expect you just to do a regular clean?

I'm rambling now and I've typed far too much so i'll stop now.

I'm looking forward to hearing what people think. Cheers!

 

[Smurf]

Myself I always charge a good wack for first cleans as so many ppl like to pull a fast one. If they want restoration work doing as well then I charge extra on top.

Now builders cleans I don't do any more as are too much hassle but would be a hell lot more than a first clean for sure.

 

[Adams0211]

Thanks Smurf. From how I described it above, would you say I went about things correctly?

 

[Smurf]

Pucker job bud :thumbsup:

 

[Smurf]

If you want to get the frames & sills a bit cleaner you could try magic sponges and give em a quick rub over too /emoticons/wink.png

 

[Adams0211]

Nice one. I guess I just needed some confirmation.

 

[Smurf]

You will soon settle in to your own way of working as once the first clean is out of the way it gets alot easier on regular cleans

 

[Tuffers]

If you want to get the frames & sills a bit cleaner you could try magic sponges and give em a quick rub over too /emoticons/wink.png

I used a magic sponge, well 3 on the struts on an internal conny roof yesterday. I dipped them in soapy water, rubbed and dried with an old scrim. Came up a treat :thumbsup:

 

[Tuffers]

@Adams0211, sounds like you did a good job. Once a first clean is out the way, you'll fly round afterwards :thumbsup:

 

[boarcity]

on a 1st clean i will sometimes scrub the sills with Cif cleaner on a sopping wet rag ,that brings em up a treat

 

[Adams0211]

I thought about cif as I was cleaning the frames and sills. I'll pick a bottle up and keep it in the van. And some of these magic sponges I keep hearing about.

Not long to go now until I can get out there properly and I can't wait. I've got the van all set up. I'm just waiting on business cards and a few items of clothing I've ordered. I plan on spending next week perfecting my work by cleaning for friends and family. Hopefully I'll pick up some customers there. My mum has already cancelled her guy. Poor bloke. I told her not to but she insisted. I think she sees it as helping me out :0/

 

[boarcity]

as a rule if the frames are old i tell the customer that itll take 2 or 3 cleans before they come shiney, but they will come shiney as theyll be wiped each time. this is true,i bleve soap residue from the first clean soaks in over time and loosens grime ready for the second clean

 

[mrtaytay]

Adams, sounds like you did a good job. One thing I always do on a first clean is get my applicator with a porcupine sleeve on the end of a pole and go round every downstairs window giving the windows and frames a good wash. Keep dunking your applicator in your bucket to keep it absolutely saturated. You can do this really quickly with a pole. Totally blast them!.Doing this will remove and soften up some of the **** on the lower windows and frames. Do your upper windows and, once finished, start on the lowers, re applicate etc.......the initial soaking will make the job a lot easier.

 

[Adams0211]

Adams, sounds like you did a good job. One thing I always do on a first clean is get my applicator with a porcupine sleeve on the end of a pole and go round every downstairs window giving the windows and frames a good wash. Keep dunking your applicator in your bucket to keep it absolutely saturated. You can do this really quickly with a pole. Totally blast them!.Doing this will remove and soften up some of the **** on the lower windows and frames. Do your upper windows and, once finished, start on the lowers, re applicate etc.......the initial soaking will make the job a lot easier.

That's a really good tip. Nice one. I'm going to try and find another mate with filthy windows and give that a go tomorrow.

 

[TolishAPurd]

On a first clean, if its really bad, I often scrape the whole window. A little trick I do on the moderately dirty ones is to applicate, and very quickly/roughly downward stroke the whole window with the squeegee, and then carry on as normal. The first stroke gets the bulk of the **** off, which helps the squeegee glide better on the second pull for a nicer finish without the scraping.

A lot about the first clean customer relations is to manage customer expectations before you start. If you don't have another job to get to that day, then maybe you could get them absolutely perfect. But like boar, I always say that it takes about 2/3 cleans to get it right. Whenever I come back for the second clean they always look cleaner then when I have left them, as I think the month of rain finishes the job off for you. I always find the second or third clean is where you get them spot on. But in the customers eyes, the first will always be the most impressive, as they saw the most dramatic change from $hit to $hiney. ....hmmm, thats just given me a new name for my business.

I also do the same as taytay, but I use a long handled car wash brush. It gets around the frames nicely. I tend to do this only when there is a lot of plastic like on large bay windows. It helps to have large microfibre cloths to dry off when doing this as the water gets everywhere, i.e. too much or too slow for your sill cloth.

After a first clean, the water has got to go IMHO, and the cloths are retired for the day too.

 

[Adams0211]

On a first clean, if its really bad, I often scrape the whole window. A little trick I do on the moderately dirty ones is to applicate, and very quickly/roughly downward stroke the whole window with the squeegee, and then carry on as normal. The first stroke gets the bulk of the **** off, which helps the squeegee glide better on the second pull for a nicer finish without the scraping.
A lot about the first clean customer relations is to manage customer expectations before you start. If you don't have another job to get to that day, then maybe you could get them absolutely perfect. But like boar, I always say that it takes about 2/3 cleans to get it right. Whenever I come back for the second clean they always look cleaner then when I have left them, as I think the month of rain finishes the job off for you. I always find the second or third clean is where you get them spot on. But in the customers eyes, the first will always be the most impressive, as they saw the most dramatic change from $hit to $hiney. ....hmmm, thats just given me a new name for my business.

I also do the same as taytay, but I use a long handled car wash brush. It gets around the frames nicely. I tend to do this only when there is a lot of plastic like on large bay windows. It helps to have large microfibre cloths to dry off when doing this as the water gets everywhere, i.e. too much or too slow for your sill cloth.

After a first clean, the water has got to go IMHO, and the cloths are retired for the day too.

That's very informative, thank you. Is it sad that I can't wait til tomorrow morning so I can go cleaning?!

 

[TolishAPurd]

That's very informative, thank you. Is it sad that I can't wait til tomorrow morning so I can go cleaning?!

We need to find you a good lady now. /emoticons/biggrin.png

 

[TolishAPurd]

One thing I forgot to add is that I never mess about with scourers, magic sponges, or ciff as part of a first or regular clean. If the windows I'm working on need any of that then I would book them in and charge for UPVC restoration. I have one customer at the moment that is dropping hints, but I'll be glad if she drops me anyway. Her windows were neglected for years and all the rubber is degraded, and the frames and sills were covered in a grey stain (I'll call it a stain as its ingrained in the plastic). I have managed to get alot of it through normal methods, but there are parts that will need scouring, chemicals, etc. If she was likable then I may have done a window each month for free, but shes been trouble from day one, so I'll ride out the awkwardness. The only reason she hasn't been ditched is because a very good customer recommended me.

 

[Daftoldgit]

That sounds like a very thorough job, If I were you I'd charge at least double the regular price.

Some of these "first cleans" have a nasty way of becoming the ONLY clean, as the customers are maybe selling their house, or too mean to pay for a regular clean.

 

[Pickingpaul]

Your method sounds great to me, it depends how dirty they are, but i use an older applicator to clean first time jobs, i mop up all the frames and sills with it then wipe it all dry and clean with a scrim or microfiber, then i set about the glass with my regular applicator, i always remove any paint and stuff like that with a scrapper as you mentioned. You will find that they will get cleaner after a couple of cleans and i usually make that well known at the start, pricing is upto you, charge high and if u get the high price great but they may expect miracles.

 

[Scottie]

Adams0211

Hi mate, Like you I am new to this and not really got going yet, kinda frustrating I have distributed over 600 flyers now on my tod and got soem flyers and cards in some shops. I am on facebook too and not getting anything off that. But I am sticking to it as the guys on here say it will happen.

Anyway - My first clean was a bungalow and my only real regular clean so far. I priced it about right, it has alot windows as its got conny thats needs dong just but not roof. He told me he wanted a new cleaner as his went awol and always left dirty water on the frames. Glad i have him as a custy as really nice bloke. I thought as I am not working at all yet i would get the place right as he wants me every 8 weeks, so i sill cloths the frames and got them clean wipes away the green stuff and webs, got them looking nic and white not a million miles off a full frame clean i woudl say, then I cleaned the windows, really applicated them with the monsoon and squeegee them off, detailing was ok, done that and was happy, was over fussy on it all and got the whole place looking good, so next time I will not have the algae running down the windows and dirting the frames and the dirt and webs are gone, so next time I can just clean windows and wipe frames down, job done! It took me nearly two hours lol, but i wanted to get it all good, it wasa messey and charged £15 but he gave me £25 and said it was a great job and he would recommend me to other people and was really happy, had a good chat and left feeling less stresed and upbeat. I think your method was spot on, thats all you can do. I feel as though I am not doing enough and missing somthing but your not, as long as the window is good thats the goal.

This site is ******* amazing, I never thought other windys would be so open and helpful, you will do well to ask questions here and learn form them all as they are a great bunch on here. I would have been lost with out this forum!!!

I hope it goes well for you, same boat as me, maybe hook up some ideas, i have learnt a lot form on here. All the best.

Scottie