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I understand your frustration. Sometimes you can spend more time flushing the muck out of the gap than cleaning their windows. Some windows aren't a good fit, whether that's because they were poorly made or the frames poorly measured before the windows were made and fitted. Most of those bits are algae growth where water sits because the sills haven't a good slope for it to drain away. Some sill even slope backwards into the frame. Some of its is also from spider activity. (My son says that window cleaning day is also spider's bin day.) What do you do? I sometimes think we can be our own worst enemy - this is my own experience. Sometimes we strive to do a 100% job when actually our customers are happy with less. A number of years ago now a local windie told me he was looking for customers who were happy with a 90% job. That shook my inner core as it went against the principle I believed in of supplying service excellence. He went on to say that he believed it could take more than double the time to clean from 95% to a 100% standard. The customer won't pay you double so why do you do it? After thinking about it I tried to work out what extra valve that 5% was that was taking double the time. It was all the time I spend trying the flush the muck out of the sills. We have a couple of houses where this is particularly bad. So we wash the upper windows and then wash the sills. I then switch the water off and wipe the sills with the brush. I then lower the brush flip a dry towel over it and wipe the sill again. If there are any bits left behind that's tough. We do the same with bottom windows but we put a dry/damp towel over the sills when we are finished and wipe them down by hand. If there are any bits left behind in the sill gap, they stay there. We have being doing this for the past 5 years and haven't had 1 complaint. I believe we often set the bar too high ourselves. I'm not saying that we must provide a poor service, its just we can spent too much time messing on with the fine detail that doesn't mean much.

I got a call this morning. "Last window cleaner has packed up etc" I tell her I'm round the corner and can pop round in a couple of hours. "Can't you come now as I'm off to work in a minute." No, I'm in a close with my hose out already cleaning 8 houses, I'll call round later. I get there and there's a sold sign up. A quick 'u' turn and back to what I was doing.

We had an older customer once tell me; "I pay you to keep my windows clean, not clean them when they are dirty." I wish she had made that remark earlier on in my window cleaning career. In the early days we would have been a little less accepting of customers skipping cleans if we knew how our business would develop over the years. I guess we were scared of being left with nothing so we bent over backwards to accommodate our customers. "The most fertile source of insight is hindsight." (Morris Kline.) .

6 weekly is the perfect service . It's taken me years to get to this . We started out 35 years ago offering 2 weekly . Started to get the miss mine this time . So we banged the price up ,put em all on 4 weekly . Had to pick a bit more work up but that was easy . Had the entire round on 4 weekly for years . Then about 10 years back started to get the miss mine this time . Now I don't put up with that . So it was a straight choice 4 weekly , 8 weekly slight pay rise , or not at all . Now I never pushed the 8 weekly but I didn't mind as plenty of work was coming in . About 3 years back 90% was 8 weekly and 10 % 4 weekly . Now about 2 years back my son came to work with me . So I needed more work . I canvassed a bit , but we were flying through the work . Now about this time we started to get quite a few of the 8 weeklys saying it was too long a gap . So I thought sod it bang every one on 6 weekly , that way we get more work as well . So all the 4 weeklys were told with a small price rise . No complaints there . Now I was a bit sneaky with the 8 weeklys . I only told the ones that were requesting a shorter frequency . No one else was told unless they noticed . And guess what , 2 years down the line not one query regarding the frequency . All new customers are fine too . Sorry for the boring life story . But just thought I would put down how after 35 years it's changed so much . Also in the 2 years I've not had any asking to skips clean . If I did it would be a straight no . I think 12 weeks would be a bit like a first clean .

Bit of crazy paving cleaning

Just a little update on business! This here is my new van..nv200 and signed up ready to go to work lads. I had got a big transit but it's loud, slow and uses loads of fuel (23mpg) and is ugly as sin! Miss my pug partner if truth be told. Most recently I been refining and refining, basically compressing the best of a 5 weekly round into a monthly one...which was fine until the phone started ringing again! Think there is 75 houses on gocardless mostly direct from website new custy sign ups but payment reminders also mention it as do vista print clean tickets. Add ons. This has played a big part this spring into summer compared to when I started last year. After many a chat with @K in Kent I decided with his guidance to start some pressure washing. Quite a big step mentally compared to jumping up a gutter, I don't know why. He has worked on my website www.fifewindowcleaningservices.co.uk a great deal lately, and added amazing content (especially on pressure washing pages...his background and let's be honest..one of our better add on pays) and the site is now ranking in Edinburgh under driveway cleaning Edinburgh and patio cleaning Edinburgh on page 1 google. Considering the competition in the capital that's impressive! Had 2 pressure wash calls from Edinburgh just yesterday infact, and that ain't even my home area/main target zone. All other pages are also ranking higher and with pages specific to my main towns he's enabled me to gain more localised work. Check him out in the sponsors section on this forum for a service that I from experience can guarantee has got me a lot of add on/window work. I got these fliers also made up,card quality and with info on other side ie list of services and a bit about me. From what i read about flier psychology the keys were ask a question, offer a solution and have a clear call to action I may well punt these out targeted to nice areas with shan (bad) drives and chap a few days later with portfolio of works on me...i do like a wee door chap!

There is no one who can tell you what the best brush is. If they could then we would all only use 1 brush. Brushes are a very personal thing and what you will believe is the best brush for you may not be for another cleaner. Much depends on you. My son and I work together off the same van. He prefers to use a stiff brush. I hate it. I prefer a softer dual trim brush. But when it comes to first cleans, his has the edge over mine. I have 3 poles on the van (excluding his). The first is an SLX40 with a Gardiner Supreme brush with soft bristles. Its heavier than the Extreme brush I had on it previously but it works nicely and good cleaning power. On my regular SLX22 I have a Gardiner Ultimate medium soft mixed bristles and I think that is a pretty good all round brush for regular residential cleans. We have a second SLX22 with an Ultimate Flocked brush which gets used with customers who have leaded or stick on leaded windows. When I next order I will consider a Gardiner Ultimate medium bristles brush. We have our annual school clean coming up so this might be a better choice with those dirty windows. You see, even we keep trying different brushes and we have been doing wfp for over 10 years. We have a number of brushes on the van. I like to use the cill brush for conservatory roofs and put that on my pole for a couple of other cleans we do. Its not the latest Gardiner sill brush. I find its too heavy for everyday use and it doesn't have the splayed side bristles the new brush has. We use pencil jets in all of our brushes bar one, which is the flocked Ultimate which we had fan jets fitted to. I have tried fans for a while now and prefer pencils, so this brush can be used with either fans or pencils. .

Only took 40 minutes and only used wfp to rinse and scrub a couple of stubborn spots Customer is very happy Forgot a before pic but it was green

Yep fair comment PureShine - I apologise. And as everyone knows... There has to be a holistic approach to ranking/ SEO and if starting from scratch should include things like keywords in domain name. Own your domain and renew for extended periods rather than 1 year at a time - indicator of stability. Unless you plan to go global always choose .co.uk rather than .com Building citations/trust by registering with the most reputable directories,especially those with a review option (and obtain 5* reviews on them if possible but Google reviews should take priority until you get at least 5). Quality rather than quantity using sites like yell,yelp,freeindex,thompson,192,scoot and most importantly a verified listing on Google My Business (GMB). Where allowed add free backlink but don't pay for them. Optimise each listing with keyword rich descriptions and write unique descriptions for each with target and related keywords. Google uses all these sources to gather info about u - not just page content. Stay away from low quality sites no one uses and that only exist as somewhere to create a citation and add a paid for backlink. Keep NAP - name/address/phone number consistent - landline phone number is viewed as indicator of being a stable ,legitimate,reputable company and not cowboys. But personally I use mobile and 0800. Build reviews over all platforms with emphasis on GMB. Create a Google link to add to your website and that you can email to customers and ask for 5* review - they just clink link and takes them to your review profile,they add comments and submit - done. (if they include keywords in review all the better). So that's some of external issues. RE Content / SEO off page seo: results page shows SEO title, URL (unless homepage which only displays domain) and meta description. SEO and URL are both ranking factors. Use targetted keywords at beginning of SEO title , ie window cleaners London - not - London Window Cleaners Using remaining characters (approx 70 total) for alternative keywords - eg window cleaning services SEO title is single biggest signal of relevancy to search engines and needs to be done right. Experiment with variations and you'll find your rank can go up or down just from a slight change of words or where they appear. Ideal title would something like Window Cleaners London | Window Cleaning Service....London is a bit too broad and help to be more specific if possible with east london or particular boroughs etc - whatever is most relevant to you. All these can easily be changed using Yoast SEO free plugin. For URL use same target or very similar keywords and although max number of charcters permitted runs into 100s keep it short and sweet,eg ...domain/window-cleaning-london ...with hyphen separating every word Meta desc not ranking factor but shows in bold words or near matches to searcher's term and often it's what is written here that will decide whether or not it is clicked, on page seo: content and keyword are king. But always remember what Google's objectives are with search - it wants to enhnace user experience (UX) and produce the most relevant and useful search results. RELEVANCY USEFULNESS AUTHORITY these are what u are judged on And content , use of keywords / variants is key. Use target keywords/phrases in H1 - headline - and use H1 once. Use keywords in first paragraph ie service+ location use keywords/variations in H2 subheadings throughout content use similar / related terms. AVOID keyword stuffing cos reads badly and will incur penalty. Make it read naturally and use appropriately. Particularly with semantic search coming in Google looks for synonyms/related terms. Search is reliant on keywords by its very definition = what words people use to search. The related terms u use the more relevancy signals u are sending r.e. your target keywords and the more relevant u appear to Google in relation to the search term used. Longer content - expand content and include additional relevant info - eg don't just say u use wfp - explain it fully and how pure water is different and has hard water deposits removed etc etc This has 2 very important benefits....1 ) longer content is viewed by Google as making a page more informative and therefore useful to searcher....2 ) more u write the more opportunities u have to insert keywords and variations....eg window cleaners/ing/services...we clean windows using....how do we clean your windows?...we use traditional window cleaning methods....we use the modern water fed pole window cleaning equipment which combines pure water......domestic/residential/commercial window cleaners...we clean windows for homes and businesses throughout... Content length is key to success. Make your page more relevant and useful with additional information. Don't worry if it's boring as long as it's relevant and add it further down the page Make max use of relevant terms to boost the relevancy signals u send. Optimise images and complete all off page info = title/caption/alt/description Don't use one term for each section,vary them,use alt for ketwords/location Make use of images as additional relevancy indicator and place for legitimate insertion of target keywords as well as variants. DON'T use location every time u use keywords (even though location is also keyword) but use more sparingly and as with service variations expand the locations if possible Consider a blog of 'How To...' guides or trad vs wfp and discuss the pros and cons - obviously slanting it heavily in favour of your chosen method. It's easy to make a case for both (but we all know trad best for customers , wfp best for w/cleaners and best earner by a mile). So the theory goes that this is where u might get the most beneficial external links to your content...but I doubt it. But what it does do is improve your relevancy,usefulness and authority in eyes of Google....think back to what Google wants and a blog just gives u an edge over your competitors. But expand content first and worry about blogs later....just make your site / pages that extra bit more informative Use good grammar and spelling - this is ranking factor. There are obviously more things that can be done but if u concentrate on better/longer relevant content and terms/phrases used you will improve ranking. INTERNAL LINKING: Wordpress now have a feature where u van highlight 'cornerstone content' = most important pages. I haven't used it yet so not sure how it works but I think u identify the content and it helps with internal link strategy. My approach is to make all pages as accessiblle as possible for indexing with links in and out of different pages FROM WITHIN CONTENT , not just main menu. Use descriptive,relevant anchor text (the words of actual link). Not things like 'click here'. Your most important service(s) should have links from homepage and other service pages from within content and another link out back to homepage. So every page points to the page that makes u the most money and tells Google that it is an important page and any link huice u have flows that way boosting its rank. Google says even largest sites of 50,000 + pages should be accessible within 2 or 3 clicks from the homepage. That should do to be getting on with and hope it helps or clarifies.

Before these cheap membranes became available from Asia, the old rule of thumb was to consider replacing membranes when their efficiency dropped to around 94%. Even with lowish water pressure our Filmtec and Axeon membranes have consistently worked at around 98%. As I posted before, HiD quoted their rejection rate of between 90 and 99%. At the figures quoted your membrane efficiency or rejection rate is 92%. So according to HiD those membranes are performing to spec - no further action necessary. At the risk of upsetting some posters on here, you get what you pay for. Collins sells membranes for many different applications and for most of those applications such as drinking water, those figures are totally acceptable. But with window cleaning we need the purest water we can get, and, I'm sorry, those membranes just aren't good enough IMHO. (I have no issue with Collins or any of the staff who work there.) Lets use your figures. We ran a 450GPD r/o for 6 years with quality Filmtec membranes. (Our current 4040 r/o has an Axeon membrane which will be 5 years old next month.) Our tap water tds was 254 for a number of years and our water pressure was 40psi. Those membranes consistently produced a rejection of 4ppm which we polished off with resin. Lets assume that the 2 of us drawing water would use 10000 liters a month. (We use slightly more than that now as we have a water meter on the r/o.) According to the Gardiner Resin calculator (which I've found to be reasonably accurate over the years) I would use approx £6 of resin to polish that off a month. If I was to use your r/o then my resin costs would be £29 a month. Now Collins are selling 3 x 150gpd membranes for £95.50. If I go the Daqua I can buy 3 x 150gpd Axeon membranes as £106.20. For me with my half a brain I don't need convincing which membranes I should buy. Annually, using Hid membranes, resin would cost me £348 and £2088 over the 6 years they lasted for.(Bearing in mind that even at that rejection rate HiD would be happy with those results as the membranes would be performing within spec.) Using the Filmtec membranes our resin costs would be £72 and £432 over the 6 year period. So I saved £1656 in resin costs using membranes that cost £11.00 more. As a single operator your water usage will be less but you can use these figures as a comparison. So if you were using 4000 liters of pure a month then your resin costs would be around £11.60 per month The first thing I would do is individually check the tds of the pure of each membrane individually to see if you haven't a 'rogue' membrane or one that hasn't been connected up correctly. If they are all producing the same result, then I see the only recourse to chuck them out and buy decent ones. Sorry for being blunt. .

When your "only" DI vessel starts to read above 000ppm you would normally throw that resin away and fill it with fresh. What a waste- throwing away resin which is still purifying water to very low TDS levels? If you had a twin DI system you would now use this vessel, let's say reading 005ppm to pre-filter a second vessel with fresh resin in it, see? So now, your fresh resin is being fed "almost" pure water instead of whatever your "raw" source would be.

First cleans are an investment and just take longer!!! some are easier than others, but if the customer is happy then the time took is repaid because you have that customer paying you next month (and you have already done the time consuming part). the month after, the month after etc.And your diary gets nice and busy which equals MONEY!!!

For a delivery only system i bought a second hand baffled tank for a few quid, claber reel from Gardiners for 40 odd quid, sureflow pump and controller £150, old battery from a van which works perfectly and only gets charged once a week although i have a second in the van as a backup for the odd occasion i think i need to change it, 100m microbore and a few assorted fittings to connect it all up The whole lot weighs in at under £300 and works just as well as a shop bought system I know some guys are not diy minded but anyone can screw a pump to a piece of wood with 4 self tappers and wrap a bit of ptfe tape round some screw threads to attatch hoses to the pump Pump etc comes with wiring and connections which just need clicking together Did mine in under an hour on the driveway The money saved can buy decent pole and brushes etc

Thank you for the compliments and as for pricing. It was for a regular customer and my first go so was quite great full for the testing ground I charged her just £160 and it only took 3 hours in all honesty. I now have some really world understanding of this type of cleaning and can therefore offer this service with proper pricing and it's all thanks to the input from this forum. Oh I also got to try out all my ppe and christ was I sweating but better safe than sorry Sent using the Window Cleaning Forums mobile app

A night on the drink, then a curry, then 19 in a 2 bed flat. Wouldn't like to be the last one in the bog in the morning

Who is coming to my show please have a look at this line up and still loads more to add The WCP Cleaning Show 2017 9th Sept http://www.wcpcleaningshow.co.uk/ A-B Training - A-Plan - AquaFed - Aquafactors - Algo Clear Aims Cleaning Hub - BeSafety - Besure insurance - Black Diamond Bladeright - Chemico - Chemspec - Cleaning Hub Cleaning Spot - Cleaning Warehouse - DA Components - Elavation Grippa Tank - Ionics - Jigsaw innovations - Leading Call - Price Group Purefreedom - Purple Rhino Softwash Systems - Rutland Pumps Smart Seal - Soft wash Uk - Spinaclean - Spring - Stitch Toolshield Van Security - Unger - Vision Vyair - WCA - WCW - WaterWorks - X-Line - Klindex UK Window Cleaning Europe - Varitech Systems - NCCA -Equipment for you Alexander Swan - Vyair-Complete Cleaning Supplies - Legend Brands Europe Prochem Europe - Alltech Ltd - Amtech UK - SEBO UK Ltd Dry Fusion - Host Von Schrader - LTT - BeSure and about another 30 to be announced shortly

I think woth any system like this it's a want rather than need. If you can afford to pay 5k plush for a smart looking system and yout want it fair enough. Personally I cant understand it, I would rather have a d.I. y system for under a grand and spend the rest of that money on personal things or better still keep it in the bank.

My latest flyer what do you think

Your local window cleaning supply shop!

Personally I would always remove plywood and then use a waterproof coating

Yeah but 6 times smaller

Love these little jobs. There at half 8, done by 11, wedge in pocket. Wish everyday was like this

It's the law of diminishing returns. I generally clean a 3 bed semi in 15 mins or so. I've cleaned my own in 5 minutes and when I checked the windows they were almost perfect except a couple of small water spots near the top frame in a couple of windows. I think we could get away with a lot mote than we do but it's hard to not be a perfectionist when it's your own business.

Hi, My area of expertise is SEO (search engine optimisation) and copywriting (website / page content). I am NOT a developer and enquiries regarding website design,creation & hosting should be directed to Gav @ CLEANERSHOST. Like you I also have my own cleaning services business and when my website was created (by a different company - NOT cleanershost !) it supposedly included 'Google optimised content'. I was told to be patient and wait for it to appear in search results (SERPS = search engine results pages) but several months later I was still nowhere for my various services. At the time I couldn't afford to pay £100s or even £1000s on professional SEO so decided to learn it myself. I started with a knowledge base of zero and just the jargon and language used was daunting at first and meant nothing to me. Nothing. So i started with the basics and terminology and then getting an understanding of how search engines worked. If you want to do something properly you need to understand what it is you are doing and crucially,why? There was talk of spiders and crawling and I thought 'what are you on about?....Spiders are just a term for the algorithms/software so SPIDERS CRAWL the WEB....aaaah gotcha. From there I got stuck into various Beginners Guides To SEO,online Google courses and tutorials,subscribed to newsletters from the major players like Moz,search engine land,search engine journal and Neil Patel amongst others,moved onto Advanced SEO Guides and have had a keen interest ever since. Once I realised the many things wrong with my own site I overhauled everything from domain name down (although ironically I still took my developer's advice on name change and have regretted it ever since. However,it does have partial keywords match and is .co.uk whereas it was a .com. Whether co.uk or .com is not a huge factor but these things all have a bearing on your ranking and keywords in domain are definitely relevant both to organic and Google My Business 3 Pack results. e.g. If I was trying to rank my SEO site in organic results I would NOT have called it seo4cleaners Other key information that I would recommend all site owners to read,understand and adhere to are Google's Webmaster Guidelines and Google My Business Policies. So back to my site - I rewrote every page,every SEO title,URL etc etc. The deeper my understanding of SEO and everchanging ranking factors became the more I tweaked areas of my site and improved SEO on and off page as well as content,internal linking,image optimisation etc. I also improved other non website issues that are essential as part of an overall SEO strategy such as citations,external links and business directory listings,descriptions and services I had shown on them. The importance of consistent and accurate information being held by the different directory listings cannot be overstated nor can the importance of registering with the most authoritative of them - yell , yelp , thomson , freeindex , scoot and most important of all a verified listing on Google My Business. I came to realise the importance of optimised keyword-rich descriptions and accurate NAP - name,address,phone number. I may elaborate on the importance of directory listings and reviews in a future post but it is also worth noting that occasionally a well optimised listing can appear in SERPS ahead of the directory itself. But these only account for 7% of page 1 search results so it has to be good. The net result of all my efforts was I ended up first or at worst top 3 for ALL my services in local search results and went straight to the top for new cleaning services that I introduced. I have at least three services that also have my personal business directory listing on page 1 in addition to top place(s) in organic results with my website page(s) - part of the 7% !! The directories concerned are yell , freeindex and 192.com.. For many services I have 2 - or more listings - of my website pages in organic results,i.e. home page + service page. For soft washing locally I occupy 8 out of the 10 page 1 results. I also appear in the GMB 3 pack results above organics for services that display a local 3 pack. I've stayed where I am for 2 years so it's not by spammy,black hat SEO techniques which is a quick fix doomed to failure in time. It's through legitimate,white hat SEO methods and good content. I've also widened my service areas for certain services and created new pages with unique content targeting each town / area and I'm on page 1 for all of them including London. Getting onto page 1 is EVERYTHING in my opinion. Regardless of other methods you use to generate business they are secondary to a high ranking online prescence. To prove the point I've just taken a screenshot of my site's analytics info for the last 30 days, dated 15th June 2017. Key stats are over 1,500 visitors and 155 contact forms sent (+ phone calls). As you can see 1167 visitors came via Google. This is actually below the UK average which sees over 80% of searches done using Google. THIS DEMONSTRATES THE IMPORTANCE OF RANKING ON PAGE 1 OF LOCAL SEARCH RESULTS I am NOT trying to show off or give it the big 'un. I just want to show that I know what I'm doing and how important the internet is for growing your business. By all means try flyers,canvassing,advertising etc but none compare to being high up on Google SERPS. I've since had similar results with a number of sites of my friends in unrelated service industries and more recently with Chris from this forum. I'd also like to thank him for his glowing endorsement and encouragement in me pursuing my SEO activities. I hope this tells you something about me and I will be adding further posts relating to SEO and copywriting. Please feel free to contact me. I don't claim to be a professional SEO but nor am I charging their prices! No one can guarantee page 1 of Google but I bet I can get you on there within a month!

i use ladders for first cleans usually but if you get a D.A. multi tool from Darren ansbro you could have a bronze wool pad attached to your pole so you can clean of stubborn stains Sent using the Window Cleaning Forums mobile app

Split Charge Relay. Most window cleaners who use the Water Fed Pole with a van mounted tank will, sooner or later, question whether they need to add an auxiliary charging method for their leisure battery that’s driven from the vehicle’s alternator or not. A Split Charge Relay (SCR) is now a standard towing accessory in the caravanning and motorhome (RV) leisure industries, so we as window cleaners have a well trodden path to follow. But what is a SCR and how does it work? Some manufacturers call these relays separators, which is perhaps a better description as they keep the vehicle’s starter battery and the leisure battery separate or isolated and only link them together when the vehicle’s engine is running. So their purpose is to preserve the charge in the starter battery whilst current or power is being drawn from the leisure battery. This means that if all the power from the leisure battery is drawn (it’s now flat) there will still be a full charge in the starter battery to start the vehicle’s engine. The original SCR’s were basically standard relays. Over time a Voltage Sensing Relay (VSR) or an Intelligent Split Charge Relay has become the most popular to fit. It is a little simpler to fit and it is activated via voltage sensing electronics inside the relay. Some window cleaners advise that once they have fitted an SCR or VSR they haven’t needed to supplementary charge their leisure battery since. Others aren’t as fortunate and do need to top the charge of their leisure batteries up periodically. The frequency of supplementary charging would very much depend on much power is being drawn by the system and how much mileage is driven a day. A justifiable assumption is that most Shurflo or equivalent water pumps will draw about 4.5 amps each hour they are running if being controlled by a mainstream controller. Obviously a window cleaner working 8 hours a day won’t be running his pump for 8 hours. Actual pump running time will vary from one window cleaner to another and is very dependent on the makeup of his round. It will also differ from day to day. Current draw will increase with a second operator and with any additional accessories such as a diesel heater or electric hose reel. A window cleaner will be able to estimate how many amps he has drawn from is battery by estimating how many hours a day the pump/pumps has/have worked. In our experience we have settled on about 50% of time on residential cleans and in the region of 80% on commercial cleans with a large number of windows. So in theory this means that if I run my pump for 2 hours and use 9 amps (4.5amps x 2) then it will take about an hour of charging the battery to replace that charge at 10 amps. But in reality, it takes longer. The reason is that the fuller the charge in the leisure battery the less charge the leisure battery will take. It has been likened to a sponge; the more saturated it is with water the less it will absorb. I once read in a split charge relay guide that it would take a journey of 750km to fully recharge a flat leisure battery in an RV. Numax, who are manufacturers and suppliers of quality leisure batteries, advise that a leisure battery shouldn’t be charged at a rate higher than 10% of the battery’s capacity. So a 110amph leisure battery shouldn’t be charged above 11 amps. Drawing 9 amps from a fully charged 110amp leisure battery will mean that the battery has 101 amps remaining (110 – 9 = 101.) Letting a starter battery go flat will damage it whereas a leisure battery will tolerate going flat more often. So one of the descriptive terms of a leisure battery is a Deep Cycle Battery and the specs will usually advise how many deep cycles the battery should handle. However, a leisure battery will give better service if the battery is fully recharged as soon as possible. It is also recommended to never let a leisure battery drop below a 50% charge. This is worth noting as more and more leisure battery manufacturers refuse to give warranty on leisure battery used by window cleaners as we abuse them due to the nature of our demands on them. Modern vehicles all use alternators to charge the battery. Even if the alternator has to supply current to other accessories, ie lights, the alternator will still charge the leisure battery at the same rate. It makes no difference if you are driving down the motorway or stood idling at the traffic lights. So whilst getting stuck in a traffic jam is very frustrating, it’s good for your leisure battery. Battery to Battery chargers. Vehicles manufacturers are being forced by emission regulations to become more environmentally friendly. This has meant that there is a real possibility that vans registered after 2015 are likely to have smart alternators, stop start and regenerative charging. A conventional Voltage Sensing Relay will not work on these vans, especially if they have regenerative charging. Regenerative charging is simply a system that recharges the battery when a vehicle is decelerating. The van’s ECU will instruct the alternator to charge the van’s starter battery until it is 80% full. It then leaves the remaining 20% to be charged when the vehicle is decelerating on a downhill, braking or slowing down for traffic lights etc. The alternator then puts a high voltage current into the battery. To accommodate this, the battery is now a calcium battery as a lead acid battery won’t tolerate the high voltages. Alternators are bigger and battery capacity has also increased; in some cases both by as much as 100% or more. Sterling Power Products have been in the forefront of auxiliary battery charging for many years. Their pedigree is from the ambulance service and the Marine industry. According to Sterling their Battery to Battery charger does NOT take current from the starter battery for charging the leisure battery. Rather is uses alternator power to charge the leisure battery. (A ‘smart’ alternator still puts out a nominal voltage of 12.4v so it’s ready to dump a large charge into the starter batter at a moment’s notice. But 12.4v isn’t sufficient to charge the battery. So the Sterling Battery to Battery charger uses that 12.4 volts from the alternator and boosts it up to 14.4 volts which then charges the leisure battery.) There is a wiring schematic included in the pack to accommodate different charging modes. When the regenerative program activates, the battery to battery charger also regulates the voltage of the alternators output so it doesn’t damage the leisure battery. (Under regenerative charging the voltage can reach 15.5v on Ford vehicles and as high as 17.0v + on Renaults according to Sterling. Charging a lead acid battery at these voltages will cause gassing and premature lead acid leisure battery failure.) A battery to battery charger is much more expensive than the old VSR but as demand increases then they should become cheaper to buy as ‘mass’ production reduces manufacturing costs as does manufacturer competition. Currently the Sterling BB1230 seems a pretty good buy. https://sterling-power.com/collections/battery-to-battery-chargers/products/2015-battery-to-battery-chargers-non-waterproof-drip-proof-ip21 At the time of writing (May 2017) they are available via an Ebay supplier for £200.00 with free postage. These B2B chargers can also be used as replacement for the VSR on older systems and, according to Sterling, will do a better job at charging the leisure battery. Conventional alternators are brilliant at supplying all the power a vehicle’s owner needs, eg., lights, windscreen wipers, radio etc. But they aren’t good battery chargers. .

try keeping it short ie "hi my name xxxx, I'm working on your street next week and was wondering if you would like your windows cleaned". then when asked for quote say its £xx, including frames sill and doors. if they say there last windy charged £xx odds are its gonna be a no, so i get a little cheeky, and ask "where are they now" if they say don't know then I go in with "it probably wasn't worth them doing it for £xx" sometimes that sways them. If they still say no then give them a card and say "your quotes valid for 7 days, if you change you mind give us a call." Gives them time to digest it and make there mind up, maybe you'll get a few call back. I never mention add ons when canvassing, I do that after the 1st clean, if they're happy with the job then they're more likely to say yes.

If you are relatively new to wfp you are probably still in the confidence building stage. I used, and would recommend pencil jets during this stage. Once you have the confidence that allows you to move quickly and be confident in your work then I would recommend trying fans. I tried them early on and really didn't like them. But when I went back to them some time later I found I really liked them, even preferred them. I found the same thing with using a swivel attachment on my brush.

Hey all, several members have said that our new smilies are hard to see (likely due to their flat appearance, light colour and smaller size). Despite mobile users being able to use their keyboard emoji i have updated the smiles very slightly so they stand out a bit more and are bigger. More importantly though in our 2nd part of the site update post ratings or reactions as they are known will be coming back! You know the ones we used to have like this Well here is a glimpse at the newer more modern version. As mentioned this will be coming in the 2nd part of the site update likely in a month or so.

Decided it's too hot for work, so off to Portugal for a lads 5 days lash up. Just thought I'd come on here and gloat lol. Have a good week fellow windies and in this heat, drink loads, I'm going too 🍺😆

Worn shoe leather = lots of customers Only way to do it is to get knocking Leaflets work sporadically and you can get an enquiry from a leaflet posted months ago but knocking is an instant yes or no Save the leaflets for the doors you knock and no one is home

Been using them since release and love all the range. I was given the orange bristled brush to try last year and for me it was just too soft. It may not be the same brush that's out now though. Soft/flocked on leaded is a real winner !!

dont for get your ppe m8 u will need eye protection water proofs as u dont want to bleach your clothes resperator as u dont want to burn the hairs on your lungs

as far as i'm aware the maximum you could go to is a 500l tank to fit into the 300's cage, theres only one man who'll know for sure and thats steve scargill-mobile number is 07445-315910 he'll make one for you or a new bespoke one more suited to your future needs.

You don't need a app mate it not hard to work out give me a call if you get any problems

Turn it round and push the window closed with the endcap That's what i do if it feels stiff Won't break that way and you get a lot more push

I got mine at B&Q.

cheers Spruce, Your answers are always so informative and detailed - much appreciated. I'm going to bookmark all your responses as it will help me when I decide what RO etc to purchase. Having your brains to pick is a real asset to the forum. Cheers buddy.

Update on my poorly running RO. I was getting 20psi from the tap and a TDS of 044PPM from the old membrane. I bought a new membrane and that brought the TDS down to 019/020PPM but the psi was still 20. I bought a booster pump from Gardiners and rigged it up earlier. I'm getting 80psi and a TDS of 009PPM from the RO. I made 300 litres of pure in about an hour or so. Happy bunny here

What brush do you use @Damo?

What a nice post. If you need any assistance growing your business, I'd be very happy to help.

Tap water then pure

Good morning/afternoon sorry to bother you, I'm just knocking on your door because I'm a new small business in this your local area and I just wanted to introduce myself and give you this leaflet. (Detail what you do) I'm just trying to develop/grow my customer base and the best way for me to do this is to speak with local people. The services I can may something you don't need immediately but in the future if you need a window cleaner or your gutters fascia cleaned or driveway washing and sealing it would be great if you gave me an opportunity to provide you with the best quote I can. (If you start with an apology it's knocks people of their guard a bit)

A trolley, carrying backpacks all day is very hard work, as long as houses are modern then that should reach.

Just really looking forward in getting out there. I realise that I should just go do the job and I'll learn while I'm doing it. It's good to get pointers from the pros. I know I'll learn from the mistakes I make. Right now it's about establishing the round i'v already got and doing it as quickly as possible. I'll set a minimum and stick to it. Even if people say you clean my neighbours for £1 cheaper, I'll get there. Right now I'm slow and still going back to straight pulls but it's the learning process and it'll take time. Just excited to finally be at the stage of leaving a factory for almost minimum wage after nearly 4 years.

The first and hardest part is building a business. You are new to your customers and therefore don't need to rock the boat. Keep these customers as your base and expand from there. If you start charging them more straight away you are giving them a reason to look elsewhere. Any new business you get by all means increase your prices and offer more services. When you are in a position to be able to afford lose some of the initial customers, as you have got more customers, then put your prices up. You are better off making £100 a day early on and being busy then sitting on your backside earning sweet fa Depends on what part of the country and customers you're cleaning for. In the North East I would say a standard 3 bed semi price ranges from £5-£12

Hello mate. When I 1st started nearly 7 years ago I was slower then slow and couldn't get my head around it. The hole speed thing comes with time and how often you do it. As for time wise just all depends on windows / access / number of things to be honest. If I'm doing a 1st time clean say on a 2 bed house with say 3 windows at top and 3 windows at bottom plus front door should be around 30 to 40 mins again just depends to be honest Sent using the Window Cleaning Forums mobile app

id love to go on a holiday like that, but Mrs won't have any of it. Instead its off to Menorca Friday for the week, trying to stop my 4 & 1 year old from throwing themselves into the pool headfirst without armbands, whilst the Mrs drinks cocktails, covers herself in baby oil and cooks herself in the sun Weston-Super-Mare? My old haunt, really lax there. A few years back even the strippers in one of the clubs were under age!! Good times, back when I was 15......

I put fascia, soffit and gutter cleaning on my van when I bought it 3 months ago, And have had both regular customers​ and a few walk ups, so I think it's worth it especially if your having your van signed up anyway.

I hate floppy poles... Wish there was a shop where I could go and compare different models instead of buying blind of the net..