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I'm new to the game- starting out end of january

Brackl

Thankyou everyone for the advice, I'm nearly there now.
Decided:

Trolley system- Window Cleaning Warehouse http://www.windowcleaningwarehouse.co.uk/wcw-trolley-system-35l.html

Pole- Gardiner SLX22, I read alot about fibreglass poles and feel the pole is the key to doing lots of houses without needing an on call physio.

The pole is like the lightsaber to the window cleaner, or Tony Drago with his favourite snooker cue. As soon as someone damaged his cue and he had to switch, he was never the same player.

To use a Sam Allardyce phrase, "no tippy tappy window poles". SLX 22 - SLX Carbon Fibre Pole - Telescopic Poles - Water-Fed Poles - All Products Gardiner Pole Systems

Clothing- Name of business on Jumper, Coats.

Business Cards- 24hr Online Printing | myprint247

Software- I'm going to use Cleaner Planner. Does anyone else use this? I've been looking at the mail chimp and SMS services as part of the £25 a month. What i would like them to do is be able to send a reminder to the customer that i am going to be cleaning there windows and that could they leave the gate open- two days before the clean and to send a message if I've been rained off.

Undecided-

Pricing.

Bungalow city around here, as some have said i need to stick to a pricing model and that's it or you will get confused.

So i thought i would go for £1 a window plus £2.

With bungalows, i'm already prepared for the "I clean them myself" brigade so i will include fascias in the price which they might need to jump on a ladder to get to.

Added Services- wheelie bin clean. This is for existing customers only, £3, I would like to avoid the one off "can you clean my wheelie bin, no i don't want my windows done".

This should add to what i can make out of a property and should provide good value. The wheelie bin man around here charges £7, i guess that's what you need to charge if you going to a property to only clean a bin.

I guess watching the wheelie bin has been the new trainspotting for me! Pretty much know what days they collect and is on all council websites.

Business Name-

I've got it down to two names, Brandon Window Cleaning or Breckland Window Cleaning.

It's either the town name (7500 properties) or the district area, even though Brandon is just on the outside of Breckland, half of my work i'm after will be in Breckland. I'm leaning towards Breckland as it gives the impression i cover a large area.

Thankyou again for everyones help. I'm now off to claim the longest post award.
Breakland, not to far from me.

Welcome and good luck it's the best job around :thumbsup:

 
Good evening fellow windys,

I just wanted to give you an update on how things are going.

I have ordered through Gardiners, the backpack and Carbon SLX 22 pole.

I have been speaking to a few people i know and was surprised to see how many already had window cleaners.

I was even more surprised to hear that they have no tank in the van, no backpack either. They use their customers garden tap to fill up with water.

One of the people i spoke to was my hairdresser, she seems to like her window cleaner which is fine. I did mention when i come and get my haircut unlike her window cleaner i don't bring my own scissors and broom to sweep up with.

My customers maybe abit shocked when i turn up and start using pure water with backpack and a damn good pole!

 
Regarding your business name i can recommend going personal, you can always change name when the company conquer the world.

I have much succes wirh using my own name, a most people like the personal and know who they call and how i look. Trust is most important in this business.

 
Plenty of window cleaners out there that cut corners mate, like the ones you mention, the ones who miss the frosted glass bathroom/backdoors, and the ones who become Glazing cleaners and miss frames and cills! Great news you've got the kit, now get out and get the work. I managed to pick up another 5 custies in one day on Monday (and one of them wants internals done every 3 months) due to another windie being of the fair weather type.

 
What a lovely day here is Costa Del Suffolk to start having a practice with the SLX 22 and Gardiners Backpack that has arrived. Pole looks great, feels strong but light. Backpack looks great, not sure on the brush. I went for Super-Lite® Brush Medium-Mixed.

 
What a lovely day here is Costa Del Suffolk to start having a practice with the SLX 22 and Gardiners Backpack that has arrived. Pole looks great, feels strong but light. Backpack looks great, not sure on the brush. I went for Super-Lite® Brush Medium-Mixed.
Great pole great back back and th

 
Just putting the last pieces together and ready to start knocking on doors.

Can anyone recommend a trolley for the backpack. I'm looking at the Aldi trolley coming in soon, not sure of the wheels. https://www.aldi.co.uk/en/specialbuys/thur-21-jan/product-detail/ps/p/aluminium-handtruck-2/

I am yet to decide and abit frustrated as to what frequency to clean. I've read lots on the forum about 4 weekly cleans and that in the long months customers wont want to see their window cleaner twice.

I was going to offer flexibility of monthly/bi monthly. Then I thought to only offer monthly unless they ask for bi monthly. I was thinking of adding £2 extra for bi monthly-more dirt to clean.

I was also thinking of only telling them i clean on week commencing.... rather than on a specific day. I can then text the night before for the ones with access issues. This gives me flexibility with the weather and also if i have to look after my little girl during school holidays. She can't hold the pole yet she is only 6!

Thankyou everyone who has helped me so far. Currently working at Centerparcs, would love to get out of there once the round is built up.

Thanks

Dave.

 
Monthly cleans are the way to go, I explain when I knock on the doors that a monthly clean is the perfect clean time, fortnightly is throwing money at something not needing it and anything over a month is too long, especially up here in Scotland. It try and keep the cleans to the same week each month but customers I have understand that the weather can hold that back. Push for the monthly cleans if you can.

That trolley doesn't look like it would last 2 minutes mate. You'll need a stronger one than that, with decent wheels on it.

 
Hello Dave, when I started this lark 21 years ago, I did 4 weekly and had people saying"back already", so built the round to 8 weekly and had people saying"where you been". So built the round, split it in two, hired a worker and both of us find 6 weekly is bang on.

I personally would never advise giving dates when your due back, just say "see you in roughly 6 weeks".

Good luck (even though your a hammer) /emoticons/biggrin.png

 
Just putting the last pieces together and ready to start knocking on doors.
Can anyone recommend a trolley for the backpack. I'm looking at the Aldi trolley coming in soon, not sure of the wheels. https://www.aldi.co.uk/en/specialbuys/thur-21-jan/product-detail/ps/p/aluminium-handtruck-2/

I am yet to decide and abit frustrated as to what frequency to clean. I've read lots on the forum about 4 weekly cleans and that in the long months customers wont want to see their window cleaner twice.

I was going to offer flexibility of monthly/bi monthly. Then I thought to only offer monthly unless they ask for bi monthly. I was thinking of adding £2 extra for bi monthly-more dirt to clean.

I was also thinking of only telling them i clean on week commencing.... rather than on a specific day. I can then text the night before for the ones with access issues. This gives me flexibility with the weather and also if i have to look after my little girl during school holidays. She can't hold the pole yet she is only 6!

Thankyou everyone who has helped me so far. Currently working at Centerparcs, would love to get out of there once the round is built up.

Thanks

Dave.
I do four weekly cleans mainly. I've got a few old girls who like theirs done two weekly and then some customers who have it done eight weekly. I always offer four weekly to begin with and then tell them I'll do it eight weekly if I can tell they're trying to save a bit of money. I charge the same per clean whether it is two, four or eight weekly.

I try and keep it to as close to four weeks as possible but sometimes I'll run over slightly. I find that most of my customers forget when I'm due anyway. I only contact customers the night before if there are access issues other wise I just turn up and start cleaning.

As for a trolley, I highly recommend this one from Amazon.

The Handy Folding Sack Truck: Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

For some reason the photo on Amazon shows it as bright green but it's not.

There's some photos of my backpack trolley in my thread if you haven't seen it.

My new Gardiner backpack trolley

 
Put WE CLEANED YOUR WINDOWS TODAY in **** off, big block capitol letters, on the top, they shouldn't miss that.

 
Hi everyone,

I've been practicing on my own house whilst waiting for jumpers and t-shirts to arrive. Being honest, after cleaning the windows and sills (15 minutes) I was thinking I had done a terrible job. I re-done the windows spending another 20 minutes (they now look better than the pictures) The downstairs windows i wiped with a microfibre cloth and the sills look alot better.

After thinking I wouldn't pay someone £12 to do windows like that I took some time to think and thought to myself- these windows haven't been cleaned in 15 years +. It's a housing association place. The previous tenants (4years) got evicted for not paying anything- water bill of £550 kept coming through the door in the wrong name- they didn't have a windy surely and the ones before that were here near on 10 years and got evicted because they didn't keep the place clean.

Next door told us the house had to be fumigated because of fleas. So i'm thinking i don't think I have done a bad job and if it was a customer I would be saying that they will improve once they have been cleaned a few times.

I have used microfibre cloths to wipe down the sills downstairs as the water was coming out black and dirt was coming from underneath the sills and staying on the sills. I just wanted to know if this was normal or if anyone on here had come across this amount of dirt under the sills and to prepare myself for it? I don't really want to get moaned at by customers for leaving them in a state. I'm abit concerned i wont be able to wipe down the upstairs window sills- i am waterfed pole and won't be able to fit a ladder in the renault scenic.

I'm guessing the more I clean the windows- once a month from a customers view that this black water will disappear.

There are stubborn marks on the some of the downstairs windows sills- I guess i could get some cleaning product on this but would this be normal for a standard job?

I'm thinking that i would need to charge at least double if someone wanted a once off clean like this.

I was thinking that the Gardiners Super-Lite® Brush Medium-Mixed. might not be the best for windows sills. Perfect for windows as it isn't too stiff. Does anyone swap brushes for different jobs like fascias? The fascias on the photos- again I really don't think they have been cleaned in 15 years +. Any particular technique for cleaning the ground facing fascias- i have a vision of water coming directly down at me.

In the first picture you can see the upstairs window with the black dirt marks. Downstairs i can wipe off, upstairs i could just keep cleaning on a monthly basis and it should all disappear.

They do look alot better now i have wiped the sills with microcloths- the pictures were before the wiping down!

Thanks

Dave,

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The brush is fine.

All the dirt on the sills is normal for a house that hasnt been cleaned for years, after the first clean the dirt gets less. Looks like you need to rinse a lot more assuming thats loosed dirt not engrained.

You will still get some of this dirt even on maintenance cleans and some windows will get dirtier than others. You can either wipe the sill off with a microfibre which is easier than chasing with the water, but after a while a swipe of the brush will do as you tend to get less ocd the busier you get.

I use an all purpose cleaner on minging first cleans and scrub them the best i can but what doesnt come off doesnt come off.

If they want the upvc restoring as new then thats an additional service but ive never come across anyone bothered.

 
The brush is fine.
All the dirt on the sills is normal for a house that hasnt been cleaned for years, after the first clean the dirt gets less. Looks like you need to rinse a lot more assuming thats loosed dirt not engrained.

You will still get some of this dirt even on maintenance cleans and some windows will get dirtier than others. You can either wipe the sill off with a microfibre which is easier than chasing with the water, but after a while a swipe of the brush will do as you tend to get less ocd the busier you get.

I use an all purpose cleaner on minging first cleans and scrub them the best i can but what doesnt come off doesnt come off.

If they want the upvc restoring as new then thats an additional service but ive never come across anyone bothered.
Thanks Adam, I thought at one stage, I was doing more harm than good!

 
You have to tell the customers that it will take a few cleans to get the sills reasonable

As for soffits and fascias, I've always found that its better and less messy do do these old school, ie, get your ladders and cloths out

 
Right, I've been doing my own house and been getting bloody frustrated and lost some confidence but after watching some videos on Youtube- AdderCleans.

I've realised that I have done a good job. After cleaning my own windows 5 times over the past two weeks. Watching techniques on the videos, making sure i rinse well, scrubbing the frames well, letting the windows dry and then going back to them- I still have white spots over the windows.

Conclusion- Oxidisation of the frames and sills. As I said before i don't think these windows have been cleaned in 10 years and comparing with next doors frames;these frames look a dull white colour- very little shine on them.

Any thoughts/opinions from anyone on oxidisation?

I'm going to give Gardiners a call and check if there is a stiffer brush- birds poo faded but didn't come off one window apart from that uniform looks the part- highly recommend http://www.nvcapparel.com/ and trolley arriving tomorow.

Thanks

Dave.

A friend once said to me "It's tough at the top". I said "Is it? I've never been."

 
Get some virosol or ubik and do your first cleans with some of that on the brush

Scrub the whole lot well with the water on including above frames etc

Don't bother rinsing except for above the top frame but clean all the other top windows on that side of the house

That should sort out oxidised frames etc

Then start at the first one you did and clean like a normal regular clean with a good rinse

Perfect every time

 
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