WFP - I am giving it a go

[spruce]

I agree with @Iron Giant @laddergarder, we allow an hour for first cleans. It's really under that time but more often than not, it will take longer.

Even on our section of the round we did trad before going wfp we were surprised at what a poor job we did trad. We wiped the frames with every clean, but you don't get the dirt out of the nooks and crannies.

Every window got a good scrub and rinse and then we did them again doing glass only and some we had to do a third time.

Our round and the round we purchased were compact so it was easy to spread the clean time by working on 3 houses at a time. This gave each window plenty of time to drip down.

If we do a new clean we always come back a few hours later and check our clean quality.

Some windies tell their customers that it will take 2 or 3 cleans for the windows to come right. Our aim is to reach that stage in the first clean.

 

[Iron Giant]

I have done my fair share of first cleans and clean 100's of houses on new build developing estates, over the last 9 years or so some regular cleans have almost been like first cleans every time, I believe I have got first cleans down to a fine art, well almost as there is always the odd one, I would rather put the extra time in first time knowing I can walk away without issue then I can crack them off in each subsequent clean. 

 

[spruce]

I have done my fair share of first cleans and clean 100's of houses on new build developing estates, over the last 9 years or so some regular cleans have almost been like first cleans every time, I believe I have got first cleans down to a fine art, well almost as there is always the odd one, I would rather put the extra time in first time knowing I can walk away without issue then I can crack them off in each subsequent clean. 

In the early days customers were rather skeptical of wfp. They didn't like the idea of the windows being left to dry. It was a tense time whilst the windows were drying off. So when the windows dried spotlessly that was the end of their skepticism and they were happy. I very much doubt that there are many customers left who haven't had their windows cleaned by wfp at some time or the other in the past.

To begin with I had to tell customers on the new round we purchased that they didn't have to pay me until they were satisfied the job was right @laddergarder. The previous guys just cleaned the glass and the frames were filthy. Once the first few customers got to see the results news spread and, thankfully, the initial opposition faded quickly. These North Yorkshire folk aren't very trusting, so dealing with new cleaners who were foreigners, using new technology they had never heard of, was way out of their comfort zone.?

If you have done the job right first at the beginning, then the only time that there will be drama or a future cancellation is if the potential new customer just wanted a one off clean under the guise of a regular scheduled clean. You also know that if they hang the cancellation on the hook of your poor clean quality, you know for a fact they are lying and trying to justify themselves.

Strangely, we had hardly any cancellations on the new round we purchased as customers could see the difference. We had a few more cancellations on the round we did trad because the difference wasn't as noticeable as we wiped the frames down as well.

Another father and son windie we know who still do trad cleans picked up most of these jobs we lost. However, we ended up with far more jobs than we lost because we went the wfp route. We also picked up a number of jobs from those trad cleaners whose ex customers preferred our way of cleaning. ?

Unfortunately, you are going to find some windows are going to take longer wfp than trad. I'm referring to our favourites of the 2 openers above a large pane of glass underneath. They can be difficult. One of the local lads decided to dump all his customers who had these windows and replace them with others who didn't. I picked up a lot of his rejects.