How / Why I started window cleaning

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LtX8hv_1CQ[/media]

Good video, showing you don't need flash new signed Van to get started.

"Mighty oaks from little acorns grow..."

I also started by walking my round. My dad's mate said he'd let me work with him every Tuesday and I went banging on doors on the Friday & built from there.

9 month's working before I had a vehicle to use, (that was 1992 and still going strong) it can be done.

Good luck all :thumbsup:

I was on my 4 days off (worked 4on 4off) and watched my windy doing my windows and thought he could do that a lot easier and faster than that.

Made him a brew and went to pay him and asked roughly how many he does in a day. Between 7 and 10 a day depending on size and was happy with that and turns down work.

This got me thinking as the wife was climbing the rank ladder at work and was only a matter of time before i had to step down to do school runs etc.

So that was it on my 4 days off i started doing windows for family and friends with just my car ladder pot blade mop bags and rags (before the days of micro fibres)

And within 6months quit my full time job to do this.

The wife did rise through the ranks so this job has been brilliant as i could do the school runs and choose my own hours.

Spending more time with my family was brilliant and also enjoyed doing the windows. Was a win win for me.

Kept my original window cleaner but after 6month (my round was growing really fast) i could see just how bad his workmanship was and offered to double his price to clean my frames everytime etc (i was doing my custys frames every visit but was a lot more expensive then he charged).

He declined and said he wouldnt have time (dont think he could be bothered).

So i did them from then onwards.

I was the 1st in my area to do the frames everytime but charged accordingly and kept on growing from there.

Never canvassed and all been word of mouth and custys neighbours asking then had a custy with a car showroom and started doing that too which also generated more commercial work. Pubs offices etc.

Present day.. all wfp and still enjoy the job..

If you enjoy your job its half the battle over..

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Since i learnt from mates dad in 1990 i have always done frames and until i met other guys years later assumed that frames etc was normal

Used to live in a flat and keep ladders in my storeroom/shed in the block

Take them down in the lift each day with my bucket etc and start work on foot

Got driving licence at 17 a year later and never looked back

3 years in the Army and then on the glass again

I was forced into helping my dad who was a windy when I was about 13. None of that health n safety stuff then. Been on the glass for the best part of 40 years now. Never had a proper job!! Still doing it trad too!

Up the tradders lol

Nowt wrong with tradding if you enjoy it Mark

Came out of the Army, got tired of working hard in civvy jobs but being the first to the door when they were looking for redundancies, as I have never made a habit of brown nosing, so I started a business sweeping chimneys, fitting bird guards, pots and cowls.

Great from September to January but dead rest of year so did some research on WFP systems.

Invested in a Freedom trolley and started to have work piling in from commercial jobs.

As far as I was aware I was the first using WFP in Pembrokeshire and that was back in '04.

All going well until one day in '05 my mate overtook me on his motorbike, legally, and ploughed into an 86 year old man who was travelling towards us with no lights on. Mate killed within 3 feet of me. Both vehicles hit my van and I end up with a shattered shoulder which took the doctors 3 years to confirm. All the while I carried on working sweeping chimneys/cleaning windows.

When the consultant realised that I was working with a broken shoulder he claimed he now "knew why Welsh were called Taf......tough as f............."

I kid you not. /emoticons/biggrin.png

Year off work for shoulder to heal after operation, marriage breaks down and I moved to another part of Wales and started back on the glass 4 years later.

Slow and steady at the moment but like most, plans for the New Year.

Up the tradders lol
Nowt wrong with tradding if you enjoy it Mark

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I love it mate. I could easily afford to go wfp. Just don't fancy it yet. Maybe in the future but not yet.

That's why i still trad bottoms a lot

Nothing to do with water consumption it is just the fact i enjoy the trad more than wfp

Wfp is just a way to avoid using ladders nowadays and do leaded/georgian easier

keeping bread in a fridge?

whatever next

A good video ! Honest and inspiring .. Good definition between "need to have "and "nice to have " too .:thumbsup:

A good video ! Honest and inspiring .. Good definition between "need to have "and "nice to have " too .:thumbsup:

It does show you the different mentality in people. A go getter will just get on and do it wether that's out of necessity or not but a dreamer will do as you say green and always make excuses. Both types will get there eventually but the go getter will always be first.

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I love it mate. I could easily afford to go wfp. Just don't fancy it yet. Maybe in the future but not yet.

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One of my pet 'irks' in window cleaning is 'Trad Vs WFP' there is no either or for me. I am a window cleaner, I am paid to clean windows, and I have the tools and skills to get the window clean regardless of the tool I am using. WFP increases the efficency hence productivity and profit line but you can't WFP the insides of many of the jobs I do.

Do bungalows warrant WFP? 99 out of 100 I can trad whilst you're still setting up your hose. Point is I just don't get it, Both do a job and at the end of it it's the result we get paid for not the method.

keeping bread in a fridge?
whatever next

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Only place the mice couldn't get to it! Also in that house the fridge was where we put things in the winter to keep them warm! /emoticons/smile.png)

Started in 1982 as a 14 year old summer holidays & then any school holidays, done this for two years every job leather & scrim , wooden ladder

1987 skint . 1 child at the time pinched a ladder of a building site bought a bucket 50p or so and old rags, first house neighbors council house £1.50 back and fronts went out knocking on rough council estate built it up there still on foot a year later walked 2 miles with ladder and bucket go a £7 house BIG TIME so knocked another council estate got a few in there 40 plus in the end £2 house , just stuck at it word of mouth and the rest is history wouldn't of ad it any other way really tough start looking back But that what made me the man I am . On the 2 council estates I did I use to leave ladders on each estate and go on the bus to clean windows . The £2 houses are now £10 & the £7 house is now £40 I have kept some customers for 29 years now so must be doing something right. Good luck to anybody just starting up,keep at it regardless and it will pay off for you. One day I put a clip on here of my set up and how I clean windows wfp and traditional and I will film me pricing a job

I have cleaned windows on most buildings bar an airport

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LtX8hv_1CQ[/media]

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Great video and very helpful to newbies. I think it general it's not how you start it's how long you last and how you finish. A pro window cleaner may not start out with the ionics tank and Gardiner pole but can still do a top quality job trad and if they still operate as a business will eventually be able to afford the ionics tank and Gardiner pole with a resilient mind set to go with it.