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Conservatory Clean

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Panorama window cleaning

Panorama window cleaning

Well-known member
Messages
170
Location
Surbiton
Hi Guys

Ive been asked to do my 1st conservatory (pic attached) so was hoping for some friendly advice.

What would you charge (im in London) to do this with just WFP (no deep clean) and then what would you charge with a UPVC deep clean included? Exterior only

Only ladder i currently have is one of those telescopic ones so am hoping ill be able to do the cons roof from the ground with WFP.

If client chooses deep clean ill get some Ubik 2000 and put in a pump spray (following Darrens lovely CHAT rule) and do 1 section at a time seeing its so hot. Ill also use customer hose for pre soak and rinse before final WFP

Do you think itll be relatively straight forward or would you think id need ladders (i do have a small 2 step, step ladder which may help me get a bit more reach)

Basically, im just a bit nervous this being my 1st cons and just want to do a good job.

Cheers fellas

IMG-20180806-WA0002.jpeg

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PS it doesnt look THAT badly dirty in pic but customer tells me its FILTHY... you can see the sills on the cons too look well engrained with dirt

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I'd charge £60... its only small so I'd allow an hour. I never use WFP only on one-off conservatory cleans; lots of hard work scrubbing.

 
WW2015 said:
I'd charge £60... its only small so I'd allow an hour. I never use WFP only on one-off conservatory cleans; lots of hard work scrubbing.
Click to expand...

What chemical do you use and do you think once its on and been agitated, it will come up good with a usual WFP scrubbing? Do these UPVC cleaners like ubik etc also clean the glass quite well or are they mainly for plastic?
 
I use screwfix heavy degreaser...its does the same thing as UBIK. I put it on...leave for a few minutes without letting it dry and then scrub and rinse off. It makes the glass and frames much easier work.

 
WW2015 said:
I use screwfix heavy degreaser...its does the same thing as UBIK. I put it on...leave for a few minutes without letting it dry and then scrub and rinse off. It makes the glass and frames much easier work.
Click to expand...
Thanks mate....ive heard so many good things about the "no nonsence degreaser" so id actually like to try it. Is it Fine on lead like Ubik is? The conservatoey has some leaded glass in it so I really dont wanna be discolouring it [emoji15].

Finally, the left side of the conservatory has a really narrow pathway down the side against the wooden fence so accessing roof will only be possible from neighbours garden (which customer said will be fine). You reckon a standard WFP will reach ok with standard angle adaptor or will a gooseneck be required.

How would you tackle the roof?

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Panorama window cleaning said:
Thanks mate....ive heard so many good things about the "no nonsence degreaser" so id actually like to try it. Is it Fine on lead like Ubik is? The conservatoey has some leaded glass in it so I really dont wanna be discolouring it [emoji15].

Finally, the left side of the conservatory has a really narrow pathway down the side against the wooden fence so accessing roof will only be possible from neighbours garden (which customer said will be fine). You reckon a standard WFP will reach ok with standard angle adaptor or will a gooseneck be required.

How would you tackle the roof?

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Click to expand...
Pic of narrow pathwayIMG-20180806-WA0010.jpeg

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You would get a ladder in there and place it against the building. A stepladder would be ideal but it might not fit. What I would do is this:- Ladder against the building at bottom of narrow pathway. Stepladder at end of conny and an 8 foot batten sitting between them. Just walk a long batten when cleaning the roof.

 
2 Ladders and 8' baton is good idea but i just dont have an 8 foot batton and im operating from a car at the mo without roof racks so ill try leaning telescopic ladder on wall at end of narrow pathway and if that fails ill have to work from neihhbours garden and get some extra heignt with my small step ladder for the roof. I reckon this will take me 4hrs easy!!! Gotta start somewhere

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The one bit of advice I would give you, is to wait until the weather has called down.

The soaps will dry instantly in this heat. 

I find the glass roofs are actually much easier to clean in the rain.

As you loosen the algae the rain starts to wash it away for you.

If I do a couple when it’s properly raining, I find just using the customers tap, and then letting the rain wash away the tap water, brings them up lovely.

In my opinion, you are making life hard for yourself doing glass roofs in the heat

 
steve garwood said:
The one bit of advice I would give you, is to wait until the weather has called down.
The soaps will dry instantly in this heat. 
I find the glass roofs are actually much easier to clean in the rain.
As you loosen the algae the rain starts to wash it away for you.
If I do a couple when it’s properly raining, I find just using the customers tap, and then letting the rain wash away the tap water, brings them up lovely.
In my opinion, you are making life hard for yourself doing glass roofs in the heat
Click to expand...
Hey Steve... yeah totally, im worried about the heat to be fair. I've not got the job yet, should find out when my client has spoken to her hubby tonight (standard)...but if i get it ill be doing it late next week. If push comes to shove, do you think ill be ok just cleaning 1 section at a time?

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steve garwood said:
The one bit of advice I would give you, is to wait until the weather has called down.
The soaps will dry instantly in this heat. 
I find the glass roofs are actually much easier to clean in the rain.
As you loosen the algae the rain starts to wash it away for you.
If I do a couple when it’s properly raining, I find just using the customers tap, and then letting the rain wash away the tap water, brings them up lovely.
In my opinion, you are making life hard for yourself doing glass roofs in the heat
Click to expand...
Totally agree Steve. If you can clean anything in the rain its so much easier. I cleaned two small roof lanterns today on a south facing roof and it was drying far too quick. standard cleaning method, the amount of spotting i ended up with wasn’t good. Was like 101 Dalmatians. Scrapped the wfp and got the trad gear out for the glass and had much better luck.


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Incheck said:
Totally agree Steve. If you can clean anything in the rain its so much easier. I cleaned two small roof lanterns today on a south facing roof and it was drying far too quick. standard cleaning method, the amount of spotting i ended up with wasn’t good. Was like 101 Dalmatians. Scrapped the wfp and got the trad gear out for the glass and had much better luck.


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Click to expand...
Really...so even with wfp (constant water flow) you were still drying quick? Once you've done a thorough rinse, does it matter how quick you dry up?

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Panorama window cleaning said:
Really...so even with wfp (constant water flow) you were still drying quick? Once you've done a thorough rinse, does it matter how quick you dry up?

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Click to expand...
Bloomin quick yeah. It was a first clean also which didnt help. Two passes and a rinse doesn’t do it in this weather. I was wasting way too much water in the end so i thought shove it lets get the trad gear out. Job done!


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Incheck said:
Bloomin quick yeah. It was a first clean also which didnt help. Two passes and a rinse doesn’t do it in this weather. I was wasting way too much water in the end so i thought shove it lets get the trad gear out. Job done!


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Click to expand...
Wow ok, I had no idea that the heat would make a difference when using WFP if you have constant water flowing.i assumed if the dirt has been scrubbed and rinsed then durely its gone anyway.

No way i can trad a conny roof so ill need to warn client that ill test it but may need to wait for a cooler day if I'm battling



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Maybe we should make some PURE WATER ice blocks in the freezer to put in the back packs to cool the glass down??? Lol crazy idea i know but i reckon it would help hahaha

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This was just two tiny roof lanterns with aluminium frames. Flat roof so trad was possible. Scrub and rinse more is the answer, but the amount of resin i’m eating through the water usage has to stop somewhere. 99% of the time i never have these problems but i’m definitely using more water during the heatwave.


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It also really helps if the glass is hydrophilic (where the water runs down it like a waterfall) but this was hydrophobic (bounces off)


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You're gonna need a step ladder. Long term a conservatory roof ladder is a good investment I think (I can't comment first hand on that as I don't own one yet but I've seen them in action) Problem is they are around £500. I would set the customers expectation from the start that the left hand side will be as clean as you can get it from that angle but I reckon it should be easy enough from a step ladder.

Can't imagine its worth doing a price for not a deep clean. The clean should involve the frames etc. You need to remember it is your workmanship on show once you leave, if all the neighbours see you cleaning and then see dirty frames you will be remembered as the windy who didn't clean the frames. Just give them a price for a proper clean and have done with it.

£60 as others have said is fair and should get you the job. Can be done in an hour but don't sweat it if your diary ain't full, 3 hours would still be £20 an hour and good practice. I quoted someone £80 the other day for a smaller one but I didn't want the job, just a one off clean taking space in my diary that could be used for a few new regular customers or even better, to spend time with the kids!

Quite importantly you need to check if the glass is self cleaning. It looks like it has a tint to it in the pic so this is likely. I don't use chemicals on self cleaning as per manufacturers recommendations but I know some of the boys do and swear by it. If you are gonna use chemicals make sure they are diluted correctly is all I would say.

With regards to ice in the backpack etc, wouldn't risk it. I cracked my van window a few months back by washing it with tap water and it wasn't as hot as it is now (It was still over 20) It literally cracked from the bottom up. Outside of the advice the others have given about working on a conny in this heat if you were to use the customers outside tap, assuming they have one, it may be cold enough to crack weak glass. Water in the van has time to heat up and won't cause this issue.

 
P4dstar said:
You're gonna need a step ladder. Long term a conservatory roof ladder is a good investment I think (I can't comment first hand on that as I don't own one yet but I've seen them in action) Problem is they are around £500. I would set the customers expectation from the start that the left hand side will be as clean as you can get it from that angle but I reckon it should be easy enough from a step ladder.
 
Can't imagine its worth doing a price for not a deep clean. The clean should involve the frames etc. You need to remember it is your workmanship on show once you leave, if all the neighbours see you cleaning and then see dirty frames you will be remembered as the windy who didn't clean the frames. Just give them a price for a proper clean and have done with it.
 
£60 as others have said is fair and should get you the job. Can be done in an hour but don't sweat it if your diary ain't full, 3 hours would still be £20 an hour and good practice. I quoted someone £80 the other day for a smaller one but I didn't want the job, just a one off clean taking space in my diary that could be used for a few new regular customers or even better, to spend time with the kids!
 
Quite importantly you need to check if the glass is self cleaning. It looks like it has a tint to it in the pic so this is likely. I don't use chemicals on self cleaning as per manufacturers recommendations but I know some of the boys do and swear by it. If you are gonna use chemicals make sure they are diluted correctly is all I would say.
 
With regards to ice in the backpack etc, wouldn't risk it. I cracked my van window a few months back by washing it with tap water and it wasn't as hot as it is now (It was still over 20) It literally cracked from the bottom up. Outside of the advice the others have given about working on a conny in this heat if you were to use the customers outside tap, assuming they have one, it may be cold enough to crack weak glass. Water in the van has time to heat up and won't cause this issue.
Click to expand...
Yeah those conny ladders look awesome... one day maybe but right now Ill have to wait. I do have a 2 step indoor step ladder but will probably get a normal taller outside one.

Ive quoted a bit more than £60 so will see if i get it.

Haha the ice blocks was just a joke, i wouldn't actually do that.

Hmmm interesting about the tint....i know bronze and steel wool is a no go on tint but wouldnt have thought a chemical would be an issue. I'll have to look out for that.

Cheers

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Panorama window cleaning said:
Yeah those conny ladders look awesome... one day maybe but right now Ill have to wait. I do have a 2 step indoor step ladder but will probably get a normal taller outside one.

Ive quoted a bit more than £60 so will see if i get it.

Haha the ice blocks was just a joke, i wouldn't actually do that.

Hmmm interesting about the tint....i know bronze and steel wool is a no go on tint but wouldnt have thought a chemical would be an issue. I'll have to look out for that.

Cheers

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Click to expand...
It's not the tint dude, its if the glass is Activ glass (self cleaning) They often look like tinted glass but that stuff isn't meant to have chemicals applied. We have on several occasions hashed over the use of chemicals on it, I don't use any as I have seen some damaged by washing up liquid alone, some of the boys use some but most importantly all who do use chemicals talk about a ''diluted mix''. I know @steve garwood recommended Virosol previously... not sure what the craic is with ratio of chems to water etc.

Well done on quoting more mate, a bit of bravery goes a long way in this game.

 
P4dstar said:
It's not the tint dude, its if the glass is Activ glass (self cleaning) They often look like tinted glass but that stuff isn't meant to have chemicals applied. We have on several occasions hashed over the use of chemicals on it, I don't use any as I have seen some damaged by washing up liquid alone, some of the boys use some but most importantly all who do use chemicals talk about a ''diluted mix''. I know [mention=2664]steve garwood[/mention] recommended Virosol previously... not sure what the craic is with ratio of chems to water etc.
 
Well done on quoting more mate, a bit of bravery goes a long way in this game.
Click to expand...
Ohhhh i see, ill check it out.

Yeah mate i quoted a fair amount More but it does include their windows too.

Oh and i forgot to mention, regarging a standard, non deep clean option....i didn't offer that in the end. Its a great point about neighbours etc Seeing the end result and ill stick to that philosophy now.

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So the client took forever to confirm this job but i got it now and doing it next Tuesday. I've bought some no nonsense degreaser and had 1 question about it....when it drips onto their dirty patio while im cleaning, do you think it will leave clean spots where it has removed dirt from patio? Thats only disaster i can foresee

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