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One to walk away from

Jimmy O

Member
Messages
90
Location
Ireland
Hi all, I’ve been  asked to quote for a 4 bed house 9 years old with a new extension, got there today and every inch of every window was totally covered in plaster inside and out, I pointed out scratches on the one window the lady looked at, the rest were the same. All the frames and doors cacked too. I usually just price by day rate on these jobs. Told her she would need to sign a scratch waiver and the builders should have left the plastic on, but decided I’ve enough on to bother at all, she wants a total price, said she will see what the other company says. Done loads of these but this ain’t worth the grief. 

Why do these builders get away with such messy work, when I was a tree surgeon we would take out big trees grind out the stump and the place would be left immaculate. Rant over ??

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That’s been done in the cheap - no decent tradesman would leave that kind of mess. Just price high so if you do get it you’ll be smiling all day. I had a similar one not long ago - next door to a regular customer I have had an extension, somehow the builders managed to splash mortar all over the side windows, doors and lower velux windows (the extension was a good 10ft away from the boundary). They told my customer they would pay for me to restore them back to how they were, apparently they had a mini heart attack when they saw the invoice with hourly rate plus consumables. Hopefully it will make them think twice next time!!


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That’s been done in the cheap - no decent tradesman would leave that kind of mess. Just price high so if you do get it you’ll be smiling all day. I had a similar one not long ago - next door to a regular customer I have had an extension, somehow the builders managed to splash mortar all over the side windows, doors and lower velux windows (the extension was a good 10ft away from the boundary). They told my customer they would pay for me to restore them back to how they were, apparently they had a mini heart attack when they saw the invoice with hourly rate plus consumables. Hopefully it will make them think twice next time!!


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She must of gone for the cheapest quote for sure, the builder said to me that’ll be fun ! I said why weren’t the windows covered, he never replied....  Every window in the house, old and new caked like I’ve never seen. The lady said she’s moving in on a Thursday in December, so I would need to be there on the Monday or Tuesday ?????? After that I went inside and took a look. Mental. 

 
Don't understand why they don't take an hour and cover windows with light blue polythene? My mate is a roughcaster and refuses to do it. He ends up covering the pvc windows with blue glue and just walks away. I would quote £500 and hope I don't get it, not worth the hassle.

 
Wouldn’t evan bother quoting for that not that desperate for work got plenty of easy nice stuff to do 

 
Thanks lads. I’ve not walked away from a job yet, however you need to know when it’s best to do just that. I didn’t get a great feeling from the potential customer either tbh. 

 
Wouldn’t evan bother quoting for that not that desperate for work got plenty of easy nice stuff to do 
On the contrary, we are quiet & i wouldn’t go near that one!
I believe the answer should come from the “builders” themselves.
Seen so many windows destroyed i just don’t know how they get away with it.
My reply would be “thanks for my 20 grand renovation mate but what about my 10 grands worth of windows lost in the process?” We couldn’t get away with leaving a streak! Begs belief


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Thanks lads. I’ve not walked away from a job yet, however you need to know when it’s best to do just that. I didn’t get a great feeling from the potential customer either tbh. 




To be fair plaster comes of easily , but cement if it has been there any amount of time will etch the glass and there is nothing you can do about that it will need replacing: if the glass is scratched it will also need replacing, personally I wouldn’t want to get involved with the issue as the builder will blame you for the damage scratches and you will be pig in the middle with the customer

 
To be fair plaster comes of easily , but cement if it has been there any amount of time will etch the glass and there is nothing you can do about that it will need replacing: if the glass is scratched it will also need replacing, personally I wouldn’t want to get involved with the issue as the builder will blame you for the damage scratches and you will be pig in the middle with the customer
Thanks, as soon as I looked at this one I knew it was one to walk away from. Leave the builders sort it out with their customer, who I’m sure won’t be an easy one to deal with. I guarantee the other window cleaners won’t want it either. 

 
 
 
To be fair plaster comes of easily , but cement if it has been there any amount of time will etch the glass and there is nothing you can do about that it will need replacing: if the glass is scratched it will also need replacing, personally I wouldn’t want to get involved with the issue as the builder will blame you for the damage scratches and you will be pig in the middle with the customer
How do you remove plaster out of interest? I had window frames covered in plaster and paint on a job i stupidly took on years ago and both were a right sod to remove. It was an internal clean. Had a paddy with the customer in the end and walked off the job happily as she blamed us for not being able to do a proper job, they were still there painting and plastering as we were working. I thought stuff this there’s no way i’m picking up the pieces from somebody else’s laziness.


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Easiest way to remove plaster from glass or frames is with a scraper generaly it comes off easily but if on glass make sure it’s wet before scraping and use a new blade and only scrape in one direction not back and fowards , plaster on the frames comes off easily with a scraper or a flat bladed screwdriver then if the frames are UPVC just goe over the frame and glass with solvent cleaner that will remove  the residue then mop and blade the glass 

 
Wouldn’t evan bother quoting for that not that desperate for work got plenty of easy nice stuff to do 


This here is a valuable lesson that only comes from experience.  

Lads newer to the industry or those that aren't so busy may well be tempted at the lure of a fat payout.   

Like yourself @Pjj I wouldn't touch this either.  Too much grief and graft for a one off, even if you get a scratch waiver the jobs never going to be 100%  the customer will sign the waiver and still think you're some miracle cure which you aren't, you're a window cleaner.  

Too many fall into a trap of taking these jobs only to learn the hard way that they either loos on time or on reputation if the customer decides to bad mouth you afterwards even though the damage is from the builder.  

This is a defo walk on by. I never understood the make life harder for yourself jobs. 

 
 
This here is a valuable lesson that only comes from experience.  
 
Lads newer to the industry or those that aren't so busy may well be tempted at the lure of a fat payout.   
 
Like yourself [mention=2439]Pjj[/mention] I wouldn't touch this either.  Too much grief and graft for a one off, even if you get a scratch waiver the jobs never going to be 100%  the customer will sign the waiver and still think you're some miracle cure which you aren't, you're a window cleaner.  
 
Too many fall into a trap of taking these jobs only to learn the hard way that they either loos on time or on reputation if the customer decides to bad mouth you afterwards even though the damage is from the builder.  

This is a defo walk on by. I never understood the make life harder for yourself jobs. 


Agreed. Walk away... I was accepted by a large house builder this year for literally hundreds of builders cleans on new builds and after a long hard think / previous experience of doing small build cleans I turned it down at the final minute as I knew I would end up losing out in some way.

Dane


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This here is a valuable lesson that only comes from experience.  
 
Lads newer to the industry or those that aren't so busy may well be tempted at the lure of a fat payout.   
 
Like yourself [mention=2439]Pjj[/mention] I wouldn't touch this either.  Too much grief and graft for a one off, even if you get a scratch waiver the jobs never going to be 100%  the customer will sign the waiver and still think you're some miracle cure which you aren't, you're a window cleaner.  
 
Too many fall into a trap of taking these jobs only to learn the hard way that they either loos on time or on reputation if the customer decides to bad mouth you afterwards even though the damage is from the builder.  

This is a defo walk on by. I never understood the make life harder for yourself jobs. 


Agreed. Walk away... I was accepted by a large house builder this year for literally hundreds of builders cleans on new builds and after a long hard think / previous experience of doing small build cleans I turned it down at the final minute as I knew I would end up losing out in some way.

Dane


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Always the same from builders. As long as they do their job they are not interested in the mess elsewhere. The blue polythene they use is absolutely useless aswell. Dont know how many times we see customers get brand new windows then a few months later they get their building rendered or rough casted, next time we go round the window are all chipped and scratched. When you tell them this they tell you' oh but the windows were covered '. Sorry but that polythene is about as good as covering your windows in cling film

 
I dodged a bullet with something like this recently. They are building an estate of new houses about a mile away from me and one of my customers started working there. Her husband said they needed a window cleaner, the builders told her it was to keep the finished buildings clean from construction traffic. There are going to be 1500 houses in total so my little eyes lit up. In the office they showed me plans and artist impressions of each house and I just quoted a flat £10 per month per property until a sale is agreed. Turned up at the first house a couple of days later and the young builder lad showing me around basically told me they didn't bother to even try to clean them off because they knew I was coming. I went to the office and told her I couldn't do builders cleans for a tenner. So far she hasn't cancelled her own house though haha.

 
I dodged a bullet with something like this recently. They are building an estate of new houses about a mile away from me and one of my customers started working there. Her husband said they needed a window cleaner, the builders told her it was to keep the finished buildings clean from construction traffic. There are going to be 1500 houses in total so my little eyes lit up. In the office they showed me plans and artist impressions of each house and I just quoted a flat £10 per month per property until a sale is agreed. Turned up at the first house a couple of days later and the young builder lad showing me around basically told me they didn't bother to even try to clean them off because they knew I was coming. I went to the office and told her I couldn't do builders cleans for a tenner. So far she hasn't cancelled her own house though haha.


Lesson to be learned here. Never quote a price without seeing it first. :1f609:

 
Lesson to be learned here. Never quote a price without seeing it first. :1f609:
When I quoted I couldn't access them. The quote was based on ''removing dirt from construction traffic''. They said they've tried it on another site and it reduced time from completion to sale by around 3 weeks. To be fair the office were a little surprised the builders left such a mess, I don't think that was in their plans. I told them to get back to me if they sort things out with the builders but i'm not holding my breath.

 
I see, anyway you have got me thinking about new estates and how to get a foot hold with new customers.
A good foot hold was what got me interested but I don't know how reliable these customers would be. If you look at older estates, anything over 10 years say. The houses have all been sold 3/4 times over. People take on these houses with the greatest of intentions but suddenly the mortgage becomes more than they can handle. They never have enough parking too so when their 10 year old becomes 17 and wants to drive he/she has no where to park. Diamond coated ? if you ask me.

 
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