Welcome to the UK Window Cleaning Forums

Starting or own a window cleaning business? We're a network of window cleaners sharing advice, tips & experience. Rounds for sale & more. Join us today!

Softwash Course city & guilds

OMG you all must be making too much dollar, just for a 2 day course  (£490) achieve a City & Guilds Certificate at the end, Experience counts for everything not paper medals & health & safety, just be sensible & use your eyes for hidden dangers around you. soz just my opinion save some dollar. 

 
OMG you all must be making too much dollar, just for a 2 day course  (£490) achieve a City & Guilds Certificate at the end, Experience counts for everything not paper medals & health & safety, just be sensible & use your eyes for hidden dangers around you. soz just my opinion save some dollar. 




Training is a tax deductible expense , so it’s worth being qualified at what you do , if you arnt qualified how can you do a rams ? When the potential customer askes for proof of training and many will with softwashing how will you do that ??? £490 is peanuts to what you can earn less than a mornings work , there are to many cowboys out there already softwashing who think it’s safe and legal to mix washing up liquid and other things in hypo , these idiots are a danger to themselves and others , how do you prevent this ??? Training is the key to any profession, is anyone just allowed to get behind the wheel of a car and drive ??? No they have to pass a test to show that they know what they are doing and are a safe driver , why should using potentially dangerous chemicals be any different??? 

 
Hi, 

Can you let me know how you find it as we are looking at the exact same course.  

Cheer 

Jim 


They have many 2 day courses. Call Maureen ( 35387 930 9406 ) Irish number if you want to attend one below.





LIVERPOOL 12-13 APRIL



 



BRISTOL 10-11 MAY



 



CARDIFF 14-15 JUNE





 



 



 



 



 





GLASGOW 15-16 APRIL



 



LUTON 13-14 MAY



 



EXETER 17-18 JUNE





 
OMG you all must be making too much dollar, just for a 2 day course  (£490) achieve a City & Guilds Certificate at the end, Experience counts for everything not paper medals & health & safety, just be sensible & use your eyes for hidden dangers around you. soz just my opinion save some dollar. 


Aye, I used to have that silly youth mentality but when you reach 50 it well and truly leaves you. One has to know everything about Softwashing to undertake the task or you are just winging it. Funny enough I got a call today regarding cleaning driveway, path & patio.

The very posh woman said she wanted a professional job done if I could do it. Its a million pound house so she will definitely be getting a professional price tomorrow when I view it. :1f609:

 
OMG you all must be making too much dollar, just for a 2 day course  (£490) achieve a City & Guilds Certificate at the end, Experience counts for everything not paper medals & health & safety, just be sensible & use your eyes for hidden dangers around you. soz just my opinion save some dollar. 
Health & Safety has no place in the workplace ?

there are to many cowboys out there already softwashing who think it’s safe and legal to mix washing up liquid and other things in hypo , these idiots are a danger to themselves and others , how do you prevent this ??? Training is the key to any profession, is anyone just allowed to get behind the wheel of a car and drive ??? No they have to pass a test to show that they know what they are doing and are a safe driver , why should using potentially dangerous chemicals be any different??? 





4
The reasons you outline are the reasons I decided against soft washing for myself, I am more than happy sticking to what I know 

 
They have many 2 day courses. Call Maureen ( 35387 930 9406 ) Irish number if you want to attend one below.





LIVERPOOL 12-13 APRIL



 



BRISTOL 10-11 MAY



 



CARDIFF 14-15 JUNE





 



 



 



 



 





GLASGOW 15-16 APRIL



 



LUTON 13-14 MAY



 



EXETER 17-18 JUNE
Hi scottish can i ring that number for the bristol course? It’s nearest to home for me. Any additional info you may have? Web link or something? Cheers mate

 
Lol im 59 older & wiser, if & when the need arises maybe get a piece of paper but until the time comes if them big buck jobs call it im in but im no dreamer either, i take caution where needed & theres a great lot off free advice out there if & when i need it ! cheers .

 
last year softwashing gave me over 10k's worth of turnover, this year as for me its just starting to take off this month has seen nearly a grands worth of work already with enquiries coming in.

this is what training gives you, not so much the paper qualifications but they do help when you quote for the larger jobs. I would presume that if someone sees the need for training to be a waste of time and money then the relavant insurance would be treated with the same disregard.

 
OMG you all must be making too much dollar, just for a 2 day course  (£490) achieve a City & Guilds Certificate at the end, Experience counts for everything not paper medals & health & safety, just be sensible & use your eyes for hidden dangers around you. soz just my opinion save some dollar. 
I've got work with a very H&S conscious property management company that I grossed nearly £26k from last year because I have the paper medals and health and safety you so disparage. That's just to clean windows and clear their gutters with a gutter vac.  

 
In this day and age training , and qualifications are a must Ime 56 and have a vast amount of experience in life and running a buisness , having also been in the Fireservice for 30 years as an operational watch manager I have come across so many people that have tried to bluff there way with doing things causing all kinds of issues from causing explosions, causing fires, electrocuting themselves , causing gas clouds , just to name a few things ,most of theses situations would have been avoided by simply getting advice or training , only a fool would dismiss this . Just beacause you have experience in life doesn’t mean you don’t need training , I have been softwashing for 10 years self taught from what I researched on the internet ,  and Ime no fool , but we do a lot of work for some big companies and I know it’s only a matter of time before they will want to see proof of training , so I booked myself on a softwashing course , thinking I’ll get a certificate but won’t learn anything, well how wrong was I , l learned so much I was shocked just how little I did actually know before , a lot of what you see on YouTube is misleading to say the least and at worst is dangerous, most recommend using washing up liquid as a surficant , very dangerous idear but how many do what they see there I did and didn’t realise just how dangerous it is as well as being illegal, it’s only through training that we all learn and you are  never to old to learn, people who have this blasé attitude are a danger to themselves and worst of all other innocent persons who happen to be there .

 
I wonder what would happen if a Softwashing job went terribly wrong? The client would try and sue the operator. This would be where it would get interesting regarding qualifications. There will be a test case one day and the judge or the H&S executive will recommend certificates to undertake such work, I imagine. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I am doing a PW job this week in a really posh area. Had to buy blue window protection film because I don't want any sand on their windows. Taking many plywood boards with me to place down on the grass. I may get a lot more work out there if I do a good job so I will be taking my time and taking extra care in what I undertake.

 
I've got work with a very H&S conscious property management company that I grossed nearly £26k from last year because I have the paper medals and health and safety you so disparage. That's just to clean windows and clear their gutters with a gutter vac.  




Exactly I would like to see it compulsory that for certain jobs that you have to have a training record , and prove that you can do the job safely by being certified , bit like a garage doing mot , I think it would lift our industry get rid of some of the dole claimers doing cash in hand and pushing prices down , thus benefiting us and protecting the customer .  

 
I didn't click on Scottish until you mentioned Maureen Conway, I thought they had given up all this training thing.

theres a few on here that have been on those courses myself included, I feel you'll learn a lot but, that course and the qualification is more aimed at applying ddac, not sodium hypochlorite, sodium hydroxide, sodium percarbonate we'll not even go near muratic acid. so its not a complete all in one box thing regarding softwashing, more of what they use you'll learn about the Frenchman-trust me that'll come up in conversation.

I am all up for courses and learning as much as I can but when you are there take as many notes as you can regardless of if they say they'll send the notes up to you via e-mail etc-still waiting for mine from two years ago, its a good thing to have round your belt a city and guilds  but they'll not be teaching anything about hypo and more etc, if they do then please tell me @scottish I may just be intrested but until then i'll be very much on the fence on this one

 
I did Darran smiths course at purple rhino that just deals with softwashing with hypo , if that’s what you are going to be using I would recommend his course there is no hard sell to get you to buy there stuff they will evan explains in the course how to build your own set up  , it was very interesting and I learned a lot , wether you like the American guy or not he certainly knows his stuff , you do class room stuff in the morning with death by power point  , I have been on a lot of courses over the years and the structure of it is one of the best I have been on it’s not boring and doesn't send you to sleep with a folder with all the information in it that you take home at the end of the course it is very useful as a reference, in the afternoons you go out and use the stuff on actual buildings so you can see how to use it and how it works cannot remember the exact cost but it was around £500 for the two days , I would defiantly recommend it .

 
Heads up regarding today's course:- Very Good and I don't think I will be using hypo anymore because it is not the correct chemical for treating stuff. Its a 2 day course but it could easily be a 5 day course and the certificate lasts 3 years and then one needs a one day refresher. It will soon become mandatory that if you want to perform softwashing then you will need to hold a City & Guilds Certificate and Michael Conway is the only guy in the UK who runs the course. I would advise anyone who does softwashing to attend one of the courses in England, you will not be disappointed.

 
I didn't click on Scottish until you mentioned Maureen Conway, I thought they had given up all this training thing.

theres a few on here that have been on those courses myself included, I feel you'll learn a lot but, that course and the qualification is more aimed at applying ddac, not sodium hypochlorite, sodium hydroxide, sodium percarbonate we'll not even go near muratic acid. so its not a complete all in one box thing regarding softwashing, more of what they use you'll learn about the Frenchman-trust me that'll come up in conversation.

I am all up for courses and learning as much as I can but when you are there take as many notes as you can regardless of if they say they'll send the notes up to you via e-mail etc-still waiting for mine from two years ago, its a good thing to have round your belt a city and guilds  but they'll not be teaching anything about hypo and more etc, if they do then please tell me @scottish I may just be intrested but until then i'll be very much on the fence on this one


Sit on the fence all you like but very soon you will have no choice but to attend the course or you won't be doing softwashing, if you do then you will be getting your collar felt by the H&SE and result in a heavy Fine.

 
Back
Top