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!

Register Log in

Do you get on with local window cleaners/competition

ECLM
WCF

Help Support WCF:

H

Hyzer373

Well-known member
Messages
170
Location
Midlands
I was out doing a house this morning and seen another window cleaner doing a house across from me, he didn’t look pleased to see me lol he just did a front in like 5 mins then sat in his van watching me work for like a minute or two, I caught him looking and he still never said hi or looked away, I carried on working and then he drove off after bit.
Seemed a rude person from first impressions.
 is this how competition/local workers act towards each other?

 
Blimey windo you got some nerve snapping another windy at work lol. I personally wouldn't do that - he's just trying to earn his crust like everyone else.

@Hyzer373 me personally i'd say hello / talk to other windys but it also depends on the other windy if they're a miserable old soul who is clearly anti-windys then screw em, i'd rather keep myself to myself. If they're alright and give a wave i'll engage and befriend. In this line of work we all need to stick together.

We still use a windy ourselves (who got me into this lol) and they're awesome. They come round, we get chit chatting for ages lol. It's got to the point where they often leave me till last or allow at least 40 mins lol. When they first used to come along they were here 10 mins and gone again.

 
There’s loads of us in my town. Most of us know each other and are friendly ie a chat when our paths cross. Some others who I’ve never met still wave as we pass in the vans as we recognise each other from cloths on the dash, ladders etc.... There are a couple though who are a bit odd ie can barely say hello or simply blank you.

 
@Wind o kleen haha, I still have my hair ... at the moment ? what I can’t work out there is it looks like his got a wfp but then he is climbing ladders?

@Tangoyeah same here mate but this guy seemed the “you’re on my patch” type, I can tell from his demeanour that he didn’t like that I was on the same road cleaning a house, but he didn’t say a word.

@brianbadonde Thats the way it should be, just give each other a nod or wave. I don’t see why some window cleaners are just so competitive and territorial. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Wind o kleen said:
This isn’t you is it ? I was watching him this morning aha 

View attachment 17166
Click to expand...
Blimey id be more concerned about when pjj was gonna show up to do a softwash on that never mind the windows ?

on the subject, its good to have friends in Similar businesses. We have a small network of 4 or 5 of us that pass jobs to one another. Any cherry picker work or roof cleaning i put on to a bloke, another bloke does commercial window cleaning so i send him enquiries about restaurants etc. Another bloke just does pressure washing and sealing, has a big 1000L tank fitted to his van so any nightmare pressure washing jobs i come across i put his way as hell take anything pressure washing. In return we get various bits and bobs and the customer gets the best suited guy to each particular job. Win/win for all

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Im friendly with 3 windys, one whose slowing down and sticking to shop front and bungalows so passes my flyer to new enquieries, one that works to east of me and does WFP and one thats works west of me that does WFP, these guys get passed work i cant do as a trad cleaner, guy to the West has passed me on a few new clients that he wont do as he has no othets local to them.

Only just building trust with guy to East but sure itll be ok as he does gardening too which i dont and i do odd jobs that he does not.

 
Pjj said:
Lol the funny thing is there is a wfp leaning against the window and he’s up a ladder what was he doing ?.....
Click to expand...
Touching up what the water fed pole misses? I often find myself doing it. If you get the ladder off and have a close up of your upper windows once in a while you may well have a shock. Sills in particular,  cobwebs in tight corners the brush simply wont remove they need picking out,  (those tiny encrusted orange spots on the glass, think is spider poo, you can scrub for an age on that on ground floor windows and i still end up using your thumb nails!) hot water helps with that i imagine but to me its just one more big expense and would rather get up the ladder.

 Plastics that need a magic sponge, Check the folds of the plastic as well. 

To put all your faith in a water fed pole is to tread a minefield. 

Had some spotting problems recently too, they were first cleans to be fair but still. One house every pane on the back was fine, but the ones on the front in direct sunlight streaked quite badly. Think they were drying too quick and there were also vents that were thoroughly rinsed out but it took me 3 attempts to get the one pane decent. 

On fsgs lately ive been having a close up of my brackets by getting up the ladder and sorted out many a frustration by hand. Barely noticeable from the ground but from a bedroom window it wouldnt look too impressive. The muc off claw is brilliant for picking webs out of the brackets ?

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Incheck said:
Touching up what the water fed pole misses? I often find myself doing it. If you get the ladder off and have a close up of your upper windows once in a while you may well have a shock. Sills in particular,  cobwebs in tight corners the brush simply wont remove they need picking out,  (those tiny encrusted orange spots on the glass, think is spider poo, you can scrub for an age on that on ground floor windows and i still end up using your thumb nails!) hot water helps with that i imagine but to me its just one more big expense and would rather get up the ladder.

 Plastics that need a magic sponge, Check the folds of the plastic as well. 

To put all your faith in a water fed pole is to tread a minefield. 

Had some spotting problems recently too, they were first cleans to be fair but still. One house every pane on the back was fine, but the ones on the front in direct sunlight streaked quite badly. Think they were drying too quick and there were also vents that were thoroughly rinsed out but it took me 3 attempts to get the one pane decent. 

On fsgs lately ive been having a close up of my brackets by getting up the ladder and sorted out many a frustration by hand. Barely noticeable from the ground but from a bedroom window it wouldnt look too impressive. The muc off claw is brilliant for picking webs out of the brackets ?
Click to expand...




We used to get ladders off and cheak  our work , I do agree about the sills sometimes , but apart from that never found anything that was amiss , same with plastic cleans I think when you do a lot you know how to tackle different types of gutter and brackets and can be 99% certain that they are ok , being totally honest I cannot remember the last time we got a complaint from a customer , but I do cheak my work and employees work very carefully and any bits that have been missed get picked up before we leave the property, I think we go through the same routine on every job so we don’t get any callbacks , if the employees get any complaints they are responsible to put it right in there time not mine , this makes them re cheak all is ok before leaving , and they know the bonus will be affected if there is any issues that are down to shoddy workmanship. 

 
Pjj said:
We used to get ladders off and cheak  our work , I do agree about the sills sometimes , but apart from that never found anything that was amiss , same with plastic cleans I think when you do a lot you know how to tackle different types of gutter and brackets and can be 99% certain that they are ok , being totally honest I cannot remember the last time we got a complaint from a customer , but I do cheak my work and employees work very carefully and any bits that have been missed get picked up before we leave the property, I think we go through the same routine on every job so we don’t get any callbacks , if the employees get any complaints they are responsible to put it right in there time not mine , this makes them re cheak all is ok before leaving , and they know the bonus will be affected if there is any issues that are down to shoddy workmanship. 
Click to expand...
I reckon your hot water system saves a lot of this aggro mind. If you invest its for a reason right. 

Im not damning cold water or water fed in general its very good for hard to access windows, velux, FSGS etc it really is a revolutionary development. The bristles on the brushes get in to gaps no trad clean could get to as you’ve said before.  

 
Incheck said:
I reckon your hot water system saves a lot of this aggro mind. If you invest its for a reason right. 

Im not damning cold water or water fed in general its very good for hard to access windows, velux, FSGS etc it really is a revolutionary development. The bristles on the brushes get in to gaps no trad clean could get to as you’ve said before.  
Click to expand...






Yes hot does make life a lot easier and it will remove stuff that cold would struggle to remove if it ever did remove it , we used to have a major problem with costal salty windows some jobs the windows were opaque and the salt was over an eighth of an inch thick , cold never did remove it properly always track lines down sach windows , now it’s very rare that we get any issues at all , we do use a different technique for this  though , we are the only ones with hot water in our area and several other window cleaners have passed work on to us as they couldn’t get an acceptable standard with cold , and a lot of the properties couldn’t be done trad off a ladder due to set back dormers or being three storey . 

 
Bumped into a few cleaners, most seem more interested in my Gardiner back pack on a sack truck than me directly! Turns out no one has seen it before and they only know of "magic water systems" from the back of a van.

friendly enough tho, no crossed words but I think that's because there's enough work for all concerned. That might only apply here but I'd bet it's the same in many places. In previous years gone by I've found windies who have beef with you are worried because they do a **** job and don't want to be called out on it by customers who they might of had for years on there books and been mugging off.

 
I get on with most, just some I don't like because they strike me as weirdo's or druggy looking types, but I will speak to any new face I see.

 
If I see a fellow windie as I am passing I give a pip and a wave, we are all in the same boat after all, we know it is not all good weather working as the public may think, we all have jobs we have misquoted, days lost to weather, poor earning weeks etc.

And we are still window cleaners.

 

Similar threads

K
Just starting my own round, but another window cleaner is in the area already any advice?
2
Replies
38
Views
2,558
Gadgetfox
G
R
Large Domestic Solar Panel clean - Need help with pricing!
Replies
3
Views
254
Robt100
R
C
Cheap window cleaners
2
Replies
25
Views
2,981
Yogi1872
Y
J
My first window cleaning job experience/ nightmare
2
Replies
22
Views
2,219
jimbob1
J
ashley1337
Do you really have to tell people that there conservatory roof isn't included?
2
Replies
24
Views
1,548
Iron Giant
Iron Giant

Latest Posts

Back
Top