Advice on French Pane/Cut Up Job I did

Money
1

Hi Guys,

I’m new here and to window cleaning and just finished my first paid job. It kicked my butt! I am just looking for some help on my estimate to see how much of it was bad pricing and how much of it was me not knowing what I’m doing.

Here is a photo of one set of windows:

Window
Condition

There were (8) sets of these and (4) door sets (8 total doors) with similar windows, but 12 on each door. The doors had a different type glass with a bevel around the edge on the outside but flat on the inside.

The job kicked my butt and took me a full 8 hours. Here was my process:

  1. Brush/Dust all sets of windows. I went around the building with a horsehair brush and track brush as the windows were very dusty, like 1/8" of dust on all frames.

  2. Soap up as many windows that wouldn’t dry up on me. About 2-4 depending on sun exposure.

  3. Steel wool scrub. They were really dirty so I just decided on steel wooling all of them.

  4. Liquidator to remove solution.

Towards the end I got a set down in about 22 minutes, not including the pre-dust. I’m not as gentle as I could be with the liquidator so the rubber got pretty beat up and left turn marks that needed detailing. I foolishly didn’t bring a spare and had already flipped it once in the job.

Mainly, I’m looking to see what you would have charged and would you do anything different in your process. It kicked my butt, but I severely underbid it and still made more than I do at my full time job and they were very impressed with the results. I feel good! These windows probably hadn’t been thoroughly cleaned in 5+ years.

Thanks for any input!

-Chad!

2

Speed will only come with practice, right now you are developing muscle memory. The most important thing when you are starting out is doing a thorough and good job, which it sounds like you did.

Personally, I don’t do fanning on small windows. I tend to use a cut to length brass squeegee and straight pulls or if there aren’t a ton of panes I will use a smaller squeegee and two pulls. My in/out price for this job would be between $250 and $300, taking about 1 1/2-2 hours, not using my WFP.

Good job doing the job right and pushing through!

2 Likes
3

450.00 wf outside, traditional inside, for my area.

1 Like
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Thanks guys! Really appreciate the feedback.

I was about half what I should have charged, but they were blown away by how clean the windows came out and mentioned possibly doing a couple employee houses. We’ll see if that pans out but at least I learned!

5

$300 inside and out

  1. don’t dust all the windows at once , just dust one at a time as you start each window .

  2. again just focus on one cut up at a time , specially if it’s hot

  3. steel wool is needed on anything not cleaned at least Once a year . Applicate , steel Wool , applicate again and squeegee

  4. I personally wouldn’t want to learn to window clean on a liquidator . Maybe start with a basic squeegee

Take it as a learning experience, just don’t let it happen again :wink:

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Thanks! $300-350 sounds about right on the money for where I should have been. I got $200 for it and they told me I was less than half than all the other bids. I am also in a very high COL area.

I started out dusting one at a time but with how much dust was on each window/frame it just made it so much easier to do the full window at the same time. Kept my frame cleaning rag a lot cleaner and overall a lot less “mud” to deal with. I think on the next “maintenance” clean just dusting as I go will make more sense.

I have the liquidator down and I like it, but I think the next go will be straight pulls with a cheap brass panel cut to size. That seems much quicker and easier.

Thanks for the feedback!