This is a new post I just wrote today in my blog.
Henry
Are you thinking window cleaning companies will offer services to customers to pay to have their glass tested to see if it could scratch?
Not sure that is a concern for most and may get them thinking your nuts or dont know how to clean windows.
How long would this take per window?
How much is a customer willing to pay?
Since an average home or business has many types of glass surfaces, how many windows would need to be tested?
Answers to these questions may change the opinion of this service being needed or wanted.
Yes. I have already showed my customers the difference between glass that is very sensitive to scratching and glass that is not with a simple penny test that takes about ten seconds. The soft copper when dragged gently across a dry surface does not scratch. But it will make a sound like sandpaper if the surface is rough or it will make that tinkling sound we have been calling fabrication debris if the surface is not good. It will make no sound at all if the surface is good. They get it in almost no time at all. And they are VERY surprised. If I were to do this for a general contractor I wonder if I could get him to let me test every window. Right now I am looking into some high tech tools to do this. But honestly I could test a window in a matter of fifteen seconds and charge one dollar per side. That would easily add up to about two hundred bux per hour.
When I invite a customer to listen and explain the problem with them they do NOT think I am nuts. They are in fact quite fascinated. And believe what I tell them. Sometimes I will put the coin in their own hands and let them feel the surface.
How much would they be willing to pay? I don’t know. But I am thinking if I were to buy a scientific tool such as a “tribology tester” or a device to measure the friction of the glass surface, I should be able to get a buck per side. First however it would help to demonstrate. I would need some samples to show them. Also show how easy it is to scratch a rough surface. Let them do it even. I think it would become a concern very fast if they were introduced to the problem in this way.
Every window and every side would be tested. Just a buck per plate at fifteen seconds per side. Some kind of quick rating system would need to be set up.
Actually I think a well made video demonstrating this problem and the test that is available would be a great start. You could show the video on your phone. It should be a 1 or 2 minute video. It certainly would begin to raise the awareness of this problem!
Let me do some research into some professional tools that could be taken out into the field. After all, that is the title of the series I started in the American Window Cleaner. “From the Lab to the Field”
Here is one. Kind of pricey but at 200 bux per hour it could be paid off in several days.
Thanx very much for the questions! Keep them coming.
Henry
