Not really, I do want to get it… it would be my first job ever. But I think I bid too low.
It’s a house being shown by a real estate lady. Small 3 bdrm, but it has 52 windows, ALL french, with 8-12 little panes each.
Probably take multiple days , as I dont know what I’m doing.
It would be nice to have an in to the neighborhood, though. Crawling with cops. I talked to one and the first thing he said was "Do you have any accounts in this neighborhood?
It’s a neighborhood of 1-10 million home just blocks away from homeless camps and crackheads, so LAPD is pretty proactive here, I gueas.
Forgot to say, I bid $400 in and out.
Yea man thats too low. If I could wfp it I would be like $1200 if I had to ladder it $2200. Good luck though. Cut a squeegee channel to the exact size of the panes and have a lot of towels for detailing. Or of course Water fed pole would be the best solution. You should probably hire someone to help to make it a one day job.
Watch some youtube videos and get some practice. Clean the tracks and sills well if you really want to impress.
Edit: Small 3 bedroom? 52 windows? That’s not small to me!
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Do you have any pics of the average window? Also total pane count could help…Depending on the size of the french panes, for maintenance cleanings Im between $.50 - $1 (usually $1 except for small door ones) At the .50 range you could be anywhere from $415-625 (i round to nearest 5) and $1 would be double that so could be good or a learning experience haha. Because also with a 1st time cleaning it may be 1/2 to double normal job time so if its just a one time cleaning that would need to be factored in. If its your 1st job resi then those things happen. 
There may be things you could do to be more efficient as well if you think you bid it low.
Oh yeah and thats only for ground level work…anything 2nd story & i double it…
Wow. fast responses. Thank you.
Yeah I couldnt believe a 2200 ft house with 1.5 baths could have that many windows. A lot of them are inside the house. 
Its listed for $2.2 M by the way.
Good encouragement! Next time charge $2 per for exterior 2nd story french though in my opinion (or even for 2nd story altogether) 
@luke3636
Has a video on youtube, how his tools are setup and how he does french panes like that.
Check him out on youtube…
“Luke the window cleaner”
Hope this helps!
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That doesn’t look so bad, knock that sucker out with a big smile on your face. I’ve done a lot more for a lot less. It is all a learning experience.
Do a great job and your real estate people will send you more work, the neighbors will give you work. And now since you have done that house and know your times you can bid it better.
Got to start some where.
Joe
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+1 on doing jobs for less…haha…glad those are past memories though
That price would be for in/out/tracks. Also canadian dollars haha?
520 panes at 2 dollars out 2 dollars in. I guess I should have mentioned I wouldnt actually want this job as most french pane windows in my area are 50 years old.
After seeing the pic I would lower my price a bit but not that much.
$400 for a 2k sqft home full of French windows is not that bad. Here’s my advise
-start early 7am, get there at 6:45am
-take water and lunch
-start on the outside
-work in the shade . do the south side first , then west, north and then east .
Try and finish the outside by noon. Thoses look like newer Milgar windows , and are easy to clean .
Like everyone says , just smile . Youre getting paid and while training yourself .
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Thank you. Whatever the windows are, they’re not new. Pretty sure they’re original/reglazed.
Are you in LA? I’d be eager to hear your thoughts on LA as a turf for window cleaners. There sure are a lot of nice homes in this town.
Would it be a good idea to hook up with landscapers, cleaning ladies, etc for referrals?
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You didn’t do too bad for that house. $400 is about right especially since you don’t know what you are doing. May want to connect with someone and work with them so you can learn what you’re doing.
Once you get good, a house like that in LA should go for $2 per French pane. Once you have confidence and the homeowners see that, you’ll get $800-$1k for a house like that all day.
After reading about it on here we have channels cut to every 1/2 inch. Expensive yes, and if I had to do it all over again I would do brass channels but it saves time doing straight pulls and once you hire someone it gives them zero reason to make a mistake
That sounds like a good idea, if I understand what you’re saying: channels in every length so that every french pane has a perfect squeegee-mate.
Why are there no tiny T-bar scrubbers? What do you use to wet French panes?
Thank you. I will definitely watch that video.
Thank you. You wrote “a house like that in LA should… etc.”
if you have any comments about LA as a WC market, I’d be eager to hear them. From the forum. I’m getting that storefront in LA is brutal. My friend owns a restaurant and pays only $10 for her service, and she says the company is very professional, with trucks, uniforms, etc. So that’s why I’m staring with resi.
LA has:
-
endless pool of hard-working immigrants who will work for $10/hour
I’m trying to see that as opportunity, not competition; when my company grows I will be able to hire guys for low wages. -
extremely expensive homes. Many people with 1+ million homes who actually are broke. So that can’t be good for us.
-
weather. couldnt be better. We’re in the middle of whats supposed to be the wettest winter in history, and I think it’s rained 3 times in the last 6 months.
-
air pollution. It seems as if all windows are dirty all the time, so that should be good.
-
views. Homes are built on the walls of canyons and have amazing views, so dirty glass is extra noticable for the homeowner.
When I was thinking about WC as a possibility, I thought about my own experience. So many times I have had high glass I couldnt clean that just got dirtier and dirtier because no one every knocked on my door and said “May I clean your windows.” I would have paid whatever and felt grateful.
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Good luck to you Eric. Im also an L.A. native and there is a really large amount of hard working immigrants, but also a really large amount of opportunity as well.
I will be out in the Inland Empire also going for the resi work first. Just got my taxes back and I can finally buy some equiptment 
Good luck on your journey!
