Are you in turbo mode all day or do you work at a quick efficient pace ?
Personally I just work quickly but not extremely fast, unless I’m crunched for time. I find that if I try too hard to be fast I just turn into a clumsy mess.
Quality over quantity is what I go for. Obvoiusly the goal would be that I can be extremely fast and do a perfect job. Not quite there yet. Almost making the hourly goal though 
I work as fast as I can w/in the bounds of safety and quality.
Same here. But I am always on the lookout for time saving methods. For instance, on bottom floor window on commercial stuff I use a t-bar scrubber on a pole and rinse with DI water, I have a bucket already filled before I get to the job, switched from surgical towels to microfiber and plan to buy scrim, got the backpack so I dont have to drag so much hose…even if it saves 30 seconds…it will add up at the end of the day and I have cut a half hour, and made the same money. I will walk fast or jog if I need to get back to my truck…you know the usual stuff. As far as squeegee work, I see those guys on youtube just on warp 9 and I have only seen one guy go over to check his work, and the majority of them I see only do as high as they can reach leaving the top 4 or 5 inches untouched, dont wipe the sills or mullions etc…
It looks great, but I have never seen it in person, plus I dont think I can do that, and really have no desire to. I would like to have an employee do it like that on storefronts in downtown for the publicity…but I think that would be all its good for.
Turbo mode all day, time is money!
i tend not to start work much before 10 a.m because theres a lot of folk still in bed , or washing their hair etc ,and very grumpy and they dont want to talk / by eleven im in top gear but by 5 p.m thats way too late , a few have told me so too. i never rush as thats when a fall from a ladder might happen
Get good, then get fast. That’s the formula I try to work every day. When I change something, a method or a product, I work it in to top efficiency, then I start looking for the next change. There is a lot of talk about cutting costs, winning business and pricing. In the end I think the cheapest way to give yourself a raise is to get faster at this trade. If you max out, great! Hire someone, have them sign a non-compete agreement, and train them to the same level.
A surprising number of things can be learned on the internet. Just recently, and I don’t know why I didn’t catch this before, I saw a wc person rest the strip washer horizontally on the bucket on a belt. Never thought of it, regardless of the bucket shape, and when I saw it I went duuuu! Next day I made the switch. Less bending because I can carry more water and fewer trips to the bucket. Time saved. It’s little things like this that add up over time.
Eric
I am always looking for a faster more effiecient way to do everything!
I’m enjoying the journey not just the goal. I’ll talk with clients, take extended breaks & leave enough time for chit-chat between jobs. I don’t wear a watch either.
I cut my time by 40% by using wfp on all jobs. I use a van mounted system with a tank filled with pure water and 300 ft of hose and a brush called the autobrush. All I have to do is open the back door of van grap the hose and pole, tap the brush on the window and wash away. This saves loads of time verses bucket, belt, pole, towels etc etc. Most of my commercial work is outside only. I use the bucket and bottle on the belt when doing insides
No WFP for me here. Too many screens, way dirty windows, or need to rent manlifts for us! We minimize time waste by performing our work with qulaity in mind. Its easier to do it right the first time and not need to go back, than to do it warp-speed and miss stuff. Even a Quality Control Check at the end of every job is still completed and documented on the invoices.
I give my guys the choice of stopping for lunch. Most bring their food so they eat throughout the day without need to stop long. I’m bad about that though.
On very large jobs I mandate that at least a 30 minute, off-campus (jobsite) lunch break is taken. It gives the guys time to rest, calm down, and recover from the heights.
We also improve time by having each man perform a different task on most jobs. For residential work: one might be cleaning screens, one might be pre-washing if needed, one might be on the inside cleaning the interior, and yet one more might be laddering the upper level windows–all at the same time.
On commercial work, two may be cleaning the outs, one on the ins, and the supervisor getting the paperwork handled.
I am still faster than anyone that works for me. But, they don’t have as much invested in the company. It’s my baby and I care. to most of them, its just a job.
The say they’re worried about speed (I think to convince me that they are working hard at times when I know that they are going too slow, especially when I am not around) but I push them continually to improve. Funny how things get done faster when the boss is around. But I usually work in warp 5 speed. Not 9 because my body can’t handle all day at that speed, but not 1 because I am counting the beans after all.
Bert touched a very sensitive issue there. Take the time to do it right the first time and you saved yourself the shame, driving time and work time if you had to go back to “re-touch”.
Being worried about how fast you work is not the best thing I guess, but really depends on the size of your operation. I work with my wife and sometimes we are amazed on how fast we go, but lots of times I’m most concerned in going faster that I don’t really enjoy being there. At the end of the day 1 hour is one hour, and you might feel different depending on how your day was, that’s why I say the size of your company really matters (employees vs solo).
In my personal case, I rather stay 1 hr longer on the jobsite feeling more “relaxed” and not rushing like crazy. Bottom line, I thing is a very personal decision based on what you take in consideration.
Gotta agree there.
I have to agree that quality work matched with great customer service are far more important than speed. But sometimes I get obsessed with absolute perfection and customer satisfaction to the point that it may be overkill(my wife says). Some of those time saving tips are golden.Thanks. We are always trying to streamline the operation and I think with time things can only go faster and faster while still maintaining the quality work. Havent had a single complaint yet so I guess we just have to go with what works.WFPing everything just wouldnt work for us. I have to scrape a lot of windows before I can even start to clean them. Last week we knocked out a huge house in Malibu with about a million french windows with the pole in a very short time. I was stoked to say the least!
I probably work slower than I did when I first started 2 years ago. My technique has improved now to the point where I can move at a slower speed but accuracy means less time detailing and fixing mistakes.
super charged twin turbo here! I try to find every way possible to cut time with out cutting quality. when I started cleaning I was paid by the job. Getting paid that way I figured why work all day for the same $$$ when I can do it in half the time. Seconds can mean mins to hours when the day is done. The crap part is that when I try to slow down I seem to go even faster…forget about it when I get the ipod jamming. Its just sucks when I am done with my day I am beat. I try to slow down and cool it for a bit so I don’t get that way but thats just not how I am programmed. work hard now so I will have more time to be lazy later!
Hey Scott,
I’m not turbo, but I “wanna be”; Quality first but still trying to get faster. Just developing my stroke. Any speed/accuracy tips will be appreciated. thanks
LinO
Over the past 4 years my tools, methods, and technique have improved greatly so I get much more done in a day. I still go for quality over speed on every job.
I like to be efficient and get the job done in reasonable time but I just don’t enjoy pushing myself against the clock for the sake of speed.
Speed with the squeegee just comes with practice. the more you do it the faster you will get and not even notice it. Most of the time you can cut your time down by fixing little things here and there. I wear a tool belt so I am not going back to the truck 20 times for odd and ends. When I get to a job I take a quick walk around to see what I will need( ladders, squeegees tools…ect). Picking the right tools for the job is good too. why carry a 18 inch channel if you are cleaning 6 inch panes of glass? being organized will help you do things faster. it’s the little things. we could really start a new thread on tips that will make you faster and go over hundreds of things. I would say start with one thing and ask yourself “how can I make this faster without sacrificing quality?” example: chamois vs. hucks vs. micro fiber vs. scrim? I have tried them all. is one better than the other or in this case faster? the time I waste trying to get a chamois just right I could be using a couple hucks, should I carry 10 hucks around or just go with a scrim, or will the scrim be so large that even though it dries fast slows me down due to its size? everyone is different and finding just that perfect way is all up to you. I always like trying new tools. I like the contour pro for example. I can pole so much more and stay off step ladders with this “almost all-in-one tool”. To me poling is faster than hauling a step ladder around. the more energy you save the better. Sad thing…I don’t think you should try this one at all but I do it so I will tell. I skip breaks, lunches, slacking, talking on the cell, or any other thing that could be construed as “personal time”. I’m a workaholic. Oh, and a ipod full of good tunes helps too.
Ah, now that is the way it should be done.
I do most of those things, but have always worn a watch. Have timed every job for the past twenty-five years. It helps with charting for scheduling, and testing to see if I have improved. Also, to give me a time to shoot for.
But I would suspect that we would all enjoy the work (even more) if that watch were at home.
At 56 I don’t hustle any more and guys I train I never tell them
to go, go go. Slow and steady (some say I’m relentless cause I don’t stop) wins the race for me and averaging $60.00/hr makes it nice. Efficiency of movement over speed.
And I still have time to chat up my clients too.
Matthew
