I’m curious…
4 years…going on who knows how long. I want to be out of the bucket by the end of next year.
23 years and still enjoy it.
[COLOR=“green”][SIZE=“3”][FONT=“Arial”]SINCE YOU’VE ASK…[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]
Yo J-Manfromthe DE-TWA
As of this January I’ll be right at 31 years…Man,time sure does fly !
You know I’ve done just about every kind of window cleaning known in the industry, high-rise…chair or stage.Retail Route work, low-rise,tons of ladder work,hi-end/lo-end residential. Tons of 2,3,4 story commercial…Tucker-pole mania…I guess you can say I’m a all around cleaner !
One thing I love doing is sharing what I know and learning what others know !
I can tell you tons of story’s of things I’ve seen or have done eg I fell off a 7 story building…I know guys that were killed doing windows… I’ve met some of the nicest people and some the worse !
I learned to appreciate art from seeing it in residences or hi end offices ! One thing for certain that I’ve garnered from this industry and that’s learning to be a problem solver, which I’ve learned to apply to all aspect of life !
I could go on forever, but I’d like to say I appreciate the cleaners on this forum, I hope everyone works safely and avoids any accidents and that yawl learn everything you can and are successful…Good luck !
Dangerous
Officially started in 07/06. Cleaned my first home 03/07.
what were you doing all that time?
Started in Feb. 1986. So I’m approaching my 25th anniversary soon!
I mis-calcuated pricing. I wanted to start out on store front. Like many, thinking it’s easy pickens. So I focused my energy the last part of the summer, 07 on pounding the pavement. People were telling me they were paying $10 for 4 and 5 panes of 4x8 glass. I thought they were just trying to get me to go super cheap. By the end of August I figured I need to rethink this industry and was looking not bother with it. Then I found the National Forums and started reading. By January 07 I knew I had to go residential. Built my website by Feb, listed on Googles top ten by March. Put out an ad in the local news paper and started getting calls while visiting friends in Canada. Did my first job when I got home 2 weeks later. By Sept I had 100 clients under my belt and after that, never looked back. lol
I started in 1986 too. I don’t remember the month though. I do remember my first and second jobs. It was a printer and I traded for my first 500 business cards. (they got a good deal) Second job was a Walmart. That Walmart has built new larger stores twice since then and we still clean their windows.
Chip
I must have started about 28 years ago at about age 17. My buddy taught me, we had our own commercial route for cash. We’d bike it over to a main drag then walk up and down the streets. He had 5 older brothers all in window cleaning, so I learned a lot… I used to call my Chamois (shammy) a scamy.
I still hear about that.
A couple years later he got me a job at the largest window cleaning company in Winnipeg. I already knew more about fanning etc then most of those guys. My first day, they had a rope chair attached to a telephone pole. I sat in it and the boss said, “ok now you’re a heights guy”:rolleyes:
I began by doing chair work with my buddy (he was still training me) this was my first job as a pro window cleaner.
We had to use hooks, then climb over onto our chairs. No safety clamps, we had to make painters knots for the safety line. He naturally would beat me to the ground then he’d pull my genie line way out so I was 20’ feet away from the building then let me go, LOL. He did stop me just before I hit the wall.
We each did 3 windows wide.
Dang thats pretty cool to know I can come and get advice from window cleaners that are seasoned with experience 
I still have a Sky Genie rig. Are you talking about the two lines running through the covered dog bone rig? I retired it from WC years ago for racks, but I still use it for recreational fun like rock climbing and repelling.
I started cleaning windows for a friend’s company in 1984, when I quit my teaching job. I started my own shop in Ft. Lauderdale in January 1986, 3 days before the Challenger exploded…a day I will never forget
I think we have similar backgrounds, tons of mid-rise chair work and ladder work.
Definitely! Along with efficiency.
I have a guy who stretches his arm and holds on to the ladder, two rungs above his head. I was trying to explain to him that he can’t reach below him, because his arm is already stretched out… and to hold on to the rung right in front of his face, giving him room to stretch down.
He looked at me like a deer in headlights.
When you are just going through the motions, you don’t think about how much a small change in the way you stand or move can make a big difference.
I still have one of my old hooks… and an old belt. Remember ‘belt work?!?’ Hated it!
When I first started some guys I worked with were dead against safety harnesses. (said they “got in the way.”) They would literally put them on in front of the boss, and take them off when he left… drove me crazy!
I started cleaning windows on Nantucket Island in 1999, did it for 2 years then forgot about it. Started a part time business in 2005 here in NJ, took a nice job offer and sold my small storefront route about a year later.
Then started Triple C as a full-time business in late January this year, treated as a business, not a hobby, and have been rocking it ever since.
I officially will never work for anyone but myself again
Started cleaning windows in 1989. Started my own business in 1995.
Hey Prizm, do you handle Trenton / Hamilton? I get calls out of there, but really try not to go any further south than Princeton
Two lines? No just one line though I guess the thing could look like a dog bone, I’ve never heard it described like that before. Basically it goes in the top and you wrap it around the middle of the genie then put a cover over. If you genie line is old and has lots of friction you could get away with 1 and 1/2 wraps. Then you can literally kick yourself away from the window repel down and have your suction cup and brush in your hand when you hit the ledge of the window below. Just like a ninja:D
If the genie line is brand new you want 2 1/2 wraps or ever 3 1/2 wraps other wise you could burn your hands also if you’re a rookie you want extra wraps so they don’t get scared of repelling so fast.
There is another type of genie that looks like a screw instead of a dogbone. I hate them because you can’t adjust your wraps so if you do have an old genie line, which is very common for 10 story buildings because the new lines are kept for the 20+ stories and cut up for the smaller buildings when they get old, you end up having to almost push your genie line through the genie. At least that is my memory of them, I barely ever used the screw types but I spent 6 months of the year in a normal genie for years.
This is the best sky genie in my opinion but I have heard good things about those racks. I think I heard the rack is good in Vancouver where it rains a lot. If it rains here, you gotta stop working and keep that genie line dry or it will bind up in the genie.
I’m not sure what you mean by belt work I do remember that before we were forced to use these parachute safety harnesses we had belts… I actually liked them though I heard if you take a fall they are hard on your back… but chair itself is hard on the back or so they tell me. My back was always fine. I feel safer 300’ up with a safety line then I do at the top of a 28’ ladder with no one footing it:D
As far as those hooks, I would never use them now. I now know there are better and easier ways to do things. I began using slings that I would make myself on the roof with an extra safety line and D clamps. Then at the end of the job I can just drop all those ropes to the ground:p This way I don’t have to use weights or beams or hooks. Plus now they have parapet clamps, they would by handy on roofs with nothing to tie back on.
Hey you didn’t vote. I’m guessing you are hinting that they should have made a 30+ years catagory just for you 
Edit: I wonder if there is any members here that work for someone? Any employees?
