Okay so the average shopping mall has stores that each have a LOT of glass and someone’s got to clean it. I called a local mall today and talked to the management office. They said each store is responsible for cleaning their own windows, so there’s no way I can get a massive hookup from management. But with how HOT it’s been lately, I think the mall would be a worthwhile place to go trolling for work. It’s a virtual indoor strip mall. But for whoever is currently doing that work, it’s a different game than normal storefronts because they have to go to the mall, get their stuff out and/or set up, and wash maybe one or two windows at two different stores for all I know. So the pricing has go to be different. Plus chances are, you’re getting paid through their corporate office. Well, it may still be petty cash, who knows? When it comes to working the mall, what’s the deal? Anyone do this? Advice of any kind as to handling the business as well as the work environment? Thanks, bruthas!
i cleaned a store in the mall once and i didn’t like it, i felt like i was in a fish bowl, like i was in the way and the glass was harder to clean without an edge and bolts and displays in the way
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Let me just say, I make more sitting on the couch.
I currently have a jewelry and a clothing store in the mall for $15 per visit or $30 a month each store. The main reason for me is advertising while people walk for exercise in the morning.
Oh, and the jewelry store wanted me to move their 400+lb case away from the window each time and I said not going to happen less you get mover pads because if it were to fall, my insurance would have to cover it. After 2 months of not cleaning that one pane, they had mover pads put under it 
Zacch Boyes
Z’s Window Cleaning
Office: (877) 978-0227
Email: [email protected]
Humm, where to start:
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Go down and talk to the management. They might require 1M or 5M in insurance for you to do work in the mall. Find out because I ain’t spending the money on a 5Mil policy unless I get mad accounts
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If you’re good insurance-wise, ask them what the rules are for cleaning. Most likely they’re going want you off the floor by opening, you might be able to clean inside the store after open, but you’d better make sure.
2a. Some malls are going to want you to sign in at the main office before you go clean in which case it might be more of a pain than anything. I had one mall that it took longer to trek to the office than it did to clean the front.
2b. Hopefully they’ll mention what their rules are for working in the mall.
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Go bid the mall. You might have to get corporate’s number from the majority of the stores, then call them, then maybe get in touch with the FMC, and eventually you might get a go.
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If you have a big mall, that $15 job is probably NOT going to be worth your time to walk the mall with your equipment. A squirt bottle really helps out, but you’ll have to figure in your walking time.
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There’s a lot of low ballers in the mall just like there are on routes.
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Don’t forget to ask the management who cleans the common windows - they might have their people do it on a regular basis, but they might want a special cleaning for when the owners decide to visit.
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The mall is across the street from me so $15 per two weeks is great lunch money
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I hold a $3M for all my large commercial clients.
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The malls in California don’t ask to sign in or for any insurance because each store is its own
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Don’t low ball yourself to gain a new account, unless it’s a brewery
Zacch Boyes
Z’s Window Cleaning
Office: (877) 978-0227
Email: [email protected]
How to make money cleaning windows at the mall… YOU DON’T
Mike Radzik
Pro Window Cleaning
Central Massachusetts
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When I first started out I was sub-contracting all of the Ann Taylor and Ann Taylor Loft stores throughout the city. There were several located in malls. It was a major hassle carrying all my equipment through the mall because they never seemed to be close to an entry/exit door. Then working around the window displays was another story. I thought at least I would be getting some visibility and residual business from those. Not one job was added…storefront or residential. I was making $15-20 per store and each one took about an hour. That lasted about 3 months before I threw in the towel.
On a side note…and this is only from MY own personal experience. Warning…Sub-contracting route work can be detrimental to your income. After the contractor takes their cut from your work, you’re making peanuts for your time. Not to mention submitting invoices and waiting a month for those peanuts. I know I know…others may have more positive experiences, but I think it’s rare. I’m also talking “route work” and not large “commercial”.
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You don’t… only because most mall stores are NSP.
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Ok, I’ll bite. NSP?
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National Service Providers
Mike Radzik
Pro Window Cleaning
Central Massachusetts
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I was thinking No Solicitors Permitted.
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Pritty much
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[MENTION=20241]WinCleanPlus[/MENTION]
Check this thread out - http://windowcleaner.com/vBulletin/business-techniques/24161-national-service-provider-official-rating-system.html
When I started my window cleaning business back in 2005, like many young “go getters,” going after mall accounts sounded like a good idea. Thankfully, someone along the way gave me advice to focus my attentions and efforts elsewhere.
Just last month, I was giving an interview in the food court at one of our malls and right next to our table a national franchise window cleaner went to work on a large women’s clothing store. I couldn’t help but watch. He had to move mannequins and large display items away from the insides. It took him close to 45 minutes to do all the windows and then he had to wait about 10 minutes to get signature and payment. I saw him stuffing a $20 and what looked like 3 or 4 $1’s in his pocket. I almost felt sorry for the guy. Almost.
All that hassle for under $25 gross… No thanks.
If my local competitors want mall work I tell them go ahead… While they’re inside wrestling with mannequins for twenty bucks I’m outside on the strip handling all the real accounts…
In theory, mall work can certainly be profitable. But in my opinion, you’d need multiple, fair paying accounts to make the headaches worth it.
I knew a guy who cleaned a ton of stores in malls back in the late 90’s. They went every two weeks and all paid cash and well enough to put two of his kids through private school. Now, NSP’s have changed how these get cleaned and other window washers have driven the price down so low, it’s just not worth it.
I got a call from one of our local malls to come out and bid the common areas and entries. They wanted it because their insurance would not let their cleaners do anything above hand reach, not even pole work. Of course they wanted half price. Their carrot was that they had to OK any vendor working in the mall. If you wanted to clean windows in their mall, you and/or your NSP had to clear it through the mall office.
Then there was the insurance issue. They wanted 3 million liability, 500,000 employee dishonesty bond and they had to be additionally insured. Do you know what it means when you additionally insure someone? Their contract read that if something happened on their property, even if my company wasn’t even on the property, or involved in the incident in any way, they could tap into my insurance to cover any loss.
The 3 mill and the theft bond are non issues because we do the airport and several local, state and federal buildings and we carry coverages above that. The idea they expected me to sign a contract giving them my insurance as a money pot was crazy. I just don’t deal with malls and NSP’s, you won’t win. You will wait to get paid, if you get paid at all
[QUOTE=bumblebee;344069]Their contract read that if something happened on their property, even if my company wasn’t even on the property, or involved in the incident in any way, they could tap into my insurance to cover any loss[QUOTE]
That just sounds ridiculous. Why would anybody agree to that?
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Sounds like the malls around here. I stay away from them…
When you’re first starting out the mall sounds perfect!
All kinds of stores, indoors for the most part… But then you see all the extra hoops to jump through, time spent jumping through those hoops, and of course not to mention any additional/higher insurance policies that you may be required to have when you become a vendor in the mall.
Yea probably not worth that even if you pull in a couple hundred dollars of mall route work.
Possibly getting the mall entrances MIGHT be worth the hoops, but even that doesn’t sound too great.
Mike Radzik
Pro Window Cleaning
Central Massachusetts
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