I carry copies of some of the several articles I have accumulated over the years about fab debris in my MSDS book. I point out the Old Castle seal in the corner, hand them the articles and the scratch/damage waiver to sign. I also adjust my price upwards and explain to the customer about the added time it will take and I give them the brochure I have about my GlassRenue service. If I get underbid on an Old Castle CCU, I don’t feel like I lost it
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I have actually made the decision to no longer do CCU as of 2017. It’s really not worth it. We charge a lot (over $30 per window minimum) and I just always realize that there would have been way easier ways to make money. Plus fabricating debris is out of control, pretty much anything scratches glass now and here in CA, construction budgets are TIGHT probably largely in part because how expensive the land is and there not being as much money left for the actual building. So with budgets being tight trades get real sloppy and the cleanup companies are just expected to take it and it’s actually now just expected that you should expect that the site cleanliness is non existent, meaning there’s more crap than ever to clean up.
I’m sure there’s some that enjoy seeing the finished product and like the work but for me it’s all just a big risk. I have to make sure the employees are skilled enough to do the work, make sure the job is staying on track (almost impossible these days with how dirty everything is) and make sure no one is damaging glass.
That being said, I have been thinking about doing this as an add on service: www.surfacearmor.com. This would be way cheaper for a contractor rather than paying for a cleaning, glass replacement, etc. Especially for ground level windows that will have concrete poured around them. Some manufacturers are actually sending out there glass with a film like this from the factory. Once your ready to clean you just pull the film off the glass, clean the frames/tracks and then standard clean the glass. We’ve done a few jobs with this film on the windows and it was almost a straight cleaning with this film.
Hopefully films like this will become commonplace and this fabricating debris issue and all the other crap with CCU becomes a thing of the past.
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Thanks for sharing the link.
It would mean Contractors actually have to insist one glass protection during the construction and finishing phase. I have yet to see that happen. So then, the customer has to just be resolved with glass that has scratches - gouges and sander marks are a TOTALLY different story. The first thing I say when asked to do CCU is I’m not responsible for scratches. Two minutes into the conversation I reiterate that I am not responsible for scratched glass. I try and insert at least two or three more mentions that I am not responsible for scratched glass and there will be a waiver signed. It is talked about extensively, it is in writing. The last couple of CCU’s I have done were practically the definition of sloppy work.
The last to touch is the first to blame. :-/
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And that’s what I mean. It’s simply not worth it. Even if they agree you’re not responsible for scratches, the amount of work necessary is ridiculous and I just feel that you can never charge enough.
Like I stated before. There are a couple of contractors we have worked with and they only put in glass from manufacturers that are wrapped from the factory. At some point others will get the hint. One of the contractors switched to the manufacturer that wraps glass before shipping because they had to replace $40k worth of glass for an estate home (custom french panes with chicken wire, textured panes, etc for an industrial farm house style home) and now only deals with manufacturers that have a film on the glass before shipping. The window cleaner he used was nowhere to be found and had bogus insurance. Even if he found him, he wouldn’t have any money anyways.
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I won’t say much here. Most has already been said. This is a fantastic thread. Alex mentioned annealed glass. I do not use the expression fab debris anymore. The issue is WAY larger than even we realize. It is a problem with float glass. And I guarantee the float glass manufacturers will never listen to us. If a window keeps the cold out and the heat in, plus you can see through, it is OK.
If you want to be totally blown away please go to my article, “A Glimpse of the Ghost Particle” in my blog www.glass-smart.blogspot.com The night I wrote it I couldn’t sleep!
This is the reason I am working on my line of plastic abrasives. Right now I have for sale Chew 1 and Chew 2. Three more Chews are on their way.
Henry
[email protected]
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Henry do you have a website where you sell your products?
