Today was my first day ever going door to door for residential window cleaning with my new company. However, I was very selective to what houses I went door to door to. I was intimidated by removing second floor or third floor screens. What is the process? Do I have the customer remove the screens? Or do I ask to go inside the house and remove it? Or do I use a ladder and remove it from the outside only?
If the prospect would say YES to the window cleaning job, I would do the cleaning within the next 15-20 minutes. So it’s not like I am setting up an appointment for later on and they have time to remove the screen. Please let me know your thoughts!
Thank you!
You are assuming that the customer has the time available for you to do the job within the next 12-15 minutes. Be prepared to make an appointment on your calendar.
If you are going to clean the windows and screens then it is your job to remove the screens. If the screens are on the inside of the window and you are only doing the exterior then the screens do not come into play unless the customer wants you to do those too. Here’s a tip - take a Sharpie and tag the top edge of each screen which window they came out of, little discrepancies in size or just similar but not quite is a head ache to find which window they came out of. Some screens remove from the outside and some remove from the inside, just depends on the window style. Be prepared for which one you run across.
It also benefits you to continue canvassing an entire neighborhood before scheduling that day so that you can get yourself in front of as many people as possible. Then you might be able to schedule 3 or 4 jobs for the week. It doesn’t hurt to say “I can do that right now for you, or we can schedule a day that is more convenient for you.”
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Ideally if the screens can be removed from the outside , we get a ladder up there and remove them from the outside
Now , some screens can only be removed from the inside . So we go inside to remove them
But if we’re doing and outside only , and we can remove the screens from the outside . We prefer not to step inside the house .
Do you have a tall ladder ? What area are you in ?
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Thank you for the quick response! That makes perfectly sense. I do not have a tall ladder, but plan on buying one if thats what I have to do, I’m a newbie. I bought a water-fed pole that can extend up to 30 feet but didn’t have a plan on coordinating screens. I have my mid-size Subaru CrossTrek that I have all of my equipment in (DI Tank, WFP, and traditional cleaning tools). So not sure if a traditional ladder can fit.
Great tip on the marking of the screens! Will 100% be using that trick with the sharpie. I am still new to the window cleaning business and hoping just to convert prospects on the spot if they are home with a good price. But trial and error I guess. Thank you for the tips of scheduling as well!
Another new person and another over thinking it post… I promise window cleaning is very easy, best way to answer your question about screens is for you to get out and get some jobs under your belt. You’ll find much more problematic issues than screen removal, I promise
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Screen leashes work great. We make our own, we utilize them so we can limit or eliminate ladders. The inside person removes, attaches, and lowers the screen down, the outside person fetches it up, once all are down the XERO screen cleaner does a great job cleaning them up. Leash them and return to position. This allows for better use of water-filtration system applied to outside window cleaning when interiors are booked as well.
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You’re gonna need a bigger boat.
That’s the funniest thing I’ve read all day.
I have a saying. Cleaning windows is easy. Getting TO them makes it difficult.
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If people are going to hire you, they are expecting you to have the tools and know how to do the job. They do not want to do the job for you. If you are doing outside only then you ladder up take off the screens(provided they aren’t the type that have to be removed from the inside in which case you have to go in and remove them or the client will have to, yes I know a contradiction but some people don’t want others inside their homes) If its inside and outside I remove 2nd and 3rd floor from the inside I then go outside wash the screens and clean the exterior windows while the screens dry then go back and do the inside and reinstall the screens.
Lol you trolling right?
