Residential Cleaning Process

friscobob · October 8, 2015, 9:33pm

LOL. Yeah, I suppose that would work, wouldn’t it.

JaredAI · October 8, 2015, 9:42pm

I’d shoot myself for buying white carpet.

buddyo · October 8, 2015, 9:43pm

I’m with u bud but it seems to be the craze in the many homes I’m in

buddyo · October 8, 2015, 9:52pm

I may be going out on a limb here @friscobob but is this a representation of your employee?

How 2 vid

whatapane · October 8, 2015, 11:40pm

Friscobob are you by chance based out of Frisco TX?

friscobob · October 9, 2015, 7:38am

Yes, I am.

friscobob · October 9, 2015, 7:42am

Yes, I am.

Majestic66 · October 9, 2015, 8:52am

Alex Lacey:

[MENTION=29273]friscobob[/MENTION], welcome to the forum, and the industry!

I’ll give you my take on your steps, one by one. This is based on working solo, a lot has been written on the forum about the most efficient processes for teams, feel free to use the search function.

Good place to start. But working solo, I remove and mark the screen as I get to that window. No sense making extra trips around the home.

I clean the screens after I’ve cleaned all the interiors. That’s because I haven’t gotten them all removed until I’ve gotten around to all the windows. The Aztec cleaner is a great investment. I use it on nearly every job, with no up-charge. “real” screen cleaning is built into my pricing, if someone is dead set on not wanting me to touch their screens at all, I’ll drop $2 off per screen. That’s just my approach.

The unger cleaning kit is a great tool to have in the arsenal, but definitely not my go-to tool for interior cleaning, and I wouldn’t even necessarily recommend it as essential starting equipment. I find it best suited for fairly well maintained, difficult to reach with traditional tools, windows. I suggest reading up more here on the preferred cleaning methods for interior and exterior cleaning.

Track cleaning is not really my thing. I’ll let some others weigh in on this. I think it really depends on market, what people expect for window cleaning. The only time I deal with tracks, is when bugs cram their nesting material into the tracks of storm windows. What a mess. In that case, I sometimes use my pocket knife to get that crud out.

For first time cleans, I almost always do face to glass. The few exceptions are for windows that aren’t safe to reach with a pole, or windows have been well maintained (I can usually tell this while I’m cleaning the insides of the windows.

pre-soaking does tend to help. So does hot water. Detergent helps, too, but remember you’ll need to rinse extra well.

not sure why you would need anything smaller than a pulled-apart MiNi for first story work

I don’t have any experience with boars hair, but I have never had a need for anything more aggressive than my constructor brush

I try and deal with trouble spots as I do the windows. For first time cleans, if I can tell a window isn’t tempered, I go at it with the 6" razor followed by a white scrub pad. If it is tempered (or I’m unsure) I’ll use the scrub pad, followed by bronze wool if that isn’t doing the trick. I really try and limit my use of a razor on tempered glass, although the older the glass is, the safer it tends to be. And I always get a waiver signed before proceeding with that.

For difficult stuff like “screen burn”/oxidation, I’ll use oven cleaner, very carefully. Rinse well, and use PPE!

That’s all I can think of for now. Have fun

Good post Alex … About the marking of the screens. I read a lot about people doing that. When you / they say mark it . What is it that you put on it. I know you use a marker, but what do you write … upstairs first room on the right

I was taught to just keep the upstairs screens together an we push out the downstairs screens keep those together. No marking.
I usually never have a problem with this method.

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Wagonhound · October 9, 2015, 8:57am

Technically the progression of your window cleaning techniques are backwards. You and your technician should master traditional methods before going on to pure water, as a WFP can not be used in every scenario. I rarely ever use a WFP on first time cleans because it will not remove many of the physical elements on the glass especially if they haven’t been cleaned in quite some time. Using pure water on interior windows and relying on your personalities is not going to get you the results you need to get your customers to come back more than once and get referrals. Those of us who have been in the business a long time can tell you those are the TWO MOST IMPORTANT ITEMS in building a residential business.

Majestic66 · October 9, 2015, 8:57am

I’m with Jmattern. It sounds like the Op should of bought a Laundromat. Not s window cleaning business

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ChrisG · October 9, 2015, 10:32am

I agree with this!

WFP and Indoor pad cleaning are just tools in the window cleaners arsenal. They are not necessarily the best tools for every job. There are many other great tools to use which are better suited to individual circumstances.

In fact, using these tools alone and by getting poor results will do more damage to the WC profession as clients think these methods of cleaning suck… well if you use them in the wrong circumstance they do, but what does the client know? They expect the window cleaner to be experienced to get good results!

I hate it when i have to justify my levels of experience in using WFP etc and remind customers that not all window cleaners are created equal when the cleaners before me f*ck it up!

GenaroGuzman · October 9, 2015, 1:31pm

So I guess I’ll recap all the responses

buy squeegee
practice
practice

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Majestic66 · October 9, 2015, 2:12pm

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Majestic66 · October 9, 2015, 2:14pm

I can stand that I can’t like from the app. So… Like !!!

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whatapane · October 9, 2015, 2:40pm

Then keep doing exactly what your doing so I can I can get more calls. Lol

I’m only kidding…sort of. You have to do a first time clean by hand with your nose to the glass if you want it to look good. Pure water inside is not going to get the windows clean. You need to use soap and squeegee and sometimes a razor blade. Your going to have to get some ladders and probably some training. It usually takes a guy working along side me for 3 months before he really knows what he’s doing enough to send him to a job on his own. My advice is to hire an experienced window cleaner if you don’t want to learn yourself. I’ve trained tons of guys in your position and it always takes 3 months of working full time.

ProWindowCleaning · October 9, 2015, 3:10pm

Learn how to clean a window properly, learn about oxidation, learn about tempered glass, learn about bronze & steel wool & white scrub pads, learn when to use oven cleaner on glass, learn how to clean a screen with soap and water properly (not knocking the Aztec screen washer at all, but you don’t need to spend money on a tool for every aspect of your window cleaning business)

If I hadn’t already had years of experience cleaning windows before starting my business I would have wanted to learn properly before jumping in head first without knowing how to float let alone swim.

I don’t own the unger indoor kit, I probably won’t ever buy one either. Once again you don’t need some specific tool for everything.

If you had a mop, squeegee, bucket, soap, tool belt, white scrub pad, 1" razors, 24’ ladder, and 3’ step ladder you could clean almost any standard 2 story home.

you could have all that for well under $500

Only advice I have is to learn how to clean windows yourself or invest in a new business venture.

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danwagner · October 10, 2015, 3:39pm

You clown!

danwagner · October 10, 2015, 3:50pm

Bob, I essentially agree with what has been offered as advice- it would be very advantageous for you to know thoroughly how to clean windows yourself.
If you truly are not in a position to do so and feel very strongly about making your new venture a success, and since you’ve shown you’re willing to drop at least a few grand for equipment, you might consider hiring an expert window cleaner who can also be your ops manager. One fear there would be does he share your vision and values? Those are things you will almost certainly have to take time to put into writing and inculcate into anyone you hire.