Tommy @Gotlift wanted to know what residential equipment that I considered “must haves.”
Squeegees - I probably do 99% of my houses with an 18" and a 12". If you live in the NE and are cursed with a lot of cut ups, then you might need more sizes. My 6" gets me by on any cutups I have here.
Mop - 99% of the houses I use an 18" but I always carry a 12" mop in the truck for that 1% that shows up once a year. When it comes to cut ups, you don’t need a mop sized to fit, an 18" will go over the top of the divider and scrub 2 windows at once (most times).
Can opener - this is my go to tool for every single house. I wouldn’t know what to do if I didn’t have it. It has a ton of uses from prying out screens, flipping the releases on windows, prying out pella designer series windows, detailing slider tracks (in conjunction with a microfiber towel), just a ton of different stuff that could rip your finger nail right off. Trying to get an old window to tilt in can ruin your fingers.
Squirt bottle - I can do inside of most houses with just a squirt bottle. If you have a smokers house, then yeah, it won’t help. But normal houses it’s awesome.
Scrub pad - the white scrub pads can be used to remove residue from windows like dog boogers or hair spray from the little old lady who was trying to kill ants.
Microfiber towel - I’ve been using these to actually scrub windows and they’ll take off tape residue, dog boogers, and a lot of stuff the white scrub pads can do. Plus you can use it to mop up drips, drops, cobwebs, dog hair or whatever yuckies might be on the window sills you’re working at. I use a hip clip to keep it attached to my towel bag so it’s easy and quick to access.
Towel bag - you can use hucks or scrims, but the towel bag can help separate dirty towels from clean and keep you going. Less trips to the truck means better hourly rate. If my microfiber sucks up a mess of dog hair and mud, it gets put in the front divider of the bag until I can take it out and shake it out or replace it from the stash in the truck.
2" chip brush - use it to brush out sills, remove cobwebs or whatever.
Pole - you have to master a pole. It’s quicker than a ladder and can help you get over and around obstacles like an english holly bush.
Ladder - you should have multiple ladders but my go to is the 17’ little giant. As an A-frame, I can clean chandeliers or whatever. As an extension, it get most 2 story homes.
Step stool - the gorilla brand at home depot rocks. I’m a big guy but the 4’ step stool is solid. I use it if I have to get up on a window that’s just a little too high to reach by hand.
Shoe covers - this will set you apart from other window cleaners. I’d think it’s gross for someone to come in my house and take off their shoes and have their sweaty socks all over everything. I’d rather they keep their shoes on. I’m a huge fan of ShuBee because they got great customer service. Also handy if they have a bunch of dogs that left bombs all over the yard for you.
Gerry pads - these are pads that they use in hospital beds. They’re nice because they can be draped over electronics, under windows, or wherever. If you look around, they’re using about $1 online so buy 20 of them. If you want to take a bucket inside a house (I never ever do) then use a gerry pad under it.
Might have’s
Vacuum - great for detailing tracks. Note: no matter what battery powered vaccum you get, it might start spewing out dust from the exhaust. I solve this by draping a wet microfiber over the exhaust and/or putting it inside my tool bucket.
Sprayaway - the foaming cleaner is nice for doing those fake cutups on doors. Using regular solution will cause them to drip for days. Sprayaway is more efficient. It’s also a MUST HAVE for doing the inside of the pella designer series to prevent fogging.
Invisible glass - I use a pair of pliers to untwist the sprayer and fill a travel size hair spray looking bottle. I use this for chandeliers or to spritz wfp indoor pads.
Water fed pole - this might be a must have depending on where you live. Get yourself the hudson backpack sprayer off amazon and a couple of 6 gallon jugs from walmart fill with di water and you’re good to go for smaller houses.
WFP indoor pads - these are great for those really high windows. Some people use custom solutions, but I just use the invisible glass.
Hardwater removal stuff - I like bioclean but no matter what you get do some research on wcr for gotchas.
Screen washer - it’ll save your back after a long day of cleaning and is a great way to advertise to the neighbors. Be sure to wash screen in front of the house so people can come by and talk to you.
Other thoughts
Park on the street. You never know if the owner is crazy about an oil drip that your dodge truck left on their driveway.
Ask them if they’d prefer you start inside or outside or if there’s any baby’s sleeping.
If a door is closed, I usually ask if it’s okay to go into that room.
That’s all I can think of off the top of my head. Anybody else have any thoughts?
