I fell into screen repair this week. While doing a gutter cleaning job, the lower part of my ladder fell off (while I was on the roof). The client wasn’t sure if the holes in her screen were from that or not, so I offered to rescreen two screens at no cost. She then is paying for a third separate screen.
Looking for overall feedback on how these look compared to what’s considered normal and good quality.
Are the little bits of material along the edges between the frame and spline something to worry about with clients?
Where in the process do you find is best to offer screen repair (e.g during an estimate, while taking them off prior to cleaning, )?
Any tools of gadgets you’ve found to make the process easier? For example I picked up a tool called a screen mouse at HD and find it to be very ergonomic than a traditional spline tool.
Screen repair is a great add on for window cleaning. It’s an easy $100/hr add on. There’s a ton of tutorials on youtube. It looks like your pull tabs weren’t put all the way into the frame since the spline is coming out.
Get professional tools, they’re more heavy duty than what you can get at HD. But the bulk screen at HD is pretty cheap (get the 36 for regular windows and buy the 48 as needed). Learn to cut the material in such a way that you’re not wasting it.
Find a local company to supply you with the frame material and stock up on the most common color in your area (mine is beige), stock up on corners and pull tabs. If you have the stock, it makes it easy to make screens as needed.
Get a screen jig ($100 ordered from home depot website) which will help with keeping the frames straight. If you have a truck you can make a roll out table for doing screens. Mine would fit the little giant under the table. I used 2 pieces of angle to form a miter area where I could cut the frame.
My process is drape the screen onto the frame, spline the narrow ends (don’t pull it tight just let it lay there) and then do the long ends. This works for me but some people will just spline the whole thing in one go. If the frame hourglasses or twists then you’ve got it too tight.
Solar screens are great for privacy and to help keep heat out of the house. However, they’re a pain to work with. If you have a customer that has a window that faces east or west and they want to help keep their house cool solar screens are a great add on.
I charged about $25-30 for a regular screen. Reuse the frame and reuse the spline to keep it cheap. Completely new screen maybe $30-40. Screen doors $50-75 depending on how big a pain it would be (I hate doors). Solar screens start at $75 because the material is so expensive and it’s a pain to work with BUT the homeowner will be really happy that the room is so much cooler and private.
It’s a great add on. We had a quarterly window cleaning customer and one day she just wanted a bunch of screens rescreened. It added $1100 to her bill and she was happy.
@JaredAI Thank you for the detailed and comprehensive reply. It helped me see where I was going wrong with my process. Also appreciate the tip about installing the spline pieces separately.
Thank you also for the tips around solar screens (didn’t know these were an option) and pricing. The pricing feedback gives me a solid basis to know what to charge, as I was guessing the first time.
Appreciate this feedback as I wasn’t happy with how this turned out the first time.You’re right that the cuts need improvement. Do you find circle glass sells to businesses/individuals?
Their website indicates wholesale only when I looked at it.
