I have a job tomorrow and it’s supposed to be nice (61 degrees, sunny, little cloudy) but forecast says showers in the evening. Should I go ahead and clean even though I’m pretty sure it’ll rain? Do windows usually “spot” when it rains within a few days after you’ve cleaned?
yes clean them then give them a rain guarantee, mine is 3 days
H*ll yes. There is a lot of info in the forums about this subject, you need to take some time to do a search and educate yourself about this. You will become more confident about how to discuss this with your customer and lower your own stress level.
Rain water contains no impurities, so no spotting will occur.
If the rain loosens dirt and debris from the structure that runs onto clean glass, there may be spotting issues.
Typically, those windows under sufficient overhangs present no problem, unless windy conditions exist.
Offer a rain guarantee. Besides rain water is pure and it will not spot windows. So if spotting occurs its most likely that water traveled down the wall carrying dirt to the window leaving it with streaks n spots. Light showers won’t do harm to the windows.
Hey Premier,
All of my clients know that it’s going to rain… sometime. I have only been called back once because I missed a window not because it rained on some skylights. Where are you located?
I don’t remember where I read or heard it explained this way, but this is what I tell a customer when they are worried about the rain. Its not the rain that gets the windows dirty, the rain moves around dirt that is already on the windows, making it look like the rain made the windows dirty. Once we clean the dirt off, the rain won’t be a problem, if it is we will come back and touch up anything affected by the rain.
Appreciate your guys’ feedback. I went ahead and cleaned the windows but didn’t offer a gaurantee or anything…oops. It drizzled this afternoon a little but most, if not all, of the windows are protected by eves and stuff. I’m in Southeast Idaho BTW, lots of wind.
where are you at? I am in southeast idaho
I only don’t go out when the forecast calls for 50% rain that day. Anything less then the % is on my side if I was a betting man. Most customers are cool with it. Some of my seniors get freaked and won’t let me come out but then they get moved to a later date. If it rains the night I cleaned then that’s not my fault. I can’t control the weather. And it has to rain sometime. I explain to the customers that day if it rains that night then most likely their windows will be fine. If there is a major issue, call me and I’ll come back and clean up the spot, streaks etc. They never call so I persume all is good and those same customers are repeats the next year.
My rain guarantee has always been - I guarantee it will rain sometime after I clean the windows. If it’s lightning, heavy rain, or high wind w/ the rain I reschedule. Otherwise I show up and do the job.
Unfortunately, rain, wind, structure debris and exposed glass almost always go together.
+1…I did a house last week. It rained the next 3 days. Customer knew of the rain guarantee, because she almost cancelled the appointment until I told her about it. I told her to call me on the first sunny day if there were problems. She never called.
I’ve had my rain guarantee in place for one year now, and haven’t been called back once. I even did the outside of a large home in the morning and it snowed in the afternoon while I was doing the insides. It snowed about 8 inches before I left, and the snow was piled up against the windows. They didn’t call me back either.
Are you sure? I’ve tested rain water and found it to have a TDS of 6 ppm. This is, of course, below the 10 ppm that most window cleaners consider the threshhold of pure water cleaning. I know a TDS of 6 shouldn’t spot windows. But still, if it has a TDS of anything over 0, there are impurities.
I spoke too soon. XD
They called last night. There were “just a few windows” that were spotted after the rain. I’m returning in a few days to take care of those windows, as promised.
I’ve kept about 2 dozen appointments because of the rain guarantee, so I still have no regrets.
And, after I gave no hesitation in scheduling a return visit to touch up the windows, the client said “Great. And, I’m going to want you to call me in August.” So, 24 appointments kept, one return visit, which results in a repeat client.
I’d say the 3 day rain guarantee is working in my favor.
I’ve had a one day guarantee for about 3 years now, with no call backs, this year I decided to up to a 3 day guarantee
The main reason for the rain guarantee is to help from killing your schedule when rain is supposed to be coming. It’s to help your customers trust that the rain will not destroy their investment in clean windows they just purchased. IF, and that’s a big IF, the rain does compromise their windows, they have a 3 day rain guarantee to back it up, so they go ahead and let you clean the windows if it’s going to rain anyway. I have a 3 day rain guarantee. We just had a rain storm for the past 4 days off and on. I didn’t have to touch up any windows.
