Do you guys that use a wfp ever get a sore neck from looking up?
I did a job on Monday and my neck is just starting to feel better (5 days later – probably cause I poled for over 6 hours by myself with only a lunch break.
I know pricing varies greatly throughout the country, but I was curious what some of you would price the outside of this glass wall at? (I did the entire building (another 100 + office windows, but just a price for the part pictured is fine). There’s about 140 panes on the glass wall and I needed every foot of my 35’ carbon fiber pole to reach the top windows.
Thanks.
$400-450 approximate.
Yeah - I’d be happy with that price, too.
I might consider doing it for $375
As far as the sore neck thing - that’ll go away with some more work, and you’ll have a good, solid, football player/pole work window cleaner neck…
I’d be at about $425. I have my wife working w/ me so I can take a few breaks and have her rub my neck and shoulders so I keep from getting any bad cramps. I also swear by Excedrin Back and Body it’s great stuff.
Alot of it (price wise) depends on your location.For us out here in Cali it would be around 800 to 1000.00 easy,especially seeing it was that dirty to render 7 hours being there.
On the upside if they went on a regular frequency i would probably cut them a break and do it for 500 to 600.
Remember people NEVER discount your work just because your using pure water it still costs you to produce it plus… set-up time etc.
Of course for me i dont use carts,trolley’s etc. I’d rather pull hose bring the pole & hose to the glass;)
Due to the time I would say $1000 -1200
Hey guys, thanks for your responses so far. I guess I should have been clearer. The ENTIRE job/bldg took me about 7 hours to clean - and yes, this was the first cleaning that’s been done (other than a crappy const. clean up that some-else did) since the building was built about 1 year ago - so they were VERY dirty). The glass wall probably took me about 4 hours, but since they were so dirty, I would go across the top 6 inches or so of each row of windows and “pre-clean/scrub” them. Then I’d go back and clean the entire window without going quite all the way to the top of the frame - I did this cause the top rubber gaskets/seals were really dirty and I didn’t want to get run down drips. Also there were a few lower windows that had some pretty bad hard water stains that took me a bit longer (Safe-Restore took care of them like a champ!)
I bid on this job last spring (when they weren’t as dirty) and they finally took me up on the bid - there’s a lot of construction going on around them so it’s quite dusty, but I guess they had enough tenants complain that they couldn’t wait any longer.
I bid the glass wall @ $390 and the rest of the windows on the building @ $500 for a total of $890. I ended up making $1250 on the job since I did some hard water removal and construction debris removal on about 36 windows ($10 each).
Some of the higher windows still have construction debris on them, but I told them I’d need a lift to get if off - the owners are buying a 60’ lift and they told me I could use it next cleaning to get the remainder of the debris off the glass.
One reason I thought I may have bid it a bit low is because if I would have had to rent a lift (which is what I would have done if I didn’t have a wfp) that would have cost me about $400 and I feel it would have taken me just as long or longer to do. Sorry for the long post, but I hope this makes it clearer.
Man…sometimes I wonder why I’m so dumb in not registering my Nevada corp, so that I can work in cash-cow central, like Cali, etc.
I’d make $8,000 every week, as a one-man op.
Great, high prices, wow. That’s all I have to say…
Try standing further back for less neck pain. Rock the pole more than use the arms, let the weight of the pole do the work.
And for god’s sake, stop looking up!
I appreciate your advice - and you’re right. I’m not new to wfp’ing - I’ve had my pole(s) for over 3 years now and we use them pretty much everyday. Proper technique is very important – I just should have had someone else there to switch off with every so often. My muscles are used to using the pole, but I don’t normally have to look up for nearly 6 hours straight - and I did have to stand a little closer to the building that what I would have normally liked - but had to in order to reach the top floor.
Every so often I’d stretch my neck by looking all the way down, but it felt like my neck was going to spring it self back to looking up 
I’m just glad I had a carbon fiber pole for the job - I couldn’t imagine hoisting a fiberglass or Tucker pole for that long straight.
I often do 4hrs at a time on high stuff w/ my Tucker. If I didn’t take a few breaks and get a neck rub I’d be pretty crippled up.
I can relate to the sore neck! Of course thats all i have is a Tucker;) I guess you could call me or dub thee…“Sir Hoist Alot”
Jason,
Were you wearing a hat? I know it sounds funny, but whenever I wear a hat and WFP, I have to turn the hat around.
10 tears and I still get the odd twinge in my neck. You have to develop new muscles and a whole body regime basically llying on the floor and excercising, but mainly the upper body and shoulders. Try a light pair of dumbells and one paticular one for shoulders is standing up straight, an up and down lift until it starts to hurt.
Lie on your back on the bed with your head over the edge and look at the skirting,base of wall behind you, this will allow fluid into the joints of your neck.
Get an extension to your c/f pole or make one to allow you to stand further back as Karl suggested.
I would have cleaned all the glass paying attention to the top edges and then gone back for a second flash rinse. I do the same with french windows by working down but in horizontal rows. Ionics used to suggest 3 cleans on initial heavy dirt. But you can get it with 2. For heavy dirt I often now just use plenty of tap water with a gg3/4 mix then a follow on wash with pure water.
I originated the use of tapered conical section modular extreme light poles similar to http://www.emporiumpoles.co.uk/ which almost float on the air. Karlos has one of the initial ones in his hand in the pic on his profile.
Completed my 3 story mid rise yesterday. The guy I had with me would not listen. You know young guys think they are supermen. I told him time and time again. DANCE WITH THE POLE. TAKE A BREAK WHEN YOU GET TIRED. WATCH HOW YOUR NECK FEELS, TAKE A BREAK WHEN IT FEELS LIKE YOUR HEAD WILL FALL OFF.
End of day we are at my house drinking a beer. His neck cracks and he looks over at me. I tell him you will feel that in the morning. Sure enough he called this morning and told me he was going out to get a heating pad and ben gay lol.
Get a longer pole and stand further back to reduce neck strain and injury, sorry i can’t help you with your pricing.
Hi Jeff, good to see you over here
If you do a lot of wfp work, I’d also advise a warm up routine with your neck. The higher you go, the more neck muscles you use. I take breaks every half hour even with a light pole.
I totally agree with you on the warm up. It may sound funny to some but in the long run over the years you will eventually feel the pain. I actually started going to a chiropractor about 3 years ago and I am a different man. Hands, neck, feet and knees rarely give me any problems. Before I was going to him I was down and out for at least 3-7 days a month with knee issues. I know some think chiropractors are quacks but if you find the right one and put the time in you will feel great and those longs days don’t seem so long.
This is an extract I have copied for you guys, Taken from my beginners guide to wfp.
Fatigue and Stress
The use of a water fed poles all day long can lead to fatigue and stress, especially if the wrong type of pole/s are used, the size and weight of a pole plays a big part.
If you use a pole that is to big and heavy for all of your work, it may well lead to stress and injury, stress aloan can lead to accidents.
Speak to your supplier and let them know the type of accounts that you have and the work you intend to do, they will then guide you to the correct type of pole to use, there are many suppliers whom are them selfs window cleaners, its these guy’s who you need to speak to, as they will know exactly what your talking about, they also know its in there best interest to give you the best advice and help, a few of them frequent the window cleaning forums and one or two offer some excellent help and advice.
Ok so you have already been using the incorrect pole for some time and one or both of your arms feel like there about to drop off? also your neck aces.
so what can we do about it, first and most important of all, replace your pole for the correct one, check your stance especially when doing upstairs windows, standing to close to the building can lead to neck strain, I know I have done it myself, after checking for obstructions behind you,move back if possible, until you don’t need to strain your neck to see what your doing, try not to take the full weight of a vertical pole for to long without some sort of support.
On sunny days wear sunglasses, you’ll need them, I never wore sunglasses until I changed to water fed pole work, but now I do, it also helps to cut down on headaces.
If the muscles in your arms and/or neck aces? try these tips that I was given by a senior physiotherepist, and ones I now do everyday.
Arms
Lets say the muscles in your right arm are Acing? (the same method applies to both arms) place your right hand over your right shoulder and reach back as far as possible, now with the palm of your left hand, place it on your right elbow and push your elbow upwards, until you feel the strain on the muscle on the bottom of your arm, hold this posture for 10 seconds then release.
Now put your right arm straight out in front of you (Palm up) with your left hand, grip the fingers of your right hand and bend your fingers downwards, whilst at the same time gently push your elbow upwards then hold this posture for 10 seconds, now do the same for your left arm.
This has the effect of streching your muscles on the top and bottom of your arms, do this each morning before work and it will lessen the chances of injury, this can also be done at anytime of the day.
Neck
This is a quick one, but helps against strained muscles in the back of the neck.
Tuck your chin into your chest, clasp the fingers of both hands together and put your hands on the back of your head, gently pull your head forward , hold down your head for 10 seconds, you should now feel the muscles in the back of your neck beginning to stretch, this is good as it is loosening these muscles, again do this exercise each morning and/or anytime of the day.
The guide I wrote is to long to copy and post but if someone wants to do it, I’m more than happy for anyone to copy and paste it from the academy to here.
