I have a channel for so many different panes I have come across in my 7 years doing this. Why would a microfiber cloth give a result equivalent to proper squeegee technique?
Seeing a guy drying 2 sides of the glass for 2 straight pulls, then having to “touch up” middle parts of the glass afterwards? That doesn’t sound all too professional.
I have seen an alarming number of YouTube videos from professionals that claim to use techniques like this everyday. The point I’m making is if they use the same techniques anyone could learn what makes that window cleaner stand out as professional? Who needs a window cleaner that would clean windows the same way your maid could?
I understand every window is different, but to use those methods all day everyday hurts my eyes.
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… What makes a window cleaner stand out as a professional is how she speaks, how she dresses, how her vehicle looks, how she runs the business, how she relates to customers, how she treats the customer and their property and other things along these lines. Technique in getting the windows clean is ( to me) way down the list if it’s even on there. If windows can get as clean using just cloths as they can using a squeegee (assuming the cloths aren’t a dripping mess) then I don’t think it matters.
I understand using the cloth on very tiny panes… I use that method at times when they’re just too small for a squeegee.
I’m not trying to insult anyone’s techniques, all I’m wondering is why would you pay someone to come in and do a professional job with spray, a cloth and straight pulls?
My resi customers choose me because "I could never do that and have my windows come so clean"
Here’s a great example… My mom owned and ran a house cleaning business for years, she thought she could clean windows pretty good, and so did her customers. When I got into window cleaning and showed her how I was taught, she couldn’t believe it. I cleaned the windows on her porch (all glass panes and sliders) took me 20 minutes or so in and out. Now she recommends me to her customers and lets them know the benefits of having a real professional clean windows.
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I’m not sure where I’m going with this other than why would you want to look like the maid/housekeeping service?
That doesn’t make you stand out, yea a great vehicle and uniforms also differentiate your company. But when your company does it similar to their maid might have done in the past, why would they keep calling you back?
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business procedures/methods/marketing/techniques/standards
vary from region to region.
there are no maids in my region, we do have house cleaners but they dont clean windows with squeegies they use towels or microfiber. so straight pulls in my area do not give off an unprofessional image so this thread does not apply to the window cleaners in my region.
One of the biggest problems with the WC industry especially where i am is any one who picks up a squeegee pretty much thinks they are a professional window cleaner, lets look at it another way if you made a sex tape that would be defined as amateur porn, because your not a porn star.
So in the same sense a person with a squeegee without training is by definition also an amateur, in the same thought if i watch porn am i a porn star the answer is still no, so why is it different for window cleaners… the porn industry has better quality control than us lol.
Instructional videos can’t really tell you that you missed a spot, video/cameras will not pick up the contrast of the glass like our eyes can.
With no real industry standard you can have guys out there running there own show for 20 years who thing they are the bomb at cleaning windows,
i have seen many guys who had to be retaught 20 years of incorrect cleaning methods that were: Results not up to par, Took twice as long to get the job done( with many imperfections), Using 3-4 times the amount of dry scrims used due to leaving errors all over the glass and buffing them out.
All of these guys only straight pulled, when i was originally taught to clean windows i was taught to straight pull and i thought i was the bomb then, i worked for a guy that basically taught himself and he taught me. Blind leading the blind. When i landed a job a year later with a larger WC company i was told straight out by the supervisor" you won’t bed doing that sh@t here, we clean windows properly", after already cleaning windows for a year, it took me 6 months to have the techniques down pat well enough to keep up.
I couldn’t even imagine trying to straight pull doing rope work. Honestly i did not know the word fanning til i came to this forum, i just knew it as cleaning the window properly. I worked for a large company we were expected to get by with 1 detailing rag per day, i would have the same a detailing rag for 3-4 days, even now working for myself i use the same detailing rag for 3-4 days. It not that i’m cheap or don’t have others, its why grab a new 1 if the current 1 is still clean, my frame rag never touches the glass.
I call it like i see it, if it walks like a duck… its a duck
amateur, professional it would be nice if there was a way to distinguish, i’m not trying to offend people on here. Where i live i lose jobs every day to these guys who come out on facebook charging $50 to do a 3 bed room house in and out, go buy a cheap hardware store squeegee and offer professional window cleaning, and have to defend why my prices are 4-5 times higher.
[MENTION=24315]Steve076[/MENTION] that’s kinda where I was going with this… It’s hard being the guy that charges 2-3x more for the “same job” in the customers’ eyes.
They just don’t see glass the way a pro does. Just for ****s and giggles I went on thumbtack and posted my house as an example for a window cleaning job (the last 3 leads the site gave me I was told my prices were outrageous by prospective customers) so using my house as an example, 16 double hung 1/1 w/ exterior screens that go up and down at a 2 story home.
hmmmm…I guess I know what you were doing before you came and posted that? lol j/k
I hear everything you are saying and I hope you are doing things in your business that seperate you from those low ballers, everything from marketing, your brand/logo, tools you use, car you drive, way you dress, letter head and biz cards.
I hate to mention this but your website does not help your cause in why your prices are higher.
and please dont tell me that these two beautiful women on your website are porn stars? Services
Yea i know my web site is probably the worst on the site, i made it myself with the lame web design tool that came with my domain…
I am currently in the process of having a new site, new logo( not that i really had a1 b4) and all that built for me.
However my web site is currently on a page 5 of a google search. This isn’t generating any work for me currently, but i’m booked well in to mid January, 1 man show, 18 months in business in this area( moved to the area from 3000 miles away).
You have to market to your demographics where the area i live has huge retiree communities that don’t really get online, so i have newspaper adds that cater to that market.
Word of mouth is also a huge factor as soon as i start cleaning the glass its quite obvious that i know wtf i’m doing, i always get the comment" oh i see you’ve done this before"
But yea my new website will hopefully be ready before Christmas, this should i hope get me more commercial and high end jobs.
… Nothing wrong with straight pulls. Use what works. I too am mostly residential and use plenty of straight pulls and
sometimes use a whole lot of cloths. Nothing unprofessional about that at all. Technique is highly over rated.
Sometimes a straight pull is what is called for. Not everything is fanning. Some days it is almost like the squeegee has a mind of it’s own - who knows why it doesn’t work like it did yesterday! Good, clean results are what the customer wants and should get every time.
