Tap water to wash windows?

I really dont think it matters how someone else gets a window clean, end result should be the same as how you clean the window.

What I was trippin’ on was how the homeowner showed you the invoice. If she was happy with Mr.Tap, why go looking for someone else? Price shopper for sure. So why even sweat it? Fish used to really burn me up too, because I felt they were too cheap and caused me to lose business. (not saying this about you, this is me) When I stopped trippin on Fish, and concentrated on how the public see’s me and my company, I ended up seeing the difference in customer.
One of my oldest customers, who forgets how much I charge every time I do her house- asked me before I started, “how much is it again?” I told her 400 for the outsides. Its a 2800 square foot house, regular double hung. She tells me that so-and-so left a black and white flier on her door with a quote of 150.00. So I told her, “thats a GREAT deal!, you may want to give it a shot. Make sure he’s got insurance tho, and workmans comp. cuz if he gets hurt and falls off a ladder, there could be trouble.”

So, I still do the work there of course. Dude, if they pull that so-and-so does it for this much, just tell them to go for it if after you gave it your best shot they pulled that on ya.

If they dont see that you are the better choice, then let them pay less.

i say the same thing… i cant compete with with $10 per 12/12 with storms… i dont think anyone can and make enough money to stay in business.
im really not worried about it just every time mike calls, emails or texts me he tells me how great mr tap is compared to me and my service bc i dont scrape every pane… we will and have used steel wool but with so many repeat customers our use of it has diminished bc of teaching people how to protect their windows from screen burn.
im really not trying to dog mike or his opinion… if he thinks im a lousy window cleaner he is entitled to that opinion. this wasnt a thread about who is the better window cleaner. it is supposed to be, is a window actually clean without using any soap or solution? would you consider someone who doesnt use any solution or soap a professional window cleaner?
if the answer is yes bc he uses a razor blade and steel wool, i disagree.
like i said at the beginning of the thread its a friendly passionate disagreement.

haha, yeah I hear ya. There are some old timers out there that have been cleaning windows since they invented the wheel, and the methods they use work and work well. So, I dont know man. I dont think I could form an opinion unless I seen it at work and the results.

I know that if I dont have soap in my water my squeegee will jump all over the glass, even if there is not enough soap. So, just because I cant do it, dont mean someone else can. What defines professional? I dont really know. If I compare myself to some guy who says he is a window cleaner, and all he’s got is a squeegee stolen from the gas station, and looks like a bum…I think I would say I am the professional.

But, if I compare myself to a high rise guy and compare myself in every aspect, I would have to say he was the more professional. He uses better tools, is up on all things OSHA and knows how to pull permits etc…

I dont know man. If I HAD to call it, I’m gonna go and say that yeah, if he can get the job done, and done well, then yeah…he’s a professional. Why not?

Aint tryin’ to **** ya off man.:stuck_out_tongue:

You are misquoting me Nick. I referred him 4 jobs and stopped because he does not clean at my level. I got complaints from 2 customers and that made me look bad.

Thanks Salvatore, Now I know why people do not talk about their competition. What Nick and Bob choose to use to clean a window is up to them. I think I will step aside and mind my own business. I am friends with Bob and it looks like this thread is going to ruin any chance of a friendship with Nick. I use to love a good argument. Live and let live is my new moto.
I got drawn into this argument and regret it.

I dont think so. He sounds cool (typing dont really tell too much), we all get bent outta shape for one reason or the other. I think he was just looking to see if anyone felt the same way to win the friendly arguement/discussion.

Glass is porous

Nice, Tory, well played :slight_smile:

mike, gfy…
just kidding :slight_smile:
its a debate, a discussion to bring to the forum… im not mad about anything.
when we talk about window cleaning and the business end of things i am perfectly straight up with you… even if it means i am talking myself out of taking the 12/12 jobs you dont want. i have even given you a heads up about what is going to happen in our area next year to protect yourself and your clients
i dont have any bad feelings towards you… this thread was in response to our last few correspondences. we have a friendly relationship and want it to continue.
we are both entitled to our opinions. we both have formed our opinions based on the information we have gathered on mr tap. you listen to what he says which can work in his favor bc anyone can say anything they want… and i have gathered my info from people who i have done estimates for and who have used him in the past… also 2 guys who worked for me that worked with him on a job and told me about a day in the life of tap water window cleaning :slight_smile:
as far as your opinion of me and how you judge how my work is without seeing or hearing from one of my clients who i did work for and hearing negative things… you have never said that has happened once… and guess what… it never will

Tap water contains minerals that will crystallize on your glass after the water dries. Over time these minerals reduce the clarity of your window glass.

Spotting may be less if using soft water as opposed to hard water, but we all know “professional” window cleaners do not use straight tap water to clean windows.

So, Nick, as requested, my answer is, the debate is stupid. Your smart enough to know not to use just tap water to try to clean glass. Thats why your a professional, you know better!

:slight_smile: thanks for the back up linda

Thanks Kevin.:wink:

Hey Nick,
I think you should talk with Linda and Bill about how they train their help to use razor blades safely. My only beef with your method of cleaning is that you will not use a razor blade. I don’t know how you can do GREAT work without one. :smiley:

I am sure your customers are all happy. That’s why I have referred you twice so far.

Even if the tap water is squeegeed off immediately after applying and scrubbing?

Wouldn’t the same then occur with my tap water-based GG4 solution?

BTW, I haven’t for a minute believed this thread was about tap water…

what do you think the thread is really about?

i will not scrape every pane of glass like its a construction cleaning job like you, no. i have however been using a 6" triumph scraper to remove excess paint and over spray especially lately bc of all the bucket bum painters roaming around :slight_smile: but thats for a thread on a painting forum…

on a different note going back to you and i not being able to be friendly after this post… that would only happen if you run back to mr tap water and told him i was talking s about him. i have left his name out, his company name etc… if that gets back to him then we have a problem… bc this thread was really only about how clean can a window actually be when cleaned with only tap water… and would you consider someone who does that a professional window cleaner? i guess i threw the pricing scenario in there bc it irks me but thats not really what the thread is all about.

here’s a scenario; if you wipe your wood floors down in your house with water are they clean afterwards? would you consider a cleaning company who “cleaned” your floors that way a professional house/floor cleaner?

Nick has talked to us about how we use razor blades safely among may other things. Actually, we talk pretty much daily.

You don’t really believe the scenarios are equivalent, do you?

My guess…This thread is probably about low balling, fly by night, bucket bumbs, who call themselves professional window cleaners while they ruin the market for all the REAL window cleaners with nothing but tap water in their bucket. That’s my guess. What do you think Larry?

No Larry, probably not. However, I don’t know that this guy is even using a sgueegee. If he is not than all he is doing is rubbing the tap water around on the glass. And if that is the case than he’s also creating a static chrge on the glass which will therefore attract dirt faster than if the window had been properly cleaned. Anywhoo. I’m not going to argue about it, because it’s a stupid argument as far as I’m concerned.