I’m new here as you can tell, work-wise I’m currently in house cleaning in Burlington, ON, and looking to switch to windows so I’m really quite green.
Is Canada Cleaning Supplies pretty much “it” up here in Canada as far as dedicated window cleaning suppliers go?
I compared a wishlist of “exact same” stuff between WCR and CCS and the totals, even after figuring exchange, was pretty much spot on ($253 vs $246) but the shipping and (guessing 15%+) duty made the WCR total skyrocket to about $380. So it really doesn’t make sense to order over the border in spite of equal per-item price.
I’m therefore looking for a potential Canadian supplier and, so far aside from CCS, I’m finding it basically a large empty wasteland, besides small retail places or “janitorial” stores with overpriced window cleaning side lines. Example: local janitorial supplier has the Pulex BOAB for $48 (!!) vs CCS: $25, WCR: $23 (CND).
So although I’m impressed with CSS, I’m curious if I’m missing other potential Canadian sources.
Thanks for any help you can shoot in my direction.
Seriously? Wow! I was rather bummed about the extra costs because I think you guys have an awesome selection and I wanted to support you but I can understand that the shipping and duties are rather outside of your control.
Neathouse,
An option to alleviate some of the cost is to become a member of the AUWC- the WCR gives free shipping to members.
Chris is giving you a great opportunity to buy from them. I consider Joe at Canada cleaning to be a personal friend and there is a long history there with his father and mine so I am not likely to become a big customer here BUT Chris and Alex have a great store set up and it IS tempting…
Give me a call if you like with any questions you may have while getting started. I am in the GTA, primarily East and North.
I’ve emailed Chris and am looking forward to see what he recommends; my list was rather a hodge-podge of what I [I]think[/I] I could use as a starter. And I picked the items on it somewhat to compare what the totals would be between CCS and WCR - as noted, product cost was within $7 after exchange. This tells me CCS is also fair in their prices, where other suppliers may take the opportunity, being few in numbers up here, to jack up their prices.
I’m quite impressed in both directions. Which makes the choice difficult! If one of them were mediocre, it would be easy.
Can I ask other Canucks who’ve ordered from WCR what they’ve found the duty/border fees to be like?
Well, Chris has set me up with a great package that even beats the cost of my (half-assed) attempt at putting a good kit together and includes a couple of items I wouldn’t have know to add:
I can nab a pole and other minor bits and bobs locally.
I am very impressed with the service so far, I’m quite blown over by what the guys at WCR are open to doing to get this order set up.
Now THIS is how you get dedicated customers.
Thanks Chris and the WCR team. You guys seriously do rock. Or roll. Very likely both.
Now I just need to wait in eager anticipation like a kid at Christmas for the package to show up. Then practice, practice, practice. While keeping in mind the goal is to work ON the business…
Now I still have a million n00b question and likely five or six sensible ones as I start off this venture but at least the question of where to buy stuff has been solved.
