A big yes for sure.
We do use wfp for some jobs though.
In fact I want wfp to spread and spread. Our best jobs where the customers pay through the nose are those who now want the job done trad style having had their windows done with wfp and I'm not having a go at wfp as we do use it also.
There is now a niche in the market and it's there for trad window cleaners to exploit.
Last week an owner of a largish shop asked us if we'd be interested in doing his 14 large windows traditionally with a mop and squeegie not because the wfp person wasn't doing a good job, but because he prefered trad methods and his window cleaner was an adament wfp only window cleaner.
We also do the windows of a number of wealthy customers who do not want wfp and are prepared to pay for trad window cleaning. If it complies with the not so newish regs, then we earn good money.
WFP - I hope more and more coyboys try to earn a living from it because they will push the cost up of doing a decent job trad style which is what we done previously anyway.
I think that one draw back of WFP companies for the buyer is they promote 'make a quick buck' and 'buy our system' because 'it is so easy' and many people do buy. The reality is different but the WFP companies have made their money but the purchaser hasn't in many cases having tried the trade for many months or years.
Think about it and think about it seriously, WFP companies make money from sales. If every WFP buyer made money, how long would it be before there were no more windows to clean? It don't take much working out?
A while back I had a table that I wanted redoing that was maybe 50 years old. I found a Friday Ad bloke to strip off the varnish and do all the french polishing stuff by hand rather than take it to a company who did it all with acid dips and spray on varnish. I paid more but the Friday Ad bloke, he talked the walk. He was into his job, he spent time looking the table over, pointed out the places where the varnish would look good and the problem area's.
My point....
Sometimes just cleaning the windows is not enough. Sometimes it's how the job gets done that matters to the customer. Maybe in 25 years time WFP will be talked about in the same as trad style is now in some quarters, but today, in 2006, WFP is earning us money by doing the job trad style.
I must point out we do jobs with WFP also and especially larger commercial jobs. I am not knocking WFP as such, but rather I exploit it, whether trad of WFP, anyway I can. WFP does have it's drawbacks just as trad methods do also.