[alansavvi]

I am sorry to say this, but Windex was disappointing! Is that all the suppliers our industry have. None of them had anything new and revolutionary to offer, and the ones that were there in my opinion did not try hard with there stands. I don't know if carpet cleaning is a bigger industry, but there were far more stands for them than for us!

Our industry is obviously going through changes, lets face it there is a war of opinion on. With the old Fed and the new Fed, whos who I don't know. It was the same old expensive suppliers none of them contributing new ideas.

A side point, I asked ionics for a quote on a static tank and thermo pure system in the van. £10,000!!!!!!!!! What idoit would pay thise prices for a large pure water kettle!

Well i am going to go to the next trade show in the states to see whats happening there.

But there is one comfort, Windex showed me that there is plenty of room for inivation in our industry along with perhaps new suppliers, new personalities that can drive our industry forward.

Heres hoping!

[alansavvi]

Are any of you happy with Windex?

[Ian_Giles]

I also went to the trade show, I kind of knew what to expect so I wasn't that disappointed.
But I was hoping to come away with some gear, and on that side it was really crap.

Of course it is incredibly expensive for suppliers to have stands there, but I was more than a little surprised that the likes of Ettore didn't go there with stuff to sell to us punters.
I wanted to try out a wagtail, I wanted to buy a backflip, I would have liked to have bought a brush, and so on.
But I just enjoyed the event, it was a day out, a long old drive down to London, queueing all the way around the M25.
If my week had been a poor one workwise I wouldn't have bothered, but I had a blinder so I didn't mind going along.
Was not much there for us window cleaners though.
I went to one down at Leicester a couple of years back when I first got my WFP, and that was really good, all of the other suppliers were also there and you could buy no end of stuff.
You could also try out all of the WFP's on the hotel windows, it was a first rate trade show.
Haven't been to one that got close to it since though

Ian

[Moderator David@stives]

I would like to thank Wavie Davie, Paul,Smith,Andy Cheney,Frazer venters,justin Ruggles,Frazer venters,All the guys at window cleaning warehouse,Andrew Mullen,Neil williams,Glyn howard and all the guys at omni, mike boxhall,Carl and julie ,craig mawlem,reuben reynaulds,steve lowe,bryan dolby,andrew lee,beryl,karlosdaze,the carpet and pest guys,len gribble,ian lancaster and every one else who i have forgot, for making my time at windex a pleasure to be there and meet you all, you were all brill.

I just posted this on the other forum ,

what i would add is it was great to see all the suppliers equipment side by side.
I came away with a free t shirt from ettorre a free bucket and mag from the fed.
The deal of the day was my purchase from window cleaning warehouse, which was a free microfibre cloth, I bought from them a quality metal hose reel with fittings 100 metres of microbore and 20 scrim clothes, and they threw in 2 t shirts all bought for £100 a bargain or what. those guys go out of their way to please.

I had a fantastic time but i never met anyone from this forum which is a bit strange.


dave

[warren flynn]

i thought windex was a bit of a let down as well.

the ettore stand was not worth visiting, unger was ok but busy and the staff were very uninterested in doing any kind of deals for scrims etc. even for hard cash.

omnipole were making an effort to talk to people and some of the seminars were quite interesting.

an good group of stands were the hygine stands on the other side of the hall. i'm still trucking on traditional at the moment and the bird flu infection is a bit of a worry. there are some great hand wash products which kill every kind of virus. easy to apply and quite cheap.

overall ok, not sure i would miss a days work again for it though.

shine on!

[DASERVICES]

  I've just got back, had a good time meeting up with a few lads. Was
  disappointed with the seminars, in my opinion was more of a sales
  pitch and not the ins and outs of WFP.

  Disappointed with the new Unger pole, all I could hear from the stand was
  the American chap going on about 2 brothers who own the company.

  Nice blokes from the Window cleaning warehouse, bit disappointed with
  Unger. Concept guys looked like the mafia 

  Was speaking to the Tucker guy and who was trying to sell us a pole,
  when I asked how come you could buy Tucker poles for £400 in Canada
  conversation went dead. We are definately being ripped off over here.

  Would have loved to see the other dealers there, very small section on windows.

  Overall bit disappointed, but free weekend, tax man is paying 

  Doug

[chris@c.m.s]

I was dissapointed by it all as well was really expecting to meet a few others from here and was expecting a lot more stalls on the window cleaning side, in all I spent about 1 1/2 hours at windex and thats going round twice and sitting in one of the seminars, spent the rest of the time wallking about and sightseeing London,  highlights was feeling the differance between carbon poles and fibre glass ones  I was impressed with the unger pole, but then what would I know as I'm still traditional :  the other highlight was the crumpet in london my son and I were shocked compared to what we have down our way theres no wonder were both single anyone have a round for sale up there ?

[bennymon]

hi folks im just about to start up so i went along to windex i was dissapointed because i was hoping to see things like trolleys and back packs and find out exactly how they work/ thought the carpet cleaning side of things was good

[Terry_Burrows]

There is no doubt that Nec is the place but this is every other year,I think Excel will get bigger and better in time,may be they should have held it,friday and saturday,or sat sunday
be interesting what all you guys and girls think

[www.mrgutters.co.uk]

yeah i was dissapointed withit was expecting alot more from it , thought some of the smaller companies would be there like freedom , essentualy pure , gardiner etc , they would give the big guys a bit of competition since there gear is all reasonable prices.

shawn

[Alex Gardiner]

Hi Shawn,

we would of loved to exhibited but my wife was giving birth on Thurday night, so we kind of thought we would give it a miss this time!! You never know we might hold our own 'windex' down here in a few months as we have a lot of new products in the pipeline and it would give everyone a chance to get some hands with them, can't say any more at present but watch  this space.

Alex

[D woods]

Hi Shawn
The smaller companies that sell the equipment for low prices dont make enough
profit to pay the fees to advertise at the trade shows.

I was impressed with the show, the only down point for me was they did not
have a bar in the hall, like they do at the NEC .

[Paul Coleman]

I would like to thank Wavie Davie, Paul,Smith,Andy Cheney,Frazer venters,justin Ruggles,Frazer venters,All the guys at window cleaning warehouse,Andrew Mullen,Neil williams,Glyn howard and all the guys at omni, mike boxhall,Carl and julie ,craig mawlem,reuben reynaulds,steve lowe,bryan dolby,andrew lee,beryl,karlosdaze,the carpet and pest guys,len gribble,ian lancaster and every one else who i have forgot, for making my time at windex a pleasure to be there and meet you all, you were all brill.

I just posted this on the other forum ,

what i would add is it was great to see all the suppliers equipment side by side.
I came away with a free t shirt from ettorre a free bucket and mag from the fed.
The deal of the day was my purchase from window cleaning warehouse, which was a free microfibre cloth, I bought from them a quality metal hose reel with fittings 100 metres of microbore and 20 scrim clothes, and they threw in 2 t shirts all bought for £100 a bargain or what. those guys go out of their way to please.

I had a fantastic time but i never met anyone from this forum which is a bit strange.


dave

Hi David.
I wasn't sure but I thought I noticed you on Thursday (from your photograph).  You were sitting down having a conversation at the time.  If you had been on your own, I would have checked it out (but it may not have been you anyway).  Apart from that, Justin reckons I was stalking him  and I didn't want two people saying that or it might have sounded believable.

[Londoner]

Window Cleaning as a "Trade" is only in the eary days. Most of the suppliers are small and fairly new to the scene. You have to give things time to grow a bit

The big question that I was wondering last year ( I didn't go this year) was how many window cleaners switched to carpet cleaning as a result of visiting the show.

[alansavvi]

Window Cleaning as a "Trade" is only in the eary days. Most of the suppliers are small and fairly new to the scene. You have to give things time to grow a bit

Sorry, only in the early days, don,t you mean wfp is only in the early days?

What is interesting is that most of the exhibitors were wfp manufactorers. Thats because there is only so much money in buckets and scrims. What came out of the show is that they are all too expensive and there is a lot of room for newcomers. Sad that we don't have more of a presence from someone or something that can lead the industry.

I sat and listened to a talk from someone from the fed on method, risk statements. It was rubbish, for amuteuers. I have resisited joining any federation. association because i have not been convinced that they can actually do anything.

So windex was useful in one area, we are a deeply underepersented, fractious, well fleeced trade. Please someone step up to the plate, take the reins, lead us to greener pastures!

[alansavvi]

Window Cleaning as a "Trade" is only in the eary days. Most of the suppliers are small and fairly new to the scene. You have to give things time to grow a bit

The big question that I was wondering last year ( I didn't go this year) was how many window cleaners switched to carpet cleaning as a result of visiting the show.

Sorry, only in the early days, don,t you mean wfp is only in the early days?

What is interesting is that most of the exhibitors were wfp manufactorers. Thats because there is only so much money in buckets and scrims. What came out of the show is that they are all too expensive and there is a lot of room for newcomers. Sad that we don't have more of a presence from someone or something that can lead the industry.

I sat and listened to a talk from someone from the fed on method, risk statements. It was rubbish, for amuteuers. I have resisited joining any federation. association because i have not been convinced that they can actually do anything.

So windex was useful in one area, we are a deeply underepersented, fractious, well fleeced trade. Please someone step up to the plate, take the reins, lead us to greener pastures!

[Londoner]

Its not just to do with WFPs. The idea of window cleaners in any way presenting themselves as  a trade is a fairly new concept.
The main driving force has been the internet and forums like this that have got people talking to each other.
But trade shows are about money so at the end of the day you are right, how much money is there in selling a few rubbers and scrims?

[Philip Hanson]

I enjoyed Windex, but then I was exhibiting and spent all of both days discussing industry issues with other window cleaners.

I also met up with old friends I hadn't seen in ages.  (And of course, I got to meet you Alan, Caustic Soda, so that on its own made it worthwhile!)

BUT I think Alan has an interesting point; why weren't there more exhibitors for window cleaners?  The answer is simple : Cost.

Although Windex is a well organised and professionally run event, it is rather expensive to exhibit.  It costs £215 per square metre, meaning that even a very small stand is expensive.  Now, I'm quite fortunate in that magazines are small and don't need much space to display.  For suppliers with bigger stuff they need a bigger area.

Add to that the other expenses involved like hotels, travelling, exhibition equipment (you'd be amazed how expensive that is) and so on, and it gets more expensive.

For most suppliers, recovering their costs is very more important, and that's difficult to do when your average sale is only about £30.  Having said that, Window Cleaning Warehouse were there supporting the event.

To make the exhibition a good, full day, there are seminars.  In 2004, these were really good.  This year, some were very good (eg Justin's) but others were, to be blunt, under par.  They also were not as well organised as 2004.  I was annoyed that the IRATA chairman never turned up to give hit seminar about rope access- abseiling is becomming a major thing for window cleaners here.  It was quite embarrasing that the Fed- who were in charge of the seminars- didn't have a contingency for that.

-Philip

[Londoner]

I would have liked to have seen Justin's seminar. I liked Justins posts when he was on the forum and its a shame we don't hear from him anymore.
For those of you who don't remember he was about the first person I had ever come across using a WFP for domestic work, a real pioneer and it was he who opened a lot of peoples eyes to the possibilities of WFP.

[Paul Coleman]

I would have liked to have seen Justin's seminar. I liked Justins posts when he was on the forum and its a shame we don't hear from him anymore.
For those of you who don't remember he was about the first person I had ever come across using a WFP for domestic work, a real pioneer and it was he who opened a lot of peoples eyes to the possibilities of WFP.

I thought he still posted here.
Maybe I'm getting mixed up.  I use another forum as well and post on both.  It can be hard to recall who is on which forum sometimes.
I enjoyed his seminar too.

[Moderator David@stives]

I saw 2 seminars one was justins which was very entertaining the other one was ,what a facility manager expexts to see in a tender, that one was not very good.

[Ian_Giles]

I too saw David@St-Ives, I spotted his name tag but as he was in deep conversation at the time I didn't intrude
By the time I had walked aroud a stand or two he had gone
Now if I could have persuaded my Japanese-Geordie fellow moderator to come along for company I am sure we might have been spotted
Tosh does kind of stand out!
I watched Brian Dolby giving his seminar, but he seemed so fed orientated, if you wern't part of it, he didn't seem that interested in helping you out, and he refused to answer a couple of questions too...wasn't that impressed.

Wish I'd been early enough to catch Justin's one though

Ian

[sair]

hi shawn

kind comments couldnt get there was planning to go friday yet hospital appointment came up for little one , was well gutted looking forward to seeing people and where the industry is headed with new ideas . would have like to see the pro 7 and new face lift poles

but its been great to follow along with every ones comments on the forums .

cost is a big thing for the smaller suppliers many i should start saving for next time! it may take a while .

[Justin Ruggles]

I would have liked to have seen Justin's seminar. I liked Justins posts when he was on the forum and its a shame we don't hear from him anymore.
For those of you who don't remember he was about the first person I had ever come across using a WFP for domestic work, a real pioneer and it was he who opened a lot of peoples eyes to the possibilities of WFP.

Many thanks for the Kind Words, thou I dont post on here I do tend to come on daily to have a read. I am usally found on the other forum.

I might upload the seminar I held onto the Internet (pretty easy to do) so others can atleast get a idea of what I talked about, there is 45 Slides and approx 60 pictures plus. Some might help you some might not.

Overall I found Windex to be great, its more about networking than anything, having a chat and getting involded with others and picking up ideas off others. I made the mistake in 2004 of not doing that and leaving after 2hrs and thinking what a waste of time, this time round I made the most of it over the 2 days gettting to know people and cherry picking some great ideas to make my business alot better.

Many Thanks

Justin

[sunshine windows]

Spent longer on the public transport than i did at the exhibition. 1hr 15mins by train, about another 1hr by underground then a short trip on the light railway. By the time i arrived it was nearly time to turn around and come home again.

Had a quick wander round the hall, but like many others have said, it was more carpet cleaning orientated. Tried getting my head round the corner of a seminar but it was heaving. I think it was the risk assessment one.

Decided to head to the bar and try and locate a few of you guys for a chat about the business. Ended up sitting with 4 very nice blokes from Dover. Had a quick pint then grabbed something to eat and away i went for home.

All in all, a bit of a disappointment. Should have booked in to a hotel and had a 2 day visit. Wouldn't have been such a rush then. As it goes the only lesson i've learnt is that reliable public transport is as hard to come by as a reliable window cleaner. I think 3 of the trains i were on stopped for various reasons of some discription.

Worth a day off and a bit of a jolly anyhow,
Sunshine

[spotless2000]

Justin Ruggles

I would certainly appreciate it if you could upload your seminar.

I wasn't able to attend Windex due to my wife's illness.

Attending the seminars was my main reason for initially planning to go.

Best laid plans and all that.....

Cheers

Steve

[WavieDavie]

Disappointed with Windex

Well, you can see most of the goods on the manufacturers/distributers' websites - apart from maybe the really up-to-the-minute brand-new stuff. There are only so many suppliers to go round and as has been pointed out - it's bloody dear to get yourself space at something like that, so most of the smaller ones don't bother. I saw Darrell Chalkley from the WindowClean Centre there as a visitor but chatting to other suppliers.

To be brutal, if you're in a hurry you can go round all the window cleaning stands in under an hour, so what's the draw? The seminars and the craic! A couple of the seminars exceeded expectations, some were OK, and then there were the other ones. If it wasn't for the seminars I wouldn't have travelled from Scotland.

Depending on the standard of recently announced training courses, actualy going to listen to the contents of the seminars might be made redundant, so that just leaves the craic! Where could you find so many like-minded folk in the same place at the same time? Nobody can say they didn't feel the buzz, surely? There's only about three window cleaners I talk to in my town - the others are always in the chemist, buying plasters for their grazed knuckles after dragging them along the pavement.

At the last one, I only met Andy Cheney and Mike Boxall - this time, I met a whole stack of folk from the boards. Some of whom were very large on largesse if you know what I mean. OK, I had a bit of a sore head on Friday morning, but that was discounted by actually having a decent conversation about something you're enthusiastic about, with others who are of the same viewpoint.

Mike - Sorry, I didn't find out that you had a stand until afterwards or I would have popped in. I had a brief stroll round the non w/c bits between some of the talks but must have walked past you   

Anyway - I thought that overall it was worth going to, and as has been pointed out already, you can claim it back as an expense agaist the business.

Hope you kept all your receipts!

[DASERVICES]

Justin Ruggles,

Enjoyed your talk, one thing I picked up on you said that you did not have to
blade a flat conservatory roof. I've found that you have to do this as the water
does not all flow off so there is always residue left.

Trust my misses she always spots it, on your leaflet you spelt 'insure', she
pointed should be 'ensure'

Hope your success continues.

Doug

[Alex Gardiner]

Phillip you have made a good point about costs, most of us 'smaller' suppliers work on much tighter margins and therefore have less of the consumers cash in our pockets to spend on such exhibitions.

It would be cheaper for us to hire a local 50 room hotel as a venue supply free accomodation, food and drink for the day than it would be to exhibit at places like 'Windex'. We also wouldn't have to worry about the competition as we would only be promoting our range of products and services and could supply real world demostrations of systems and poles.

.....mmmm it's worth a thought.

Alex

[josephus]

i flew in from belfast with the wife.

we had a ball. i have to say that omnipole, who i didnt like before i got there got 15oo quid of my business. i love them now.

and i really mean this next bit, the guys from ionic didnt give a rats ass.

i told them about my banjaxed poles (only a year old) and the guy could not be bothered. he recommended chopping up my poles, and i was left to it.

alltogether i loved the day and the carpet cleaning section was great. i will be lookinf forward to my 60 foot pole any day now.

btw that big silver tank system for 5200 some mistake surely. mine was 1250. and the spec is the same more or less.

im now charged up and ready to kick ass back home.

josephus

[mark dew]

I would have liked to have seen Justin's seminar. I liked Justins posts when he was on the forum and its a shame we don't hear from him anymore.
For those of you who don't remember he was about the first person I had ever come across using a WFP for domestic work, a real pioneer and it was he who opened a lot of peoples eyes to the possibilities of WFP.

Many thanks for the Kind Words, thou I dont post on here I do tend to come on daily to have a read. I am usally found on the other forum.

I might upload the seminar I held onto the Internet (pretty easy to do) so others can atleast get a idea of what I talked about, there is 45 Slides and approx 60 pictures plus. Some might help you some might not.

I like reading your posts and would also appreciate accessing your seminar on the net.

nice1

mark

[Chris Cottrell]

Phillip you have made a good point about costs, most of us 'smaller' suppliers work on much tighter margins and therefore have less of the consumers cash in our pockets to spend on such exhibitions.

It would be cheaper for us to hire a local 50 room hotel as a venue supply free accomodation, food and drink for the day than it would be to exhibit at places like 'Windex'. We also wouldn't have to worry about the competition as we would only be promoting our range of products and services and could supply real world demostrations of systems and poles.

.....mmmm it's worth a thought.

Alex

Keep that thought in mind Alex I like the sound of that ........ I'll wait for an invite shall I

Chris

[Morph]

Phillip you have made a good point about costs, most of us 'smaller' suppliers work on much tighter margins and therefore have less of the consumers cash in our pockets to spend on such exhibitions.

It would be cheaper for us to hire a local 50 room hotel as a venue supply free accomodation, food and drink for the day than it would be to exhibit at places like 'Windex'. We also wouldn't have to worry about the competition as we would only be promoting our range of products and services and could supply real world demostrations of systems and poles.

.....mmmm it's worth a thought.

Alex

Keep that thought in mind Alex I like the sound of that ........ I'll wait for an invite shall I

Chris

Throw in free tickets to The Eden Project, I'm in!
You'd fill the hotel in a couple of days, with eco friendly window cleaners

[Alex Gardiner]

You seen the price of the eden project? it would be cheaper to give everyone a free pole!!!

ALex

[gaza]

SO WHY DONT YOU SMALL UNITS TALK TO EACH OTHER AND BOOK A SPACE FOR TWO DAYS AT THE NEC? UNDER THE TITLE "THE ALTERNATIVE" BRING A FEW THINGS TO SELL YOU MAY WELL BREAK EVEN ON THOSE SALES ALONE..
SOMETHING WAS MISSING AT WINDEX,IT WAS SOMETHING TO BUY.

 GAZA