[howardcleaners]

what do most window cleaners do when raining a little bit and when you know it will rain later, as i carry on and get the jobs done but the other day a new account said she did not want her windows doing as it said it would rain later and other window cleaners she had in the past would not do windows unless dry all day ect.

[rosskesava]

I've got to know the fussy customers who either will not have their windows done if it's raining a bit (we don't work if it's pouring) or will not have their windows done if it looks like it will rain.

We fortunate in that we're not short of work and for the above customers we always explain that they will have to wait another 4 weeks untill we call again.

Business is business and to go back the next day or when ever means re arranging those customers due that day which makes things complex.

Some newish customers then cancel with us - which to my mind is fine because we then know where we stand but most are happy to wait the extra time.

If a particular day gets too full guess who we pass on to other window cleaners?

[ian davison]

You cant really blame customers for not wanting their windows cleaned in the rain.Rain brings muck down with it,would you like to pay for something that was about to be ruined? I always keep a few gutter cleaning jobs back and do them in the rain.


 

[replacement]

I work in all weather Rain Inculded (not heavy rain thou i dont want to get to wet). Not one customer has complained about it, its all about talking to your customers and explaining it correctly RAIN WATER is not dirty its the air thats dirty and when the heavy rain hits the brick work and brings down the crap.

I also offer a rain guarantee if rain spoils them within 24hrs ill go back and re-clean affected windows for FREE, within 24 hrs. This works great and i have never been called back or lost a customer cleaning in the rain, and allows me to carry on earning.

What happens if it rained all month and you never did any work what so every? Do you say to your bank manager i cant pay my morgarge this month due to rain so skip it and ill pay next month instead? Or it rained all month and you could not provide for you family ie put food on the table?

Any customer that says to me it might rain later i dont want them done becomes a x customer there and then.

Justin

[rosskesava]

If it don't rain today, it will rain tomorrow, or the day after or the day after that etc.

I can understand it though but if you think about it, cleaning the windows is to clean the muck off from the last month. If the customers says no because it's raining, they may as well wait forever because every time they have their windows cleaned, dirt will start to appear as soon as it's done one way or another.

Believe it or not, I have a window cleaner do my windows every month. I'm bug*ered if I'm going to actually do my own windows and I could not care less if it's raining or not. It gets the dirt off.

Having said that, I can understand completely the customer liking to look at shiny clean windows even if it's only for a day or two untill it rains.

Unfortunately, I need to make a living also. It's hard to balance one against the other but when push comes to shove, I have a family, mortgage, etc, so I have to make a profit.

Most customers aren't worried if it's raining but the only reason we don't work in heavy'ish rain is because the rungs of the ladder get slippery.

Cheers

Ross

[poleman]

WELL put Ross thats the way I look at it, as you know Rain & Window Cleaning is linked if I had a pound for ever time they said ITS GOING TO RAIN NOW WE HAVE HAD THEM DONE...I say well if it does rain then least you have had the months weather taken of

Andy

[Mikey Y]

rain is a pain for me, I have to book my appointments and if there is a sniff of rain then the customer will put me off till another time, there is so much construction work going on here in Spain that when it does, which is not often it brings down loads of dust and sand etc.

Mikey Y

[Duke]

rain or shine.....the contract states that we promise to clean them every calendar month (or two)....and that's what happens......obviously I don't work if it's hissing down, but other than that....absolutely.

[karlosdaze]

rain is a pain for me, I have to book my appointments and if there is a sniff of rain then the customer will put me off till another time, there is so much construction work going on here in Spain that when it does, which is not often it brings down loads of dust and sand etc.

Mikey Y

Just one cloud usually is enough

[Duke]

try and re train them......(some hope....lol)

[Mikey Y]

I cant really blame them as most jobs are quite big, and the rains is muchy most of the time, I wish i could just turn up and do the windows but I need access inside all my jobs and security is hot here.

Mikey Y

[Duke]

sounds like a pain...canvass some more/different jobs...when you get them...dump that one...

[rosskesava]

It rains in Spain?

Only been there a few times but it was wall to wall sunshine.

I bet though, it don't rain anywhere as much as good old home.

You lucky bu*ger.

[Mikey Y]

Yep. we do have some wet stuff, got 3 days of rain forcast, not happy, cant complain though, I think it last did rain for a day or two in December, we do need it though, last thing I want is a drought, i would end up buying bottles of water to get me by.

Mikey Y

[windows_chepstow]

There's no reason not to clean in the rain, if you want to.

Last year (my first year) of window cleaning I was a little hesitant of cleaning in the rain, for fear of losing precious customers.  Now I've got lots, they're not so precious and I get stuck in what-ever the weather (apart from high wind - or really heavy rain).  If you've bills to pay, the weather shouldn't regulate your income.

I can't remember the last day I've lost due to bad weather, and the last time I cleaned during a good, drizzly day I picked up two customers!  They hadn't been cleaned in months, and looked brilliant when I'd finished - even in the rain.

Rain doesn't make a window dirty!  Bird poo doesn't re-appear just because it's rained.

If a customer told me not to clean because it was raining - I'd drop them!  Most customers tend to sympathise with us being out in the rain, rather than complain.

I asked this very same question last year and one reply informed me that I needed 'balls' to get out there and do it.  Well this year I got them, and it's not been a problem at all!  If you think that the worst thing that can happen is you lose the account - and you can cope with that - get on and do it.

[Ian_Giles]

I agree with you Tosh,
Bad weather and I stop, but it has to be pretty manky to stop me.
If a customer tells me not to bother cos its going to rain later, then that becomes an ex customer.....I don't tel them they have become an ex customer, am to chicken for that I just don't bother going back there...........well, unless they are really really hot that is (hey, I'm a guy )
Heavy wind and rain is bad new though, judging when to clean and when not too can be an art, I did one just before Christmas that I should't have done, although it was dryish at the time, storm force gales and driving rain was forecast. The customer wasn't in so I carried on and left an invoice, they rang the following day (after a night of howling gales and rain ) and asked if perhaps my water was dirty
I half expected a call, I felt guilty cleaning them as I knew full well what would happen if the forecast was even half right.
I re-cleaned them without a second thought.
If they had been in when I first called I would not have re-done them as they would have dried perfectly, and the customer would also have noted that fact.
But they had been out, got back in the dark and woke to filthy windows and a bill in the letterbox.

Time to get back to work......before it rains

Ian

[pjulk]

I will work in light rain unless it's windy aswell then i won't.
Anything more than light rain i won't as the way i look at it is.
People keep saying the dirt comes off the brick work thats what makes the windows dirty when it rains.
If i wash my car and it rains i get spots and there's no brickwork there, So i would never tell the customer that the rain does not make there windows dirty, Because if it makes my car dirty im sure it could make the windows dirty.

So if the rain is hitting the windows i call it a day,

Paul

[rosskesava]

Today it was spitting with rain. Sometimes a bit heavier and sometimes not so heavy.

We did every job and no one complained.

[Duke]

Ya know....it's the attitude of the customer that needs adjusting. When they sign on, it's usually agreed that they get cleaned monthly/two monthly...whatever. We sell ourselves on reliability and good service. We can't help what the weather is doing. They get a month or so's crap cleaned from the windows...that's the deal. The end.

[Stuart Webster]

I don't believe in rain, just varying degrees of drizzel  

[Ian_Giles]

My Sister lives in Spain (Estapona, just South of Marbella) and every house has more bars on the windows than Pentonville prison How do you manage cleaning windows in Spain? or do you have to do them all from the inside?

And talking of rain out there, they tend to have a lot more of it in the winters now too, which comes as a shock to the villas systems! They don't have gutters on most of them and are not designed to cope with protracted periods of rainfall
My Brother in law has even fitted central heating to his villa

They are lucky in one other respect, they have their own Gurdia Civil officer as their gardner, a nifty thing to have for getting things like speeding tickets binned 

His wife is their housekeeper too

Ian

[Duke]

I'm not sure about there...but on my round, some of the houses have patio doors to the rear on the 1st floor with bars (crap design) but anyway...what I have to do with the pole is wiggle it in sideways, then clean as normal...same to get the brush out. A bit of a pain, but I cope. If it was my place I'd weld and cut and fit hinges. It would be nice if the head could swivel to the vertical for easier acces through the rungs...but hey-ho...they don't....I guess we just have to find a way....

[Duke]

having said that...I can turn the brush head around...but the angle changes and it's wrong to clean with...still, it's early days for WFP domestic in this country, I'm sure loads of innovative ideas are about to explode onto the scene...can't wait.
I also had a really productive thread on Foggie's site (sorry Peter) about my ally twistgrip pole slipping. I should have realised....but then I'm dumb....clean the pole sections...grit makes it slip...doh !

[karlosdaze]

My Sister lives in Spain (Estapona, just South of Marbella) and every house has more bars on the windows than Pentonville prison How do you manage cleaning windows in Spain? or do you have to do them all from the inside?

You can take them out (80% of the time), or you learn a method to squeegee in the gaps you have. Most wc jobs you get the inside as well.