Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Dave Willis on June 15, 2013, 06:41:08 am
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I know some window cleaners in my area who don't even carry them on the van. So, who does the customer turn to to clear their gutters or unblock the S bend?
Also don't give me that rubbish about gutter vacs clearing S bends (they can't) besides they can't be fully inspected from the ground either. What about conservatory roofs too - surely you don't scrub them from ground level?
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quite simple book the job in for a day you aint doing windys take em with you :P
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Why do I care who cleans out their gutters? Nasty business.
You can clean most conservatory roofs from the ground.
Ladders are not worth the hassle.
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I know some window cleaners in my area who don't even carry them on the van. So, who does the customer turn to to clear their gutters or unblock the S bend?
Also don't give me that rubbish about gutter vacs clearing S bends (they can't) besides they can't be fully inspected from the ground either. What about conservatory roofs too - surely you don't scrub them from ground level?
I don't do them any more, guttervac was a much lower hourly rate plus a bundle more hassle than cleaning windows.
I pass the customer on to two people (one ladder, one guttervac) I know in the area whom I would trust to clean my gutters out and who turn up when they say they will. Ditto for patio cleaning and all the other things that people on here seem mad keen to diversify into. I clean windows.
Conny roofs, short ladder for the ones that can't be reached from the floor.
Vin
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make sure you have ladders on/in your van!!
they do come in handy albeit only a few times a week.
id be stuck without em!! ;D ;D
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''So, who does the customer turn to to clear their gutters or unblock the S bend?''
I've no idea. I'm a window cleaner.
Who does the customer turn to, to lay their laminate flooring?
I found that customers would ask me to unblock the downpipe, which invariably had a tennis ball stuck at the top, but would never start the conversation with,
''How much would you charge to take the tennis ball out of the pipe?''
I never charged them anyway as it only took a few minutes, but now, as I don't carry ladders, I don't even get asked.
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Dave - sorry mate your wrong we clear s bends just fine thank you
Camera to inspect and for total 100% certainty we drop a squash ball down ( open shoe down pipes ) or run water off the water fed pole for 2 or 3 mins with the camera watching to see if it drains away.
As for conny roofs we have a small scaffold tower that gives enough height and a stable platform to work from but many can easily be down from the ground
Darran
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Dave - sorry mate your wrong we clear s bends just fine thank you
Camera to inspect and for total 100% certainty we drop a squash ball down ( open shoe down pipes ) or run water off the water fed pole for 2 or 3 mins with the camera watching to see if it drains away.
As for conny roofs we have a small scaffold tower that gives enough height and a stable platform to work from but many can easily be down from the ground
Darran
Like the squash ball tip never thought of that :)
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A w/c without a ladder is not a w/c. ;D
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+1
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This ladder no ladder lark is so over done .Move on. Its your life, who will care only you. So decide for yourself.
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Interesting - do you practice much to throw a squashball up and down the S bend or do you climb up a ladder?
I also use a guttervac and there is no way they can clear every S bend. I had one last week that I couldn't clear by hand without chopping the mud apart it was solid like stone. The nozzle simply can't go around the bends and will only reach the first bend.
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The point is I use ladders more and more lately. I just wonder how you guys who don't use them at all cope? Do you simply turn every tricky job away? I never clean conny roofs without one.
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Half them on here would not be in this game if they had to climb a ladder & clean windows & have not a clue how to use a blade & applicator.
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The point is I use ladders more and more lately. I just wonder how you guys who don't use them at all cope? Do you simply turn every tricky job away? I never clean conny roofs without one.
aye anything over 3 feet high & they get vertigo thats why they dont have ladders.if there was no wfp they'd be in another job.
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I'am a window cleaner but dont have ladders & I cant clean your inside windows because I dont know how to use a blade & applicator. ::)roll .
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Chancers I tell you chancers. >:(
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if there was no wfp they'd be in another job.
Yes, and if my Auntie had balls she'd be my Uncle. But she doesn't so it's a pointless argument. WFP exists. Get over it. Look on us with as much inverted snobbery as you like and we'll just keep smiling and earning our money with both feet on the ground.
Vin
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The person who cant use a blade and applicator doesn't exist
a monkey could do it.
Guys its window cleaning not rocket science.
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You can earn a living at window cleaning without climbing a ladder. I climbed ladders for years, I can work a squeegee as good as anyone (except perhaps Turbo himself).
Why would I bother carrying a ladder about nowadays? I don't need the hassle. All that'll happen is some one will ask you to climb it for not nearly enough money.
Customer:
'Oh could you clean out my gutters for me?'
Me:
'No. I can't.'
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heres where i keep my ladders, getting green and dirty down the side of my shed ;D ;D
i hate cleaning gutters
(http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z295/dune19670/003-16_zps67d71b9f.jpg) (http://s195.photobucket.com/user/dune19670/media/003-16_zps67d71b9f.jpg.html)
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I agree with vin wfp and gutter vacs exist some can use it some not I just because you can't do something does not mean other can not do it you get good and bad tradders good and bad WFP ers I choose not to use ladders on health and safety grounds ( their are other reasons but ill just upset the tradders ) Dave I've read many of your posts over the years and agree with a lot of your opinions but as far as I am aware you have only used lightweight gutter vacs so are missing out on what an omni vac can do. With regards to the squash ball I made a special reduced nozzle with the vac on the squash ball is held in place I place the ball and nozzle over the down pipe turn off the vac and hey presto ball is released down the pipe to hopefully emerge out the bottom if it does its all clear ;D
Over the last three years I have a variety of tools to probe dig and reach into places the standard gutter vac end can't
I use a solid 135 deg bend I know people use the silicone hose bends when I tried these the flex and will not dig into large blockages so clearing is more difficult
I see your point of view Dave but invest in some better equipment and you won't need ladders. Are you using Brodex Ali poles to do 5 storey windows ? I bet not the Brodex can do a job but is heavy hard to control and has a closed length of 7+ feet and would be difficult to fit into most vans - super lite extreme will nail 5,6 and 7 storey windows.
Best regards
Darran
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Smudger,
What do use use to clean gutters where the slates sit to far out and restrict access.
I have a narrow nozzle for this but it doesn't work very well.
Sorry for going of the subject.
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i've stopped doing gutter clearing also now, when asked i decline, i only clean with wfp i do however carry my ladders some days, mainly for gate hopping and onto a flat roof, they on needed on some conservatory roofs,
i do a large school and a few commercials where they are needed to do internal windows,
i wouldnt get rid of them because they are still used, but safely
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For these I use a 2 inch nozzle flattened out to finger width they a a little slower to clear than open gutters but many tight fitting gutters a slipped tiles and we push them back as we clear so a normal nozzle will still do the job
Darran
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if there was no wfp they'd be in another job.
Yes, and if my Auntie had balls she'd be my Uncle. But she doesn't so it's a pointless argument. WFP exists. Get over it. Look on us with as much inverted ;Dsnobbery as you like and we'll just keep smiling and earning our money with both feet on the ground.
Vin
iam wfp btw. ;D
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For these I use a 2 inch nozzle flattened out to finger width they a a little slower to clear than open gutters but many tight fitting gutters a slipped tiles and we push them back as we clear so a normal nozzle will still do the job
Darran
Many thanks Darran will try that.
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Darran, I used a 3000w vac the other day on a house that had problems with leaking gutters. They had S bends with a shallow S so that the pipe wasn't that far off horizontal as it ran under the soffits. I vacced the gutters with no problems at all and was surprised how little actually came out. The customer informed me that they were calling the builders back to inspect the guttering and wanted to make sure it was cleared. Normally I wouldn't climb up and check the S bends (I could hear the air sucking up the downpipe and could hear water trickling down) However, just to be sure I climbed up to double check - the majority were still full of crap right down inside. As far as I'm aware nobody produces a pipe that goes right around the S bend. I also have a drain jetter that I can insert from the top and blast the crud out. The bottom of the downpipes were covered with a rubber seal and pushed into the soakaway.
Without ladders I would have walked away confident that I had done another wonderful job as most vac operators probably do.
The main point of the post was really to ask what most windies without ladders do? Vin subbies his work out others simply refuse and walk away. Therefore somebody else must do the job but who? A builder? a gutter specialist or someone prepared to flout the ladder working at height laws?
Who would you get to fix your own gutter if you refuse to go up yourself?
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I don't offer the service, but if I did it would be a "gutter vacuuming" service. That would be it. If they had a blockage in a downpipe that would not be part of the service.
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I'am a window cleaner but dont have ladders & I cant clean your inside windows because I dont know how to use a blade & applicator. ::)roll .
not all trad window cleaners do insides! i took a job off another window cleaner because he would only clean the outside of the windows and not the inside! and im 95%wfp, and dont use ladders to clean windows!
but still use ladders to do gutters though.
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Vin subbies his work out others simply refuse and walk away.
Just to clarify, I don't subbie it out, I just give the customer a number (depending on where they live) for one or other - I have no part in the deal.
One's a roofer who uses ladder, one's a guttervac specialist who also has ladders. I used to pass customers onto another vac specialist but I found out he was pitching for the windows as well, so he's lost quite a few thousand quid since I stopped recommending him.
And, by the way, one of the (many) things that stopped me vacuuming them was a custy where I stuffed every bit of Omnivac tube I had down a downpipe and the thing was still blocked. Not being able to do the job correctly and not earning the right rate combined to put me off.
Vin
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No probs Dave as a windy that has no ladders I invested in a gutter vac if I didn't then I would would most likely point them in the direction of a roofer.
Darran
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Sub it out to someone who has a ladder simples . Mike