Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: geefree on September 29, 2006, 03:53:21 pm
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hi,
A while a few weeks ago i posted something like i could not afford wfp yet as just starting out...
now i find myself driving around for ages just looking For houses with no sloping roofs below windows or porches etc.... all the new builds are either 3 storey high or decorated with lots of sloping areas below upstairs windows.....
my question is someone posted a reply to me saying of course i can afford a starter kit wfp, ... and he broke down all the prices to build my own kit cheaply just to get me going... are you that person reading this ?
or can anyone please tell me how to get up and running with wfp cheaply just to begin with,
i know it sounds ridiculous but i seem to be running out of decent priced houses to canvass,
anyone help? ;)
cheers.
Gary.
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It was Matt's DIY link, I built my own DI unit cost me £1000 in total.
Doug
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Thanks Doug,
I think he broke it down to £315,
to get me going.
gary.
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dont be fussy canvess all houses till you get enough work then you can pick and choose. i take on any work i can some of it good some bad but it pays the bills at the end of the week.
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i wont take work less than a fiver, anywhere... but i aint being fussy i am fed up of walking past houses that i cant clean so i want a basic kit to start with,... i drive around and spot a new estate, then drive off ..leaving dozens of houses i cant clean because i cant get to them...
this post is in no way flaring a debate regarding trad and wfp.... this is my choice to have a bit of both thats all
so please dont anyone butt in with quips about trad, and wfp... as i dont get involved now and wont be doing in the future... just a touch of help regarding a nice cheap set up.. thanks everyone.
gary.
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also there is no point in canavassing a house i cant clean, ???...
dont be fussy canvess all houses till you get enough work
(quote from stephen)
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Gazza
What equipment did you get for yor £315 ???
Thanks Jason
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Gazza,
Make sure you have your e-mail on display in your profile and Matt should hopefully e-mail you a link for his DIY WFP site. It's considered bad manners by some to advertise other (similar web-sites) using this forum, but I think the site owner and Matt have some sort of agreement.
Also, use the search facility at the top of this page to search for DIY WFP.
Also do a search for 'backpack'.
Spend a few hours reading!
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WFP aside, on many properties you may find the odd window that would be dangerous to clean; gaining access to it using ladders.
That doesn't mean you don't approach the customer and ask if they want a quote.
Just let the customer know that the windows you consider dangerous will be left alone; since you don't want to chance injury or death; cleaning them.
Some customers (a tiny minority) may say, 'Ah, but my last window cleaner did them'. Just tell them that their last window cleaner was taking a risk you're not prepared to take and explain why it's dangerous.
99% of customers will be happy to have a good, safe regular window cleaner who does a top job; despite missing the odd dangerous window.
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was not having a go sloping roofs are not that bad there is nearly allways somewere you can put the ladder safely i have got slopping roofs on most of my round.
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hi stephen,
am i being too cautious?
gary.
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Better to be too cautious than to take a fall.
I built my own system with the help of Matt's site. It cost me about£600 in total.
You will get conflicting advice about van mount versus trolley systems. Take my advice and build yourself a trolley system. I was talking to a guy last week who had got himself a new van mounted system costing thousands, He can't get to some of the jobs that I can get to with my trolley. One is a large marina developement with no vehicle access to one side. I am 13 months into WFP now and a van system would not be half as good as my trolley for my work. Think of parking problems and having to move the van for every job.
I am lucky, with a tap TDS reading in the 50's I am still on my third bag of resin since I started and that's DI only. It's very simple science mate. Get building. Dai
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Dai,
Did you get the email i sent to you a few weeks ago ?
Thanks Jason
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Could I suggest starting with a backpack, then buy or put it on a trolley, then as the work grows get a van mount
I have the lot, which do I prefer ? the backpack......... but, .... the electric trolley is second choice, but you cannot buy one of those :)
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Jason, you have e-mail. Dai
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hi all im new on here been in the game 25 years used to have 10 window cleaners working for me all domestic untill the inland revenue caught up with me so strictly commercial now have one of the first tucker pole systems bought it years ago but recently started using it alot more.
its just a basic one thinking about building a truck mounted one as i do loads of industrial estates.
can someone guide me to the diy wfp site email addy is nicklewis120@hotmail.com
cheers
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http://d.co.uk
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mail me for the link :)
<-------------------- e.mail address on the side
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I had my first half day today (due to seriously heavy rain this morning) working WFP only.
This was on upstairs and downstairs on all the houses done
It was an extremely good day with more houses successfully completed than I had anticipated when setting out so I was really happy.
to get back to the core of the thread - an idea what costs can be achieved to get a system up and running I have listed my expenditure on my kit - I was lucky to get second hand stuff over a period so trawl around like I did.
second hand 18 ft pole including brush from a member of this site - £100 inc postage
second hand backpack from a member of this site - £45 inc postage
4 - 25ltr containers free from my local garage
1 small 60kgs trolley from Do It All for taking the 25 ltr containers full of water around the houses and out to my vehicle when needed - £16
1 heavy weight 100kg trolley from B&Q to take the backpack around - special offer reduced from £38 down to - £18
a couple of brushes ( spares ? ) - £45
my own DIY resin based DI Unit to bring the water down from an average of 45 TDS to zero - about - £50
total £275 but I will be adding more bits soon like a shorter pole for the downstairs windows and a longer hose extension so as not having to take the trolley round some of the backs all the time.
using the backpack on the trolley worked superbly without any hitches, the drawback was getting wound up in hose - AARRRRRGGGHHH - but I soon got the hang of it and raised my game to a pretty quick procedure. ie 2 houses which used to take over an hour each took 35 mins each and all the windows came up superbly well due to having previously trad them some 5 weeks ago, so they were still fairly clean. I was able to check out the wet ones immediately from inside 'cus I know my customers well. I was able to later on go and recheck the finish - well pleased and I hope it continues. :) But I put this down to the good trad results previously ;D
Good trawling guys - go for it!
JohnL
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thanks to all for replies,
tosh, forever helpful and lots of knowledge cheers mate....
jeff , yes thats what i will do, thanks mate
john i want your gear please :D.
dai,.. brill advice, thanks for your suggestions...
lol next time.... i will put thanks lads :D :D... and thats it.
matt you have email mate. ;)
gary.
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Gaza
i think the easiest way for you to start wfp would be with a backpack and all you need is a few other basics, ro, water butt, pole and some 25ltr containers. Unless you are handy and then you could make your own diy
If you say there is a lot of 3 storey work out your way then you will definately be making the right decision with wfp, most of my work is 3 storey and i dont do any of them under 10 pounds. I think this would be a good move for you
best of luck
Brett.
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gazz get a backpack from cleantech for £175
small 5lt di from cleantech with resin £35
pole from windowwarehose £80
and do only the windows that are ackward like roofs etc
if you do 10 houses in a street rattle around the bottoms and the safe upstairs windows, then park the ladder
and lift the pole for the odd window that you find ackward, this way your resin will last you ages keeping your costs down and not needing to run the costs of ro etc,these things come once you are a bit bigger
hope this helps
jinky
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cheers jinky,
looks like i will go for that.. thanks.
need malc to reply to my email.. so i can start the ball rolling as apparently he is the man !
malc ... u there ?
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Please please please listen Gazza its false economy. ???
I know for a fact that your tds will be between 250 and 400
Resin wont last 2 minutes.
To produce your water you need an RO.
Its all very well saying to tide you over use DI resin.
Ok you do your first year with DI,you will use approx 4x25ltr bags,roughly £280.
My Merlin RO cost me £300ish,no more expense required apart from changing filters etc once in a blue moon.
So you pay £280 for resin to TIDE YOU OVER then go out and pay for an RO.
Dont make sense.
Everyone seems to be telling you to make all the same mistakes that I made.
Buy the good gear and you will prosper.
Take the cheap route and you will end up paying much more in the long run.
All I am doing is repeating what some of the lads said to me on here a couple of years ago but I didnt listen.
Finished up buying twice and having a load of crap gear in my garage. ::)
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pete i know you are helpingh me .
but to show how naive i am regarding wfp...
i did not understand all that post, as i do not know what i need or what things are called,,
but i certainly cant afford thousands even via a loan...
so was just looking to hit all the calls i miss ... because i cant use a ladder.
i think im confused now ???
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Sorry mate.
Look its really simple.
To work with water fed pole you need:
A means of obtaining pure water.
Three ways of doing this:
Buy from me: ;D
DI..This is a cylinder filled with resin,you hook a water supply to it,water goes in one end then comes out of other end pure.Problem is resin costs £70ish for 25ltrs which in our area (poor water) will only last a couple of months.
RO:Initial outlay is bigger as I said my Merlin cost £300ish,however thats it,attach the ro to your water supply and it comes out of the other end (slower than DI but you produce it at home for next day)pure.No resin to buy every few weeks.The membranes and filters will need changing every now and again (which wont be often if like me you only wfp upstairs).
Thats the water sorted:
Now you need a means of getting the water to the windows:
We use a trolley (omnitrolley) we also have a van mount but only use this on commercials.
You put the water in the trolley and the trolley pumps the water to your pole and onto the glass.
The pole simply connects to the trolley with a good old fashioned hozelock fitting.
Loads of places you can get poles from but mine are from Gardinerpolesystems.co.uk
I would recommend going for 24ft pole rather than 18ft as this gives you the option of cleaning the high windows above conservatories (its a real stretch with 18ft).
There ya go mate any questions I will answer when ya come round next week. ;)
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you can get a RO / DI system from RO-MAN for under 100 quid
get that instead, as it works out cheaper in the long run :)
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thanks pete, i understand better now.... whos ro man malc.
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www.ro-man.com (http://www.ro-man.com) ;)
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Thanks pete
right i need to start getting a kit together, will start with a back pack tho, ...i dont yet understand too much of whats on malcs site,... im just a ladder man ;)... there are hundreds of things on RO-mans too.
sorry for sounding thick,
i didnt think you needed all that equipment just to wash a window :D..... but i need to start as sometimes as you know round here the house are porch and sloping roof mad!.... i dont just mean an odd window can be left..... i mean an odd window may be suitable for a ladder lol.
gary
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gazz sorry about not saying about the ro, your tds is high and you might be better listening to petski etc, but however keep it simple
do the whole house or houses and just have the backpack ready with pole to do the odd window keeping you safe, this way you have no hassle with tons of water hoses snagging on bins bushes toys garden furniture, running back and forward for refills etc, and not too many open windows giving you more hassle
oh forget did the lads not tell you about this side of wfp and the extra costs
jinky
ps tip for backpack
if using an 18ft pole keep the hose 18ft, unless on a trolley
spare batterries for backpack from city electrical factors - 400 shops nation wide
they cost £12 plus vat, cheapest i have found, for 12 quid they are
worth having
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THANKS JINKY
oops,
Thats really helpful ... and thats just what i need to hear , i will keep it simple , just as you said...
just need to buy it now, ;)
thanks.
gary
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Light & cheap poles...http://www.brodexbms.co.uk/assets/waterfedpoles-ad.pdf ;)
Andy
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gary you could go one step simpler
just buy a wfp pole which is light and place an applicator then a sweegee on the end of it to clean the odd window, make up a sperate bucket of gg3 to keep the suds down
this way you dont need to buy the backpack etc right away, and if you do go that direction you already have a wfp pole
its not that hard to do once you have the hang of it a sweegee on the end of a pole, it was done this way for years before wfp, and you can become just as quick as cleaning a normal window
their is plenty of guys on here with pole experience with sweegees, and they will pass their tips on to you, but that is another issue
hope this helps jinky
ps maybe some of the lads on the site are getting rid of an old pole, just a thought
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There is a Shurflo backpack on ebay,
item number- 260034739755
Brett
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http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Water-Fed-Pole-window-cleaning-12-volt-80psi-Backpack_W0QQitemZ180032911264QQihZ008QQcategoryZ112579QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
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thanks lad are they good prices... i just had a look at both,,,,,,
hey hang on i have a 20 litre back pack which i used for chemical spraying when i pressure washed driveways... similar to the one at 199 on ebay..... would it be any good or would it not suit wfp?
gary.
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Further to my previous post on this thread - heres a pic of the kit on site
:)
JohnL
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Thanks again..
jinky.... yes i have been doing that and with good results, but i have lots of houses in my area where there are not so steep sloping roofs in front of whole of house... so i may talk a customer about doing an odd one this way but not 3 or 4 windows.... also i cant tell for sure the results although one or two have let me in to check as i had to do a couple of inside cleans too, so not bad at it ;)....
john that gear is a bargain, those on e bay are alien to me at present... i simply dont have a clue.
gary.