Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: ftp on September 05, 2008, 09:13:26 am
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Why not? You've got guys that insist they have to work in the pouring rain to get rich and the customers love it, so why not work through untill six in the winter or start at seven thirty in the morning? Can't see the dirt? well you can't see it in a downpour either. ???
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In that case why not start at 6 in the morning, I mean its only customers privacy.
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We already do
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armadillo, i thought you worked in all weathers ;D - how are you doing - busy?
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it is very bad weather everybody is online this morning who has gone to work? 8)
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Why not? You've got guys that insist they have to work in the pouring rain to get rich and the customers love it, so why not work through untill six in the winter or start at seven thirty in the morning? Can't see the dirt? well you can't see it in a downpour either. ???
nor can you on many houses looking at floor level to second floor your point is ?
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I made the point - you can't possibly see whats going on in steady rain, it has to be mostly guesswork so why not in poor light as well?
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I made the point - you can't possibly see whats going on in steady rain, it has to be mostly guesswork so why not in poor light as well?
I worked last year a couple of times when dark to see the result it would give an to be honest its the same, you know where the window is so cleaning it comes as second nature.
What someone needs to develop is an umbrella hat with a spot light on and also a pole umbrella then you would have nothing to moan about ;D
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We always work from 6.00 until 6.00 in the winter, what are you running a hobby or a business ?
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A Hobby of course.
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we started at 4.30am this morning. didn't get light until around 7am - 7.30am. we do this regular
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Why not put a small LED lite on your pole up near the brush, they are not heavey and don't use much in the way of battery power.I have thought about this a few times .Can just see poeples faces though in bed in the morning and this light going up and down there window!!!
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In Harrow shopping centre the window cleaners have to have their vans off by 7am summer or winter so they start doing all the shop windows about 5am.
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i stt my houses at 7:30 in the winter and just after 7 in the summer and i have always done this (10 years) never had a problem, oh and i have also cleaned windows in the dark... many times..
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same here, work early and finnish late. In winter generally my last hour is in darkness, and can see fine. no probs ::)
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I'm trying a new method next week. I'm gonna pump myself full of anabolic steroids, eat 10000 kcal of protien per day & go out & work 24 hours a day for the rest of my working life! Hey, who needs sleep?
I'll be the highest earner, have the biggest of egos, have absolute respect from discount & be built like a brick poop-house at the end of it all. Can't lose 8)
Look at my house, look at my car, hey, look at me!!!!
Lou Feringo.
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I'm green with envy. ;D
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I'm green with envy. ;D
Unless you do the same dave, you're never gonna make it dude! come on, get that old seringe out!
Tony
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one word -WOW-
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Just got in from doing a full day and picked up 2 new custys as they could see i wasnt part of the summer brigade ;D if custy wasnt in i left note that if not 100% satisfied id return to do again.
Chris
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if custy wasnt in i left note that if not 100% satisfied id return to do again.
Chris
this is what i offer the customer, if they are offered this how can they possibly argue against you working in the rain or even when its dark (haven't tried this yet but may well give it a go this winter) if you offer a no quibble return and reclean policy how can they complain!
i've said it before, i only stop for lightning! and i dont let the tail wag the dog!
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Still building my round....(will still be saying that in 2021!) but am aiming to be able to start (brush on glass) at 09:00....brush back in van at 15:00 through out the year.
Cheers
Dave.
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working in the rain / dark
i can see my domestic customers loving that
i can hear the discussion now, well if you clean in the windows are dirty again as its raining
me, well rain isnt allways dirty
them, yes it is
now i have a option, i either :
a. punch them in the face for argueing with me
b. argue the point, give them a rain guarantee
c. explain it could rain 15 mins after i have cleaned tham anyway
d. accept that a high % or my customers are retired and will not accpet working in the rain
now options a,b and c will result in me losing the customer
option d, well thats the only choice for me
saying that, last week ( or the week before, they all blend into 1 in work ) i worked in the LIGHT rain, i would call it drizzle, a few moaned, but accepted that after the summer we have had, i needed to earn, so they were ok about, but i knew i would be pushing it all the time AND if it was any heavier i would have struggled with the idea for them
oh and also, its so bleeding miserable working in the rain, you must really need the money to work in the rain all the time, its simple not pleasant
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I did some light rain jobs too but managed to deflect some of the moaning onto the terrible summer even though i felt a bit guilty. I cleaned my own windows (some) on thursday and within two days they are pretty grubby again. Cleaning in the rain does work i'm sure but they won't stay clean for long. I might even work today to try and catch up if the rain stays off but i won't if it's chucking it down. Especially if the man of the house is at home.
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I cleaned a care home this morning in the rain (wfp) . There was no wind, rain straight down and so I just cracked on.
Did the full check round after and the result was perfect.
Must admit though I wouldnt have done houses today as the rain was quite heavy.
Saying that what would we do if it rained heavy for a month? Could happen....
Regarding working inthe dark....I do it regularly on commercial and Ive got a few domestics that I can start early on even in the winter.
Trouble with working in the dark in winter is that the temperature is lower and so you tend to get more freezing on the glass.
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Still building my round....(will still be saying that in 2021!) but am aiming to be able to start (brush on glass) at 09:00....brush back in van at 15:00 through out the year.
Cheers
Dave.
Good idea.... i like the business plan!
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And yes i would work in the dark ( on commercial anyway..)
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cant see problem working in the dark ive done enough times commercial and last winter i did it with houses as it gets dark quickly in scotland
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You can choose whether to work in the rain/dark. Its about time we as a body got rid of this customer perception of not cleaning in the rain. The idea stems from the past victorian/edwardian times of when w/cers used rat tails and chamois/scrim to clean and rain drops caused the polishing to streak. Nowadays with the use of squeegees and wfp things have moved on.
You may not want to clean in the rain if you dont like getting wet but as a group we should push that its OK for the rest of the w/cers that want/need to work.
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If you do reguler cleans with wtf you could clean with your eyes shut 8)
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I guess thats the first clue.
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I use one of those 9 - LED lights (that lets you focus to a point ) on stretchy elastic around my head like a modern lightweight miner's lamp. It's ok for ground and first floor with wfp.
But for 3rd floor and higher I've got a 5 million candle power searchlight (which will light up low level clouds) and I have rigged a remote control device and motor so that I can swivel it to each window as I go along.
My bro. is an electronics wizard and he's working on a helmet for me that lets me look in a certain direction and then the light on the van follows where I look. (I would just have the lamp on my head but to get the distance for the higher floors it's too heavy, even with the batteries in a pouch on my belt.)
My bro. designed and built a "Hover lamp" for me based on a remote control model helicopter but it wouldn't stay level in windy conditions and the tiny petrol engine made a high pitched sound which wavered as it tried to compensate for the wind. Anyway I was working at the limit of my pole (5th floor) at 3.30 am on a hotel when the occupant leaned out and shouted out that he'd thought an alien spaceship was hovering outside his room!
The manager told me to only work after 7 am so I ditched them! Muppet customers - I wish I was like Squeaky and content to be a defeatist bed warmer on £10 an hour....
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;D ;D ;D
Very good Malc, but is that what 3,000 posts does to you?
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;D ;D ;D
Very good Malc, but is that what 3,000 posts does to you?
Pretty much Matt - and in case Squeaky gets the hump I'm only kidding. :)
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NOTHING stops me, rain, dark...Ive only missed 2 hours since is started window cleaning, cos my hosereels froze
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NOTHING stops me, rain, dark...Ive only missed 2 hours since is started window cleaning, cos my hosereels froze
something stopped you for 2 hours,
;D ;D
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I think i will try work till 5 still even in winter, dont know how successful i will be though??
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NOTHING stops me, rain, dark...Ive only missed 2 hours since is started window cleaning, cos my hosereels froze
something stopped you for 2 hours,
Does that mean he hasn't slept either?
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I think i will try work till 5 still even in winter, dont know how successful i will be though??
I am just in form working in the rain and work on to 6 every day any season. Dont get me wrong I dont like working when its wet, and prefer it to be sunny and rose'y. But I doesn't stop me doing my job. It cant be sunny and dry all the time.
Make the most of it, believe in what you know is true and dont let others misconceptions dictate the running hours of your business, just set them straight. If they only want there windows done when its sunny and dry tel them you cant dictate the weather, but only ensure your windows will be cleaned, and with gleaming results. If they pay you to do that, and you do regarless of the weather and they are still not happy(extreamly small tiny tiny occassion) get another who is more reasonable.
good luck this winter mate,
gerard ;D