Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: AuRavelling79 on April 25, 2009, 08:22:57 am
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Any tips to speed things up? Little things as well as big ones? Getting organised? Van layout? Method of work?
Please post here.
My bugbears - tripping over pole hose and tangling hoses generally.
Is there a solution?
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Yeah...go trad ;D
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write all your bills night before and put them in order of work and stack together with bulldog clip
van mount hose reel ( a hoselock roller guide at the back doors of van may help)
tap connector on end of reel
walk the hose to furthest point you'll be using it
carabina on a belt or hung around shoulders to attach hose to
trim pole hose so its no longer than nescessary ie; when fully extended there is just enough to comfortably use the pole at waist to shoulder height
modify your brushes so they have a non scratch scrubbing pad when flipped to scrub bird poo and egg (my latest project)
backpack for difficult access issues
finally, some jobs will always be easier and quicker trad and if thats the case then i do them that way
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Best ask NWH, then you could clean a house in under three minutes. ;)
If you want to go even faster, then i find walking the hose back to the van doesn't work for me because you are making a loop that catches everything. I normally unclip at the furthest point when the hose is at its straightest and whizz it back I start extending my pole whilst walking towards the property and flick the valve a couple of seconds before I get to the glass. Most of my time is taken up with coiling hoses back up and packing away.
The biggest waste of productive time in my opinion is chatting to the customers! Part of the job but unavoidable. ;D
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Good suggestions guys - keep 'em coming.
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Best ask NWH, then you could clean a house in under three minutes. ;)
lol ;D
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If you want to go even faster, then i find walking the hose back to the van doesn't work for me because you are making a loop that catches everything.
good point, I used to do this and had the same problem
I still do walk it back sometimes but have got used to looking out for obstacles like rockery and corners of steps where the problem usually occurs and drag the hose free of them before I start to reel it in, its easier to do this on regular jobs where you've done it several times before.
I'm going to stop now for fear of sounding like a complete geek ;D
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I agree a van mounted hose reel does save a lot of time, and bending over!
For me having my flow conected to the pole hose, and attached to a sling that all I have to do it hang it from my neck, and clip the pole hose into microbore - enables hands free pole operation, and easy control of the flow valve.
Van organisation is key - I have all my poles mounted in a rack in the van, with hose hooks.
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Any tips to speed things up? Little things as well as big ones? Getting organised? Van layout? Method of work?
Please post here.
My bugbears - tripping over pole hose and tangling hoses generally.
Is there a solution?
yes get ladders ;D ;D
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Brilliant! then when you need something like a spare connector just drive home ten miles and drive back to the job.
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LOL, trust you ftp, small peripherals and tools are fine they don’t take up much space and get in the way. I was thinking more of the larger equipment.
Carry a small box of everything that could fail, y piece, connectors, hoselock ect, spare brush (egg is a cow not a chicken ;) )
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Pay a Polish worker peanuts and get him/her to do all your work on your behalf.
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Don’t carry all your equipment in your van, only take what you are going to use that day.
what if you pick up a new job and a piece of kit you need is at home ;D
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When you have refined everything mechanical to a fine tune as above . - Use brain power, as you work THINK what your doing next, after some practice it becomes Auto. Think where you are going to place your foot next etc. pole sections etc hose etc. Saves you more money.
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I expect the value if a quad is wearing thin now: but vans are dinosaurs, not originally designed for stop go domestic work.
So apart from that I've found that towing the Omnipole trolley ( can u believe it's only £195+?) had stepped me up another notch. If I see cars & wheelie bins aplenty then I forgot the reel on the quad & unhitch the trolley. I have just 10 m of 6mm hose, trailing free, ie no loops. This follows a beaut & we're heading fir 30-35 hooses a day.
Kevin
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Don’t carry all your equipment in your van, only take what you are going to use that day.
what if you pick up a new job and a piece of kit you need is at home ;D
Just do it another time, ::)
if you in the area whats the point of going back again the threads about speeding things up ;D ;D
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Get a stopwatch and time how long it takes you to do each house. At first you just collect a load of useless figures but over time a picture builds up.
If you divide the price by the number of minutes the job takes you get a rate per minute. I found some jobs were taking twice as long as others for the same money. Also, you start to question your own methods of working and cut out wasteful practices.
For example, I always ring the bell for the money before I have finished. This time last year I would pack up then ring the bell.
Because the customer sees you are still working they are also less likely to start chatting which is an added advantage.
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Doing the job sooner, rather than later isn’t speeding things up ::)
Eh? ???
Run that one past me again Ewan
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Doing the job sooner, rather than later isn’t speeding things up ::)
Eh? ???
Run that one past me again Ewan
to much beer ;)
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Doing the job sooner, rather than later isn’t speeding things up ::)
its speeding the job up by not travaling to that area again ;D ;D
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Yes Ewan, but if you do it there and then, it's done and money in the bank now, instead of next time. What part of that don't you understand?
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there are lots of ways to speed things up, being very organised etc, but the best way is to talk to other guys in the area and do some swaps with work to compact things and get rid of those loose end jobs, the more compact the less time it will take,
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Ewan, you're the only one on here that talks himself around corners. You really don't get it mate.
It's about speeding up, like was said. If you can't or wont understand then carry on and argue with yourself.
Money in the bank today means just that. How would anyone think delaying work till next time is "speeding up".
Attitude and organisation is all to do with speeding up. Why pretend to be clever about it and try to make yourself look clever. Try just answering the post and stop playing professor of window cleaning
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Any tips to speed things up? Little things as well as big ones? Getting organised? Van layout? Method of work?
Please post here.
My bugbears - tripping over pole hose and tangling hoses generally.
Is there a solution?
Using a highish flow rate if you have the carrying capacity.
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No different to booking the work in next time you are in the area again.
So where’s the speeding up ;D
make the customer wait 4 week for a clean and they will probley go else where ,perhaps you arnt as proffesional as you think you are ;D ;D
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There's two ways of looking at Ewan's post and the many responses:-
1. Do it there and then get the dosh in and get the custy on board.
2. That might put you out by an hour and mean that you don't get all your scheduled (organised?) work in that day.
So a new custy is a judgement call on a case by case basis IMHO.
I like the ideas tho' and that poo scrubbing patch on a wfp brush sounds a good project for the next rainy day for me.
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I had a patch of velcro on my brush stock but it didn't stick too well and it also attracted grit and sand.
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Did it scratch ?
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Hope it didn't :)
As regards speeding up then slightly off at a tangent would be compacting your round as much as possible, so having as little wasted time between jobs.
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compact rounds a thing of the past?! what what? please explain.. ::)
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people wont buy work round here unless its compact,whats the point of driving between jobs when you can be cleaning ;D ;D
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i can understand it being harder to build up compact rounds but cant see why tht makes them a thing of the past
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i think if ewan doesnt have a rest while driving to next job he gets to tired to work ;D ;D
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maybe its different from planet to planet! ;D
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Hard work tonight ::)
You go through your list of jobs and find the ones closest together Ewan, then you push the dates around gradually untill your days work is compacted into set areas. Granted you won't be likely to get every house in a street but the ones you do have you don't want on different days if you can help it.
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modify your brushes so they have a non scratch scrubbing pad when flipped to scrub bird poo and egg (my latest project)
Cybersye,
have you done this yet? I was thinking of trying the same thing with a gardiner sl dual trim just wondered if it was succesful?
yes, hav'nt tried it yet though. I trimmed an old brush stock and pulled out the bristles and then melted a non scratch scourer onto it, attached via one half of a plastic angle adapter (you just need a longer bolt)
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Looks like Jeff Brimble has a competitor!
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compact rounds a thing of the past?! what what? please explain.. ::)
I think he is laying bait for you guys there!! Compact is the thing everyone should be going for!!!
I have houses that are £4 each but because they are compact do ten an hour!! Your not gonna drive a mile inbetween them eh!!
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people wont buy work round here unless its compact,whats the point of driving between jobs when you can be cleaning ;D ;D
I have one day where I only clean 6 houses, but they're all big posh ones; very well priced; and they're all drive-betweens.
It's my favourate domestic day.