[Ian101]

Honest answer is No.  I only got into window cleaning because of WFP some 9 years ago. It started out as an add on to our pressure cleaning business, now is the main part of our business.

Whilst I can clean trad way, insides and some shops, I would not feel safe climbing ladders.

Good question Ian...It does make it easier for people to start up window cleaning, if you don't like heights etc, however, you still have to be business minded, still have to work out in all weathers, still have to do a good job cleaning the windows, still have to find customers. I have seen many new window cleaners start up WFP and after a year or so they are gone.

Steve G

their loss .... ebays gain ... amount of stuff on there at the moment ... think im bidding on 2 trolleys .. a van set up and a few other bits and pieces.

[jimiwindows]

all shops in londons west end are done trad.so yes

[G Griffin]

Most of you are answering with hindsight, though. If wfp hadn't been invented you wouldn't know any different to trad.
I wonder how many were on the verge of jacking trad in or looking for another job before grasping the pole.

[robertphil]

im only interested in the ladder side myself.  i like a bit of a challenge and old style ways of working.

eeeee when I was a lad it was all fields around here  

thats it exactly, also like watching sugar cane being cut with a machete   etc.  old ploughing/harrowing  vids    tractor pulling channel etc  and on youtube is a U.S. firestation where out the back they make wooden ladders from scratch  , all good dyed -in -the- wool   slog

[wfp master]

Yes only been wfp 15 months 12 years trad before going wfp.
If there was no wfp there wouldn't be as many window cleaners because so many have not a clue how to trad & are scared to go up a ladder.
WFP makes the job a lot easier.

[Richard iSparkle]

Voted no.

No way I'd be cleaning if ladders were involved.

i am looking for managing a business rather than working in one myself and the H&S implications would put me off   :

[mark dew]

I worked with ladder for 2 years before i went wfp.
I wasn't the quickest but my hourly rate went up in that time from around £4 per hour to averaging £18ph before i got wfp.
I use my ladders 2 or 3 times per month, mostly for access and i don't feel anywhere near as comfortable on them as i used to.
I would go back to ladders very begrudgingly but as the alternative is factory, carer or cleaner for min wage, i would.

[dazmond]

3 years ago i was seriously thinking of jacking it in due to all the ladder climbing!id fell off twice in 15 years and was very lucky not to injure myself too seriously.

then i found this forum and went wfp and ive never looked back.it gave me a new lease of life and attitude to my business.

dont get me wrong i still use ladders occasionally.usually for opening a locked gate or the odd flat roof but i could never go back to them full time.

i wouldnt be able to clean half the jobs i have now as they would be too dangerous to clean using ladders on my own.

also i work far more in bad weather where i would be heading off home in my ladder days!!


regards


dazmond

[Fin Clearview]

14 years trad till last August, still have my ladder though for access, every now and then when coming back to the van with the pole I spot the worn line on the edge of the ladder  fading away - and I don't miss her one bit just like the ex

[advanced]

Answer is def, no  i had two falls on ladders 18 years ago , the last  fall i was lucky  that i did not break my back  so you can stick  those ladders where the sun dont shine.

[Ian101]

Most of you are answering with hindsight, though. If wfp hadn't been invented you wouldn't know any different to trad.
I wonder how many were on the verge of jacking trad in or looking for another job before grasping the pole.

fair point going to rephrase question