[Dean Aspects]

I see now you are teaching the rest of the world about the joys of wfp and the use of rainwater
i have been reading some of the questions and answers on the north american site and it seems that they are way behind the uk in the take up of wfp
i have been reading on that site as i am considering emigrating over there and wanted to see how w/cing differed there to here ...still researching

Dean

[Jeff Brimble]

Garys email site was around long before our forums and very useful to me at first, we now have more forums than you can shake a stick at and info overload.
Not trying to be smug but yes some the guys over the pond (same as us) have a bit of catching up to do (wont take long ? ) Many have now found our forums and also contribute.
The rainwater is free the world over and with the tds and other things like arsenic, of some borehole supplies means that RO and DI units work overtime, Many rent their DI tanks from firms such as Culligan. You can use it straight from a roof at approx 005tds but many roofs over there are shingled but dont think would will make any diff. to tds. They have no conception of what we term fishing poles as they use rods.

[Pat Purcell]

Aspects,It really depends on what part of N. America you are moving to when it comes to window cleaning and using wfp
I think in a previous post you mentioned Canada
Some of the things you will find different there as opposed to the UK are,
Many customers will have what we call storm windows ( a set of secondary glass that sits outside the regulatr window) which has to be removed from the inside to clean.the regular window behind the storm is usually a georgian type window and due to the heat created between the storm and the window the glazing or putty is usually in poor condition and can be difficult to squeegee not to mention using pure water(  I spent 10 years trying )
Due to the cold winters wfp is not really feasible from about Halloween to Paddys day, Our ssystem was a hot water system and we had to completely winterise it and shut it down for this time
The frequencys are a lot less, twice a year would be considered a lot so each clean is like a first clean( we have some customers that call about every 5 years)
I think we use regular trad poles a lot more than you lads especially on lower commercial work up to about 30ft, anything above that is either MEWP, Cradle or abseiling. Tilt in windows are becoming more common and in the older cities belt hooks are still common
Those are some of the negatives the positives are,
While there is some lowball competition out there (usually general cleaners who do some windows) pricing on the whole is a lot higher than the UK
Its very rare to miss a day due to weather even in the winter(  we work down to about  -10)
H&S is not as restrictive
Things in general are quite a bit cheaper here so your overheads are not that much and set up costs would not be much( A servicable van in good condition would cost about $4000)
I know people just post their worst experiences on here, but people dont mess you around as much here, you do the job you get paid no BS
As Jeff said we are quite a bit behind when it comes to wfp so an experienced user would definetly find a niche market in almost any city
Theres a lot more differences that I cant think of right now but ask away and I will try to answer to the best of my ability

[Dean Aspects]

Many thanks Pat thats helpful any more questions and i will ask
Thanks again

Dean

[Captain Scarlet]

I quoted a very large house for some Americans living over here. They also have a house over in America. They didnt have a clue what wfp was because there wc over in USA use trad, they loved the idea but they only want us to clean 3-4 times a year!! we mostly do monthly and every other month. Why do Americans leave their windows get so dirty, everybody over here cant stand their windows getting mucky, they cant wait for us to come and clean, Luke

[Pat Purcell]

Luke, except for the north west and sout east corners the US is a far drier climate than the UK so things generally get dusty rather than mucky and the dust blows on and off the glass, Even after a year some windows just look a little dirty, there are of course exceptions,
If you explain to the customer what the normal frequency is in the UK and why then they will probably come on board

[NWH]

They have there window`s cleaned in the states about 3-4 times per year,one reason might be that they charge a lot more money in the states.I do a customer that had some americans staying at the time i was cleaning,i charged £50 and it took me about 50 mins - 1hr,the american people said the same job at home would have cost them in the region of 200-250$.