Groundhog,
Find a newbie that has just come into trad window cleaning from a sedentary office job, he will be in a world of aches and pains from using a ladder and all of the tools.
Even when I was using ladders all the time, if I had a few 3 storey offices to do, my glutes would be twanging like crazy the following day, and up until 2 and a half years ago I had spent my entire working like up a ladder (I'm 50)
I rarely have any aches as a result of WFP, and I'm also doing lots more high work that before.
The higher you go, the harder it gets, regardless of WFP or trad..
The likes of Squeaky will be faster than me now were I to go back to a ladder, in fact, he was almost certainly quicker than me 2 years ago on normal houses.
But that has a lot to do with ladder speed, not window cleaning technique.
I don't think I have ever carped on about how quickly I can work with trad tools, but I am fast, even on large plate glass where I have to use an extension pole, in fact I'll warrant I'm quicker than most with that method.
But I still use WFP on the majority of my shop fronts, overall it works out quicker, and the '
overall' finish is better.
I wash all of the surrounding frames down, and that is a big plus with WFP.
I have one or two places where the finish would certainly be better if done trad, and a couple more where I squeegee off the glass to ensure I have a job done to the right standard.
To be fast with either method you have to work at at, and that applies equally to the quality of the finish too.
A trad cleaner can fly around a house in no time at all, but the finish will be dire, and the same applies to the WFP user.
It takes time and effort with both methods to be both quick and do a good job.
But once you have that sorted with WFP then you will be quicker than trad and it will take less physical efort to do so, there will be less wear and tear on your body.
Garden gnomes and plant pots getting in the way?
Well assess the job in hand properly and plan your way around it, you can just as easily trip over carrying around your 3 tier ladder fully extended, and your ladder will weigh far, far more than your poles will, and will cause way more damage if you let them go.
below is a shop I did on friday morning, total time taken for the job was 30 minutes, if you think you can get close to this trad then you're having a laugh!
They were having an inspection that day and everything (not just the window cleaning ) had to be perfect, so my work was also checked closely (by them and myself)
Not a spot or a blemish in sight

