I dislike trolleys. They are not the most efficient or effective way to WFP. They create more work for the user and are generally not a good idea. For a few window cleaners they are a good idea though due to access issues etc. Backpacks are only slightly more useful in reality. Most who carry on WFP'ing for a couple of years will have graduated to proper systems.
What you pay for a trolley is up to you. No one is out to rip you off, just provide themselves with a decent living and you with a professional product. There are lot more expensive trolleys than the Freedom trolley.
You may notice that our firm has never sold trolleys or Backpacks. We could quite easily do so and could make a healthy profit on them. I just do not like selling something that I feel is the wrong product for the job.
Before I get everybody leaping to these products defense, yes I still clean a fair amount of domestic windows, yes I live in Cornwall and have to deal with narrow lanes, bad parking etc, and yes there are a lot of steps, paths and gates. I started with a trolley myself, a very good one, that I bought about 6 years ago. Within 2 months I had built a trailer system as the shortcomings of the trolley were hard to ignore. Within 6 months I sold the trolley to someone else who was starting out himself, within 6 months he had sold it on to someone else who within 4 months took it to pieces to use the parts in a Van-mount system. I wish someone had said to me back then to save my money, think a bit more and kit out a vehicle. I would have saved myself so much work and have given myself about a year's head-start on fully integrating WFP into my window cleaning round. If I had fitted my estate car out with a 125litre tank a pump and hose I would have saved money and been able to clean windows far more quickly.
By the way whilst we are on the subject of prices;
Ionics sell various trolleys, prices below
Duplex DI trolley (basically 2x DI canisters with wheels) = £357.95 + VAT
Cricket trolley (as above with pressure vessel to hold/pump water) = £729.95
Pro-5 access trolley (300ltr) =£4630 + VAT
Pro-7 Mobile Trolley = £4385 + VAT
All of them do their job very well, most of the larger ones are for large commercial premises where they stay on site permanently and get moved to where they are being used for that day.
Makes the Freedom look quite cheap doesn't it?
