[Stevie Behan]

Ive recently purchased a backpack wfp system and will be going out tomorrow to use it for the first time. The plan is to keep using my ladders for a lot of the work I do and use the pole for hard to reach, leaddies etc.. My ultimate goal is to get a van with a mounted system, but unfortunately thats a little way off at the moment.

Ive been in contact with most of the customers I'll be cleaning tomorrow and told them I may use the pole, all have been fine, but I'm just a little worried that the results might not be up to the standard they expect.

One of the areas im cleaning tomorrow includes 5 houses on a new estate, all good payers, non messers and I dont want to p them off with a bad job. Speaking to another guy I know who uses a pole he has told me that pure water can take a good 3-4 cleans before the customer will start to see streak free windows!! Im just looking to find out why this is the case and what some you lads who have switched over to wfp have said to custies when they have moaned or questioned your work.

Im obviously aware of a lot of the benefits of the pole (mainly safety/privacy) but if all of my customers have been cleaned with good old w5 and have never moaned, how am I gonna talk them round? I'm too busy to go back and correct all the work, so do I just tell em to stick with it and all will be ok?

Cheers guys

[Pope vader]

what car van u drive

[Stevie Behan]

I got an astra car mate. Got a load of 25l containers and I'll keep 4-5 at a time in the boot. Not ideal, but it the only thing I can do for the time.

[matthewprice]

rinse more than you think, then rinse again ,using a lot of water not easy without a van system

[Panorama]

Hi stevie, may I welcome you on your journey into wfp. Regarding the comment on 3 to 4 cleans. I found that it should not take more than 2 to get your technique correct. Hit the search button at the top of the page and type in dazmond, read his posts. You will find that a lot of what dazmond endured , you will endure, BUT , in the end the penny will drop and you won't look back. One piece of advice , get a van mount asap. I got a pure freedom diy unit , if I can set it up you can

[Stevie Behan]

Yeah, from reading some of the posts on the board Ive seen that rinsing is key and not very practical with a backpack system. It is my intention to keep trad for the first clean at least and then wfp certain windows from 2nd clean onwards. That way I know the frames have had a good clean down and I wont have to use up a whole load of water.

Is it still important to rinse loads if the windows have been cleaned previously by trad method and aren't particularly dirty in first place?

[matthewprice]

yip probably more all that dryed soap

[windiewasher]

do them right and all windows are perfect first time.
scrub frame then glass
rinse well and you will have no problems.

[dave f]

if your going wfp inthe near future do what i did give the top of the frames a good wipe to get rid of a lot of the crud which gathers their at least you will have god start. when i changed over i made my custys a ware of the spotting that will ocour oh be prepaird to loose a couple of custys good luck you will wonder why you never changed over sooner i did

[Stevie Behan]

Ended up being quite a good day, although not with out glitches!

Started going through my water at quite a pace, although I didn't use it all up before my battery went flat (Dont think I charged it for long enough).

The first house I cleaned was a 3 bed semi and I have to jump a fence to get round the back so I thought I may just as well do the front and trad the back, then see what the customer thinks. It was still dripping wet by time I finished, but went round to collect money in evening and I could see loads of marks and streaks. I did explain to custie, what I'd done and she seemed OK. I even offered to tidy the job up if she wasnt happy, but all good.

When I did a few of my other houses (with newer windows) there were a few marks, but not that many at all. Does the type of glass have an effect on results. The first house I did were quite old, upvc framed, double glazed that feel almost rough on surface, where as rest of the customers I did were new houses were the glass is really smooth and so easy to clean.

Hopefully things will get easier as I go and all of my customers Ive spoken to so far have been sound about the wfp.

On plus side 4 more customers wanting the windows cleaned. 

[Pope vader]

the older the house the more crap and soap it has on them,  so the more spots you will get

[Martin OFarrell]

Just to give you some encouragement... I went wfp 6 weeks ago, just about to finish my round for the first time cleans with the pole and overall I'm impressed and optimistic regarding the future. Although I've had to spend extra time cleaning very dirty frames and usually cleaning and rinsing some windows twice, it is still more profitable than when I was trad ! Rinsing is the key as everyone tells you so as soon as you can get a big mounted tank do it, I've only had a handful of complaints regarding spotting and they've usually been on very busy roads where the top frames were minging or old metal framed windows, spend any extra money on a decent pole and you're sorted. I'm really looking forward to cleaning the windows for the second time, should be much quicker.

[Paul Coleman]

Ended up being quite a good day, although not with out glitches!

Started going through my water at quite a pace, although I didn't use it all up before my battery went flat (Dont think I charged it for long enough).

The first house I cleaned was a 3 bed semi and I have to jump a fence to get round the back so I thought I may just as well do the front and trad the back, then see what the customer thinks. It was still dripping wet by time I finished, but went round to collect money in evening and I could see loads of marks and streaks. I did explain to custie, what I'd done and she seemed OK. I even offered to tidy the job up if she wasnt happy, but all good.

When I did a few of my other houses (with newer windows) there were a few marks, but not that many at all. Does the type of glass have an effect on results. The first house I did were quite old, upvc framed, double glazed that feel almost rough on surface, where as rest of the customers I did were new houses were the glass is really smooth and so easy to clean.

Hopefully things will get easier as I go and all of my customers Ive spoken to so far have been sound about the wfp.

On plus side 4 more customers wanting the windows cleaned. 

It won't be easy at first - especially without a van mount.  I might have reverted to ladders if I hadn't invested so much money.  So glad I didn't though.  As has been said, you needs lots of water for first WFP cleans.  Using a backpack might be a PITA way to achieve this.