[windows_chepstow]

Dave,

It was good to see you on your back foot for a change.  And it's great that the more experienced guys are taking a look in this part of the forum.

I agree with you though.

Ladder safety takes experience to learn.  It's something a book can't teach you as there are so many different situations and ladder safety devices to use.

Then there's pricing.  That's an 'art' rather than a science.

Then there's customer handling skills.

Then there's the administration.  Who needs cleaning and who owes you money and what's the best method of getting round your 'round'?

I've personally made many mistakes and could've benifited with working for another window cleaner for six months.  If only to learn how to price residential houses.

I underpriced when I first started and suffered that for at least 18 months, and still suffer in some areas; three-years after I started.

I've also 'fell' off my ladder during my first year of window cleaning.  Luckily enough I only recieved bumps and scrapes.

As David says, reading between the lines, there's more to clean windows than just leaving a 'clean window'.  That's the easy part.

[rosskesava]

I also think that what gets forgotten is that so many people start window cleaning and then are never seen again after a few months or a year.

Therefore there has to be something more than it being a dead simple and easy job.

I think the cleaning of the actual glass is the easy part but to start with as when it's all new, that is all that matters. It's easy to be motivated when it's all fairly new.

It's when it all becomes a bit boring or when you get up and the weather is on and off ok/not ok, or when you get frozen, or wet, or frozen and wet, and get those days when nothing seems to work right. Worse still are those days when you just don't feel like working and you still ache all over from the previous days work. Then you have to get up the next day for a long days comercial work and the wfp packs up and it all has to be done by hand and in the middle of that you have to phone up customers and reschedule which throws the nexts days work into a muddle. Then when you get home instead of collapsing into a chair, you have to fix the wfp and  try and sort of the muddle of the work list.

Then the next day someone doesn't turn up for work and you waste an hour only to find out they've got a hangover and aren't coming into work.

And all the time you still have to do the job to a high standard whilst working faster with no breaks and still smile and be pleasant and friendly to customers.

So I think as per the previous postings, the cleaning of the glass is the easy bit and if time isn't an issue and profit doesn't matter, it's a doddle.

Having written all that, I started without a clue how to do the job and our business only went from just keeping our heads above water to being profitable after I found this forum. The first thing I discovered after being a window cleaner for 4 years (I think) was that my technique when using a squeegie was all wrong and I was making extra (time consuming) work for myself.

Cheers