Neil is right, in windy conditions windows will start to get dirty very quickly, whether done trad or WFP.
On Friday it was a very windy day (at least in the Chepstow area) and my last account of the day was a big house with all georgian windows.
The previous time it was cleaned the customer told me that on some of the upstairs windows I didn't seem to be cleaning the bottom edges of the panes.
These are the newish type of georgian windows with deep recessed panes.
I told the customer that after I had cleaned it this time, I would go back after an hour or so, get my ladders and check the work over, however, she did say that the downstairs windows were always fine.
Now as I have said, Friday was very windy, the house is surounded by all manner of trees and shrubery, and a couple of huge monkey puzzle trees.
I was actually a little worried about cleaning these windows in the windy conditions.
I was also dreading what I would see when I climbed the ladders to check over my work.
The windows were fine, up close I could pick a few faults, but I would have done so if I had done them trad, there wasn't a spot in sight though.
I did get to the bottom of the windows the customer was worried about....it was paint, the decorator must have painted the windows either when they were not sufficiently dry from the morning dew or some such.
Anyway, I initial cleaned them, knifed them off and didn't charge her extra.
Fortunately there was no fault attached to anything I had done.
Net result; one very satisfied customer.
But what pleased me the most was that the windows had dried out spotless.
That may not have been the case on a dry, dusty and WINDY summers day mind.
That being said, any work done trad leaves a sticky residue behind, even if you are using GG3/4 or Unger liquid and so on.
This residue isn't sticky to the touch of course, but it is sticky to airborn dust.
FACT: Windows cleaned with WFP stay clean longer.
Squeaks mentions a couple of shops in a street I work in, he now does one of them for about £2.50 that I was cleaning with WFP.
This customer cancelled, not that she told me, but apparently the reason she cancelled was because she thought the windows were not drying out clean.
A shame she hadn't actually voiced her concerns directly to me as it would have been very easy to show her that her windows were in fact as clean as they could possibly be.
Squeaks also says that several shops in this street are not happy with the job I do.
I doubt this as I don't do many in this street.
The one he did mention to me really surprised me as these paricular windows come up absolutely mint with WFP, plus I also do a huge amount of the paintwork (at no extra charge) and I also often do a lot of the insides and I have never once needed to go back outside and make good.
When I see the owner next I'll ask him if there is a problem, if he just wants the glass and sills done I'll lop a fiver of the price, but I'll not do all the entrance, paintwork and signs anymore.
Squeaks missus works in another shop, who strangely enough complained of spotty windows.
At the specific time, in all fairness there were a few spots, but they would not have been very noticable, even though they had done the insides themselves, not very well I hasten to add!
Since that time I have made sure that these always dried out spotless, these are always checked very carefully indeed, and if I can't find fault with them, no one will.
Having to go back to doing them trad though
Some of the panes leak and water is getting inside, it's a shame cos the glass and frames come up spotless too.
Squeaks is frantic to get into shops, god knows why, it takes so long to build up enough to make decent money at them, I've been doing them for 21 years and I've still only got 2 and a half day a week doing them, actually it's less than that and they can be a bind trying to fill them in around the more profitable work (ask Tosh)!
They are bread and butter work for the most part.
The more profitable stuff are the small to medium sized offices, but to make real money at those you have to have WFP!!
And of course Squeaks has no intention of getting into that....does he...
Ian