[ashbash]

I changed to wfp for safety and also wanting an easier life. I'm defintly safer but defintly  more stressed.  It seems to be taking me longer than trad. Does it speed up in time or is trad generally quicker.  Absolutely sick of the hose raging on a corner or round a plant plot. Is there a general method of wfp when approaching a house. Heads in bits, feel like blowing the van up and signing on 😂😩

[Cookie]

I think you just need to stick at it and you will get faster. As far as the hose is concerned you need to work out the quickest and easiest way around each house - this may take several iterations.  At the moment I am timing how long each house clean takes so I can establish the quickest working method for each house (I will also use these timings to work out who is getting the next price increase).

[chris turner]

I changed to wfp for safety and also wanting an easier life. I'm defintly safer but defintly  more stressed.  It seems to be taking me longer than trad. Does it speed up in time or is trad generally quicker.  Absolutely sick of the hose raging on a corner or round a plant plot. Is there a general method of wfp when approaching a house. Heads in bits, feel like blowing the van up and signing on 😂😩

Pull the hose to the furthest window and work back on yourself.
After a while of doing this you know exactly how much hose you need for each job.
You will always get snags, nothing you can do about that.
On the plus side you will be as good at lassoing as an American mid-western cowboy in a few months.

[p1w1]

yep just stick with it you'll speed up over time. Its a bit like starting again as you have to learn the quickest route to pull the hose out, you'll learn the little problems that snag the hose up on individual property's etc, even simple things as the best angle to park the van on a property. I always start furthest away and work my way back ,i also find having the pole hose longer then what suppliers send there poles with better as you don't have to pull as much hose around corners etc. 6 months down the line you will have really speeded up.

[nathankaye]

https://m.facebook.com/nathanswindowcleaningservices/photos/pb.564121317023892.-2207520000.1454627461./619867728115917/?type=3&source=42

Hi, i switched in june/july of last yr, after 14 yrs traditional. My smallest round was a long street that took me one day trad methods. It took me 2 days when i first switched. I felt the same as u buddy. Now it takes me no time at all. Its like all the above comments, especially being on a new learning curve.  Also you learn to improve your technique and perhaps like me, modify the equipment choices. I got majority of my kit from purefreedom n used carbon poles, yet purchased switch valves which fasten to ur poles. So i had trailing my pole hose, that connected to a tap on the pole. Then piping from my tap on pole to the end of my hose and finally my hose. A complete waste of money and time. So changed that! A big difference! Pole hose to hose via a switch valve n rectus fitting. I wear a belt with a holster, that the hose clips to, so my hose is around my waste, trailing hose behind me, so its harder to snag and isnt a trip hazzard.

So, go thru pain barrier and you wont regret it. Now it sometimes doesnt even feel like work, it is that easy, plus u can work in rain so no loss of income

[NWH]

One morning it will just click like learning to drive.

[M & C Window Cleaning]

As others have said, you will get quicker. My first time round after switching eight years ago I was taking about 50% longer. Second time about the same as trad. Then came the benefits. Yes, there will be days when your hose seems to have a life of it's own and be determined to drive you nuts, but be patient, it will get better. I was doing houses today that used to take me 15 minutes to clean trad without the frames that now only take 6 minutes or less with the frames and although I'm moving fast I don't feel like I'm rushing. I use a pure freedom trolley with a 15mtr hose for most work and a 25mtr hose for the longer gardens. That's my preference for my work as a van mounted system would present too many problems for parking on my round.

[Clever Forum Name]

My round took me 5 weeks longer to complete. Jesus the amount of problems I got.

I started WFP in 2010 and when you asked for help online most was just guess work.

You will get to know where to park the van. Where not to park it. Where to save time.

When you pick up a new customer on a new build estate it can change your route. Picked up four on Monday and now it will change that day
Now. Two houses will see me cleaning the sides in the morning. Then back later for the fronts. Then last for rears. Customers are fully aware. It's parking and access issues GRRRR

[Walter Mitty]

As others have said, just stick with it.  You will soon learn those little shortcuts that add up to a very big time saving.
Here's what happened to me (2005/2006) when I switched.  My moderately paced, six weekly round tooknine or ten weeks first time with WFP.  Second time around was an improvement.  After maybe four or five times around, my six weekly round was taking less than four.  The breaks were nice but WFP costs more to run than a trad round, so I had to start filling in the gaps.
You may have to drop certain jobs at some point if they involve scrambling over garage roofs or on housing estates with long walkways and parking problems.  This will be more than balanced out by taking on work with awkward windows that you couldn't previously clean.

[NWH]

Even now I still spot ways to make certain jobs easier years on,which way to go and which point to start are the things  to get right it takes quiet a while to get up to speed. It's like starting all over again when you go WFP give it a while you'll laugh how easy it is.

[SeanK]

Ash pay little or no attention to the speed claims you get on here as its swings and roundabouts, there certainly are properties
where wfp is quicker but there will also be others where it would be quicker to trad them.
Overall I would still say its slightly quicker but it wont have you going from pennies to the VAT threshold.
Just remember the real reason why you changed over, your safety which is all that counts, you will get quicker over time that's
certain but unfortunately I wouldn't be honest if I said hoses will ever stop being a pain.

[gary999]

On Average its quicker...but that can depend on the operator as well..i had two guys
wfp working opposite me yesterday and I was literally cleaning two houses to their one. Lovely  fancy
van all the gear and no idea, thought they were going to drown the street
Anyway the longer you wfp the more confident you will get....increased confidence you will naturally
speed up

[paulben]

Look at it another way how much longer would it take you if you fell off ladder and broke a leg at least 6 weeks , how many times have you been carrying a ladder and snagged it on a tree branch, stick with wfp . When I am having a bad day I think back to my 27 years in a factory , 27 years of hell compared to this job

[M & C Window Cleaning]

In view of SeanK's post I will clarify mine.
It was probably misleading as my round is mainly terraced houses built in the early sixties, almost all of which are arranged in blocks. The windows are averaged size and are for the most part very straight forward. We're talking two up, two down, front and back and not much more than a few steps between them on each property. Not many of the front gardens have walls or fences and most of the back windows can be accessed with a 15 mtr hose leaving the trolley outside the garden. I have a handful of quite large back gardens where it's easier to take the trolley in and use a very short hose to prevent it getting caught on whatever's laying around. However, the times I stated were accurate for most of the properties I was cleaning yesterday.
I recently spoke with another window cleaner that I met though, who had gone back to trad with ladders as he found wfp much slower for his work. He didn't say how long he'd tried it for however, and when I met him he was cleaning houses like mine, so I don't know why he found it a problem. It may be he didn't stick at it long enough or have encouragement from fellow windies to persevere.
Me personally, when I first looked into WFP all I could see were all the negatives and very few positives other than the most important one of not working at height. After a few weeks of WFP though, most what I had seen as potential problems melted away. I found ways to work round them. Now I would never go back to cleaning from ladders even if I could, and after eight years at wfp, I still occasionally find quicker ways of doing things.

[Micky Barber]

Got a better one than that, ordered 10 bayonets and 10 springs for Aquadapters from Northern Ireland at 5.00pm and received them 900am the next morning, it takes 10 years to get em from Extinct innovation.

[simonr]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321628341642?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2648&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

these are a godsend, get a few though cos you will drive over some

[slap bash]

The biggest problem with newcomers to WFP is over cleaning as they do not know how little to clean. But only how long. There is not short cut  to experience  You will just have to learn by trial and error.

[dazmond]

its defo quicker after a while and with more experience.also if you buy better equipment and are very organised you can fly through more work in less hours than trad.

WFP is over TWICE AS QUICK on larger properties and commercial jobs (offices etc) compared to ladders.the larger jobs i priced up when trad take  less than half the time and even less effort now.its all good!

[Walter Mitty]

I think the two extreme examples that come to mind from my round:  Job 1:  A lot of awkward ladder climbs and some of the windows leaded.  From ladders - 3 and a quarter hours.  With WFP (once I got used to it) - one hour twenty minutes.
At the other end of the scale, I can think of several jobs with awkward hose access which take about the same time as trad (single storey jobs).
Since I got used to WFP, I don't think there are any jobs that take longer with it - though I did drop the jobs that involved scrambling over garage roofs and down the other side.  Just as well really because you can't test the ground for slipperiness when you're up on a roof wondering where on the patio to plant the ladder.