[jay moley]

Two eight foot pointers on board so you can get over any gate.
Hoe to slide bolts
Fast music playing on headphones
35cm extremes with red fan jets
All food and water on board, so no stopping to faff about buying food
Leave before rush hour, get to first job at 730 and have breakfast before starting at 8
Both pumps going on 100 and two pumps connected to one reel, so you are cleaning with double flow ( I can get away this because I have a 650 L tank, all the work is 12 weekly with a min charge of £27 so we only need to clean 13 houses a day to make some decent money)
All customers on Go Cardless so no time wasted collecting cash.

Are you using 35cm brushes for domestics?

[P @ F]

I think we are starting to see how the reservoirs are empty !
Nutters 

[zesty]

I think we are starting to see how the reservoirs are empty !
Nutters 

Never mind the reservoirs, when’s my hot water system ready to order mate? 😁

[nathankaye]

As said, electric reels either home made or shop bought are  excellent time savers and they save your energy as well.
At least a 35cm brush with a wide and heavy flow of water, be it fan jets, several jets or bissel type cannon bars etc.
Optional, but I like many agree that hot water helps as well!

Then its a case of working smarter perhaps.  For instance some over scrub and over rinse the windows, because in their minds a window isnt clean unless its cleaned x number of times.  Spend some time and notice how many strokes of the brush will get a window cleaned, ie snail/slug trails n spider poop etc.  With my brush, i know that two passes and a third for the rinse is all that is needed, unless I notice anything different on the window.
This way, your not over working and you have peace of mind, knowing you are doing a quality job but a quick job.
If you can go around the whole house cleaning the tops first and clean downstairs on the way back also saves time where you can. Your not messing about extending the pole every couple of minutes etc.....

[P @ F]

I think we are starting to see how the reservoirs are empty !
Nutters 

Never mind the reservoirs, when’s my hot water system ready to order mate? 😁

Tell me about it mate , he’s proper doing my head in now , if he can’t be arsed to get on with the test build hows he going to make time if a few orders come in ?
I’m going to call him on Monday and tell him I will pay for what he’s done so far but am going elsewhere
Either that or I will buy a TIG and pipe expander and do it myself !

[Stoots]

High mod poles and electric reels are the obvious upgrades.

Having your round in the most efficent order and knowing it off by heart rather than checking a job sheet or using a sat nav.

Making sure all your work is easy access, easy parking and hassle free helps. You dont want any through the house, backpack jobs or other inconveniences.

Of course having more compact and better priced work means you dont have to graft so hard in the first place.

Then its down to technique, you need max flow so throw those controllers in the bin. Learn where you can save a few seconds on each job, a frosted window doesnt need a rinse, that top frame that is already still clean doesnt need going over etc. You have to learn where you can slap dash and where you need to take more time, some customers are more fussy some dont seem to care!

Stop taking little breaks here and there. Dont dawdle, dont have equipment breaking down, dont check your phone every half hour.

Get your self in the zone, pull up at that first job with bad intentions... say to yourself right im going to bang this much work out by dinner time and go hell for leather. Take a short lunch break then annihilate more windows.

Get tickets in your pocket ready to go as well no going back to the an for them on each job.

[alank]

Learn when to say no, some jobs just aren't worth the ball ache 

[alank]

When you're finished cleaning windows for the day do all your prep for the next day straight away ie filling water charging batteries cleaning out vehicle sorting the next customers etc. Then chill and do something else.

[Spotfree]

No Faffing about it!

Watch out for it, spot it, do away with it. We all do it at some point throughout the day, it wastes loads of time.

[Spotfree]

As said, electric reels either home made or shop bought are  excellent time savers and they save your energy as well.
At least a 35cm brush with a wide and heavy flow of water, be it fan jets, several jets or bissel type cannon bars etc.
Optional, but I like many agree that hot water helps as well!

Then its a case of working smarter perhaps.  For instance some over scrub and over rinse the windows, because in their minds a window isnt clean unless its cleaned x number of times.  Spend some time and notice how many strokes of the brush will get a window cleaned, ie snail/slug trails n spider poop etc.  With my brush, i know that two passes and a third for the rinse is all that is needed, unless I notice anything different on the window.
This way, your not over working and you have peace of mind, knowing you are doing a quality job but a quick job.
If you can go around the whole house cleaning the tops first and clean downstairs on the way back also saves time where you can. Your not messing about extending the pole every couple of minutes etc.....

Well said Nathan, forget about all the fancy equipment, you need to keep an eye on what your doing and how your doing it. I, in the past was guilty of "over scrubbing".

The best I can say is look at the glass before cleaning, if there is nothing other than dust on it then its going to take hardly any work. You'll find over 90% of windows need hardly any work, as long as you spot any marks on the glass when looking and deal with them before starting cleaning then your standards will still be good.

[Richard iSparkle]

I used to get my reels out of the van, then went to fixed reels in the van. Now the hose seems to get stuck a lot when reeling it out.

Do the majority have fixed or non fixed reels?

this can be solved by gettting really good at parking. make sure the back of your van is pointing in the direction you need to get through to the back

[jay moley]

Electric reels seem a bit uneccesary to me.

I've never had a physical problem/tiredness from reeling the hose in.

At £650 a pop it's a lot to spend surely?

Also if it snags won't it burn the motor?

[Spotfree]

Electric reels seem a bit uneccesary to me.

I've never had a physical problem/tiredness from reeling the hose in.

At £650 a pop it's a lot to spend surely?

Also if it snags won't it burn the motor?

I made 2 for £100, been going strong for almost 2 years no issues.

The motor doesn't burn, as you stood there with it when it snags, you just switch it off.

If like me you do on average 30 houses a day and spend around 30 sec to 60 secs reeling in. You do this pretty quick too.

Then if you estimate around 15-30 minutes of reeling in each day, go outside and spend 15-30 minutes reeling and re-reeling in your hose. Then tell me it doesn't bother you and you still don't want a leccy reel.

[jay moley]

Electric reels seem a bit uneccesary to me.

I've never had a physical problem/tiredness from reeling the hose in.

At £650 a pop it's a lot to spend surely?

Also if it snags won't it burn the motor?

I made 2 for £100, been going strong for almost 2 years no issues.

The motor doesn't burn, as you stood there with it when it snags, you just switch it off.

If like me you do on average 30 houses a day and spend around 30 sec to 60 secs reeling in. You do this pretty quick too.

Then if you estimate around 15-30 minutes of reeling in each day, go outside and spend 15-30 minutes reeling and re-reeling in your hose. Then tell me it doesn't bother you and you still don't want a leccy reel.

I see what your saying. Saving 15-30 mins a day would be good.

Unfortunately I have no DIY skills so couldn't make a couple myself.

[Spotfree]

Electric reels seem a bit uneccesary to me.

I've never had a physical problem/tiredness from reeling the hose in.

At £650 a pop it's a lot to spend surely?

Also if it snags won't it burn the motor?

I made 2 for £100, been going strong for almost 2 years no issues.

The motor doesn't burn, as you stood there with it when it snags, you just switch it off.

If like me you do on average 30 houses a day and spend around 30 sec to 60 secs reeling in. You do this pretty quick too.

Then if you estimate around 15-30 minutes of reeling in each day, go outside and spend 15-30 minutes reeling and re-reeling in your hose. Then tell me it doesn't bother you and you still don't want a leccy reel.

I see what your saying. Saving 15-30 mins a day would be good.

Unfortunately I have no DIY skills so couldn't make a couple myself.

You don't save 15-30 minutes in real time mate, you do save 15-30 minutes of effort though. I used to get a sweat on when reeling in, especially 100 meters.

Now I just stand and have a few deep breaths, or check my watch to see if I beat my previous time for that job, or pick my nose...

[nathankaye]

If like me, you went from trad to wfp, you perhaps could not see the benefits of doing so and perhaps put the idea off for some time.  Then the inevitable happened, you switch over to wfp and you soon wonder why you wasted all that time debating if wfp was for you.
Its the same with the electric reel. Sure, i believe companies are making a huge profit margin on their electric reels.  Thats why I opted to stick a coq (mod note: he means cog!  ) on my reel, along with a chain and purchased a 24v mobility scooter motor. Fixed them together for around £50 and enjoy the easier life.

Theres a number of diy videos on how to make one and even with the extreme basic diy knowledge, its very hard to muck it up

[robbo333]

One of the biggest time savers for me is working out the side of the van (rather than the back).
For 95% of my work, I can pull up exactly at the right spot and I have a straight run, right to the back of the house. Also my reel is on top of the tank (at shoulder height) and with 30m of pole hose on my main reel, reeling in is easy (I will upgrade to an electric one though).

[zesty]

One of the biggest time savers for me is working out the side of the van (rather than the back).
For 95% of my work, I can pull up exactly at the right spot and I have a straight run, right to the back of the house. Also my reel is on top of the tank (at shoulder height) and with 30m of pole hose on my main reel, reeling in is easy (I will upgrade to an electric one though).

How did you attach the reel to the tank? Have you boarded above the tank?

[NWH]

Learn when to say no, some jobs just aren't worth the ball ache 

Spot on that I had 1 this week I looked at it and although it was well priced I said no,I want you to ring me only do it when I’m in etc make every job you do worth doing.

[robbo333]

One of the biggest time savers for me is working out the side of the van (rather than the back).
For 95% of my work, I can pull up exactly at the right spot and I have a straight run, right to the back of the house. Also my reel is on top of the tank (at shoulder height) and with 30m of pole hose on my main reel, reeling in is easy (I will upgrade to an electric one though).

How did you attach the reel to the tank? Have you boarded above the tank?

No, I quite simply screwed 2 plastic pipe clips straight into the top of the tank. Towards the edge of the tank there is quite a lot of plastic to grip. The bottom bar clips into the pipe clips and I used duck tape wound round the bar (at the 2 points where it meets the clips) to get a dead tight fit. It's going nowhere.
You could actually use 3 or 4 plastic clips if you wanted.

This also means if there is any leak from the reel or fittings, the water just sits on top of the plastic tank ready to be wiped off.