[Clear Vision]

Today was a total disaster. Most of the houses I did today have never been wfp'd
before.

I did one house and packed my stuff away in the van and the lady of the house came out & said "you can't leave it like that" pointing to her kitchen window.

I went to have a look and righ enough it was horific

Water had lurched up in the frame at the top and had ran down and spread. What a mess.

I am really confused? Some people say on a first clean you must wash the frame at the top and rinse well, then wash the window and rinse?

My theory is and I have proved it, is when water touches the top frame no matter how many cleans it had you are in trouble.

All the houses I did after that I managed to let water touch the top frame and when dry it was spotty.

What do I do?

Clear Vision

[Trevor Knight]

Hi Clear Vision,

I am not sure why you are having this problem?

The points I can offer you are this

1) 1st cleans you need to do in 2 hits, frames and glass, then back after the whole house is done and then just clean the glass only.

2) NEVER get water into the air vents above as they are a nightmare and will always cause you problems.

3) Rinse, Rinse and Rinse again, if you have managed to get water up into the frame unless you give it a thorough rinse it will always drag out the dirt from underneath, you will really need to give it a good rinse and then when dry do the glass again without the top frame.

4) Remember, WFP is not the definitive awnswer to window cleaning, it is purely a safer and alternative method, you will come across some glass that just won't accept this method so you will have to clean it traditionally. Thankfully these are only few and far between, but it happens

I know you have had a hard day and no doubt are questioning yourself and WFP, all I can say is stick at it and it will come good.

Keep smiling

Best wishes,

Trev

[Clear Vision]

Thanks trev,

Will do exactly as you said!

What do you do on the second clean? Do you just do the glass and try to avoid touching the top of the frame?

I find it hard as I'm on my own. I take it personaly. I am the ONLY person responsible for making a mess. If I could afford to have someone with me that would give me that little extra confidence. Also I find it hard to walk away when the windows are still wet. Worried that will they dry spot free.

Does that make sense?

Clear Vision

[mick40]

clear vision how have your customers taken to the wfp cleaning? im due to get it in the next month and not sure how they will take to it up these parts.

[Clear Vision]

Some very good and others just not sure about it all. Probably about 80% are not convinced.

What system are you planning?

There are no showrooms up here so it's quite hard to see different set ups.

If you want we could meet up one day and you could have a look at mine!

Matthew
Clear Vision

[mick40]

clear vision.

i have a hospital appointment tomorrow (10.20) could meet you about lunchtime.
if not give me a day and i will come down.

[Clear Vision]

What hospital?

Dingwall or raigmore?

I will be working in muir-of-ord about that time tomorrow.

[mick40]

raigmore. what time do you get finished in muir?

[Clear Vision]

Will be there most of the day. Prob finish about 3-4?

[mick40]

thats ok for me then.i will drive through after ive finished at hosp.what van have you got?

[Trevor Knight]

The first clean is obviously the most important one as this is getting all the dirt and grime off the frames etc....

On the second clean I just clean the glass and frames to the left/right and make sure I give a good rinse.

Rinsing is so so important, I can't stress it enough.

Wish I was nearer I could have helped you for a day.

Best wishes,

Trev

[Clear Vision]

Thats very kind of you to sugest that.

You could allways come up if you like. Not much room in the house. Would pitch a tent in the garden. Very quite. Live way out in the countryside.

Would really like someone with experiance to come out with me for a day and show me the ropes.

[windows_chepstow]

Clear Vison,

No doubt after reading many posts on this forum, it would be understandable to think that using a WFP is far quicker than using ladders to gain access to your windows.

Actually, it is, but it takes a while and a fair bit of effort, sweat and toil to get to that point.

When you first start using a WFP, you've got to convince yourself and your customers that it does the job.  That's bad enough to begin with.

Then you've got to do the work.  Scrubbing all those frames that you (maybe/probably) avoided when cleaning trad.

My advice is to accept you're going to have a ROUGH month or two, and go overboard on every customer's windows.

Scrub the frames first, get them really clean, then return to clean the glass only; as Trev pointed out; and rinse at least twice on each window.

As your customers gain confidence in your system, and as your confidence grows too, you'll reach a point where  you just give each window a quick rub over and a quick rinse and then move onto the next.

This doesn't happen overnight though.

[mick40]

clear vision.

have you any writing on your van?? if not what kind of van have you got.

[Clear Vision]

Cheers tosh,

Will stick it out. One of the main things is when you go back to collect payment. Sometimes they will comment on spotting and I feel bad taking the normal price from them. Do you maybe knock off a quid the first time or do you still charge them the same??

Matthew
Clear Vision

[Clear Vision]

This is my van. Let me know what time you are likely to be in the muir and I will wait for you.

[mick40]

matt i reckon i will be there about 1 o clock maybe before.will see you in muir.

[windows_chepstow]

Cheers tosh,

Will stick it out. One of the main things is when you go back to collect payment. Sometimes they will comment on spotting and I feel bad taking the normal price from them. Do you maybe knock off a quid the first time or do you still charge them the same??

Matthew
Clear Vision

Matthew,

I didn't get much resistance when I first started using a WFP, but that was probably because I/we haven't went the whole hog.  We only do 1st floor and above usually, apart from Geogian or Leaded windows.

Have a look in the 'Documents to Upload' Section and download David@StIves WFP letter of explanation and numptyize it to your requirements.

Also, be thick skinned.  It's not much fun when you turn upto someone's house, with your pole and they're looking at you like you're daft; water going everywhere!

Just go overboard, with lots of scrubbing and rinsing; work hard and you'll enjoy the benifits in future repeat cleans.

[Clear Vision]

matt i reckon i will be there about 1 o clock maybe before.will see you in muir.

See you in the square!

[mick40]

ok matt thats fine.