I wonder if the time is right to try and collect up a few tips in one thread here rather than scattered around. The sort of stuff I'm looking for are the little details of how people work. You know the sort of stuff I mean. You've been WFPing for a while and one day the light bulb comes on and you suddenly realise that there is a better way of working.
The two that I'm going to post are almost embarassing because I'm sure that they should have been blindingly obvious to me from day one. However, I've recently made two changes to my work methods. One saves time and the other improves safety - and maybe saves a little time too.
1) FIRST CLEANS
On maintenance cleans, unless it's a really big job, I tend to go all around the tops and then start again doing the ground floor beneath where I started the tops. This is to allow maximum "dripping" time. The daft thing is that I have also been doing this on first cleans. On first cleans, I go around twice anyway - the second being glass only. Therefore, I have been lugging the hose around after me far more than necessary. I find it far easier to do one side tops only, switch to a minipole, and then do all the ground floor on that side (this is for top frames + glass). I then go to the next side and do the same. It's only on the second pass when I do glass only that I really need to go all around the top window then go around the ground floor windows afterwards. This means that I switch poles several times but I find that easier usually than lugging hose around more than necessary. On the first pass it doesn't matter if the ground floor windows are dripped on because they are going to be cleaned again anyway a little while later.
Wish I'd realised that sooner - oops !!
2) HOSE BETWEEN VAN AND HOSEREEL
I realise that some people have a reel fixed in their vans and some others have trolley/backpacks only so this won't apply to you.
I have a system where I have been connecting a piece of hose between the van and a hosereel that I remove from the van. Untill recently, I have been using a piece of hose that is maybe a metre or so long. This has meant that I have needed to unreel the hose (often over the public footpath) to the fullest extent that I need for the job before I lay the rubber safety matting over it. This means that unattended hose has been lying across the path - often out of sight from me - until I return and lay the matting over it. I couldn't really lay the mat over it before unreeling to the maximum needed because it would just drag the mat with it - if I could move it at all.
Now, I have about 4 -5 metres of hose between the van and the reel. This means that I can position the reel, make the connection between van and reel, lay the mat over the connection, then unreel the hose as required. The safety advantage is clear in that the hose over the path is never unattended and is uncovered for a very short time. This has the bonus advantage on some jobs of positioning the reel to clear the first corner or the car tyres in the drive making the hose easier to pull around.
OK. Pretty obvious stuff that I ought to have realised sooner but anyone else got a few bits they would like to add?
I'm going to post this on another forum too to maximise responses.
