Ross,
I agree that WFP will become the norm for window cleaning at some point in the future.
I don't agree with your views on the quality of finish that you can get with WFP.
To have picked up over 200 accounts of dissatisfied customers is pretty d
amning though, that is huge, and I really mean a huge amount.
You are coastal, perhaps this has a big bearing on the fact?
During the winter a huge amount of salt was put on the motorways, I've done a couple of accounts that had salty windows as a result of this and they took an awful lot longer to get right.
But on the standard UPVC windows that are now in the majority of houses I would say that they come up as good or better than windows done trad.
And I'm constantly coming upon repeat cleans that don't even look as if they need cleaning.
200 accounts is virtually a full round for many, and for you to have picked up so many in your area then there has to be something else in the equation there somewhere.
If you have picked up that many, then others must also have picked up a huge amount too, as you say, WFP is still in the minority around your area, but it appears that no one is doing a good job with it.
200 accounts at what? an average of say £6.50??? thats £1,300 worth of work that is a staggering amount for one firm to pick up as a result of dissatisfied customers alone.
I absolutely do NOT doubt you, you have said many many times of the poor results WFP achieves in your area, and the fact that you have yet to see a job done WFP that you could say was better than one could be done trad.
That is totally at odds with most WFP users on the forum in other areas of the country, and certainly at odds with my own findings.
It just has to be your area, maybe beause it is coastal?
David@St Ives also has salt related problems and also says that he never comes across windows on his repeat cleans that look almost perfect after a month has passed by.
The one window that Peter cleaned took him 17 seconds, I'm forever stopwatching myself and standard casement style window takes me a consistant 30 to 35 seconds to clean.
This is a window in good order and not one with bird poo on or one that has borne the brunt of a lot of wind and weather.
for anyone that has not heard my description of a standard casement window, it is about 5 to 6ft wide and about 3'10" tall.
It has one small opening light, a fixed pane below the opening light and a tall opening pane to the one side of this.
One such as this in UPVC, including a full wash of the frame takes me on average 30 to 35 seconds to clean.
If there is a film of weathering over this, maybe a splash of bird poo, spiders and their debris on the frames etc, then it will probably take at least double that time to clean.
Were you to add on salt deposits I've no doubt it would take even longer.
In 2 and a half years I have only lost 3 accounts at most due to WFP.
Were Ross's findings the same across the country or the same in my area I would have to have lost a great many more, or at the very least have had countless complaints, and I have certainly not had any of those...
I'll draw my musings to a close...time for work! (trad and WFP
)
Ian