[geefree]

Hi,

just nipped in for lunch,

i was doing a detached house , i was halfway through it using wfp,

two window cleaners pulled up next door, nice chaps, had i quick chat...... they were trad.... they got the ladders up and were gone in ten minutes flat !!!!... identical house, takes me half hour wfp,

I know i have not been doing w/c that long but did i feel slow and shamefull.... yes !.... and they had a conservatory and i didnt. 

Gary.

[Wrekin C S]

Don't worry about it m8 there was 2 of em! - they probably did a poor job anyway - as long as your doing your job to the best of your ability and your customers happy why worry about it! The neigbour will probably ask you to theirs next time your around there - also you got all your equipment to get in/out they only got bucket and ladders!

chin up 

[Trevor Knight]

Hi Gazza,

With what your saying I am convinced your doing too much detailing and scrubbing. A house shouldn't take you 30 minutes, maybe a first clean but not a regular house that 2 guy's can do in 10 minutes. That works out at 20 minutes with a ladder for a single man and you should be able to get that down to at least 15 minutes.

Ok, so your based in Wakefield? Well lets see if someone who is local can help you out for an hour or two and show you the ropes so to speak.

I would go home and clean your front downstairs window. Clean it with a flick over the frames and then up and down a few times over the glass and then rinse for about 10/15 seconds. Leave this to dry and look at the results. If your happy then do another window the same way until you get into the habit of a cleaning proceedure that isn't too long. Make sure you don't compromise your standards.

Now, if this works you can then build in every now and then a more thorough clean of the frames, say every 3 month etc... this will keep the windows clean and reduce your time.

Keep going at it until your getting a bedroom window cleaned in a minute or less, that should be your aim?

Regards,

Trevor

[Easyclean Windows]

let them try and beat you on a 3 floor house with lead glass 200 windows you will win hands down every time.

Sometimes trad will win over wfp on speed on residential but not over lager properties,flats ,lead glass etc let them be quicker than you don't worry get the more larger more profitable contracts

[KarlJones]

LOL @ what they did just for you

Don't you see?  They saw you with all your kit, and went hell for leather trying to put you down a peg.  10 mins on a detached house with a conservatory is fast, even for two guys.  I'm new, I am slow, but so what? 

I was even slower with a ladder.  LOL!

[Count Phil]

I was on an estate of leaded houses today. A window cleaner went up his ladder and he was scrubbing and drying like mad! I just swished the pole around at my casual speed ( i never go that quick) and still beat him.

You'll get quicker. A quick flick here and there and your done. Those guys have to go like mad to get done that quick, if you went like mad, you'd go the speed of both of them for sho!

[chineapplepunks]

Splish splosh gimme the dosh

[simon knight]

Ah so wfp isn't so much about safety as speed.

You wfp guys will do 10 houses daily to my 6 trad. And you need to because apart from petrol (which is an expense we all endure) my costs are as good as zero!

Long live ladders, bucket, blade and scrim

Oh and I can get away with a gallon of water a day...Ner

[Sir Squeaky]

Oh and I can get away with a gallon of water a day...Ner

Yeah, dirty water.

(That's what the wfp pole users used to say to me anyway... )

[simon knight]

Dirty schmirty, who cares as long as the end result's ok?

[AuRavelling79]

Ah so wfp isn't so much about safety as speed.

You wfp guys will do 10 houses daily to my 6 trad. And you need to because apart from petrol (which is an expense we all endure) my costs are as good as zero!

Long live ladders, bucket, blade and scrim

Oh and I can get away with a gallon of water a day...Ner

OK Simon - so let's work on your figures - wfp does 10 for your 6 - lets say £10 each.

So wfp = £100 trad = £60  - your figures remember?

So that's £400 extra per week for wfp. (based on £200 per day wfp and £120 per day trad.) No way does wfp cost £400 per week!

If you're gonna quote figures then do it with some common sense - newbies might get taken in!

[Spiceworld]

I must admit that i have changed my mind at least 5 times since joining this forum about going wfp or not, and i still haven't got the foggiest whether to or not  :

Richard

[Sir Squeaky]

I must admit that i have changed my mind at least 5 times since joining this forum about going wfp or not, and i still haven't got the foggiest whether to or not  :

Richard

Yeah go on!

Actually don't.

But you could do...

[simon knight]

But that's assuming 20 houses per day !

Obviously the more houses you clean the greater the disparity will be!

If you did 100 houses wfp a day you'd be on £5000 compared to my £3000....please God i should have that problem!

[Spiceworld]

Cheers Squeaky - Thats made it slightly easier for me to decide 

[aztec]

wfp is excellent for commercial but for the picky customers we all have (and we all have them!) domestically you are better off with ladders, i spend more time explaining how it works than cleaning windows

[chineapplepunks]

Ok spiceworld split it into three categories:

A) Do you value your life?

B) Do you want to earn more money?

C) Do you want to open up more business opportunities?

If you answered yes to any of the above, it's a no-brainer - WFP all the way

[Easyclean Windows]

I clean a block of 70 flats in 1 1/2 days how long on ladders trad....4 floors up and roof lights and georgean  ? £700.00 now tell me wfp isnt worth it

[aztec]

oh come on you lot!! how long have you worked on ladders without giving it a second thought! then they say how dangerous they are and you squirm and say how you value your life!! PEOPLE WANT THEIR WINDOWS CLEANED AND DONT CARE HOW YOU DO IT!!! yes safety is important but you take too far how much safer wfp is, as the advert says GET SOME NUTS!!

[geefree]

Thanks for all the input,

I love wfp and you are dead right about the leaded windows,... and they could have been playing a game with me,

To be fair to me, it was one of them houses where your hose gets caught on everything, normally i can do an average detached in around 20 mins,

Yes Trevor i do over do the detailing and i am a little too particular, i rinse too much out of fear of spotting too, but i do race on most houses without any thing in the way, but i could never do any house in ten minutes...... oh and by the way, the guys i met today were very friendly and even had a few helfpul words for me,

but i did go back and sneak a quick look .... only glass had been cleaned. !!

i suppose thats the norm , as a lot of trad guys charge extra for frames etc.... i chuck it all into one price as its near impossible to not clean the frames with wfp..... and much much quicker, i think lol  

Gary.