[AuRavelling79]

Any tips to speed things up? Little things as well as big ones? Getting organised? Van layout? Method of work?

Please post here.

My bugbears - tripping over pole hose and tangling hoses generally.
Is there a solution?

[simon knight]

Yeah...go trad

[cybersye]

write all your bills night before and put them in order of work and stack together with bulldog clip

van mount hose reel ( a hoselock roller guide at the back doors of van may help)

tap connector on end of reel

walk the hose to furthest point you'll be using it

carabina on a belt or hung around shoulders to attach hose to

trim pole hose so its no longer than nescessary ie; when fully extended there is just enough to comfortably use the pole at waist to shoulder height

modify your brushes so they have a non scratch scrubbing pad when flipped to scrub bird poo and egg (my latest project)

backpack for difficult access issues

finally, some jobs will always be easier and quicker trad and if thats the case then i do them that way

[ftp]

Best ask NWH, then you could clean a house in under three minutes.

If you want to go even faster, then i find walking the hose back to the van doesn't work for me because you are making a loop that catches everything. I normally unclip at the furthest point when the hose is at its straightest and whizz it back I start extending my pole whilst walking towards the property and flick the valve a couple of seconds before I get to the glass. Most of my time is taken up with coiling hoses back up and packing away.
The biggest waste of productive time in my opinion is chatting to the customers! Part of the job but unavoidable.  
 

[AuRavelling79]

Good suggestions guys - keep 'em coming.

[cybersye]

Best ask NWH, then you could clean a house in under three minutes.

lol 

[cybersye]

If you want to go even faster, then i find walking the hose back to the van doesn't work for me because you are making a loop that catches everything.

good point, I used to do this and had the same problem
I still do walk it back sometimes but have got used to looking out for obstacles like rockery and corners of steps where the problem usually occurs and drag the hose free of them before I start to reel it in, its easier to do this on regular jobs where you've done it several times before.

I'm going to stop now for fear of sounding like a complete geek 

[The Seven Bays Window Cleaning Company]

I agree a van mounted hose reel does save a lot of time, and bending over!

For me having my flow conected to the pole hose, and attached to a sling that all I have to do it hang it from my neck, and clip the pole hose into microbore - enables hands free pole operation, and easy control of the flow valve.

Van organisation is key - I have all my poles mounted in a rack in the van, with hose hooks.

[martinsadie]

Any tips to speed things up? Little things as well as big ones? Getting organised? Van layout? Method of work?

Please post here.

My bugbears - tripping over pole hose and tangling hoses generally.
Is there a solution?

yes get ladders 

[ftp]

Brilliant! then when you need something like a spare connector just drive home ten miles and drive back to the job.

[Window Washers]

LOL, trust you ftp, small peripherals and tools are fine they don’t take up much space and get in the way. I was thinking more of the larger equipment.

Carry a small box of everything that could fail, y piece, connectors, hoselock ect, spare brush (egg is a cow not a chicken )

[windowswashed]

Pay a Polish worker peanuts and get him/her to do all your work on your behalf.

[martinsadie]

Don’t carry all your equipment in your van, only take what you are going to use that day.

what if you pick up a new job and a piece of kit you need is at home 

[Jeff Brimble]

When you have refined everything mechanical to a fine tune as above .  - Use brain power, as you work THINK what your doing next, after some practice it becomes Auto. Think where you are going to place your foot next etc. pole sections etc hose etc. Saves you more money.

[kevin James]

I expect the value if a quad is wearing thin now: but vans are dinosaurs, not originally designed for stop go domestic work.
So apart from that I've found that towing the Omnipole trolley ( can u believe it's only £195+?) had stepped me up another notch. If I see cars & wheelie bins aplenty then I forgot the reel on the quad & unhitch the trolley. I have just 10 m of 6mm hose, trailing free, ie no loops. This follows a beaut & we're heading fir 30-35 hooses a day.

Kevin 

[martinsadie]

Don’t carry all your equipment in your van, only take what you are going to use that day.

what if you pick up a new job and a piece of kit you need is at home 

Just do it another time,  :

if you in the area whats the point of going back again the threads about speeding things up 

[Londoner]

Get a stopwatch and time how long it takes you to do each house. At first you just collect a load of useless figures but over time a picture builds up.

If you divide the price by the number of minutes the job takes you get a rate per minute. I found some jobs were taking twice as long as others for the same money. Also, you start to question your own methods of working and cut out wasteful practices.

For example, I always ring the bell for the money before I have finished. This time last year I would pack up then ring the bell.
Because the customer sees you are still working they are also less likely to start chatting which is an added advantage.

[cozy]

Doing the job sooner, rather than later isn’t speeding things up   :

Eh?

Run that one past me again Ewan

[elite mike]

Doing the job sooner, rather than later isn’t speeding things up   :

Eh?

Run that one past me again Ewan

to much beer

[martinsadie]

Doing the job sooner, rather than later isn’t speeding things up   :

its speeding the job up by not travaling to that area again