[gaza]

I class my self as a pro w/c and I have a window cleaner to clean my windows [no Im not lazy] when I first thought about window cleaning he was so helpfull and still is
[hes had 26 years in w/c buiss] hes a sort of friend, I use him cus when he puts his price up so do I .He must be doing something right got 5 lads working for him. NO JOB IS SECURE;re ROVER,THE PITS ETC ETC. but I think its a long time before they bring down the price of w/f/p systems for house holds being able to afford their own,mind you who bought a video player when they first came out?now they carnt give them away.
ITS GOING CLOUDY,WHO CARNT READ CRYSTAL BALLS

[jsm]

WFP for me is the daddy if you want to get people to work for you , I've only beed doing it a week and first thoughts is any monkey can do it ,
 I have a guy work for me , great bloke , we have a laugh etc etc , but at the end of the day he's not as good on the old tools as me , he does the job well but somtimes I'm  looking over my back , saying " Brett , wipe the sills , Brett , you got a run on that pain " etc

 There's no way I would let him out on his own to do the round without me  . But now we are on WFP - well you don't need much skill or brain cells  to do it well ,  after 10 mins instruction anyone can be let lose out on their own  - so as far as i can see its a great tool if you want to expand your firm and send guys out to do the work for you - well thats what it says in my crystal ball anyway 

[Simon Carter]

This is my point. If it takes the skill factor away, at least in comparison with a squeegee, & you don't need a ladder, won't more folks do there own windows once the technology starts to become available in B&Q & such places?.
There's a danger of going round in circles on this one. Only time will truely tell, but I think to totally dismiss the threat is Ostritch like. 
It is true of course that the technology is not new & as yet I do not know a single home owner who even possesses their own kit, let alone uses it, but then it was only a year ago that I first thought about investing in a WFP. In that time, the product has become almost common place in the hands of window cleaners.
You may be thinking, why is he getting himself so worked up about this?. Whatever the effect, it will only ever be marginal, but I'm trying to make a long term marketing decision. Stay focused, or diversify. My choice whould be to stay focused. My problem is that I want to develope a marketing cooperative to drive on my window cleaning business. If I do this now, it will make it very difficult to diversify at a later stage if my fear turns out to have some substance.