Ok…so here’s a fun topic…I’m wondering how I could have done this more efficiently…
I got my very first Residential Window Cleaning job. To date,I have been concentrating on Commercial & Store Front. Anyway, this customer called me on short notice…One day!..I went and looked at the place and noticed…Storm Windows!..Oh damn I thought…Should I do this for my first Resi?..Hell yeah, I’m up for the challenge…So I quoted her a nice BIG number and she said…let’s do it!..anyway…
I know it took me longer than it will when I am more experienced and have more jobs under my belt, but I wonder if I handled the storm windows as efficiently as I could have. They were very easy to remove…except for 3. These are pretty old windows too!..the way I did the storms was this…I went inside, started upstairs, removed them and then cleaned the insides of the windows, then went outside and did the exterior. Then went back inside and replaced the storms and cleaned the insides of those. Then…went back outside and cleaned the exterior of them. then repeated this process for the 1st floor. The screens…forget it!..Ughhh…not in good shape and had fun cleaning them…they did not turn out great.
Anyway, could I have been more efficient with this? I don’t want to dwell on how long it took…(6 hrs) as I know this is something that will improve…but as far as efficiency, was this a good way to do it?..was there a better way? How do you all deal with Storms?
Not too much to criticize about how you did them. Every house with storms will have its own pattern to be figured out. The question is - did you make the money that you needed to? No sense worrying about how fast someone else might be or what they would charge. If the check you brought home satisfies you, then it was a job well done.
Thanks!..I definitely made money on this. As far as the speed, I’m not too concerned because I know it will improve. I have been working this business part time alongside my full time job. I actually took the day off from my full time job to do it on short notice…I made more on this job than almost a week of working for “the man”…I thought maybe I overcharged her, but she wanted it done…and I was surprised when she accepted. I figured it would pay off in the end with referrals from the realtor, as she is selling the house and is having an open house on Sunday. I had a nice conversation with the realtor and she asked for my contact info.
I was just wondering if there were any other ways to do the “process”…maybe the way I did it is the best way…who knows LOL…I’m just glad they were the easy kind of storms!
One suggestion might be Cleaning both sides of the storm at the same time. That would save you an extra trip back outside,
as long as you’re careful not to get them dirty when you put them back.
I thought abut that, but really didn’t have anything to set them on…maybe set it on a painters easel with one of those trays at the bottom…I suppose you could just touch it up if you put a fingerprint on it…at least the inside anyway lol
Latex gloves work great for not leaving finger prints while reinstalling storms.
It was a tip giving to me a while back here.
(Non powdered latex gloves)
You place a Huck towel on the window sill and close the window on it. Clean both storms right there on the sill of the window they came out of. You press the storm up against the bottom sash and hold it there with your left thumb. It’s just like you’re cleaning the inside surface of the bottom sash. Thousands apone thousands of triple track storm windows get done every year using that method in my neck of the woods. Most efficient method in my opinion.
PS
Not sure if method works if you can’t fan a residential window and don’t wear a bucket on a belt.
We typically remove all storms first thing. Set the storms by their own windows , we do this so they don’t get mixed up. Then if I was working by myself I would do the entire exterior. Next I would go and do the entire interior. Then I would use a storm easel on the inside of the home clean a room of storms install and move on. If they wanted the screens cleaned I would most likely do that first to allow dry time as I cleaned the job.
Sounds like you did a great job. Storm jobs can be very frustrating and time consuming even for guys with a ton of experience. We always try to bid high on these jobs because you never know what you might run into. Upon doing the estimate we always look at the job in person never over the phone. We try and look for a few things , can the storms be removed from the inside . If not we charge extra. Are the storms or home windows painted shut, are the storms and home windows in good working order etc. We always try to get a good idea of the condition the windows are in so we don’t run into a o sh$t kind of moment.
Now you know how to do it, just charge a lot for it! I try to price scare people to call someone else, that is how much I hate doing them! People will still accept at 30 per, so now i bumped it to 45 per and no call backs:grin:
I’m digging that Storm Easel you showed off…In this area, there are a lot of older homes with Storms…It WILL come in handy! Thanks for the tip too!, I will implement that!
