Hey, everyone! I got legitimized in March and I’ve been trying to get window jobs out here in the Pacific Northwet. I’m working on average about 2 days per week with about 600 a week right now…barely enough to survive. End of April was great making about 1300 a week for the last 2.5 weeks. I guess things are picking up. My questions are below. If you can just answer as many as you have time for I’d be extremely grateful!
Any really slow videos on fanning, and any advice on fanning without leaving a line on the up portions of each stroke? I got the whole cut from the bottom or left side, do the top at a 45 or so, the right side. As I’m coming back up is where things blow up, so I usually just do straight pulls. I feel they are slow.
Is there a good way to clean tinted glass? It streaks if I just look at it, especially on hot days. My squeegee like to bounce on side to side pulls.
On straight pulls with poles (especially on tinted windows where I can’t see if I’m leaving marks), any tips, and what was your best advice? I do everything with a ladder so these are if I can’t reach it, so can’t see it.
How do I stop obessing over hourly rate? I’ve been taking a stop watch on every job and timing how long it takes, and how many panes I can grind out per hour. Usually it’s about 17.5 panes, one side only, in an hour. I’ve gotten as many as 26 but those are harder hours. At 2.50 per pane for one side, thats about 40 per hour. I want to be more at the 70-90 range. My question here is how to stop worrying about it, and also how in the flying flip you guys can do so much more…?
I’m using just a brass ettore channel and ettore rubber, with the contour grip pro handle, and an 18" golden glove mop. I just bought a porcupine mop for outsides.
Make sure the tip of the squeegee passes through enough dry glass to dry it off during the upward motion. As you pull across, angle the top tip forward in the direction the squeegee is traveling. Make sure the rubber is still good on the ends. @TheWindowCleanse has a great video on the different types of strokes under the YouTube channel The window cleanse. I’ve posted several of my favorites you should be able to find by searching the forum.
More water. Use two poles, one for mop, one for squeegee. Or use a combo tool like the ettore backflip or the moerman excelerator. For non-pole mop with one hand and squeegee with the other simultaneously.
Someone just had a thread about drips on straight pulls. In it i linked a few posts on the seven technique that should be of help. Also, the excelerator is nice for certain pole work.
Work on technique for now, not speed. When your technique improves, so will your speed and by extension your hourly.
Yes all of the above. And I would suggest really watching what is happening under your squeegee blade. Try to take a heuristic approach and evaluate the effect each motion and angle has. When you figure out what really works, teach yourself to repeat it consistently by sight and by feel.
Practice doesn’t make perfect. PERFECT practice makes perfect.
Hello and welcome to the forum! My technique recommendation is that I agree with all of the above, best to focus on technique vs. speed at this stage of your development.
You might try experimenting with other squeegees in order to find the ones that you are really comfortable with.
Check your time when you pull up and shut off your vehicle, then again when you climb in your vehicle and crank it back up. That is your time to finish an X amount of windows job. Divide your take by that time and you will know what your hourly rate is for 10, 20, 30 windows. There is always more than just touching the windows involved with your time count. Avergae it out over several jobs and whalla, you have an average hourly rate.
@clean That is all windows. Picture window–5 bucks. Slider–5 bucks each Tiny bathroom window–5 bucks Double hung or the side to sides–5 bucks. I’ve found it to be fair enough, at least for now.
@WVWindowWashing Thanks for all the answers. I’ll look those up.
I’ll try and post a youtube video of me doing some and get it posted. I’ll suds up some windows and have at it tomorrow. Looks like nasty rain and lightning planned for tomorrow. Good day for soaping up some insides.
In that case you might consider raising your prices a few bucks. Even just an extra $1 per window on a 40 window house would be $40. If u charged $7 that would be an extra $80. That would definitely boost your hourly. I also charge an extra $1 for second story windows. Those dollars add up.
If you have jobs with high visibility, such as storefronts, it is okay to spend more time onsite. That gives you more visibility and more opportunities to talk up WC and give cards to prospects. Sell, sell, sell!
Double check your pricing with someone in your market that you trust. You might be getting underbid by someone who is more efficient and savvy with his overhead. I’m in a similar market - DFW. We can’t afford to automatically assume the cheaper competition is somehow deficient. They might be better, faster and/or smarter in their approach. And as you said, they might be hungrier.
These are all true things on the price. I finished (finally) my biggest job today. I regretted knocking on his door. 89 panes with half being a pain in the keester. Bushes blocking ladder access. Having to pull out my little giant, which I consider to be a huge time waster. I’ve never wanted a WFP more than today. Definitely underbid. I charged him 450 bucks. Many windows had a white film that would develop when scrubbing. I think it was from the window trim paint. Streaky stuff… I won’t be calling him back next year.
All in all it took me a whopping 13 hours But I knocked on his neighbors door and got his business. All 1 and 2 story, super boxy home, no bushes. 400 buckaroos.
For bidding - try to price things based upon a combination of pane count and how much expected time it will take. This helps with factors like trees/landscaping and other issues that slow down work
I can’t remember what the name of the post was (perhaps someone else on here does) but there was a discussion on here about perfection - how technicians B work is seen to customers as A+. I would search that out and read through it. Great discussion that relates to time/quality of work performed and how much time should be spent on “perfect work.” You’ll find that windows are oxidized (white streaks). To a certain extent, you just need to do the best you can - not focusing on perfection but general quality of work. Perfection can be a huge waste of time. Better to strive for high quality work and realize perfection on windows can unnecessarily consume time
Hourly rate - work on getting better and faster at what you do and your hourly rate will increase. You’ll initially be slower than more experienced cleaners/companies that are making 70-90 an hour. I would bid jobs similar/competitively to market rates but realize that your hourly rate is going to be largely based on on how productive you are. Example - If someone else is 2x as fast as you, you could bid a job at the exact same price but they would be making $80 an hour while you’re getting $40
But I knocked on his neighbors door and got his business. All 1 and 2 story, super boxy home, no bushes. 400 buckaroos.
