Filthy House, what would you do?

Had a residential job scheduled for today, and we didn’t end up doing it. I’m curious how others would have handled it.

To start, we were doing some work a few weeks ago and this guy stopped by to ask for an estimate for window cleaning. When I went over for the estimate, he didn’t answer the door, so I did a quick walk around and left an estimate in the door for him. Obviously it would have been better to go inside and get the whole picture, but wasn’t possible.

He ended up calling later and wanted to schedule. So we get there today and go inside to get started and find out he has ten dogs, all inside the house. It was obvious they were inside all the time because there was dog poop and pee all over the floor. The house was a complete mess and it was impossible to even get to some of the windows.

So I ended up telling him I wouldn’t be able to do the job. I told him the windows were too difficult to access and that the dogs would be in the way. It felt really uncomfortable telling him that, but it was honestly the worst environment I’ve ever been in.

What would you have done? Suck it up and do the job? How would you talk to the customer about it? Have you guys ever been in similar situations?

Yeah, if there is urine and feces all over the floor, I’m not doing a job like that either. It’s a very unhealthy environment. You shouldn’t be breathing that air, and neither should he or the dogs.

That filthy environment is really animal cruelty and if his neighbors knew about it, I bet they’d have a real problem with it too. I’m sure he loves every one of those dogs, but he should not be keeping them in those conditions.

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Needs to be reported to Animal Services or Humane Society.

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I had a job like this last year, job is booked in the neighboring town 30 min drive away, I get there to do a house wash and windows. omg it was a full timber house with a large verandah surrounding the house, under there verandah was stored junk, like 3 large truck loads. I walked around the house and stepped in dog crap which was covering the back yard.

I informed the customer that I would not be able to proceed as I would drip water/solution all over her junk under the deck which would ruin it, and after stepping in crap and seeing all the crap over the back yard, I was like F@#K this SH!T and the customer was dressed in a pair of white shorts with dirty hand stains on the legs and stunk of urine.

She told me she would call to reschedule once she cleaned up…

I hope she doesn’t lol

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Smokers…

I’ve run into a few. Tar on all the windows, do the house and your mop looks like a yellow tar bomb, you smell like a tar bomb. I wind up just throwing the mop away and associated rags. I don’t do them and usually upcharge if I have to.

In sum, upcharge if the job is a dumpster fire.

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We had to turn down a couple junk jobs like that, one lady had an enclosed porch FILLED with cats and it was basically a hazmat with all the ammonia.

Second one was a split level and the place stunk of human feces. Gross.

Had a house similar to that this summer, huge amount of clutter and disgust from what I saw through the windows, flat out would not expose my employees to those types of conditions. The homeowner wasn’t there and she called me back several times, but I didn’t return her calls.

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What I don’t get is why do these people even want their windows cleaned? They’re living in filth. What difference does it make if you have clean windows???

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That’s the eternal question now isn’t it? Been asking myself that for decades.

That, and why on earth painters feel the need to paint window tracks.

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Level of filth is usually relative… I enter some houses and think “how dare you have the nerve to have WIHTE carpet.”

Dog shit under the couch, piss/soda/life stains everywhere else. They dont see anything else beyond where they rest their feet.

I ease off on CYA/Careful not to make a mess… to the point where Im worried about my OWN cleanliness. lol.

Hope that make sense… long story, short… if they have 10 dogs shitting all over… I aint doing the “boots off” thing… and drop cloths are staying in the truck.

Shoe covers work both ways.

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Haz-Mat suit?

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Also most of those sh*t holes will also have fleas. always remove clothes…etc …Back in the day a computer repair place wanted us to do the glass and there was 6 people inside and all smoking cigarettes so I simply said no and left. So bad the computers were brown. As bad as doing bars when you could smoke inside.

I had one maybe 20 years ago that was horrendous. Amazingly I did it probably 3 times and finally said no afterward. Animals everywhere, not trained to go outside and do their thing. Hair all over everything including the windows. I got to the point where I just walked on their beds with my boots on and no sheets or bath towels to cover stuff.
One other was similar, but much smaller and I suffered it out for a few years until finally telling her that my employees were very sensitive to animals (I bet she got some version of that from a lot of contractors)

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Just point to the nearest dog or cat and say “those are good eatin.”

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This situation begs the question…why the eff do you care about getting your windows cleaned?

I can count on 2 hands how many times I’ve gone in a house and said “nope. sorry” lol

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I just finished a house that was absolutely disgusting. I finally asked what prompted them to have their windows cleaned. They said they were putting the house on the market. Lol good luck with that.

As long as they agree to your price, it’s all good. The good news…you will not go inside that house again. Lol

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Exactly lol

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