I don’t think guys really grasp the scheduling conflicts when you’re dealing with 10 plus houses A-day.
Then add 1 rain day, painful
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Many great suggestions. I definitely understand the idea of doing them on a Saturday but we really try not to work weekends. That way everyone can plan their family life accordingly.
We do storefront and commercial as well; so those are not impacted as much as the residential. But we’ve seen a lot of growth in residential and it becomes a problem when it rains for a few days in a row.
I think the best way about this may be to only half-book Fridays every single week in the season. Then we can use Fridays to catch up on storefront, commercial, and pull-forward residential that want to be on a wait-list for earlier appointments.
Thank you for the ideas and discussion!
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One thing I do is unless I call there is no reschedule. If the clients calls they are told in a nice way your at the bottom of the list.
You could route insides for rain days come back do the outsides?
Doesn’t have to be a Friday , it can even be a Thursday or Monday . See what day would work better for you
Living in the Portland OR area, if I didn’t wash in the rain, season would be short. I have found it an easy sell to customers in that it’s not the rain that makes your windows dirty, it’s the dust/pollen etc on the glass then it rains making windows dirty. Once the windows are clean, rain won’t dirty the windows as it is pure, also most windows are protected by the over hang of the roof. So unless the customer has a very exposed area with lots of trees and sideways driving rain, it usually is not an issue. Also Mrs/Mr customer, if you have any issues in the next week, let me know. Only time I’ve been taken up on this offer is when a bird smacked into the nice clean picture window. I was happy to stop by and take care of it.
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Great reply. We already do this. A few customers it works perfectly and they understand. Some customers will accuse us of trying to steal from them, lying to them, etc. “Why would I pay you to clean my windows when they are going to get dirty in the rain!”
We try to refrain from saying… “Well it’s going to rain EVENTUALLY so… your entire line of reasoning doesn’t make any sense!”
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Here’s where a residential route makes all the sense. Exterior only. Once a month.
I’ve had 2 people ask for quotes and say they would pay $100 a month for exteriors.
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plus 1, I use this all of the time. Plus I offer 7 day rain guarantee. Only had to own up to it once and those were windows that were just a few inches above the ground; of course mud splattered up on them. Easy fix for last item of the day once in 10 years.
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Rain cancellations throw things off so bad.
We run 4 -5 crews and it can be a disaster to try to reschedule, right?
Once we implemented a 7 day rain or shine spot free guarantee, our rain cancellations came to an abrupt halt. Because most of the time, the rain doesn’t affect the clean window.
Our storm call back / redo rate is less than 1/2 of a percent.
And it’s fast to go rewash a partial exterior.
Much better than sending a crew ( or 2) home and trying to fit someone in weeks later.
Sid
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I just thought of this as I was working extra hours for my day job; I can not remember everything i read in this thread, but what about longer nights? You said that weekends are a no go, so why not catch up missed work in the evening? Is it the overtime that you are trying to avoid? I just did an extra 3 hours and our boss bought dinner. 4 stayed to work, no one complained 
I would think that ESPECIALLY in resi, homeowners would NOT go for that. They want you out of there before supper so they can relax and have family time.
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That is true for the most part. But if they are rained out and it’s their only option, other than waiting 3 weeks. I do jobs at night and on weekends, since i am part time and it has gone well. BUT, you are right, most will not want it. It’s an option. Cable guys, furniture guys, show up late a lot.
Btw, I’ve reached my year anniversary on this forum!!! Longest commitment to a forum that I have had. Thanks every one for all the information and conversations.
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+1 on the rain guarantee. It makes them stop every time for me. “The dirt on the windows is what makes them to appear to be dirtier from rain.” I promise to come back and touch up affected windows on the outside for free up to a week from the original appointment or get in back of the line.
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Getting great results with a call center for window cleaners in the Philippines they speak perfect English no accent agents
tell us more . . . .
most concise phrasing of that I’ve seen 
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Makes you wanna have them done right now doesn’t it? lol.
