I own a fairly well established power washing company and we occasionally get the request for window cleaning. We take a random one here or there if it’s simple enough but I’ve really considered the idea of putting more into and really making it a part of my business. If I were to do so, should I stick to the squeegee and ladder method or go for the WFP?
Each has its own positives.
Sqeegees take more skill and a person that is comfortable on ladders.
Wfp can be used by anyone, no skill like a squeegee but equipment costs are more.
Even if you use wfp a person still needs the squeegee for interior cleaning.
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I would never hire someone who can’t do ladders anyway as we do roof cleaning as well. And of course, they would have to have squeegee skills for interior work. Now that I’m writing this, I think my biggest issue is difference in time and labor. If we are talking about exterior only, I assume a trailer mounted wfp would be faster than squeegee and ladder?
We have 2 guys right now who don’t climb ladders, one has been with us for 5 years. Just like tools employees have times places too.
Our outside ladder and high rise guys don’t like to be inside so it all works out.
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I had a tough job the other day, 2 story, where I had to scrub the windows first (heavy amounts of dirt), and then scrub with brass wool nose to glass. I do not for the life of me see how a WFP would have taken care of this job. As a maintenance job? Hands down would be better; as getting the initial cleaning done? Manual labor all the way on a ladder.
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With the right tools you can get first time clean with WFP done (I’m not talking about construction cleanup). I’ve collected over $500 in WFP brushes. I have ones best for maintenance and others best for first time cleans. With the addition of the DA components bronze wool pad holder it’s going to be easier for first time cleans.
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I get that. I must have not been clear on just how much elbow grease went into getting the glass cleaned. The initial caked on dirt would have come off with a WFP brush by agitating and rinsing a couple of times - it did with a sopping wet scrubber. What I am talking about was the gray film like(?) stuff that actually required me to aggressively scrub with soapy bronze wool in hand. I, for the life of me, cannot see how a WFP even with the new bronze wool pad attachment would have done justice on this job; corners, edges, most were 4’ x 4’ glass with one divide.
I agree wfp surely isn’t for every job for us.
We only use it on commercial. Residential needs perfect results and we need so much scrubbing in spots and feel going back ends up taking too much time.
Depends. Was it government work?
It was an attorneys office. All of the windows were right where they gaze upon life outside as they do their attorney thing. One of the set of windows was ground floor corner conference room and it was mentioned they couldn’t stand the look of the windows any more.
$$ so ended up getting them cleaned clear as they should be and it was mentioned they will look at it as a quarterly. We’ll see…BUT, unless a WFP can scrub magic, I don’t see this type of clean being the first tool in the arsenal. That’s all I’m saying. Subsequent cleans? Oh man, I may just be all over the WFP movement for sure.
Couldn’t you have done that with a wfp with a attachment with bronze wool? Possibly you could used hot water and a bronze wool attachment (it’s amazing the cleaning power of hot water.)
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hmmmm, lets see, old fashioned, dangerous sometimes fatal, ladder damage to buildings, soap residue left behind, high degree of skill required that some never can get,
or modern eco friendly, safer, better clean, longer lasting clean. that customer are thrilled with
yeah it’s a tough choice.
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Oh yeah, TOOL WARS baby!!!
(Ha! Finally I get to be that guy that interrupts a discussion with a “___ wars!” comment.)
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HAHAHA…Okay.
Old fashioned(?) = Tried and true
Dangerous = Sure ladder footing with stand off
Ladder damage = 0
Soap residue = 0 (fresh rubber removes all moisture, detail edges)
High degree of skill = Sure, I got that!
Customer thrilled = Delivered above expectations
So now I need to get a hot-water-water-fed-pole apparatus?
You guys are killing me. lol
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I am new at this, but I am more and more inclined toward the “old fashioned” style, especially for residential clients.
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Lol. I was trying to start a tool war. I guess I have been hanging out too much on the Facebook window cleaning groups. There’s always a war between never use WFP and you must always use WFP. I like to use both. In @Garry case I probably would have used traditional too. But I’ll definitely will be testing out the new attachment when it comes.
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that’s the biggest advantage i have in my area, almost everybody is old fashioned here. yum yum easy pickins.
Sure why not… 
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How quickly can you get a (newbie) trained to do effective and efficient Wfp cleaning, out of curiosity?
Generally I work with them, but have been getting my lead guy in the role of that also.
Within a week I would say a guy can be pretty efficient. We teach them everything from the startup, pulling it out of the truck to connecting it to poles.
They follow at a lower level side by side with and experiences guy. Little reminders of a pattern to use on each window.
We have been using our wfp setup more and more.
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