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When doing residential work, I send postcards to 5 - 10 of the neighbors homes, referencing that I am doing windows at Ms Smith’s
house on Monday, and if you’d like yours cleaned too I can offer a discount because there will be no travel charge. -
I keep track of a service to suggestively sell to each client, and speak casually but not in a overly salesman-like way about it when I complete
their original service. -
I try to make something more important than money when interacting with my customers. Sometimes I’ll do things without any expectation of
financial reward for my customers.
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Do you finger your windows? I do!
When you see a dry drip mark on a window just finger it. As long as the oil on your finger tips has been washed off, takes about an hour, your dry finger tip will do the trick. No huck towel needed. Quick and fast for one or two drips.
Oh … You can finger your windows with any finger.
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Good! Then I just saved money by not needing it!
Do you squeegee with both hands? I think it’s practically a neccessity for window cleaniners. You have to do that at the top of a ladder quite often, I’m so ambidextrous that I won’t even notice if I squeegeeing with the left hand at least on casement type windows.
I have my laptop in my truck as well(Ford F150) RAM Mounts makes a laptop mounts for Police cars. Mine was for a ford excursion and i modified it to work well in my truck! definite time saver. I am able to do all my busiiness and email on the run in a mobile office. I have thought about adding the printer but havent figured out a good way to mount in the truck yet.
Nick
In N Out Window & Gutter Cleaning, LLC
In N Out Window and Gutter Cleaning, Seattle, WA 206-432-0025
I just set mine in the back seat (quad cab) I keep the printer and power pack in a gym bag.
There are people is lawn care that have laptop and printer in their truck. They say they have instant access to info about past jobs and customers and they use the printer for professional looking estimates. It a good idea, all I have is a blackberry and it’s crap for the net, all I do is check the weather.
You have to break the scrim in, use it as your drop cloth and general dirty cleaning and wash it. Do this about 5 times and it’ll start really performing for you. I’m sure you all know already, but don’t use any fabric softener on ANY of your towels/scrim. I love the scrim!
When I have to put down my WFP and do the inside or in special circumstances for the exterior I use the Dundee cotton Diapers. I lucked into them 20 years ago when I started my business and have experimented with a ton of others but none have come close to the quality of this Diaper. Now don’t just go to the mall and get any cotton diaper or from your diaper service. I got these with the birds eye weave and took it for granted that this was the way diapers were. Most these days are done in what is called a denim weave. The reason that they switched to the denim weave is that it lasts longer. It sucks. It’s not anywhere as absorbent as the birds eye weave. And why the hell are they putting denim on baby butts when they know that it’s not as comfortable as the much softer birds eye. I know why. It’s the almighty dollar and their penny pinchers have convinced them that they will not have to replace diapers as often if they’re denim weave. But I digress…
The birds eye Diapers are so absorbent and lint free nothing compares. When they are new I do a process that I call burning them in with bleach. To prepare them for use I use 3-4 times the bleach when washing them the first time. (The bleach will burn and soften the fibers to make the water wick better.) I watch them fill and agitate then just before it drains I turn off the washer to let them soak for a few hours. I complete the wash cycle then the next day I rinse them for another three washings with nothing but hot water. This will assure you that there will be no bleach residue left behind. I haven’t used the Unger scrim towels but this process would probably work for them as well. The difference between the scrim type and the Dundee diaper is that the diaper is 4 ply with a 1/8 inch fiber fill pad in between running up the middle of it. It helps in the wicking process and the padding which the huck, surgical towels, microfiber or scrim doesn’t have.
I get the Cloth Diapers - Pre-Folded Super Absorbent White Diapers - 100% Cotton - 12 Per Pkg. If the link stops working do a search for dundee diapers and make sure that you get the super absorbent type.
Cloth Diapers by Dundee - Baby Cloth Diapers - 100% Cotton - 13129
Talk with your customers. If they offer you something to drink…take them up on the offer. Take a break once in a while and just chat them up. I am all about creating positive customer relationships. They love the attention. They also love it when I take my wife along…anyone can clean windows but few cleaners take that extra step to just be yourself around the customer. They will always look forward to you showing up and it builds loyalty.
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Agreed.
It’s nice to hear someone else doing this… I use my thumb.
I recently started to PDF my Est. Funny I put off getting a smart phone to save a few bucks but the results have been awesome. The customers are really excited to have an email with their estimate right there in their inbox, sometimes minutes after we spoke. There is a “camscanner” app for the android I found to work great. Saves time and lets the customer see a step above the rest right away!
[SIZE=“4”]Three words
WATER FED POLE !
This tool will cut anywhere from 1/2 to 1/3 off your time. Oh, I almost forgot the most important thing. Ultra pure water. Weather its from a DI tank system or RO Cart system the water TDS is crucial to have close to or at 0 ppm.
I use mine almost 100 % of the time on residential unless the place is so small that one guy can do it in an hour.[/SIZE]
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On commercial panels that are long and short where a diagonal squeegeeing beats 6 times down, I’ll “push” the lower trailing end of my squeegee with a white towel to both stablilize and guide my squeegee and wipe the sill at the same time.
the magic eraser idea saved me on a couple jobs. Thanks
1)carry a sprayer bottle around with you… i have one thats shaped liked a bullet and holds about 0.5L Not that Unger sprayer the white one one that is too wide and too cumbersome !. mine fits into my left pouch like a glove… my left hand reaches instinctively for it when i need it . and i need it on nearly every window… most of my customers are 1/ 2 / 3 yearly… a quick spray over a surface that is dirty dusty full of pollen . be it a frame a sill or what not will help greatly when you go to wipe that surface down with your damp microfiber… really its a must.
2)Use a an unger green microfiber for insides especially sky lights… these do not drip so much as others and they stay wet along the whole length when left in your boab… where as a monsoon for example the water will due to gravity make its way downwards to the bottom of your applicator and you will end up with a dry north and a wet south .
3 ) when doing smallish windows inside take your squeegee in your normal hand… ie right hand and in your left hand take your clean damp microfiber … wash the frame then wash the glass with the microfiber as well … then quickly using horizontal strokes squeegee off the glass …between strokes clean the blade with the cloth which is anyway firmly held in your left hand ! if your quick it wont evaporate and theer are 3 advantages … you will have the cloth still in your hand for finishing off the sill or where needed … there will be next to know drips or considerably less than using a sleeve… ( which means less finishing off ) and there will be much less water to detail off with your scrim leather micro… and if you like you could call this eco cleaning. there is very little soap residue left on the glass…
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when confronted with spotting from Wfp. instead of doing trad Wfp as normal but instead of rinsing ( save water ) squeegee off using straight strokes always wipe the top frame first to stop dripping . and wipe squeegee blade between strokes when at the bottom or tap the blade really well when up high to shake the excess water off…
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always have a good breakfast and take some energy rich foods with you in the job… this is probably the best tip of all . because with out energy its a waste of time doing this job !
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when working up a ladder always carry another squeegee and extra detailing cloths ( as reserve in case it /they fall down , or out of your hand )
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use a Microfiber cloth wrapped around a screw driver ( small flat head ) to get into crefices and tight corners ( use the sprayer on jet mode ( not mist mode ) to flush the bulk out of the corner your going to clean before hand. this makes the wiping bit with the screw driver easier because you have pre wetted and flushed the bulk out
Sometimes Anderson screens fit in the frame very snugly and it’s difficult to pull the screen in far enough to push the latch into the slot on the frame. If you pull to hard the latch will break. The screen really needs to be pushed into place from outside.
When I am inside and I’m faced with this problem I push the middle of the screen frame out a bit as I pull in on the latch with my other hand.
The frame bows a tad and I’m good to go. 
Year ago, a customer gave me a dozen linen dinner napkins. They work great, like smaller scrim.
make sure the wife is happy before you leave for work, forward your cell to her and tell her to text if important, chew gum if you smoke, talk bout the football game at lunch, forget bout everything but the task at hand…if possible, put on the bat man belt w/ all your tools, know what your next move is before you make it and take in good advice from this awesome forum.
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