1. In your opinion. does a window washer need to be insured and bonded? (you do go into people's     

    homes). Also, how much do you think this would cost? Do you know of any agency that offers it    

    real cheap?

 

When I got started, I was desperate and hungry. I had nothing but a squeegee I bought with a check that I had to chase to the bank. Consequently, I started with no license, no insurance, no business cards. I literally went from shop to shop on University Ave. After awhile, I just kept doing business, started paying taxes, and looked into what I needed to do legally. What I discovered was that I had almost no requirements. Since I lived out of town and commuted, I didn't even need an occupational license from Gainesville or anywhere else in Alachua County. I tried to purchase one and they returned the money.

 

2. What are all the things you need to buy, how much does it cost, and where can I buy them at?

 

You can get most of what you need at Ace Supply in Ocala. I used to order from them and I got a delivery about once a month or so. Sometimes I get things from one of the National Vacuum stores here in town. Sometimes I order online, and I like that because they have everything. I like Windows101.com best. I like Unger equipment best. Get a good extension pole, some squeegees with extra channels and extra rubber blades. Get a washer, a scraper, and a gizmo called a fixi-clamp. I know it's an investment, but most of this stuff lasts a long time. Get a bucket anywhere you like.

 

3. How do you advertise? How do you get residential clients? Did you print out fliers and walk thru every  

    neighborhood and put them on door to door? (that would take a long, long time to do, but if it works...)

 

When I've passed out fliers, they have always worked. It's just that by the time I got around to using them they were largely unnecessary. I started just going up and down the street asking shop owners if I could do their windows. A poor living, but after awhile they asked if I would consider doing their homes. Word of mouth took over from there. More ideas later.

   

4. Do you also do commercial, corporate accounts? How do you get those? (some of those business's.

    like car dealerships, have second story windows, so I imagine you would need a real high     

    ladder.Convienence stores, however, seem to use their own people to wash their windows)

 

I almost never get on a ladder. Extension poles are the way. That, and good window cleaning equipment. Frankly, I stay away from businesses. It can take forever to get paid, and they drop you in a heart beat when some bright new cost-cutter gets on board.

 

5. Around how much should a window washer charge per account, both residential and commercial, and

    how do you do it? By window or by hour? Or what? And how, when do you get paid?

 

I charge between 3 and 5 dollars per window inside and out. French windows are on the high end of the scale. I can do 10 windows per hour when I get started.

 

6. Should I concentrate on middle class or rich neighborhoods, or both? How do get inside these very weathy housing communities

    that have a guard and a gate (or at least a gate or sign that says "no soliciting"????????

 

A couple of tricks: approach full service cleaning services. They hate to do windows and tehy get asked all the time. I used to sub-contract for a few services. I don't do it anymore (they found out how fast I was and didn't like paying 20-30 dollars per hour to anyone) but I still get referrals from other cleaning services.

 

7. I'm also interested in getting into power washing, but probably won't be able to do that until I make

    some money from window washing.

 

That IS quite a money maker. And, it creates window cleaning! It makes a mess of windows for sure.

 

8. And the number one question is - HOW DO I LEARN TO CLEAN WINDOWS? (:+0)

    there are so many different types and kinds - some that look very difficult such as those large windows

    that have lots of little one foot square windows inside them. You've got tempered glass, filmed glass, 

    tinted glass, screens, drapes, blinds (do you clean blinds?).

 

Practice on your own. Glass is glass. I use dishwashing liquid because it's so harmless. Don't use alcohol or ammonia on film. OR razor blades, for that matter. The small French windows are a nuisance, but it pays to get several extra channels and a hack saw. Once I got a job that had 500 of those individual little panes. I noticed that they were mostly the same exact size. I didn't have a squeegee that was the right size, but I did have a hack saw. I created the size I needed. Each window got cleaned with one stroke. This cut the time down considerably.

 

    How do you handle screens, drapes, blinds? Do you have the customer take everything down before

    you get there, to save time? Do you have them remove everything from in front of the window to save

    time? 

 

Sometimes they do this just because they are so paranoid. But you cannot count on it. I just learned to work around the things I can work around. Use common sense. Move that delicate crystal figurine.

 

    I hope I haven't asked you too many questions, but I feel I need to know this if I'm going to get into this 

    business. Not that I'm going to be an expert anytime soon.

 

    And, if you don't mind, I'd be available for a quick demonstration by you on how to clean a window(s).

    I'm usually available every day from about 9am to 3pm amd I'm up in Gainesville all day Thursday. Just

    name the time and place if you're interested. If not, that's ok too, I know you're probably very busy.

 

     I want to really thank you for any help you can give me. Anything at all. From everything I've read,

     window washers make from $20 to $25 an hour, and since I am in potentialy dire financial straits, I       

     need something like this to become solvent again.

 

     My only question now is, how long will it take me to get up and running and to be making money at

     this?

 

I'll have to think about that business about letting you follow me around. I don't know how my customers will feel about that.

 

Being desperate is good motivation to go out every day. I don't know what you would be letting go of to try this business, but I sure am glad I was unemployed when I started. I watch a lot of guys who never let go of that $6/hour job and not have time to fing the business they  really need to do. They usually quit. :(

Richard,

 

I don't know how to break this to you, but I didn't take any courses or read any books. I went to a place that rented pressure washers, asked them how to do it, and went out and did a few jobs. It was trial and error. I didn't hurt anything. I was careful. I rented a machine every time I got a PW job until it was happening often enough that I knew I could buy a machine for less. I bought a used one from the rental place and learned as I went. I got beat up pretty good on a few jobs, and slowly learned how much to charge.

 

Now, if you can get tapes or booklets, I'm not saying to ignore them. I did a lot of things that I didn't know any better than to do. Tennis courts are tricky. It's real easy to remove the paint. Yikes! Chlorine savages metal fixtures, so cover them with plastic bags or Saran Wrap. Make sure the tip is locked on all the way before pulling the trigger. They are projectiles, otherwise. Make sure windows and doors seal well when doing houses. It's worth checking out in advance. When doing pool screens, do it from inside out AND outside in. Bleach it to death one section at a time and then blast it off. LET THE CHLORINE DO THE CLEANING IN MOST CASES. The machine is just a delivery system.

 

I've worked without insurance for years. I didn't mean to, but I was so poor when I got started that I learned to be very careful. After I became really competent, I priced it and didn't want to get it. You don't HAVE to, but it's your risk to take.

 

Start out by looking for moldy houses, offering to bleach em and rinse em off. Use pool chlorine from Pinch a Penny. Cover valuable ornamentals before bleaching the house. For plants that are hardy and too big to cover, soak them down with soapy water first. It will create a barrier against the chlorine. Rinse bushes off with soapy water again afterward. Keep a big bucket of soapy water handy to put the siphon hose into when you need it. Don't get too close to wood surfaces with high pressure. Rinse at a distance. Re-bleach again what doesn't clean off the first time. Don't be tempted to muscle things off if you don't want to pay for resurfacing. Clean out pressure hoses with soapy water when you are finished. Your hoses will last longer, and at $80 each to replace them, this is a good habit to form.

 

Good luck!

DM

 

PS. Buy Dickies work pants. Bleach will not fade em. Kiss jeans good-bye.

Hi again, Don                                                                                                  February 10, 2004

 

Your website looks great. I'll have to read thru it next time when I have more time. I guess I have just one basic question - I think!

 

When you first started out window washing doing it that very first time, were you nervous or worried that somehow you wouldn't do it right or mess it up somehow? That the store owner wouldn't like what you did. Were you unsure of your technique? That you were doing it right?

 

This is what I'm wondering as I'm getting closer to start to advertise and hopefully do my first job.

 

What mistakes could I make? Maybe I'm just worried about nothing.

 

Hey, Richard. The day before I went out to clean windows for the first time, I did ours. It was how my wife found out what I was doing. She wondered where I go the squeegee.

 

Well, my first jobs were shop windows, where it's kind of hard to screw up. All the work was outside, and all the water I spilled just ended up on the sidewalk. So, before I did my first house, I was already pretty proficient at the basics...

 

Oh, I guess one more question..

 

When you do residential, do you tell the customer to remove all the items around the window before you get there? To take down the blinds, curtains, perhaps even the blinds? Or do you do everything? (some window washers I know say to not do anything but the windows cause it will take you too much time.)

 

Also, do you take in some type of sheet or covering to put on the floor inside their house to prevent any water dripping. Or is that necessary?

 

Finally, All these newer homes have these anywhere from a foot to smaller square windows so the thing is to get a real small squeegee to handle any of the different sizes. Any problems doing these squares?

 

How's that for one question?

 

Then they all get one answer. :)

 

I only tell them to move the things they are not comfortable letting me handle, like tinkly crystal and pricey figurines. Otherwise, I tell them that getting around things is just part of the service. More on that in a minute.

 

In regard to dripping, I don't cover much. If there's a lamp with a highly stainable shade nearby, I move it. If It cannot be moved, I cover it. If a drip gets on the rug, I take some dry paper towels and press it down into the carpet and it all gets wicked up.

 

It's best to use the cleanest water possible when you come inside. Most of the dirt is outside, as a rule, so if you do the outside first and come in with water that is heavy laden with dirt and pollen, it is harder to wick that dirt up without adding some clean water to the dripped area.

 

Because the windows are usually less dirty inside, I use less water on the inside than outside. I dip lightly and soap down the window. Then when I remove the mater with a squeegee, I make sure I channel the water somewhere harmless, like to a rag I've laid across the widow sill. In the case of sliding doors in a carpetted area, it is impossible to keep from bringing a lot of water to the bottom. I usually unroll enough towels to make a barrier between the falling water and the rug. At least whatever water gets through will be filtered.

 

I do have a drop cloth for immoveable furniture. The best is one that is absorbant paper on one side and plastic on the other. It catches drips on the paper side without letting them run down the surface to the rug. THe plastic side keeps the covered object dry. It's like using Pampers, only bigger and very thin. Go to the paint store.

 

Back to getting around things. It's amazing how much stuff you can get around with a stick and a swivel squeegee. I reach behind things all the time that I would really rather not move, like computers. (By all means don't get those wet!) And it's amazing how many times I can just get one of the panes to slide up or over for easier cleaning.

 

I do have many sizes of squeegee. I used to carry a hack saw with me so I could actually make the channel the size I needed! Then I trimmed the rubber blade with a razor. It's amazing how much faster a job goes when each pane only takes 1 stroke!

 

When I start window cleaning (need to get license, and advertising set up), I will will let you know of my success! (:+)} or (:+<}

 

Thanks, Don

 

Richard

 

I'm sure you'll do fine. Finding jobs in the scariest part. After all these years I still look a week ahead and see only unemployment. (Only during the holidays do I get booked up in advance.) Still, I almost never have a day when I don't wake up with things to do. And even if I do have an open day, my job that day is to find work. Yesterday I tripped over a $285 job only because I was available to go looking for it.

 

Good luck indeed!

DM

Don, I hope I'm not being a pest with asking questions

 

Not at all. Actually, I am compiling a lot of this stuff to create an ebook on the business. It does me good to have to think about these things.

 

It's my fault, my bad that I didn't ask the question specifically about removing stuff around the windows to clean them. What I really meant was, specifically...

 

1. the actual stuff on the windows - the blinds, the curtains, drapes, screens (and the things that hold them up), do you ask your customers to remove these, do you do it, or do you not remove them but just work around. A loty of windows I see there are screens that cover maybe either half or the whole windows. Do the customers expect you to remove all this (screens, windows, curtyains, etc) or do you tell them to? (seems to me it would take a lot of time to remove, clean and put all this stuff back on the windows - be an all day job on a two story house with many windows?

 

I tell them only to remove the things they don't want me to touch (fragile figurines, etc.). Otherwise, I work around obstacles. It's just a part of the job. I mean, carpet cleaners don't tell you to remove all the furniture from the house...

 

2. speaking of 2 story houses - when you're cleaning 2 story homes, how do you clean those 2 story homes? Use a ladder to get up to the little porches under them (in older homes), Some of those little windows are so recessed back it would take a crane to get to them!

 

Most windows can be disassembled in some way (check my website for instructions) so you can clean them from the inside. Otherwise, I use a long extension pole if I have to. A ladder is a last resort.

 

I've also learned my limitations. I recently walked away from a $1,000 job because I didn't feel like risking my life to do it.

 

(as a side note, do your customers, when you're cleaning all the inside windows, do your customers follow you all around, watching you? That wouldn't bother me any. I think that would be the smart thing for them to do. But if they don't, then do they ask you if you're bonded?

 

If people ask me about a bond, I usually remind them that they called me on referral; that is, their friends trust me. If they don't, a bond won't make me honest. If people insist on me having a bond, I tell them they need to call someone else.

 

Now, if their following me around is actually interfering with me getting the job done, I leave. I've only had to do it once, about 18 years ago. She begged me not to go and left me alone.

 

3. Do you take checks and credit cards in addition to cash? Checks I can see, but did you ever have any bounce? Did ypu go after them or not? And credit cards?

 

I take checks, but not credit cards. Taking those cards will not get you any more work, and your customers who used to pay cash or check will suddenly use the cards to get frequent flyer miles and you will lose 2 or 3% for the card fee. Fagetaboutit.

 

Thanks again. see, if you didn't answer questions, you wouldn't have anything else to do... I better just  shut up!

 

I am curious, though. Did you buy the gawdawful expensive steam cleaner?? And are you actually doing any jobs yet? I am curious...

 

Don Marsh

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Here's an email I sent in response to someone who wanted to know about starting a website for his window cleaning and pressure washing business. You might find it helpful: