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ABOUT WINDOW CLEANING Glass scraping at large is or should be often done as a preliminary process to the final squeegee cleaning. It is performed on a thoroughly wet surface (cleaning solution,) with a state-of-art tool. This is when grit or deposits have formed on the glass. Most first time-in jobs or surfaces that have not been scraped for sometime might require this. Newer windows often would not. One either has to be able to recognize when this is required or rely on an honest professional to point this out. Often glass that is quite dirty would require this especially on exterior surfaces. It is a matter of what kind of debris is on the surface of that particular glass. After the process is done this will not be required for some time again.
"What Product Are You Actually Getting?"
What A Customer Should Know : The reason I am providing this page for customer information related to window cleaning services is that I have observed in the process of giving free estimates how customers can make choices for these services based on impressions that may be misleading and end up with a service product that is much less than what they could have had if they were more aware of guidelines like these to take account of. I will be blunt and point out that I may lose a good number of possible jobs based on these misguided impressions involved in the process of choosing based on estimates, etc..
Most people as should be expected have better things to do than researching the finer points of professional window cleaning and are therefore frequently ill-prepared to make the best judgment when it comes to choosing who they might want to do the work. I feel it is in my best interest as well as my customers in offering a very honest service that I inform them of these important points in view of the potential competition in bidding from window cleaners who have primarily one concern. This is simply to get in and out as fast as possible and make as much money as they can. I truly find it amazing that these "Speedy McGreedy" or "Speedy Gonzales" sales artists are very successful in bolstering their business on the basis of this principal philosophy. Their objective is to make fifty dollars per labor man hour as a rule and run the cleaning job at an average of up to 300 ft. per man hour! This is an excessively fast speed that cannot possibly reflect a properly executed cleaning for a variety of reasons.
By offering this overview of specific critical areas that should influence one's decisions along these lines, I can provide an inquiring party the information that allows them to make distinction between one kind of window cleaning approach and another. This addresses very important differences and value based decision making issues that arise. Also, I would mention that many window cleaners would themselves view this as some attempt to give away "trade secrets" or compromise the edge they maintain over services of higher integrity that represent greater overall value for compensation by their customers. Their "trade secrets" are how to cut other more honestly higher standard window cleaners out of work, practice a sure bet way of closing sales based on the lack of awareness on consumer's part and minimizing their labor for time burdens in every way possible that most customers are not going to reckon at the bid time! You then must decide based on fair evaluation of these.
Time Requirements : Ideally a customer wants the best quality at the lowest prices in the shortest amount of time involved. Quite often in trades this is not exactly a realistic idea. So if a window cleaner who is interested in making as much as they can as quickly as they can "appears" to meet this criteria, then the customer is inclined to opt for their services in favor of others who might "appear" to fail this criteria. However, what should be kept in mind is that it is fairly simple to create this "appearance" without delivering and still curiously enough walk away with a "satisfied" customer. There are window cleaners who largely rely on the time proven method of salesmanship based on convincing customers that they will "get in and out" because they are not trying to sell them on processes that they do not really need to have clean windows. With all the sham in service products out there in other businesses it's little wonder that on the surface of things, (to make a pun) it would seem to be a compelling suggestion? In today's mad dash world how many customers would take time to try and sort all this out?
They have made their decision based on largely just the cost now and it is hard to face up to the fact that it was not necessarily optimal. Just because someone seems to be a window cleaning dream or magical window cleaner that comes in and looks so skillful moving so fast with that squeegee and charge what is perhaps a little or significantly less than others who are going to take more time does not mean you are getting the "best deal". The other guy is talking about X number of hours at such and such a rate. Isn't he just trying to "pile the time" on? Think again. What is really more suspicious here? The guy who discloses his exact pricing method by area and time factors, and takes the proper time to do a better job or the guy that leaves the job open to his more arbitrary, job for job interpretation who may throw you a lower quote , get in and out fast before you see all the work in the sun at the critical angles? It is not just a common problem here. It is the norm!
Yes, at first impression it looks good and one thinks that if they can work so fast then they must be a really professional adept. It looks so much better than before and all that light coming in now. However, one tends not to see that much if the sun angle is not favorably inclined to notice. My experience is that people will tend to think that speed necessarily equates with skill and skill equates with quality. End of story. Look again in corners, along edges and little telltale streaks that appear consistently and are otherwise not obviously noticed out of the coincidental light conditions? Generally, residential work should average out at around 100-125 sq. feet per hour (when glass scraping is performed on the exterior windows which is only a part of the job) or up to 150 sq. feet without scraping procedures, although some parts of the work will undoubtedly go much faster.
Many window cleaners will be very successful at capitalizing on cutting corners as a matter of practice and foregoing the risk of not closing a sale by explaining to the customers what kind of necessary steps are involved to produce truly superior results or incorporating these as standard practice when it could mean losing these jobs ! Please take note of this fact. What product are you getting? These kind of window cleaners I am referring to here will obviously continue to make this work well for them in pre-empting the customer's choice of other competitive bidders merely on the basis of the appearance of meeting these criteria. Since it is the minority of customers who would take the time to evaluate these finer points of the process the temptation in exercising this kind of marketing advantage for their service is very substantial. At this point I would, therefore, discuss one of the most important aspects of quality work which is GLASS SCRAPING ! This is a commonly overlooked, integral part of professional glass maintenance.
GLASS SCRAPING : Many people will think that the very word "Scraping" sounds detrimental or inappropriate for window cleaning. The fact is that such scraping is actualy a standard procedure in the trade and is relatively as common and important as squeegee work. Scraping with razor blades on small areas is generally not what I am referring to. When this is done on dry glass or tempered glass or done otherwise incorrectly it certainly can be a sure source of trouble and glass damage.
When the procedure is not done the windows may seem much cleaner after a squeegee is applied, but will soil up faster because there is this sediment that was not removed. After some time it is more difficult to remove this and after a while cleaning without applying this process will produce a cleaning surface that is quite specked and/or muddled from this not yet removed debris. Thorough and proper glass maintenance will require this at some point, but if cleaning was consistent from the onset of the window life it may not be necessary for a very long time when there is not particularly a lot of debris accumulating.
Scraping is not performed on tempered glass except perhaps very delicate removal of small specks of debris on very limited, wet surface areas. Even though properly applied scraping procedures are an industry approved standard, most window cleaners see it as a nuisance for maintaining the advantage of cleaning more area faster for more compensation. This is their "trade secret" for succeeding with their quotes more frequently, as I have pointed out.
I do not recommend glass scraping unnecessarily to run up a bill. This is counterproductive to securing a sale! Foregoing this procedure almost insures getting 2 to 3 times more bids owing primarily to the consumer's ill-informed knowledge of the trade. All the window cleaners I know who are making far less on the average are honest service folks who undertake these bona fide procedures of delivering a better product. This is a procedure that only needs to be done thoroughly at intervals of 1-2 years depending on the conditions the glass is exposed to. However, many 1st time-in jobs would require this to adhere to proper standards of glass maintenance procedure. Sometimes interior cleaning has been neglected long enough to justify some or all interior glass areas to be also pre-scraped.
Dismissing this process for the expedience of sowing confidence in customer prospects who are looking only at the bottom line is a clever and regular self-interested practice in this business. 'What they don't know can't hurt them unless they happen to notice it one day!' Beware the glass cleaner with Mercury's wings. They are not always what they are cracked up to be. Sometimes expediency may work for you in its proper perspective. However, most honest, discriminating professionals will look at excessive speed with well justified scrutiny. Their assumption is that given a well informed customer most would opt to have things done properly for a reasonable rate requiring what actual time is necessary to do a job. Return visits after such heavier cleaning will obviously require significantly less time in most cases.
MINERAL DEPOSITS : Mineral deposits as many know usually result from sprinklers depositing spray on the glass. What is even worse is direct hose pressure on window glass. Therefore, NEVER USE A GARDEN HOSE ON YOUR HOUSE WINDOWS !! (Unless running the water through a de-ionizer or heavy filtering system of some kind.) This will often produce penetration of the moisture into the interior of the double pane and literally ruin the windows. Partly this also results from hose pressure obviously, as well. A very tragic and expensive lesson in house maintenance for sure.
Many deposits are very difficult to remove. However, some kinds of deposits may be pervasive on even newer homes where sprinkler practices have created this problem and may look rather light and spotty, unless you see them up close in the sun at the right angle. Often these kind of deposits may be removed by reciprocal scraping procedure or wet surface steel wool cleaning with very fine grade steel wool (000/0). Since they are usually hard to see or may be confused with light tracings of accumulated deposits on the interior of the double pane most window cleaners will not mention it to keep the bid down. This is yet another finer point that some window cleaners would not point out because the fact is that most successful sales are for the bearer of good news.
I could clean your windows for lesser amount and be in and out of there before you figure this all out. Much like the carpet cleaners who have their various formulas for convincing you of their product and their primary objective is cursory cleaning over an apparently impressive, large area in short time for 80.00 dollars or whatever. Funny how those spots come back in no time flat, huh? It is called wicking. Water is like that. This analogy is certainly a good one. Perhaps a second examination of the real science behind these things is a good idea. Fainter mineral deposits may evade the notice of homeowners and continue baking on in the sun until they are a permanent feature. An honest window cleaner who respects the science here is going to do what is necessary. Not more or less. This is the important distinction between one product and another. The list goes on.
Moral of the Story : People call you up for a free estimate. I am pleased and obliged to do it, but not as a vain exercise in human frustration. I let a customer know when they call I am happy to show up and give them my estimate, however, I do this with the condition they will take a few moments allowing me to explain the content of my service product to better make their decision rather than just hand them a piece of paper when I know that such a high percentage will merely look at the cost and not be able to discreetly recognize what product they are actually getting.
For example, I will power wash screens if they want this service performed. My pricing is very reasonable and competitive for the actual product produced, but may seem to be somewhat higher than others who show up with the well proven gamut of clever techniques at closing sales based on lower estimates requiring less time on their part because they are simply falling well short of producing the same product and the customer is often inclined to not see this because they have not seen the difference in the products. They are too often satisfied with a very cursory cleaning.
Sometimes these quotes are not even necessarily less, by the way!. They enchant them merely by promising them a fantastic finish in remarkable time. They must be special talents put on this earth to make their life better. It is in the salesmanship and not the actual product requiring more hard work and thorough procedure. For some reason this magical formula of fast in, easy money is more consistently proven to prevail in the "bid war" exercise. If they are covering a miraculous volume of window terrain in a New York minute then hey, they sure are not trying to "pile time" on you. They are more likely to "win" the bid war people in this business are subjected to every day.
Efficiency is one thing, but when you apply solution and squeegee to a window it is very easy at a glance to appear to make it look like the job is getting done at incredibly efficient and "professionally fast" pace. Keep this in mind. Speed does not automatically mean a better deal. Their magic formula is expediency and minimal work time earns a higher turnover of hires as opposed to efficient, but thorough if not sometimes much more demanding tasks to bring window glass to top maintenance status. What it does mean is making more money for less time. One can therefore afford to make it appear as if the customer is the "winner". Are they really?
windowbrite@wind-o-brite.com
(References Available Upon Request)
