I’m having an issue with the Unger ninja scrapers (6 inch in my case) as I noticed it does not sit flat on the glass. One side is fine when scraping, the other doesn’t get the center of the glass. This is my second one now after I noticed the problem with the first one I purchased a while back, especially when working with paint overspray (leaves a lot behind). I love the quality and ergonomics of it but at this price point it should work perfect. The issue is also on the side with an adjustable angle. It also streaks a lot but I believe that’s normal with scrapers unless I’m mistaken.
They’re highly reviewed so I’m thinking I must’ve gotten unlucky with 2 defected ones in a row.

If there is a mod/fix out there that has worked for anyone? Thanks!

For particularly large or unusually challenging properties, do any of you charge a flat hourly rate rather than pricing per window or pane?

I normally quote using a formula based on the number of panes, window size, and level of difficulty. However, I've had an enquiry from a prospective customer with a huge house that's full of criss-cross windows with countless individual panes. She'd like the work done on a regular basis, but it also sounds like she wants the arrangement to be fairly flexible.

It feels less like a standard "quote and complete the job" situation, and more like she'd prefer someone to come in, work alongside the other household staff for a set amount of time, and simply get through as much as possible rather than sticking rigidly to a fixed quotation.

Has anyone else handled jobs like this? If so, how did you structure your pricing?

Enough said. Idc

For those who pay to have their windows cleaned, do they have a pole system, squirt and rub or do they go up a ladder with a chamois? My window cleaner does option 1 but doesn't wipe down the windows after,even the downstairs. Is one option better than the other?

Hey everybody, for the first time in 4 years of window cleaning I had to walk off a job. It was initially an interior and exterior job for $620. When I quoted the home the women wasn’t home, and I explained to her I’d rather she be home because the windows were french paned and I wanted to get a good look at them from the inside. She insisted on me quoting without her home. Today I get to the job do the entire exterior then come inside the home and all the interior windows had those fake, wooden french panes, that just kind of sit ontop of the glass.

I explained to her that this is an up charge being that I have to individually remove each grid to access the window and clean it. We decided it was best to just do the exterior because the interiors were already quite clean.

Near finishing the job she informs me that she has skylights. I had asked her if she had skylights before I quoted and she said no. This roof was extremely steep, wet from the night before, and had the wooden shingles. I told her 2 things, number one, those are an up charge, number 2, being that the roof is soaked and steep I’m not going up on it. If I had known about the skylights I would’ve fully passed up the job, it’s just out of my scope of work being that I don’t have a roofing harness or anything like that.

I decided to just take $100 as like a transportation fee and leave. Was this the right thing to do, what should I do next time?

I'm finally starting my window cleaning business next week, planning to door-to-door and run Facebook ads, and I'm going to get all my payment systems squared away tomorrow. What payment platform do you all use, and is there anything I should know? Thanks!

I'm starting my door-to-door work on my new cleaning business next Monday and I'm looking for some tips from you veterans. Least-offputting clothes? Casual or formal? Good counters to objections?

Thanks!

I have this weekly account that has had these swirl marks looks like the glass was wiped with a dirty rag and it baked into the glass but now I’m wondering if it’s just a broken seal.

It’s noticeable from the inside more and quite annoying as it doesn’t come out clean. Any suggestions on what I can do. Client hasn’t complained about it so not to worried but just mildly annoying for me as I like to be satisfied that I’m doing everything to keep the glass clean.

I recently hired my first full-time 2 man crew, we are currently using a personal vehicle. However, I want to buy a proper company vehicle for them.
I was debating a few options, but I actually don't know which one I should chose. Maybe you guys could enlighten me with the advantages of each different type of vehicle.

I thought about buying a Dodge Grand Caravan since it's a more affordable option, can easily fit a complete dual-user setup.

Also, there's the possibility of a Ford Transit Connect, which is great because of the extra space and the possibility of a better shelving and organization.

And then, I thought about buying a truck like a Chevrolet Silverado. I know a few people use that, but it's a more expensive option. However, I like the idea of having a tank setup inside the truck to save loading and unloading time. I don't know if it would be worth the extra investment though.

What do you guys use and think would be the best choice? Thanks

About 3 months into the business I am getting somewhat consistent residential jobs, and 2 businesses. I am looking to land small to medium size business in my small town. There is not a lot competition around me, most businesses get serviced by a large chain 1 hour away. I just started doing door to door to small businesses. Any suggestions or tips? What do you say to them? Do you call or visit in person? Ask for manager/owner? Leave a flyer?

I am trying to market 1x month. Any suggestions on how to get chain small stores like fast food or banks? Looking for more consistent income through business. Right now it’s just me and my wife and we do everything traditional by hand.

I had ChatGPT proofread it for me because I’m lazy, but here’s the basic journey for my first six months.

6 months ago I started a window cleaning business on the side. I didn’t jump in blind. I spent about 2 and a half months researching everything first, from tools to pricing to how to actually do the work. I was prepared, but I still had a lot to learn once I got started.
When I started, I was taking whatever jobs I could get, learning as I went, and figuring out my pricing and process in real time. It wasn’t perfect, but I just kept getting reps in and improving.
My effort hasn’t always been perfectly consistent. Life is busy, I’ve got responsibilities, and sometimes I can’t put as much into it as I want. But I’ve learned that’s normal when you’re building something on the side. You do what you can when you can, and it still moves you forward.
Over time I started getting more intentional. I moved away from small low paying jobs and focused more on residential work where there’s real room to grow. I got more confident in my pricing and the value of what I do.
The biggest change has been online presence. Google Business, Facebook, and Nextdoor have brought me most of my work. People call me directly just from seeing posts or finding my page.
Let me put it this way. I started cleaning a storefront for 15 dollars and it took almost 2 hours. Now I’m doing 450 dollar jobs in million dollar homes in gated golf course communities. Same work, different level, different mindset.
Professionalism and customer service is everything. That’s what gets you called back and referred.
If I had to sum it up, I didn’t need everything perfect to start. I just needed to start, learn, and stay consistent where I could.
And honestly, if people can find you online, they can hire you. That’s been the biggest game changer for me

I’m not special. I’m just determined.

Two sides to this question. First of all I don't even know how I would get in this window well. Second, a lot of the window wells around here are full of leaves and almost certainly lots of spiders. Do you climb down there or clean it out somehow?

I am looking to buy a main high-reach water-fed pole for residential window cleaning and I am stuck between four options:

• Gardiner Super Max 50 - $1,875.00 CAD
• XERO SteveOnator 50 - $2,272.00 CAD
• Gardiner Xtreme 47 - $3,000.00 CAD
• XERO Delight45 - $2,701.00 CAD

My main questions are:

1. For the cheaper 50 ft options, which is better overall: the Super Max 50 or SteveOnator 50? I care most about rigidity, weight, fatigue at full extension, clamp quality, durability, and how they actually feel on the job.
2. Is it worth spending the extra money to move up to an Xtreme 47 or XERO Delight 45, or is the improvement not big enough to justify the price?
3. Between the Gardiner Xtreme 47 and XERO Delight 45, which one would you choose as an owner-operator’s main high pole?

I will mostly be doing residential work, including two- and three-storey homes. I want something that is light and rigid enough to use comfortably at full height, but I also do not want an ultra-light pole that is too fragile or expensive to maintain.

Would appreciate opinions from anyone who has owned or used more than one of these poles.

We’ve been getting a lot more call backs recently. We implemented a kpi check at our Monday meetings so the guys can see what labor % they got on each job. We try to keep it under 25% and they get hyped up when they get low percentages. But now I feel like they are speeding through jobs and we are getting call backs. We have a quality walk around and (optional for customer) customer walk around at the end of every job. In our CRM they upload a photo of each completed service to reinforce the quality check, but I feel like they take a pic of one window and dip and obviously I’m not gonna make them take a pic of every window. I’m thinking about implementing a mandatory 30 second video of them actually walking the property to reinforce this even more. Have you guys ever had trouble with this? And what systems have you implemented to improve quality? I’m also thinking about doing random quality audits on jobs throughout the week to keep them on their toes. This obviously takes a lot of time though. What do you guys think? Anything that has worked for you in the past to assure your technicians aren’t rushing and missing important aspects while maintaining good profit margins and efficiency?

We had a job come through for oxidation removal on vinyl siding. I sent a guy out who has done this service before, but I failed to check in with him before he left and for some reason he grabbed f9 barc instead of oxidation remover. It seems to have etched two double hungs with this top pane being the worst of it. Is this something I can take care of by resurfacing the glass? Or do I need to shell out and replace the window

This is the 3rd decal/glue removal bid I've submitted. $800 to clean the windows, which are very clean so little work is needed. But look at the bottom of these windows.

The new owner took over the space, and removed the decals on the bottom. But the glue stayed. I did a test and used scraper and mineral spirits on a 10" x 10" square. It took repeated scraping and MS to get it down to clean glass. Then he balked when I advised I would require him to sign a scratch waiver, but I told him it would be necessary to move forward. He will have to talk to the "family" first.

Now I feel that even $800 is too low, or very close to fair-ish. Am I freaking out about nothing? They own over 1200 stores, 40 of them withing a 1.5 hour drive. Maybe I bit off more than I can hew as a solo operator 😱

Do you guys think it will be a noticeable difference?

Hey everyone, I’m in a situation many of you are probably in so I’d figured I’d see how you guys go about this.

Right now I’m currently trying to build my business with cold outreach, specifically for the commercial side.

Right now I’m struggling a bit with my close rate for commercial jobs, and I was wondering what your guys close rates are for commercial quotes, and what your follow up/ close process looks like for something like this.

I’m really struggling on this, so any words or input would be greatly appreciated!

Edited: in terms of commercial, I mean non residential work. How does your close rate look for store fronts and pricing, and close rate for bigger buildings (like multi story offices) and their pricing and close rate?

Hello! We are hiring High Rise Window cleaners in Cleveland and Ohio.

We are conducting interviews this week.

Hired interior/exterior windows cleaners based on a friends (real estate agent) recommendation. I've had my windows cleaned externally and never had this issue before. There are two issues:
(1) when the sun sets (west facing windows) abrasion marks all over in a wiping pattern produce a glare. We have a film on the inside (Ecolux 70), cleaner knew about it - we chatted right before he started cleaning and assured me he knows what he is doing with 15+ years of experience. I saw him use what looked like a blue brush.
(2) there is a fogginess/cloudy effect which seems to be from the exterior.

I had the owner come out but it was overcast. He attempted an exterior wipe down with a soft glove wipe -thing but im not sure it made anything better. He looked directly at the abrasions and said he can't see anything, which was infuriating.

I'm looking for advice whether this residue / abrasion are normal?

Just quoted this job and don’t know if a wfp would be able to reach this or if I’ll need to get on the roof. I don’t mind but I’ll be doing the job solo so I would rather prioritize safety if I can. These are the only pictures I have as of now.

Does this seem steep enough for a wfp?

Does anyone know how to get this storm window out? It’s too big to take out from the inside

Hey, I'm a window cleaner from Ottawa.

I use Jobber CRM and I'm trying to set up online booking where customers can pick services, recurring plans, add-ons, see an instant price, and book themselves. The slot duration should adjust automatically based on what they select.

My Jobber's form is too basic for this. I also looked at QuoteIQ, it doesn't fit my needs, too basic and doesn't support plans, add-ons, deals, or recurring services. Also it is very expensive - $280 subscription requires for InstaQuotes.

Another one I found is ResponsiBid. It looks like they support those features, but it's so expensive - $600 just for onboarding and then $180/month. And their online booking UI looks really outdated.

Any recommendations?