What works for you?
I just moved into a village out in Leicestershire. Mrs B and I moved in a few weeks before Christmas 2011. That means we have been in this village for the pass 5 months.
We have started to get to know who are who and similarly all the villagers are getting to know that there is a window cleaner living amongst them.
My neighbour, Matt, asked me to give him a price for cleaning his windows and frames. They were black!
He was looking for a monthly clean. Usually, I mention the windows might get a bit of spotting on the first clean, if they have not had a window cleaner for a very long time or if they had a window cleaner who has cleaned them in the traditional way with soapy water and ladders.
I got to thinking; does it have to be like that?
A first clean can always command a higher price. What if I cleaned the windows twice and charged for the time it took to do it twice instead of once.
Well the plan was this – hot day, I will clean all the fames and sills completely leaving the glass and using an old WFP, making sure I get well into all the vents.
It did not matter about the glass, as I would be coming around a second time.
By the time I got to the back of Matt’s house, the water was drying up nicely on the front of the house.
I needed the frames to be almost bone dry and so I cleaned one small skylight on the roof and then had a cup of tea.
Now I was ready for round two but this time I did not touch any vents, framework or sills – I simply cleaned the glass.
I used a ‘clean’ WFP for this work.
Giving it a good brush and rinse off it seemed twice as quick getting through the windows.
My time was covered in the price and this technique guaranteed no spotting on the glass for a first clean.
To satisfy myself that this had worked ok ( we all know how vents can be tricky), I popped back to take a look – perfect windows on a very dirty first clean.
This method may not suit all. What is your way of doing a good first clean?