5 Reasons Why Window Cleaning is a Bad Upsell for Your Pressure Washing Business
Getting more pressure washing jobs means casting a wider net with your services. But when your business becomes more established and maximizing your time and profit becomes more important than adding incremental revenue, it often makes sense to ditch the window cleaning add-on. If you are pricing your work correctly.
Let look at 5 reasons why window cleaning is one of the least profitable add-ons from a profit margin perspective
Extra Equipment Taking Up Space
If you want to offer window washing services as an add-on to every single residential pressure washing job you get then, in order to efficiently perform window washing services you will need a water-fed pole with a deionized water tank. Sure there will be many jobs when a squeegee and 8ft A-frame ladder will suffice but those jobs aren’t common. If your goal is to maximize profits, which is essentially increasing your productivity then you will want equipment that shaves time.
Are you really going to be using an extension pole with a squeegee and sponge attachment to clean second-story windows?
What about:
1st story windows on a house on a hill with a walk-out basement
Large landscaping that prevents easy access to the window with a hand-held squeegee
Do you think you or your crew employees can adequately clean a window without leaving any streaks or missed spots in a time-efficient manner with an extension pole and squeegee attachment?
Probably not.
Getting a water-fed pole system and de-ionized water tank outfit with a hose reel is how you truly add this upsell efficiently. But does your truck, trailer, or van have room for this equipment?
2. Window Washing is Not A Part of the Pressure Washing Workflow
You operate a pressure washing business first and foremost. Your worflow for most jobs will involve:
Hooking up your hose to their water supply to fill your buffer tank
Unraveling pressure hose from your reel
Hose management
Attaching pressure gun and firing up your pressure washing machine
Anytime you deviate from this workflow you are potentially wasting time. Getting the workflow situated for window washing involves:
Unraveling water-fed pole hose
Assembling your water-fed pole
Removing all window screens (we will get to this later)
Getting out your ladder if needed for the window cleaning
Introducing new workflows interrupts your pressure washing. The reason why I recommend upsells such as a front walkway, patio, driveway, outdoor furniture, and gutter brightening is that they fit perfectly into the existing pressure washing workflow. They use your existing equipment with the exception of gutter brightening which requires minimal new equipment and the setup time is very fast.
3. Callbacks
When I had just started my pressure washing business I offered window cleaning. This service alone caused more callbacks and neutral to negative reviews than any other service. With a house washing, if you miss a small section of green algae on the siding that the homeowner might not notice. I of course never recommend leaving dirty spots. Obviously, you want to do a thorough job, however, everyone will occasionally miss a panel or 2 of vinyl siding in a house wash. Or maybe a small spot of shingle on the edge of the rooftop was missed in a roof cleaning. A homeowner is likely to miss this oversight. The homeowner is unlikely to miss a streak on a window.
If the exterior of the window has check rails or the window pane does not fit neatly into the stiles then you might have water get trapped in these spaces and slowly leak out over time causing streaks. If you are going to add window cleaning as an upsell then you have to factor in these headaches when pricing the job.
4. Removing Screens
When I offered window washing, I would ALWAYS have the homeowner remove the screens beforehand. It takes a lot of time to remove the screens and also many exterior screens need to be removed from the inside. This is one extra hassle for a low profit margin service.
5. Liability
Most homeowners who want a window cleaning also want the interior of the windows cleaned which opens up a host of liability issues because my employees now need to enter the home. Most insurance policies will not cover anything related to entering homes. I have even heard of insurance policies being voided upon any employee entering a house.
You also have liability issues if any employees have to use a ladder for the window cleaning. As a pressure washing business owner, you need to be doing everything that you can to avoid unnecessary ladders.
Removing screens becomes a huge liability if the homeowner does not want to remove the screens themselves. Keep in mind that most people haven’t removed the screens on the outside of their windows for a long time resulting in stubborn screens that can require a lot of force to remove. It is an accident waiting to happen.
Conclusion
If you are just starting your pressure washing business, or more broadly, your exterior cleaning business then window cleaning can be a decent upsell in order to maximize revenue. For more established pressure washing companies, the goal becomes maximizing revenue per hour. I, and many other business owners in this industry have realized window washing does not command a high price per hour that makes up for the headaches that this service presents.
I was very happy to recommend homeowners wanting their windows washed to another local company that only does window washing. This window washing company recommended my company for pressure washing jobs.
When you get to a place in your business where a service doesn’t make sense financially then don’t be afraid to ditch it. You are giving up smaller amounts of revenue to make space for larger jobs that command a higher price. Don’t trip over quarters to pick up pennies. Many companies start with small residential jobs and in 3 years they ONLY do commercial work. Yes, they sacrifice easy house washing jobs but they instead take on 5 figure commercial jobs. Hone in on your pressure washing advertising strategies and who knows where your company will be in 3 years.