new construction

[aufanatic 14]

Does anyone clean new construction windows? I've just started doing a few and I still have alot to learn. We're going behind some very sloppy painters. Any tips for technique and pricing would be appreciated! I know I'm slow but I'm not sure I can speed up much more with this much scraping.

[Henry B. 4]

Hi Aufanatic,

Use a pump up sprayer with a home made mix of ammonia, warm water and a couple drops of palmolive detergent. Spray the painted areas after placing a towel on the window sill and let sit for about 1 minute. Take your razor blade and lightly scrape the edge of the paint where it goes onto the glass. Then take your 4" wide razor blade and scrape off the loosened paint. When you get good at this you should be able to clean a standard double hung window and remove the paint in about 1 minute and 30 seconds. (that allows for the dwell time) Spray down a few windows at once and they can be done in 30 seconds or so including paint removal, dirt from windows and stickers and cleaning the sill.

Give me a call if you have any questions.

[EmpirePW 14]

I actually use warm water and palmolive and put it on with a rag before I get to scraping. It seems to work fine, does the ammonia really make that big of a difference?

[aufanatic 14]

Thanks for the info. What about pricing? We're working in a very upscale area. I don't want to rip anyone off but I don't want to starve! tia

[EmpirePW 14]

Thanks for the info. What about pricing? We're working in a very upscale area. I don't want to rip anyone off but I don't want to starve! tia

Ok when I got into new construstion cleanup I actually met somebody who works in the contracting comapny. He told me they were looking for somebody reliable since (and I quote, not to prejudge anyone) they've only got "some redneck ladies that do it and they don't do a very good job". I asked what it paid and he said it works on a bid basis but I still had no idea what to bid. I now get paid about $600/house but that includes scraping paint and cleaning the windows, vacuuming all the carpet in the house, cleaning all countertops and sinks as well as the bath tubs. Regardless though I get $600 for like 6-8 hours of work. I really can't argue with that.

[Celeste 341]

There is a nation-wide franchise out there that charges $6.00 / window in our area. We get away with $4-$6 per window in new construction here in NC.

[daryl 14]

Hey Mr Bockmen is there a faster way to do windows i wont to start washing windows

but i dont know what tools i need

Daryl

East Shelby Power Cleaning

[Don EMS 14]

We do total interior/exterior cleaning including windows and garage floor for a $1000, anything over 2000 sf we add .40 per sf. Basements extra and brick is extra if extra time is needed for cleaning tags and morter. 3 people takes about 6hrs from when we pull up to when we leave ( 2000 sf house) We also pick up around the property and get rid of any left over materals. We also do roll offs at $300 for a 15yrd. Broken down its $400 for the interior, $400 for the exterior and $200 to pick up around the property. Avarge house is between 1600 and 2000 sf. Hope this helps.

[Pams Pressure & Clean 64]

Sloppy painters suck!

In addition to what has already been said about how to clean them, you should offer the Project Manager a deal... one price for the windows that the painters destroy because of their laziness...and another price for the normal windows.

It is standard operating procedure for tradesmen in the construction industry to clean up behind themselves. Although a lazy superintendent can make or break this issue.. If you are getting paid to clean, fine.. but if you are actually doing the painters' job by cleaning up what he is too lazy to mask off or otherwise protect.. you NEED to get paid for it.

As for exactly what to charge for windows, we are likely not a good measure as we tend to get well over the 'normal' rate espoused here and on other message boards. We belive that this is because of:

a) our quality

b) our professionalism

c) percieved value by the client

d) our professional relationships

e) our sales ability

For example, we were recently asked to bid a final clean job for a client on a commercial building remodel/restoration project. As a part of the bid process, we were asked to clean an original window of the structure for the architect, the owner, and the GC to approve. BTW, it was a flat glass storefront window that was about 100 yrs. old and had been painted over about 50 yrs ago. The GC told us to "Do the best you can and if the glass breaks, don't worry about it.. we need to see how clean they will come to see how many we need to replace."

We successfully cleaned the glass to 100% perfectly clean and all parties were thrilled. None of the windows in the building had to be replaced due to lack of being able to clean or by being broken during the cleaning process. (Some of the windows were broken during remodel) As a result, we are currently in negotiations to have the maintenance contract for the building owner on both the interior and exterior.

The short story is that we were not, and curently are not the lowest bidder on the job. We did get and complete the final clean job and are currently the frontrunner for the maintenance contract.

Stick to your guns, get your price, then blow them away with quality and you'll have more work than you can stand.

Respectfully,

Pam N Cujo

[aufanatic 14]

thanks for all the replies!

[Don EMS 14]

Empire, what size house's are you cleaning in 6-8 hours? Are you working alone or with 2 other people? There's no way 1 person can clean a house in 6 hours, mabey if it was 1000 sq ft, and at $600 your making a killing for just the inside.

[Pams Pressure & Clean 64]

Don,

Yes you can, and yes he is......:):):)

Ain't America Great ???

[EmpirePW 14]

Empire, what size house's are you cleaning in 6-8 hours? Are you working alone or with 2 other people? There's no way 1 person can clean a house in 6 hours, mabey if it was 1000 sq ft, and at $600 your making a killing for just the inside.

Well the size of the houses I am not sure of it varies really. The houses I clean are all around $300k and up so $600 isn't much for the contracting company to spend. I started out doing them for around $400/house and I've done such a good job on them that the company just calls me and says they've got a house for me. The ladies they had cleaning them before always had to be called back out to finish the job or correct something that was done below par. They have yet to have to call me out to a house after I have finished it. I also am a lot more professional than the ladies that have done this for them in the past and am easier to work with. I don't mind that the checks don't come until 2-3 weeks after I am done with the house because I understand that is how their company works. These other ladies would raise hell about waiting and were just a burden to work with. Nick told me that I am a heaven sent to work with therefore $600/house is our agreed upon price. As for my crew it consists of my girlfriend and I. She is a clean freak on the inside of a house so she does an excellent job at an astounding pace. I mostly take care of the windows on the outside and any work she asks me to handle. Sometimes we go back for a 2nd day of work but it isn't much more than a few hours. God Bless America... Ain't it great...

[Celeste 341]

Two people with a system can clean a gracious plenty in a day - Roger & I can knock out two full interiors, two touch up interiors and wash four exteriors before calling it quits. Makes for $1000 day easy.

[Don EMS 14]

That I would like to see. Can you brake down the time spent on each for me to see what I'm doing wrong. Just the 4 exterior cleans I would think would take at LEAST 6hrs. Also how large are these home's, it take's me 3 hours to do the exterior/garage floor/driveway at a new construction, and 2 people in the interior 6hours. Our house's avarage 2000sf 2 storys not including basements. We are talking new construction here right? Because $1000 sounds way low for 2 full interiors, 2 touch ups and 4 house washes.

[Don EMS 14]

Matt, I thought you had some one else helping you. Its nice to have a clean freak helping. So a total of around 16 to 18 man hours. Good job, a few more contracts like that and you'll be set. We'll do a little over 200 this year, going for 300 next year and stop there. Have you tryed selling exterior washing with the interior cleaning also.

Good luck

[Celeste 341]

$1000 is actually a bit less than we billed total for all of that, however, one thing to keep in mind with our contract is that we don't get paid the going rates for all of these houses. We are also getting the interiors/exteriors/re-cleans on 1800 houses in the next 5-7 years. You can do the math on how many that is per week so we are based in part on QUANTITY. These houses range anywhere from 1028 sq ft to 4,000 sq ft., both 1 & 2 story homes. Because of the low end pay, we've leaned to haul A** at this poiint because as we all know, time is money!

[EmpirePW 14]

Matt, I thought you had some one else helping you. Its nice to have a clean freak helping. So a total of around 16 to 18 man hours. Good job, a few more contracts like that and you'll be set. We'll do a little over 200 this year, going for 300 next year and stop there. Have you tryed selling exterior washing with the interior cleaning also.

Good luck

Usually around 14 man hours per house with the breaks we take. If I could get 200 houses a year I wouldn't do anything else at all. I get 2 maybe 3 houses a month through the contractor I work for. I tried to sell exterior cleaning but the have an in-house guy that does it all for an hourly wage so I can't compete with the price.