Well, it has finally happened to me. This is my second year in business and I had my first house wash of the season yesterday. They called today saying that the windows look terrible and now have to have them cleaned. This happened on my very first house was early last year because I didn’r rinse the windows enough. Looks like im spending all of the profits from this house wash on a window cleaner 
I know several people on here use window cleaning as a quick upsell but i just never really wanted to do it so I make sure I rinse really, really well and haven’t had a problem. I am using a 4/4 machine and just got a new 9gpm machine delivered yesterday. Should I invest in a water fed pole as an upsell and to make sure I dont have any window issues again? or should rinsing with my 9gpm machine help deter that problem, along with setting expectations before the job?
Were they on a well?
Also, ask for pictures, or go by and take some. It may also be that their window seals were bad, which will give a foggy look when water gets in.
It very well could be the blown seal on the windows, if you’ve always rinsed well and never had an issue before. What soap are you using for your house wash mix?
I am going by later today to look at then. I just started using Apple Wash but have always used Elemonator. Everyone around me is on a well but i have never had a problem before. If the seals are bad and it gets inside and makes it foggy, is there a way to counter act that? Or will it stay foggy for awhile?
I found if you use too much soap it’s ten times harder to get the windows to dry nice. I use elemonator and 5 oz for 5 gallons is way too much. I do about 2 oz. Don’t pay a window cleaner. Just apply your same mix again with less soap and rinse more. Make sure above the glass itself is free of soap. When you walk away tiny amounts of soap are still running down the window from above the glass.
How are you actually measuring the soap out? I just went by experience last year with the Elemonator and used about the same this year with the Apple Wash. I did add a little more since I didn’t realize the dye in the Apple Wash would dissipate so quickly (I didn’t do enough research on it). The Apple Wash smells great and I think hides the SH smell better so I want to keep using it.
I usually rinse the windows super super well but must have had to much Apple Wash in it. I was hoping I was out of “Rookie Mistakes” to be made but I guess not 
But, being that 95% of the houses I wash are on wells. Has anyone heard of an In-line water softener that wouldn’t restrict the flow of the water into my buffer tank? If there is one that isn’t to expensive, I may add it as another layer of security so this doesn’t happen again.
A friend of mine just told me recently he uses a pump sprayer with only dawn dish soap n water to spray down windows then walks away. Windows come out clean. Havent tried it myself but i will soon.
As a window cleaner with 12 years experience, I can promise you that will not work and is a bad idea. All I use to clean windows is dawn and water and if you dont clean it off it dries with spots everywhere. Dawn is a soap/surfactant as is elemonator so both will leave spots if not cleaned or washed off
If you had no problems last year using well water then you shouldn’t have any problems this year. You either didnt rinse as well as you thought or that house had a really high tds. If the latter, then the only way to get them clean is with a wfp or nose to glass.
What? No lol.
I’ve been window cleaning for a quarter century. The PW customer always gets informed the windows will get rinsed thoroughly but some spots are inevitable with a TDS here of 230. I imagine it’s even worse where you are with well water.
Deionized is the go-to for spot prevention, but expensive and bulky with the filters, hoses and poles.
I will say though, if we could rig a portable 12v rig with a 10gal tank and have it pre-filled with purified water, I can see it being useful to spray down the windows using a simple shooter tip.
I always wet windows and plants down on the side I’m working, then spray mix around the windows and on the siding, then wet the windows again while the mix dwells, then when the growth is gone, I rinse all siding, windows, and plants
As a window cleaner and a part-time pressure washer, I think adding a WFP system is a no brainer. You can either upsell the window cleaning, or just include it as one stop shopping. After doing a house wash, hitting the windows with a pole and pure water takes so little time.
Personally I don’t housewash without cleaning the windows too.
Question about this: do you remove screens, or require the customer to do it? I like this idea or just charging a little more in the house wash price and including windows so you never run into issues. I just wouldn’t want to promise that and then lose a bunch of time removing screens.
Yeah, I always have the customers remove screens beforehand if I’m doing the windows.
Many of my customers are 60+ and own large homes, so them removing screens isn’t feasible. When following a house wash with window cleaning, I remove and reinstall the screens, but I charge for it.
If you’re thinking about a WFP, get one, you won’t regret it. Its a very easy and profitable upsell.
Half the time around here the screens have to be removed from the inside, mainly with those stupid single hung vinyl windows.
But I digress.
Like @dcbrock said. TDS most likely high, hard water. Minerals left behind. Little vinegar usually will fix something light like that. If you are going to spray again with the same water you will get the same results. Need better quality water most likely on that one. I always set expectations on most rural homes, just letting them know in advance, then they can say do it or not based on what you told them the possible outcome.
You can get a wfp system for about 1k. More if you go RODI. I’m happy to chat.
Book appointment here:
