Q&A With Peter Fogwill Of Aquatech & The HotWash WFP System

Today we are talking to Peter Fogwill of the new Hotwash Water Fed Pole Window Cleaning System from AquaTec that he devised to clean better with less spotting. With this system you can work when others can't & work faster as well. Peter has a well known forum that many window cleaners pay a visit to & the first major window cleaning forum ever from an independent supplier - you can visit it here. Peter operates from Broxburn on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland & is well known in the window cleaning sector for his inventions, especially his WFP window cleaning trolley that was one of the first ever on the market. I still have his original trolley from all those years a go!

You sometimes go AWOL for a few days – are you a fisherman or a sailor?

I do like fishing, but that is not where I disappear to for a few days. When I get a bit busy at work I have to stay away from the forums because I get so involved. It's not as bad nowadays with you and the other moderators looking after things so I know its in good hands and doesn't need me full time. I just find it hard when people ask questions not to answer, and before I know it I am on for hours.

Would that be your chosen profession if you weren’t involved in window cleaning?

Not Applicable, If I wasn't involved in window cleaning believe it or not I would quite fancy being a chef, I like cooking.

How long have you been a window cleaner & how long have you been supplying window cleaning gear?

I first started cleaning windows about 31 years ago when I was 18 and have been in the business ever since. I am a great believer in getting the work done as fast as possible whether to earn more money per hour and spending more time with the family. I remember working in Jersey in my early days and watching the workers in the company I worked for and thinking there is far too much time wasted here. What the guys did was cleaned the front of the house, carried the ladder round the back and went back round the front for the bucket. Not much time wasted on each house but multiply that by the amount of times it was done in a day, and all the other time wasting that was going on, and it mounts up to a considerable amount over the day. Since then I have always looked for ways of getting the job done faster, and would like to think that I have succeeded to a certain extent with the time saving tools I have developed over the years.

I started selling equipment on a small scale around 20 years ago with my "Ladder Stays" and then "SqueegeeMate," and went full time with the water fed pole window cleaning equipment around 10 years ago.

What was your first ever window cleaning invention & what did it do?

The first one were my Ladder Stays. They secured the ladders on to the roof rack. All you did was place the ladders on the roof rack and pulled a bar over and that was the ladders secured, no tying or screwing a bolt down like with J hooks. This was a great time saving over the day, and it was much safer as well as there was no chance of forgetting to tie the ladders on. How many times have you done some damage to your vehicle with forgetting to tie the ladders on? Although I sold quite a number of sets, I was never going to make a business out of it as the majority of window cleaners would rather spend more time tying the ladders on to save spending money. My most significant invention, and the one most people will remember is my “SqueegeeMate,” (pictured right) it was an applicator that attached to the squeegee to allow the soaping and squeegeeing to be done at the same time. Again there was a great time saving, as it had lots of advantages, including no mess to mop up cleaning inside offices etc. It was never going to be a business as most people had to be personally shown how to use it before they became hooked. I did do a couple of trade shows in the USA and here in the UK and always had a lot of interest.

You had a flood a couple of years a go at your workshop – did that knock your work back considerably?

It was my house that got flooded, and we were out the house for a full year. It did take a bit of time away from me work wise as there was a lot of sorting out to do, back and forth with the workmen and insurance companies.

Which is your favourite window cleaning invention of yours?

Probably the “SqueegeeMate,” I saved a lot of time over the years using it, and got a lot of pleasure seeing the look on peoples faces when they get to see one being used properly. I did at one time have a whole pile of letters from people thanking me for making their job a lot faster and easier.

You were telling me about how your first mobile trolley brought some sniggers from other manufacturers on it’s first release. Are you happy now that they followed your lead?

Yes, it has been the only successful trolley to use 2 x 25 litre of the time containers at once. When I first got into water fed poles there was only one trolley that had either a 50L or 60L capacity, and that was a fixed tank. What people had to do was lift a 25L container and hold the weight of it the whole time it emptied into the fixed tank, a bit of a task doing that all day. My trolley was the first to have a container slide into it, much easier work and much faster. It was also designed to come apart very easily, and more importantly fit in any vehicle, as most window cleaners use small vans or cars. I wanted to make water fed pole window cleaning available to the masses as the current suppliers then were only interested in the larger companies with fleets of vans, and their prices at that time reflected that.

At the time I was getting into water fed poles in the early days there was about 3 other companies getting into it at the same time, and we were sort of helping each other out. I soon stopped any associations with them when they tried to dictate my pricing structure, they wanted me to overcharge to make their pricing structure more realistic.

There has been people asking for a mobile hot wash trolley for a while – you are the first – how long have you been working on this?

It happened by accident, I hadn't really though of the possibility of having a water heater on a trolley, I was thinking that if they had a water heater in the van they could transfer the water from the van to the trolley. It was only when I had discovered the propane heater that I realised it can easily be housed on a trolley with a well thought out design.
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You have released the new window cleaning hot wash trolley for water fed pole work – do you really believe hot gives a better clean?

Yes, I do now after a few people who have had the trolley out on trial assure me that it does, and it uses less water, and is a bit faster as well. I have in the past been telling people that hot water will have no advantage on regularly cleaned windows. The reason I pressed ahead with the hotwash for this winter was the desperation on the window cleaners faces during the cold spell last winter. In my area it was around six weeks the water fed pole window cleaner wasn't able to get any work done, and it is not much fun if you have a mortgage and kids and no money coming in. I had people coming along with 400L blocks of ice in the back of their vans. I had sold them the system in the first place and felt helpless and guilty that they were not able to get their work done. I pulled out a diesel water heater I had bought around three years before and went to work on it. I soon discovered that with all the parts needed to build a diesel hot water system the price the customer was having to pay was around the £2000 mark, and that was quite a bit more than their water fed pole system cost in the first place. I couldn't expect them to pay that amount just to keep them working during the cold weather. After all we are only wanting to heat some water, how hard can that be.

How hard was it trying to find a certified gas heater to use in the field?

I had to look for something else and I remembered I had done some research years before on gas water heaters. There was a particular one I found that I thought would be ideal, but the company never bothered getting back to me. After around 3 months on the internet and getting nowhere I finally found a company who could supply me with what I needed with all the relevant certification, so I got samples and started testing etc, I have just took delivery of a batch before the holidays, and will soon be able to do a full van based hotwash water fed pole system including water treatment and 40' pole for less than the competitor's water heater.

So what has the response been so far?

I am pleased to say that I did what I set out to do and had a reasonably priced hot water system in place for the guys mentioned above. One of them came along with his blocks of ice floating about in his van. He wasn't aware of the Hotwash as he doesn't use any forums, he was one of the guys working away in -10 temperatures and he phoned me next day delighted that he was able to do his work, and told me his Christmas tips he would have missed out on more than paid for his heater.

Is there danger of cracking a window with a heated water fed pole system?

It would be possible although in all my time window cleaning I have never heard of it actually happening. I suppose in certain circumstances it could be possible, i.e. very hot water against very cold glass. I would also think the glass would have to be pretty thin. In all my days living in Scotland in very cold winters I have used hot water in my squeegee bucket to keep me working and never once cracked a pane of glass. I would also use hot water to melt the ice on my windscreen in the morning, and again have never cracked a windscreen.

How hot does the water need to be?

The thing is with the HotWash system you don't have to have the water piping hot, but just hot enough to get the water out the brush without it freezing. It is handy though to have the facility to really heat the water well, here in Scotland just before Christmas I had a couple of guys working away in -10 degrees and with the heater up full the water coming out the brush was nice and warm. By the time it took the water to travel through a 100M hose along snowy ground it did cool it down somewhat. We also sussed out that a pre-heat into the tank on full power for a few minutes before starting, ensured no problems with the water freezing on the way to the heater. It was very exceptional being this cold and would have used more gas than normal, but it did get the lads working at probably the most important time of the year.

Do you still run a window cleaning business today?

No not now. I gave up my window cleaning business around 10 years ago when I started selling the equipment, I do still go out occasionally when I need to try out new equipment.

Why are prices so low in Scotland for window cleaning, is it solely demographics?

The prices in the cities are probably on par with the prices in the other cities in the UK, I think the prices are dictated mainly by the speed of the window cleaner themselves. Any time this subject has come up in the window-tools forum it usually works out that the prices earned per hour is much the same as most places in the UK. A window cleaner cleaning windows on the south coast of England where an average 3 bed semi is around £25-£20 compared to £6-£8 here in Scotland, you will find that the window cleaner charging £6-£8 is cleaning 2-3 times more house per hour. When I worked for a week in Dallas we were cleaning 2-3 houses per day but the houses were priced much higher than they are here, and most of them have the insides done as well, and are only cleaned once or twice a year. I went with a chap to price a couple of shops downtown, and although he priced them roughly double my estimate, when I asked him to estimate how long the job would take him, his estimated time was about double mines. And after working with him and his squad for the day, I was working at about double the speed they were.

Do you think window cleaning licensing in Scotland is a good thing?

I usually don't get involved with the politics of licensing etc. When I cleaned window I was the only one of about 5 window cleaners in my village that was licensed, and in all my time cleaning window I was never once asked if I was licensed, or to show it. I would think it would be a good idea if it stopped undesirables from working in and around peoples property, but unfortunately they would just not bother getting a license in the first place.

Why the domain name ‘window tools’ & not ‘window cleaning tools?’

Going back around 12 years when I first decided to get my website I wanted to keep it as short as possible. I was after windowcleaning.com or windowcleaning.co.uk but they were both taken. Things have changed now and if I knew then what I know now I would have had something with window cleaning. I remember When I first went on the internet I did a search on Yahoo (there was no google in them days) for window cleaner, and there was not even one result, now there is nearly 6 million.

You have a pretty remarkable forum, are you surprised at it’s success?

Yes I remember starting it off and only having a handful of members, thanks to you, Jeff, Carl and Richard it is still going strong after all these years, and is going from strength to strength.

How many members do you have on the window-tools forum?

We currently have 3965 members, and probably another one before I finish typing this answer.

Who do you admire in the window cleaning world & why?

Probably people like Jeff Brimble who are always thinking ahead and are not afraid to try anything new. He is a bit like myself and always looking for better ways to do things.

If you could go back in time – what would you do differently?

That is a difficult one. Since being involved with water fed pole equipment and all the things I have been involved in over the last 9 years, it has really been an eye opener for me. I can now do things I would never have thought possible, things that people do a four year apprenticeship for. I now know that you can learn anything you want to learn very easily if you have an interest, even if you have not had a university degree.

After the hot trolley – what next?

Probably one of the many projects I have started and not finished off. I suppose the time has to be right. I have been working on an additive for adding to water but had to put it aside to get the HotWash sorted out. As soon as I have the time I will get back to that one. Jeff & I tried to sort something out a number of years ago, but at that time we didn't manage it. We have learned a lot since then though, and I think it is about time now. I will also have to get back to the clampless pole which is well overdue.

What is the most important part of the waterfed kit & why?

I would say the brush, for the same reason as the rubber is with traditional methods. It is the part that is in contact with the glass. Nothing else makes such a big difference if you are using the wrong one.

Did Jeff (Brimble) ever collaborate with you on some of your inventions?

Like I said earlier, Jeff & I tried to get an additive for the water. What we wanted was for the water to sheet off the glass better, particularly glass that the water beaded up on. I don't know if Jeff has given up on it or not, it would be interesting to find out. If I do get something sorted out when I think I am close, then Jeff would be the first person I would give a sample to for his opinion. If Jeff liked it I would know I was on to a winner.

You’ve been working on new water fed poles, but hit setbacks – is this a supplier problem or engineering problem?

A bit of both to be honest, I asked for something that was not the norm’ in manufacturing capabilities, and what I got was unsatisfactory. I spent a lot of time and money and I tried desperately to make it work, and when it didn't the project went to the back of the queue. Again I have learned a lot since then, and as soon as I have the money and the time to put into it I reckon it will be right this time. I still have my Patent Pending and it will be for a few years due to the backlog at the Patent office so I still have plenty of time, and one day it will be available.

In a waterfed pole is lightness or robustness the main priority for you?

Probably for me robustness as a supplier. It wouldn't be any good to me if poles didn’t last at least a year as it would cost so much in replacements. I normally ask a customer if he will be using a pole himself or if it will be a worker. If using themselves then a lighter pole is possible, but if it is an employee, then it is more advisable to purchase a considerably stronger, heavier pole.

What do you think the future of window cleaning will be?

I would think it will be very small amounts of water. I don't want to say to much about it at the moment as it is something I have messed about with in the past, and yes, I’ll be putting in more work on the idea, sometime in the near future. It may well progress to the supply stage next time around, or it may go to the back of the queue for a future release. As they say watch this space.

See previous blog on the Hotwash trolley here.

To buy the heater please visit Window-Tools and click on the buy it now button. You can also visit the forum here and read the first post about the HotWash. Suppliers are welcome to contact Worldwide.
Alternatively ring Peter direct on 07751 964 450
Or email peter@window-tools.com