Window Cleaning News

'This has put the bounce back in my bungee': Mike Prankerd dons Wallace apparel on his roadworthy replica.

Real-life Wallace and Gromit: a cracking combination - This working tribute to Oscar-winning animated duo Wallace and Gromit is sure to raise a smile – as well as plenty of cash for the Wales Air Ambulance. Model vehicles tend to be based on a fully functioning original and it is rare to hear of the process operating in reverse. That, however, is exactly what Mike Prankerd has done in creating a roadworthy version of the bright red sidecar combination that Wallace and Gromit used in the animated film A Close Shave (1995). “It seemed a cracking idea to bring the model to life,” says Mike, a retired university lecturer who lives in south Wales. The reference source for his project was a plastic novelty toothbrush holder, just six inches high and moulded in the shape of the sidecar outfit used in the film. The base vehicle was a rusty 500cc BSA motorcycle and Watsonian Monza Sport sidecar, which Mike had bought with the intention of returning to motorcycling after a 25-year break.

Mike adapted the sidecar outfit exactly as the cheese-loving inventor and his faithful companion had done, for their window-cleaning business. Some of the details are guaranteed to raise a smile; for example, the cockpit has a joystick control and dashboard-mounted instruments, which include an altimeter and low-warning lights for the supply of crackers and cheese. Sadly, there’s no porridge gun mounted in the nose, but a few bumps and scrapes have been added for the sake of authenticity. Mike needed an oversized dog to sit in the chair beside him and admits that this proved the hardest of his practical tasks. “I bought the biggest cuddly Gromit I could find, which was about 15 inches tall, and took scissors to it in order to increase its size. I remember that day as rather sad and horrible…” The famously mute dog acquired a permanent thumbs-up gesture from having his left arm attached by a wristwatch to the window-cleaning ladder, mounted on the sidecar body. His crash helmet was made from the top of a stainless steel pedal-bin, while the lid of a coffee pot served as a nose cone for the sidecar.
.

Radford romantic proposes to girlfriend in Matalan store on Royal Wedding day: It was hardly WIlliam and Kate... but it was the perfect birthday gift for Donna Stewart whose boyfriend staged a surprise marriage proposal at Matalan in Coventry. Malcolm Hill, aged 37, of Radford, popped the question on her birthday – the same day as the Royal Wedding. The grand romantic gesture was welcomed by Donna, who said yes without hesitation at her place of work in Matalan, Wheler Road, Stoke. Malcolm, a window cleaner, put up the banner the previous night with his pal Simon Downing, and the following morning he had florists deliver a heart-shaped cake, red and pink roses, balloons and two ring boxes labelled ‘yes’ and ‘no’ while he waited anxiously outside.

Donna instantly picked the yes box which revealed the engagement ring while the no box contained a candy ring. Staff cheered and congratulated her. Staff at Belle Balloons and Florist gave Malcolm the good news and he went into the shop to greet Donna with a bottle of champagne to celebrate. Donna, aged 37, said: “I’m never normally speechless but I’m so shocked. I’m shaking. It was a fantastic birthday present. “When I first saw the banner on my way into work I didn’t believe it. I wanted to book my birthday off but my manager cancelled it – I knew something wasn’t quite right but I couldn’t put my finger on it. When I saw the ring I nearly died – it’s so beautiful. “Malcolm is such a genuine and lovely guy and he’s very spontaneous! “I know he likes to surprise me but this is just off the Richter scale. “I’m going to remember this for the rest of my life.” “I’ve never met anyone like him.”

Malcolm spent a month organising the flowers, ring and proposal banner. He has also treated Donna to VIP tickets to see a comedy gig in Birmingham with a group of her friends as part of her birthday gift. They first met two years ago through a mutual friend and hit it off instantly. He said: “I was nervous but I’m relieved that she said yes. I hadn’t really prepared myself for what would have happened if she said no. “I picked out the ring myself so it’s a bonus that she likes that too.“It didn’t matter that I was doing it on the day of the Royal Wedding but more because it was her birthday. “It’s so simple to go to lunch and propose or over dinner but I really wanted to do something different. Donna is such a loyal person and she comes across in a gentle and sweet way. “She’s really funny and bubbly and we always have such a good laugh together.”

Supermarkets kill free markets as well as our communities: The central issue, however, is whether "what the consumer wants" should close down the argument. What people want as consumers may not be what they want as householders, community members, producers, employees or entrepreneurs. The loss of small shops drains a locality's economic and social capital. Money spent in independent retail outlets tends to stay in the community, providing work for local lawyers and accountants, plumbers and decorators, window cleaners and builders. US research finds that every $100 spent at a local store generates 60% more local economic activity than $100 spent in a chain store down the road.

My house is rarely clean, I’m exhausted by 8 p.m. and running errands becomes a triathlon of sorts. Endurance, timing and strategy are critical for success. Nothing is easy anymore. I made the mistake of carrying my toddler into the post office recently. It wasn’t pretty. It must have been painful to watch because the nice man in line next to me actually started filling out my paperwork for me while my child was arching her back and screaming to get down. It wasn’t until I became a mother that I could fully appreciate my own mom. Mother’s Day has taken on an entirely new dimension. The other day I actually apologized to my mom for not showing her the respect she deserved when I was a teenager. Mother’s Day is this Sunday. The one day of the year I recommend throwing frugal out the window. There isn’t enough money in the world to get her what she deserves, but maybe you can splurge and spoil her a bit. We’re not perfect but then again neither are children!

Katie Maraqa loves her job and appreciates the people she works with. As she walked up Winter Street toward Boston Common on Tuesday morning, she paused to say hello to two co-workers cleaning the window of Jewelry Plus with Windex and a squeegee. “Nothing better than that,” she said, smiling, as she walked away. “Teamwork — it makes me happy.” Maraqa and the window-washers are among 30 people recently hired to act as ambassadors for the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District, the first organization of its kind in the city. This is a busy week for everyone in the BID, as it celebrates its official launch today with an 11:30 ceremony at One Boston Place and kicks off its Stepping Up Downtown! Summer Series with events throughout the week. Funded by $3 million in annual fees from commercial property owners, the BID works to supplement existing city services by working alongside the police, the Boston Redevelopment Authority, Inspectional Services Department, Public Works Department and other agencies to make the neighborhood cleaner and more welcoming to visitors.

MAN MADE MARVELS - 7mate, 8.30pm: Word got out recently that the Saudi royal family had announced plans to build the world's tallest building to stand at 1.6km, surpassing the 828m Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Why? Well however futile the arguments seem, the near obsession of having the world's tallest building has kept architects busy and window washers in constant work. Tonight, Man Made Marvels looks at the tallest twin towers in the world - Malaysia's Petronas Towers. The 452m towers have a nifty skybridge halfway up and while they seem dwarfed when compared to the latest plans for vertigo-inducing towers, at least there would be fewer stairs to climb in a fire drill.

How They Do It: Who? Euclid Industrial Maintenance and Cleaning Contractors Inc. of Cleveland.

Did what? Handed a business down through four generations of one family over the course of 100 years.

When? The late Benjamin Presser founded the company in 1903 as a window-washing enterprise on Euclid Avenue. Today, it´s a full-service cleaning company on East 40th Street that´s run by his grandson, Martin Presser, and great-grandson, Mark Presser.

The past: The story of Euclid Industrial Maintenance is a tale of family, commitment and loyalty, of Presser husbands, wives and children working with often multiple generations of employee families to grow the business. There´s window-cleaning supervisor Bob Patterson who came on board in 1956, general supervisor Danny Kocevar who counts 43 years of employment, and manager Jacquelyn Motz whose tenure goes back 30 years. "It reflects a lot on the integrity of the company when you treat your employees the way we do," Martin Presser said. In fact, Martin Presser, CEO, whose wife Carol, company president, has done bookkeeping and office work since 1970, chuckles when he realizes he can´t pinpoint the year his mother, Sadie, now 94, stopped working. The mid-1980s, maybe? "I know she worked until she was in her mid-80s," Carol Presser said of her mother-in-law´s tenaciousness. "She´d still like to come down (and work)."  Sadie Presser started coming to work back in 1956 when her husband, the late Jack Presser, was running the show — a post he was handed by his father, the company´s founder, in 1938.

As the years passed and the company´s ownership channeled through the family, Euclid Industrial Maintenance´s array of cleaning services expanded to include janitorial work, carpet cleaning, wall washing, floor maintenance, acoustic ceiling cleaning, construction cleanup, duct cleaning, walk-off mat rental service and sales, and really just about meeting any request a client makes. "If they ask, do the work even if it´s not in the contract," Martin Presser said of the customer service policy his company maintains. "We´ll settle a price later." That´s what keeps the company rolling ahead — dealing face-to-face with clients and meeting their needs. "One of our greatest assets is that the customers and employees deal directly with the owners where decisions can be made, not with salespeople," Mark Presser said.

The future: Even though the slumping economy has resulted in some layoffs among cleaning crews — the staffing level typically ebbs and flows with the economic tide — the Pressers plan to continue to build on their company´s tradition of consistently high-quality service. "We want to keep growth within the realm of things we can keep our fingers on," Mark Presser said. "We like the personal touch."

Euclid Industrial Maintenance relies on recruiting business from clients who appreciate consistency and quality from a homegrown company, Mark Presser said. The company does not release its annual sales figures, but the Pressers admitted the company´s budget is top-heavy with salary costs because of its pool of long-term employees. There are plans in place to build on the company´s base of long-term contracts, including industrial cleaning for General Electric, which has taken Euclid Industrial Maintenance crews to Anaheim, Calif., Atlanta, St. Louis, New Orleans, Tampa, Fla., and Mobile, Ala. The future also includes further specialization into areas such as construction cleanup, kitchen cleaning, hood and duct cleaning and maintenance, and a continued reliance on what started it all — window cleaning and janitorial work.

It´s left to be seen how the Presser family will transition the company´s ownership when the time comes. The family business didn´t appeal to Mark Presser´s brother, Gregg, who opted to become a social worker. Mark Presser said his two daughters, ages 12 and 8, are welcome to pick careers of their own as their uncle did or to carry on the family tradition of their dad and grandparents. But, there´s one condition: "They have to love it," he said. "It´s here for them if they´re interested in it."

Dual winners this year, owner Elliot Atlas of Atlas Window and Carpet Cleaning is honored to get the recognition and is grateful to his loyal clientele for their votes. This is the fifth time that Atlas has won for carpet cleaning, so it's obvious that clients are satisfied. All the carpet cleaning is done using unique tools that remove more soil than the competition. They are experts at stain elimination, going over, above and beyond. One fantastic value that sets Atlas apart from all other carpet cleaners is that they give their clients a very special spot and stain removal system that includes four different products and instructions. This is to help between cleanings. Many customers have saved a lot of money by handling their own tough stains. For windows, Atlas has two dedicated teams that only "do windows," providing quality work at a fast pace. They were the first company to offer a residential maintenance plan, which combines good value with regular cleanings.

Local Window Cleaners Use DeclareMedia's Local Internet Directory: DeclareMedia wants to help over a hundred local businesses get more traffic by using their multiple local online directories. DeclareMedia has a new way of helping window cleaning companies find more businesses to use their service with a listing in the directory for free. If they want their business featured on the homepage, it's only $20/month but space is limited so they need to hurry and get their placement before it gets taken so they can get even better results. DeclareMedia wants to launch more window cleaner directories in the next few weeks. About DeclareMedia: DeclareMedia plans to manage up to 3,000 online, local internet directories covering hundreds of business categories.

Not quite window cleaning, but... in today’s episode of Unfamiliar Ways to Die, we journey to Dallas, where a woman has become impaled on her toilet roll holder. Dallas Fire Rescue responds to a call. The crew enter the building. They hear a soft call for help. Dallas Fire Rescue Public Information Officer Jason Evans surveys the bathroom. He sees: “A 69-year-old female, sitting on the toilet, with a toilet paper holder impaled in her neck… She has a history of bad knees and it’s very difficult for her to walk. And she apparently fell and the toilet paper holder just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.” The roll, which still had toilet paper on it, was removed. The woman had a few stitches – and lived to tell the tale as a warning to others.

Ligonier Township Suicide attempt leads to arrest: A 41-year-old Ligonier Township man has been charged with endangering the public after he tried to kill himself by mixing household cleaners in a public parking lot. Glen A. Gill, of 938 Gravel Hill Road, has been charged with reckless endangerment for the suicide attempt at 8:24 a.m. on Jan. 15 in the lot of the state Department of Public Welfare office on Staybrook Street in Somerset. A preliminary hearing will be held April 12 before Somerset District Judge Arthur Cook. Two Somerset police officers who rescued Gill were treated at Somerset Hospital for chemical exposure and then released. Gill, who was holding a jug of some unknown chemical mixture, was standing outside the truck, Ponczek wrote in the affidavit. Both officers detected "a rotten egg-type smell" that both could taste in the air. "Gill did voluntarily say he mixed household cleaners together to make hydrogen sulfide," Ponczek wrote in the affidavit. Gill was apparently using a method called "detergent suicide," where common cleaning materials are mixed into a deadly concoction.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, hydrogen sulfide in low amounts is not fatal, but long-term exposure can cause eye and throat irritations, headaches and fatigue. When the mixture becomes more concentrated, the gas becomes fatal and a few breaths could cause death. Cpl. Eric Stratton of the sheriff's department in Hampden County, Mass., said the danger is that the gas is invisible, so rescue workers are unaware of its presence. U.S. officials were concerned in 2008 that detergent suicides would spread here after about 500 Japanese citizens took their lives following instructions posted on an Internet website, according to Stratton. He wrote initial training materials for handling the toxic gas for U.S. emergency workers after the fad emerged. "It's really cheap, and it is rather easy to make because the ingredients -- usually cleaning materials -- are all available at the corner hardware store. He such emergencies are rare, numbering "maybe about 30" in this country over the last three years. The CDC has not compiled statistics on death by detergent. According to published reports, there have been at least three similar cases in Pennsylvania -- on each last March in Bucks and Lehigh counties, and another last fall in Chester County.

The death of Osama bin Laden carries great significance in Kitsap County, where organizers are preparing to break ground on a 9/11 memorial that will feature steel beams from the World Trade Center. The plan is to begin construction at a ceremony on September 11 of this year.  The memorial will go in a currently undeveloped part of Evergreen Park in Bremerton.  The goal is to complete the project by September 11, 2012. "This is going to be an incredible memorial when we're done," said project architect Dave Fergus.  "Our focus is really on the people who were there -- those who perished and those who survived." Other elements of the memorial will focus on stories of heroism. "It's the story of the boss who led his workers to the stairway, went back for someone else, led them to the stairway, went back for someone else -- and that's the last they ever saw of him," Fergus said.  "It's about the window washer who was stuck in the elevator and used his squeegee to open up the elevator doors, and he and six others fled the building and survived."

Higher-than-average winds buffeting Colorado for the past six weeks have wreaked havoc with everything from window washing to outdoor athletics. And the National Weather Service says the low-pressure system that is making the spring in Colorado feel more like year-round in Wyoming isn't done messing up our hairdos. This is typically the windy season, but since the middle of March there have been only a few calm days. "It's not like it's been a windstorm, then three to five days with not much wind. A lot of days it's been 25 to 35 miles per hour," said Colorado State University weather researcher Nolan Doesken, noting that his daily commute to work by bike has been a battle with crosswinds. "It's plenty annoying." The unusual weather is the result of a low-pressure system that has persisted across the central Rocky Mountains. "The same weather pattern that contributes to winds here is what has contributed to the high accumulation of snow in the mountains," he said. "Fast moving disturbances from the Pacific means a heavy load of snow in the northern mountains, leaving us with a bluster of wind."

The steady winds have wrecked window-washing schedules for Bob Popp Building Services. "It's been horrible for us," said company president Bob Popp. Although Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules allow window washers to work in wind speeds up to 25 mph, they usually don't go up on the scaffold in winds of more than 12 mph. It's more than just a safety issue. "We can get blow-back on the windows we cleaned the day before," he said. "This year has been atrocious."

Willem de Kooning - the window washer. As that latter 1970-77 date attests, de Kooning painted and scraped away countless images on one surface over the years, before arriving somewhere unfinished, with the practiced method of a window washer with his squeegee. This often had the effect of leaving just the feet, where window washer Bill might have deliberately missed a spot.

A former window cleaner is hoping to shine in the literary world after writing his debut novel. Andy Leyden drew on his experiences of living in Paisley as he penned “Solitude and The Farmed”. The novel centres on an imaginary character named Willie Deans, who lives in a flat that Andy once occupied. He explained: “They say you should write about what you know, so that’s exactly what I did.” “Solitude and The Farmed” are two different stories within one book. Andy went on: “Hopefully, they are two terrifying tales that have the potential to worm their way into your consciousness and stay there.

A Different Kind of Strike at Baseball Fundraiser - Baseball fans got together to raise money in support of the town's summer baseball program. “We had the right balance of making money and having fun,” said Paul Anello, one of the parents who organized the event. “Some people who couldn’t even bowl sent in checks just to show their support.” The three-hour fundraiser by the Chatham Baseball Club invited residents to come out for a “night of throwing strikes” at Madison’s bowling lanes with unlimited “Rock  & Roll” bowling. The event included food, bowling and lots of mingling amongst Chatham’s baseball community. Baseball coach Chris Delsandro, owner of Delsandro Maintenance, contributed window washing services that yielded $600 in the auction.

A Chance to Own a Sydney based Window Cleaning Company Perfect for Expansion: Looking for a small business opportunity in Australia? Consider this, a small commercial and residential window cleaning business based around Sydney’s Upper and Lower North Shore. The business which has been established for 16 years is currently run by a husband and wife team who only work 3 or 4 days a week so would be perfect for an industrious entrepreneur to take the reins and embark on an aggressive program of expansion throughout the Sydney area. The business has grown primarily through word of mouth and has a strong repeat customer base. It would definitely benefit from a coordinated and sustained advertising campaign to move the business to another level.  The business is easily scalable with few overheads, a high profit margin and the price includes all the equipment necessary to get going. It currently generates under 50k a year but has a healthy profit margin and with a little work the turnover could be doubled.

Joseph Anthony Ivan died unexpectedly Saturday, April 23, 2011. He was born Nov. 2, 1984, at Bixby Hospital to Larry and Judith (Burnor) Ivan. He played soccer throughout his high school years, and was part of the all-state and all-county soccer teams his senior year. Joey worked with his dad and uncle at Ivan Farms during the summer months, and was later employed by Exit Realty in Onsted and Fish Window Washing in Ann Arbor.

6 Hot Summer Jobs in a Tight Market - As the end of the school year draws near, high school and college students anxiously scan job boards and "help wanted" signs to secure a paycheck for the summer months. What they're finding is a tough job market. In its annual teen summer job outlook, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. predicted weak summer hiring trends that are nearly as grim as 2010's were. Last year, there were only 960,000 summer jobs added for teens, down nearly 17.5% from almost 1.2 million in 2009. Work for Yourself as an Entrepreneur: Sometimes, the best summer job is the one you create yourself. A lemonade stand might not cut it in your teens or 20s, but car-washing, dog-walking and window-washing are all businesses that have low overhead and high demand.