GIving Your Home & Windows A Bath

Kirby's Window Cleaning does more than just windows.

Selling Your Home? Give It a Bath: First impressions tell the tale, especially if you are trying to sell a home—but what if you don't have extra money to spend on renovating and repainting the exterior?

Larry Sherman, owner of Kirby's Window Cleaning, is fanatic about record keeping.

Larry Sherman, 62, of Kirby's Window Cleaning in Redondo Beach has an unusual answer: "The easiest and least expensive way to improve the looks and salability of a home is to clean the windows, fix the screens and pressure wash any sidewalks, patios and driveways," Sherman said. Basically, give your entire house a bath—including the walls and siding. It's called pressure washing, and Judy Saavedra, a South Bay real estate agent for 25 years (the last 15 with Real Estate West in Manhattan Beach), said it can greatly enhance curb appeal. "In a few hours, for a few hundred dollars, you can give a home a whole facelift," said Saavedra, who uses Kirby's for her own Redondo Beach home as well as for houses she is trying to sell.

Phil Lago pressure washes a brick walkway.

If a seller can only spare the "bare minimum" in terms of refurbishing a home, Saavedra said, power washing and cleaning the windows is "a no brainer. The pristine houses are the ones that sell." Larry Sherman, who purchased Kirby’s in 1996 from the original owner, moved reluctantly at first into the window and power washing trade after years selling real estate, first as a broker in South Hampton and then as an agent in the South Bay after moving here in 1975. Sherman decided to keep the Kirby name because the company "had been in business for 18 years" and had a long and loyal client list, he said.

Kirby's services include everything from post-construction window cleanup for builders to monthly - sometimes weekly - maintenance for private clients. The names of 2,100 individuals and businesses are stored in a database Sherman, who admits to an obsession with learning, designed and built himself. The entries - including addresses, dates worked and extensive notes - are retrievable from his computer in seconds on the smartphone he carries like an extra appendage. A business graduate of Long Island University in South Hampton, the Brooklyn born entrepreneur purposely keeps his crew to just two men: 34-year-old field supervisor Phil Lago and 34-year-old lead technician Shane Singleton.

Larry Sherman (at left) and long-time workers, Phil Lago (center) and Shane Singleton.

"I always wanted to keep it small, because I had a franchise business in the '90s (Professional Carpet Systems) that was pretty big, and I had a lot of trucks and a lot of employees, and it was nothing but a giant headache all the time," Sherman said. Lago and Singleton, who have been with Kirby's for 10 years, "are like my kids," Sherman said of the two South Bay natives. "I trust them implicitly."

Combining the upbeat aura of a born salesman with a perfectionist's attentiveness, Sherman no longer does the labor himself. He just does everything else, from scheduling to advertising to speaking engagements to maintaining his impeccable records. "My guys go into multi-million dollar homes every day, so you have to be careful who you hire," he said, stroking his graying goatee. "You can't just hire people off the street, which a lot of companies do."

Yet weird things happen, like when one client left a message on Sherman’s answering machine saying, "Return the tickets to The Lion King by tomorrow, or I'll call the police." The tickets, she added, were by the phone in the kitchen. "Now my guys are about as interested in seeing The Lion King as you know what," Sherman said with a pained smile. But as owner of the company (and licensed, bonded and fully insured), he had to ask them. "They just looked at me and laughed," he said. "These guys tell me if they break a plastic thermometer worth 29 cents—and they tell the people." The client later sheepishly admitted the tickets were at the will-call window at the theater, and the only thing missing was a will call letter—in her husband's possession.

Leo and Molly Nordine's "glass house" in Hermosa Beach.

Another Kirby's client, Leo Nordine of Nordine Realty in Hermosa Beach, tells a tale of scrupulousness and reliability. Nordine, owner of what he calls "a glass house" near the beach, said he interviewed three companies before finding anyone willing to clean the massive windows—some 30 feet high ("the west side of the house is basically all glass," he explained)—a "gigantic skylight" and, periodically, mirrors and hard water stains from shower doors. "We've had the same two guys (Lago and Singleton) from Kirby's, basically every week, for years," said the broker, who shares the home with wife Molly, their son, Nate, 9, and a Russian tortoise. Although the tortoise does no damage, salt air and blowing sand do. "It's like living on a boat," Nordine said, laughing. He attributed the need for weekly window cleaning to being "pretty picky."

Can't be afraid of heights if working at Kirby's.

The pièce de résistance, however, came in the form of "invisible screens" made and installed by Kirby's that preserve the integrity and look of the main feature of the glass house: the windows. "[The screens] are thinner than most," Nordine said, and all but invisible from a short distance away. In terms of his real estate agency, Nordine also hires Kirby's to spiffy up local bank-owned homes that have become run down due to defaulted mortgages and are in desperate need of quick and basic curb appeal.

Tackling hard to reach surfaces is standard fare for the guys from Kirby's.

Whether it's the deionized water (free of all impurities) used for cleaning windows or the pressure washing machine used for a bathing a house, Sherman prides himself on his equipment. The gas-powered DeWalt pressure washer, for example, is capable of sending water at 3800 PSI (pounds per square inch) at a surface. "I could drill a hole through a wall with this thing," Sherman said. "But we do so much of it, we know exactly what pressure to use." Although the pressure washer is not used on windows, Sherman recommends it for driveways, brick walkways and patios. People wanting to sell their homes often forget how surfaces free of dirt, stains and oil can increase salability. "You've seen white stucco houses with all this black stuff dripping down the sides?" he asked. Pressure-wash stucco and it can look brand new.

Up, up and away!

Nevertheless, equipment isn't everything, he cautioned, saying, "You can have the best hammer in the world and be lousy builder." Attention to every detail, like cleaning sliding door tracks, also makes a difference. "I had one lady hand me a bag of Q-tips to clean the tracks," he said. What did he do? "I used them." Sherman and his "guys" learned everything there is to know about glass by cleaning windows for builders at post construction sites. "In the course of building a house, [workers] should cover the windows with plastic," Sherman said. "Most don't." The result is that paint, silicone, concrete, stucco and residue from labels get stuck to the glass. "There are things you need to be aware of before you put a razor blade on a window," he said. "We know how to go in and totally restore everything."

Kirby's truck is a familiar sight throughout the South Bay.

Sherman, who says he and his men have been working for some South Bay families so long they've seen children grow up and have kids of their own, sees a lot of homes that linger on the market due to shabby screens and filthy gutters. Roof gutters that catch rain along with leaves, sap and tennis balls are often neglected by sellers. "In newer gutters," Sherman said, "dirt bonds electrostatically to the gutter, and you can’t just wipe it off." Kirby's cleans and "brightens" gutters with special cleaning materials.

Screens can end up looking war torn, especially if you have cats, and thereby lessen a home’s appeal. "Some people take the screens off altogether," he said. Others can be repaired or made new. "We're not miracle workers," Sherman said. "But short of painting your whole house, we can really make it a lot more attractive for 5–10 percent of the cost of painting." Neither is Kirby’s the cheapest. "We are fair, really competitive," he said, that old salesman's twinkle in his eye. "And we are the best."