Window Cleaner "Wipe On - Wipe Off"

Tom Tudehope of Clear View Window Cleaning of Sioux City carries the tools of his trade on his hip.

For 26 years, window cleaner has wiped on, wiped off: Street construction. Field work. Circling winds and sparse rains have contributed to an arid Siouxland autumn. The conditions and work progress have also kept Tom Tudehope and his staff of three full-time workers hopping from home to business to home again. For 26 years, Tudehope has been charged with -- and has charged for -- keeping windows streak free. "Everyone has dirty windows," says Tudehope, owner/operator of Clear View Window Cleaning of Sioux City.

What prompts a business or homeowner to call for a professional window cleaner? There are a variety of reasons. "There are people who have high windows that are hard to get to," Tudehope says. "Or, some get to the point where they can afford to have it done. We allow them to spend their time doing other things." Various businesses treat the service as a top priority, a way to keep customers feeling good about the professional appearance of the store or shop.

There's another cost factor at work: The life of a window. "Clean windows in some situations can help the window last longer," says Tudehope. "If water runs along a brick wall and onto the window, you can get a stain. Sprinklers that hit window areas can leave hard-water spots. Hard water has minerals in it, and glass is made of minerals. The two bond."

Tom Tudehope of Clear View Window Cleaning uses a squeegee to get windows sparkling clean.

Employees at Clear View Window Cleaning use Basic H, a Shaklee soap product as their primary cleaning agent. The low-sud soap works better with a rubber squeegee. "We've used the same soap for 26 years," Tudehope says. "And a guy I work with has used that soap for 35 years." Tudehope says Dawn dish washing soap produces similar clear results. The keys are using a two-sided squeegee and not going overboard on soap application. "We have a brass squeegee channel that holds the rubber squeegee in place, that's a difference you get with a professional," he says. "And if you use too much soap, it can become sudsy and that creates problems with a squeegee."

Tudehope's view of a window washer didn't match reality when he entered the trade in 1985. "My perception was of a guy walking with a bucket and going door to door," he says. "I learned that you have 150 customers on a set route each week. We end up going from Morningside to Hamilton Boulevard to the north side." The toughest season approaches as snow flurries fly and ice forms atop glass. Tudehope and staff will add methanol to their soap solution, to keep it from freezing. "We haven't used any alcohol yet this fall, which is kind of rare," he says. "Adding methanol is hard on our hands, it dries them out." For the window? No problem.

Tudehope didn't realize when he started wiping on, wiping off -- to borrow a phrase from the 1984 "Karate Kid" hit movie -- that he'd still be at it nearly a quarter-century later. Customer demand, it seems, has kept pace. It's his job to see that a streak-free effort keeps customer satisfaction in the clear. "Some people are ecstatic about a clean window," he says. "It really does brighten their day. When you have a perfectly clean window, it's kind of nice."

Tom Tudehope of Clear View Window Cleaning of Sioux City finishes a window in Sioux City.