Christmas Lights - Is It Time For A Window Cleaning Add-On?

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Helping with holiday light displays a growing trend for area companies: (Jenison) - A growing number of residents are foregoing the ritual of stringing holiday lights on their homes — instead letting someone else handle the sometimes frustrating and dangerous work. DeVries Landscape Management started decorating homes in 1996 as a way of extending its season and keeping employees busy.

Today, the Jenison-based company has more than 200 customers for holiday decorating, said manager Bill Pringle. And 30 workers, some of whom would be laid off, stay employed for most of the year, thanks to the addition. “It’s a nice add-on to our business,” Pringle said. “And it’s something our customers value and appreciate.”

Shine Window Care found that customers of its window-cleaning service were often asking for “odds and ends” because workers had ladders, said manager Aaron Haarsma. So about six years ago, the business in Grandville and Holland decided to put those ladders to further use and decorate homes. It went from 20 customers for the service in the first year to 150 now.

“We did research and found a sizeable industry,” Haarsma said. “It’s taking off really well. Every year we gain new clients.” The accounts are big, too. Shine’s projects start at $750. It has residential projects worth $10,000, Haarsma said. Pringle said DeVries’ Christmas Décor division projects start at $250, but most cost more. This year, he expects a $50,000 account for a commercial customer with multiple locations.

Chips Groundcover, in Holland, decorates more modest homes than the other companies, which mostly serve high-end homes and businesses. Still, accounts generally start at $300. And six employees who would otherwise be laid off or have their hours greatly reduced keep busy into January, said owner Nick Weaver.

All three companies come up with a design with a customer, purchase the decorations and commercial-grade lighting, install and maintain them throughout the season, and then take them down and store them.  While the businesses provide the service as a season-extender, customers use it for the convenience and the safety factor.

Shine Window Care has harnesses, mechanical lifts and ladders with self-leveling feet and gripers. “Our guys do this every day, and they’re used to it,” Haarsma said. Pringle said teams of workers who can do roof work with special equipment place the lights. The finished look is much more professional because of special clips used for holding lights and the techniques the company has learned, Weaver said. But he emphasized the safety aspect of the service above all else. “We take the risk out of putting lights up,” he said.

Hanging Christmas lights; sign of economic recovery? (Nov 15, 2010) - WAYZATA, Minn. -- A blast of winter weather is all many folks need to turn on that holiday spirit and the holiday lights. "We really try to get them up as soon as we can so they can flip the switch the day after Thanksgiving," says David Felt, owner of Russel Williams. For David Felt, Christmas-time is business-time. The business grad from Bethel University started his own home service company in 2006. Russell Williams does window cleaning in the summer and lights in the winter.

And at a time when many businesses are still struggling, his company is growing, starting with three employees four years ago. "Since then we've added crews every year and now we're up to 10 full time employees," say David. David has noticed people spending their money differently, and while he knows many of his customers do have a bit extra to spend, they've been selective. "They wanted to make sure that they were going to get the most value for their dollar," says David.

Russell Williams has weathered the economic storm and come out glowing. Last year, business was up nearly 50 percent. It is one success story and perhaps one sign the economy is turning and an indication more people might be willing to take a business chance. Last year in Minnesota, more than 60,000 new business entities registered with the Secretary of State. And Forbes Magazine recently listed the twin cities as a region that's recovering faster than most.

Light by light, David Felt's company is enjoying the recovery and looking forward to even more profitable, brighter days ahead. "You just have to hire the right people and you have to make sure as you grow your business that everyone is going to do the same quality of work as if you were there yourself," says David. David says every season his company installs about two million lights on homes across the metro. They do maintenance during the winter and take it all down in the spring. Go to the Department of Employment and Economic Development for more information on how to start a small business.

Trash Bin Cleaning: Window Cleaning Add-On

Steam & Clean chief technology officer Jim Morrison operates the company's truck to clean an empty trash bin. The company was founded by Emily Wiewiorka (pictured below), a Redmond resident who wanted to find a way to clean and sterilize her trash bins.

Redmond woman starts business to clean and sterilize empty trash bins: A few summers ago, Emily Wiewiorka (pictured left) faced a very smelly problem. While her garbage was being collected each week, the odor left behind in her empty trash bins was unbearable. And the hot weather definitely didn't help. "The smell was just disgusting," the Redmond resident said. She was also worried about germs and bacteria growing in the bins. Bleach and water could have solved the problem, but Wiewiorka didn't want the runoff to go down the drains and end up in the area's rivers and streams. So she began looking for someone to clean her empty trash bins.

Even though such a service may seem unusual in Redmond, the Scotland native and mother of four was very familiar with the concept. "We have this service in the (United Kingdom)," she said. Her search was unsuccessful so Wiewiorka began looking into launching her own service. The end result was Steam & Clean, a new company that offers cleaning services for garbage cans, windows and home exteriors, which includes driveways, decks and play structures. The company, which launched its services last week, offers both residential and commercial services. The trash bin cleaning service is $3 per week, per bin and Wiewiorka (right), the company's founder and president, said they can schedule their curbside service to align with the customer's garbage collection day so the customer can leave the bins out on the curb once a week.

Steam & Clean's high-pressure steam system cleans at up to 250 degrees and Wiewiorka said this sterilizes as well as cleans. And because they only use steam, home owners don't have to worry about harmful chemicals. "We clean with no waste discharge," said James Morrison, the company's chief technology officer. Morrison said when they clean, the solids are separated from the water and disposed of in an environmentally friendly way. The water is collected and filtered so that it is cleaner than drinking water and then recycled and reused. 

When they clean windows, Wiewiorka said they filter down to pure water, which allows them to get the job done without leaving any streaks on the glass. She added that the company's window cleaning service is usually a quick, one-hour job. "We're fast," Wiewiorka said. "As busy people, we don't want to be waiting all day for the guy to clean our windows." Window cleaning services are once a month and $60 per month.

In starting her new business — a nine-month process — Wiewiorka decided to invest in her local community. She hired companies throughout the greater Puget Sound area to build their high-tech trucks and even made sure all the parts were American made, often trading cheaper, made-in-China parts for their more expensive domestic counterparts. Additionally, Wiewiorka and Morrison have made it a point to make it a priority to hire veterans. To see that this happens, she and Morrison have been working with Richard Truitt, the local veterans employment representative for WorkSource in Redmond.

Truitt helps veterans in east King County — from Bothell to Snoqualmie — secure employment. He recruits and prescreens veterans who may fit a particular job with employers and works with employers on writing job-post descriptions for their open positions, which is what he has been doing with Morrison for about a month. "(Morrison) was excited about it," Truitt said. "He wanted to do this because he wanted to help vets get back to work." Truitt added that this is a free service provided by WorkSource.

Wiewiorka said Steam & Clean's services will begin in Redmond and expand to Woodinville and Bellevue as they grow. Eventually they will service more of the Puget Sound area from there, but Wiewiorka wants to start slow and grow organically as their business allows.

Starting From Scratch - Taking Scratches Out Of Windows

Mark Strange - famous for his tool-talk videos has ventured into the realm of renovating glass using  the GlassRenu glass restoration system. Mark shows you step by step, as a complete novice how he learns to renovate the window. It's great watching a professional who has done this everyday - but even better is watching someone starting out & showing the mistakes that he makes on the job. GlassRenu even have an iphone app' out that you can refer to when you are on the job. I'm sure you will enjoy this series which could be a great window cleaning add-on if you have a market for this sort of work. Prices for the systems can be seen here.

The GlassRenu Scratch Removal System is the industry’s premier solution for removing scratches and acid damage of any size and depth from all types of glass. With GlassRenu, you’ll be able to repair 75% - 95% of the glass panels you previously had to replace – in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost with the Patented Dry Grinding System.