Window Washers Play Dress-Up

Window washers play dress-up, Nebraska: Expressions of surprise and amusement lit up the faces of those who craned their necks skyward while strolling along the East side of the downtown Wells Fargo Center building on Thursday. From the ledges on side of the building,1600 P St., Batman and the Joker were waving to passersby below on the sidewalks. High-rise window cleaners Cody Schneider and J.R. Elkins of G&M Window Service were decked out as the supervillian and superhero in celebration of Halloween. This is the sixth year of the holiday tradition. "I think everybody looks forward to it," said Elkins, who dressed up as Batman. Past costumes have included several superheroes such as Spiderman and Superman. The challenge, though, is finding a costume that is safe to wear while getting the job done, Elkins said. "What we do isn't the safest job in the world, but we try to make it that way," he added. Elkins said people have been very receptive of the Halloween tradition over the years, and children seem to especially enjoy it. "We get quite a bit of attention for it," he said. New Covenant Community Church pastor Bret Welstead said he stopped to check out the festivities when the costumes caught his eye while he was walking downtown. "I just think it's great that they're taking some of their Halloween spirit into their job today."

Picture 1: G.M. Window Service's Cody Schneider, dressed as the Joker, peers over a ledge on the side of the Wells Fargo Center in downtown Lincoln on Thursday.
Picture 2: The cape of high-rise window cleaner J.R. Elkin flutters in the wind as he repels down the side of the Wells Fargo Center, 1248 O St., on Thursday. Elkin dressed as Batman in celebration of Halloween and waved to passersby below between window cleanings.
Picture 3: Cody Schneider, who is dressed as the Joker as part of a G.M. Window Service Halloween tradition, repels down one level to the next window in need of cleaning.
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Munger, who retired from the Lincoln Fire Department in 2004, founded a small window cleaning business in 1981. G&M Window and Building Service now has 20 employees and serves commercial and residential clients in the region.

Saving Grandad Bryan + Window Cleaning in a Tuxedo

Saving Grandad Bryan. A semi-retired window cleaner has hailed his granddaughter as his 'little angel' after her quick thinking prevented him suffering serious injury. Bryan Morris, 64, who lives at Parc Hafod, Four Crosses, had collapsed in his bathroom in the early hours of Sunday, October 19, blacking out and bashing his head on the floor. Bryan was at home alone with his granddaughter, seven-year-old Olivia Lewis, while his wife Denise was away in London for the weekend. However, disaster was averted when quick-thinking Olivia sprang into action. Remembering her 'Heart Start' training, which she had received at Llandysilio Church in Wales Primary School, Olivia checked to see if Bryan was conscious then tried to wake him, checked his breathing and his pulse before again trying to wake him. Olivia said: "I just heard a bang and thought it was something falling in the other room. I looked in the conservatory and noticed a light on in the bathroom and I went in there and found him flat out on the floor. "Olivia said she suddenly remembered what she had learned at school last year: "We learned this thing called heart start at school where we do recovery, shake them, check their breathing and we practiced it on our friends," she said, "We did this with Mrs Ellis!"Olivia said: "I shook him then said his name and he did not wake up so I checked if he was breathing and he was. I put my ear to his chest and could feel on my ear his heart beating, I shook him again and said his name louder. "He woke up and told me to ring mum and I did. I said 'can you come quickly because grandad has passed out on the floor'. "I helped him back into bed and got him a cold flannel and unlocked the door for dad. He came and called Shropdoc and then they came and gave him pills."Olivia explained how she had remembered what to do from the video they had watched in school: "You see these people on TV and you think that will never happen to me but when you actually find someone it's the first thing that comes into your head," she said. Bryan, 64, a semi-retired window cleaner, was full of praise for Olivia, saying: "She's my little angel. She could have panicked and started bawling but she was very calm."He added: "I remember her being there but I cannot really remember anything, just snatches until I came round. To keep so cool for a seven-year-old it's marvellous, to remember to do everything when your grandad is on the floor like that is incredible." Olivia's parents were delighted with their quick thinking daughter, her mum Tanya said: "I'm very proud and it's nice to think that they do take it all in at school and she's always had a big bond with her grandad." Olivia's father, Steve, added: "She's brilliant, to remain calm and do what she did." Alison Ellis, Olivia's headteacher at Llandysilio Church in Wales School, said: "Obviously you don't want these things to happen but when something like this does happen you can think 'that works', I'm really pleased that we have taken this up as a scheme."We are all really proud of Olivia as she remembered what to do because I know as adults we all think 'would I remember to do that in an emergency?'"

And just a quick video to show you how not to clean windows. The curiosity factor is a Canadian window cleaner in a tuxedo, bow-tie & carrying a metallic briefcase especially adapted to carry squeegee's! Bet he drives a limo'?

Sunday Window Cleaning News

Another website that wants to drive down prices is EGenie from the UK. It seems that customers post their details & choose their bidder from quotes given on line. As it states: - "Watch as the Genies (e.g. tradesmen) compete to provide you the best quote! Compare quotes and profiles in your own time." "If you find a suitable offer you can directly allocate your job. Remember, the cheapest expert/ tradesman is not necessarily the best. Compare the profiles!"....small mercies! Although the website states that professionals can sign up for free, it also gives you the option to pay for basic or premium accounts. At the moment, it seems that customers asking for window cleaning jobs or gutter cleaning are not that hot, but I can see the site becoming more popular.

Ettore® Squeegee-Off will soon be available in pill/tablet form. One tablet will make up to 2.5 gallons of cleaning liquid. Ettore's detergent especially designed for window cleaning. Squeegee-Off dissolves tough dirt, grime and grease leaving a streak-free shine.

Breaks for small businesses, San Diego: Expanding Local Vendor Access to City Government Contracts. Public work is a great source of economic opportunity for local and small businesses; earlier this spring, government officials identified more than $80 million in existing purchase agreements awarded by the City of San Diego. Millions more are given to private firms for additional service contracts such as window cleaning and landscaping at public facilities. Currently, few cities in San Diego County have effective laws in place that give strong merit to bids from small and local vendors for contract work, which stands in contrast to most big cities such as San Jose and San Francisco, which give deep discounts. Mayors and City Council members can ensure that local and small businesses will get their fair share in the future by enhancing local preference policies for city contracts, weighing the bids of local vendors and small contractors more in their favor, rather than out-of-state companies.

MSU engineering students win competition with Winboni robot: A team of mechanical engineering students from Michigan State University took first place at the International Student Design Competition of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The competition was held Nov. 2 at the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition in Boston. The team of Emily Duszynski, Kyle Koepf, Jonathan Luckhardt, and Joshua Thomet designed and built an autonomous robot that attaches itself to the window with a suction fan, moves across the window with powered wheels, and scrubs the window clean with felt pads.

DIETER BRUMMER is returning to the spotlight. Brummer has landed a role in the second series of Underbelly. The former Home and Away star, who these days runs a window cleaning business in Sydney, has joined the all-star cast that includes Asher Keddie, Peter Phelps, Matthew Newton, Roy Billing and Peter O'Brien.
The series focuses on the lives of two of Australia's biggest crooks - Robert "Aussie Bob" Trimbole and Terry "Mr Asia" Clark.
Brummer has done little TV work for the past few years.
His most recent appearance was on Celebrity Circus three years ago.

More You-tube videos. First one is a close up of a helicopter cleaning high power lines. Secondly, airlines are cutting prices that low - they end up doing their own maintenance.

More Window Cleaning Videos

Some more You-Tube videos for you. Enjoy...

Friday Night Window Cleaning News

After 12 years of professional window cleaning in the Tahoe/Truckee region, High Sierra Window Washers has become certified in window restoration. The restoration process removes fog and condensation from residential and commercial windows. “With our extreme weather conditions, the windows around here take a beating,” said Pat Snow, owner of High Sierra Window Washers. “I’d say about 75 percent of the houses I’ve been into have at least one window that’s been affected.” The absorbent material built into window frames eventually becomes saturated, showing fog or standing moisture between the panes of glass. During the defogging process, a drying solution is injected into the window, and a one-way valve is installed to allow moisture to continually escape. The process is complete in a few hours and results can be seen as soon as two weeks. Removing moisture increases insulation in thermal windows. High Sierra Windows offers a 20-year warranty against returning moisture. After training with and receiving his window restoration certification from Window Medics International, Snow’s business has become the area’s only dealer for window restoration. “The system [Window Medics] has come up with is really ingenious, but we can’t do miracles. If a window has been fogged for over a couple years or if there are dried mineral deposits, it may be too late. It’s best to get them as soon as you see any fog.” Snow opened High Sierra Window Washers in Tahoe City in 1996, and moved to Truckee in 2002. The business has grown to five employees, serving all types of commercial and residential window maintenance needs. High Sierra Window Washers offers professional window cleaning and window restoration. For more information visit http://www.defogit.com/. To contact High Sierra Window Washers, call 550-1370 or visit http://www.highsierrawindows.com/.

Analdyne Inc: A Remote Operated Window-Cleaning Device for High Rise Buildings: This invention permits the operator, using closed circuit television and remote controls, to perform the same cleaning operation on high rise building window outer glaze surfaces as is normally performed on ground level easily accessible windows. The cleaning operation being performed from any desired remote location, the well known hazards associated with performing the cleaning operation by conventional means are completely eliminated. Analdyne is interested in making contact with potential clients who may be interested in fabricating and exploiting this unique invention. All engineering experience of Analdyne Inc. will be made available to potential manufacturers.

BidMyAtoZ.com Announced as Finalist in SDVG PitchFest 2008, SAN DIEGO, Calif: an online marketplace that connects buyers and sellers of services on a platform that provides instant bidding, real-time online scheduling and tools for ongoing relationship management, has been selected as a finalist in the 2008 San Diego Venture Group PitchFest competition. BidMyAtoZ.com is able to do for services what eBay for physical goods by connecting buyers and sellers in a friction-free transaction marketplace. The internet made it easier for buyers of services to complete the first step of finding and evaluating service providers but thereafter it was back to the phones or email to get prices and schedule appointments. BidMyAtoZ.com condenses the process that typically takes hours and sometimes even days into a 5-7 minute online transaction. For service providers, the value proposition is equally strong with access to a performance based marketing channel and a full set of tools to manage their schedules, pricing, payments and customer relationships all online. BidMyAtoZ goes beyond existing lead generation, classified and review sites by adding the transactability together with relationship management tools. BidMyAtoZ.com launched it’s first service, BidMyCleaning.com in April 2008. First reported here.

Window film slows heat loss: A do-it-yourself window film promises to insulate windows and reduce the ultraviolet rays that can fade fabrics. Energy Film is a transparent vinyl film that adheres to the inside of a window with a spray of soapy water and the smoothing of a squeegee. The film is spectrally selective, meaning it reflects much of the sun's heat and UV rays while admitting most of the visible light. The manufacturer, Artscape Inc., says it will block 97 percent of UV rays and 70 percent of thermal solar energy. In winter it slows heat loss through the glass by 15 percent, compared with a single-pane window. The product comes in three sizes ranging from 24 by 48 inches to 48 by 84 inches. Sheets of film can be cut to fit a window, or more than one sheet can be used on a large window. The product is available at some Home Depot stores. Suggested retail prices range from $19.98 to $34.98.

Smithsonian Curator David Shayt, 56, an associate curator in the museum's work and industries division whose eclectic interests ranged from yo-yos to sundials, from the development of the ivory trade to the work of cymbal-makers, died Nov. 4 of multiple myeloma at his home in Gaithersburg. David Shayt summed up his impact on the world in less than 100 words.
"As a museum specialist at the Smithsonian's Museum of American History," he wrote in The Washington Post for a special millennium issue, "I have added to the national collections 91 packs of Crayola crayons, two electric barber poles, 44 shoe store foot-measuring devices, a Playboy bunny outfit, 46 eggs of Silly Putty, two McDonald's french fries scoops (left- and right-handed), 40 packs of cigarettes, nine cue sticks, 135 walking sticks, and a bullwhip used by Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones." In the early 1990s, Mr. Shayt traveled to Guyana with a team of specialists to stabilize and repair the country's historic market clocks. In 2001, he was sent to dig World Trade Center artifacts out of New York's Fresh Kills landfill, including the door of a damaged fire truck.
He also persuaded a window washer who had been trapped in a World Trade Center elevator with five others on Sept. 11, 2001, to donate the broken tool that he used to dig through the elevator shaft wall. "It's collected not as a squeegee handle itself, but as evidence of life's affirmation," Mr. Shayt told The Post. "This is evidence of survival." See here for story.

Bogus window cleaner is banned from Airdrie, Scotland: A man who pretended to be a window cleaner to get into two female OAPs’ Airdrie homes has been banned from the town. Prisoner Con Irvine (30) admitted pretending to the two Forrest Street residents aged (81) and (79), to be a window cleaner to obtain entry into their homes by fraud on June 12. He also pleaded guilty to stealing a handbag and its contents from another house in Forrest Street on the same date.
Sheriff Tom Millar told the accused: “You have to stay out of Airdrie unless it is for a court apperance, preparation of reports or to attend your solicitor’s office.” He was also bailed to a Motherwell address and placed on a 6pm-6am curfew. A Drugs Treatment and Testing Order was ordered to be carried out. Sentence was deferred until December 17.

Nanotechnology sparks fears for the future: Nanomaterials are likely to kill people in the future just as asbestos did unless extensive safety checks are put in place, a Royal Commission report has said. The team of experts assessing the likely impacts of the emerging technology are worried that when nanomaterials escape into the environment they will damage people and wildlife but that it will be years before the effects are seen. Past generations have brought into general usage materials such as asbestos, leaded petrol, CFCs and cigarettes without adequately considering the potential damage and the commission fears nanomaterials will prove similarly dangerous. Only by introducing rigorous safety systems, including widespread monitoring and intensive research, can threats posed by nanomaterials be identified and countered, the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution concluded. Nanomaterials are already used in a variety of products on the market including a range of clothes in Japan that have dispensed with dye because refracting nanomaterials provide the colours. A nanomaterial placed on the surface of the glass in the roof at St Pancras Station has been designed to keep it clean. It reacts with sunlight to break down dirt without the need for window cleaners to clamber up on the roof.
Many sun creams contain titanium dioxide particles, a nanomaterial which has been in use for years. There are about 600 different products using nanomaterials around the world and around 1,500 have been patented. The commission’s report, Novel Materials in the Environment: the case of nanotechnology, rejected an outright ban on the technology because of the huge potential benefits. A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said: “As the Commission states, it has found no evidence of harm to health or the environment from nanomaterials, but the Government remains committed to researching their health and environmental impact.

Reports on Window Cleaning Contractors now Available in A.M. Best Co.'s Risk Assessment Products: New and revised reports for Best's Underwriting Guide and Best's Loss Control Manual are now available on CD-ROM and online at Best's Underwriting & Loss Control Center. As of this update, each report in the Manual now has a corresponding article in the Guide. New reports in the Manual include: Window Cleaning Contractors. If you are an underwriter or risk manager and need concise, in-depth answers to these and other questions search no longer! Best's Underwriting and Loss Control Center provides the answers in our underwriting and loss control reports. Each report provides detailed risk descriptions, on-site inspection or underwriting checklists, reports on hazards, safety measures, lines of liability and more. Reports also include what exposures exist under the various lines of liability -- along with methods a given insured could be taking to reduce losses.

Window Cleaning Information & Videos

Here is Kevin the window cleaning business coach talking at the AUWC East Coast Regional in Rhode Island about "The Hidden Secrets to Rapid, Profitable Revenue Growth" only this time, the full video & in higher quality. Just click on the picture to take you to the 35 minute video. To watch the video you may have to be a member of the Window Cleaning Resources Forum. If you haven't heard of Kevin, his new book titled "Why everything you think you know is probably totally wrong" has exploded in to the market place & is available by clicking the link here. Or taking up the offer & getting it free by going to the window cleaning resource store below & buying $250 of window cleaning equipment. Either way, get more information by going to Kevins website here.

If you haven't signed up for the newsletter in the right column of this page, you will be missing out on some great ideas from Kevin that will only be available in the newsletter. There will also be more offers not available any where else on window cleaning forums or web sites. SIGN UP NOW!

Don Chute (picture left) answers questions from MWCoA's Jack Nelson (pictured right). This is another webpage that can only be viewed for a short time before it gets put in to the members area - I urge you to read it if you are not a member. Go here to read the interview.

Dallas Window Cleaning Cradle Accident

A window-washing accident has damaged a glass building in downtown Dallas and forced officials to close streets. A basket used by workers to wash windows apparently malfunctioned atop the Fountain Place building at the intersection of Ross Avenue and Field Street some time before 11 a.m. The basket dropped several stories, shattering several windows on its way down, before becoming stuck at about the 46th floor. Shards of glass were falling to the street below and the basket was dangling precariously, prompting police to close the intersection. No workers were injured. Live Feed here.

DALLAS Some downtown Dallas streets were closed after a window washing platform broke several panes on a skyscraper and sent glass tumbling more than 40 stories. Dallas police say nobody was on the platform when the accident happened Thursday morning. Authorities are looking into whether a motor malfunctioned. No injuries were reported. Lt. Anthony Williams says engineers were being consulted. The platform dangled about three-fourths of the way up the 60-story Fountain Place office building, known for its angled configuration, reflective glass and water garden.