This Window Cleaners Strategy

Tyler Engle, owner of Wichita Window Cleaning, recently added high-rise clients. “It’s recommended you have training, but I did rock climbing for years,” he said.

Window cleaner’s business strategy takes a broad view (Wichita, Kansas); Ask Tyler Engle what the latest video he has posted has to do with his small business, and he’ll tell you: Nothing. Nevertheless, Engle said engaging people on social media has been key to growing Wichita Window Cleaning, which washes windows for residential and business clients. “It’s an odd strategy,” he said. “I put out stuff that’s funny or entertaining. Somebody will say, ‘Hey, this guy’s funny, I see he’s got a window cleaning business, and I need my windows cleaned.’”

Engle, 24, started washing windows in high school for his father, Rusty, who owns Pro Cleaning Glass. Their businesses are separate entities, although they often work together or cover for one another on jobs.

Engle earned a computer engineering degree from Wichita State University and worked at data storage company NetApp for almost three years but said it “wasn’t really captivating for me. I like being the boss.”

He is now the boss, along with being the chief window washer, accountant and marketer. He has two part-time employees and hopes to add a full-time employee this summer. Engle said he thinks he has the largest window cleaning operation in Wichita. “For example, we have McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Wendy’s,” he said. “Pretty much any fast-food restaurant you go through, we clean it.”

Recently, he added high-rise clients such as the Hyatt Regency Wichita, although he admits he doesn’t have any “formal training” to hang from a harness more than a hundred feet in the air. “It’s recommended you have training, but I did rock climbing for years,” he said. “It was terrifying at first, but I’m getting a little more used to it.”

Posting video of that work garnered him some additional clients, but other videos Engle posts have nothing to with windows. Most recently, he and a friend used a drone to film scenes of the Arkansas River and Keeper of the Plains. It has garnered some 162,000 views on Facebook.

Engle doesn’t discount the importance of old-fashioned legwork, saying he spent a lot of time making personal contact with the people who “pull the trigger” on decisions like who’s going to clean a business’ windows.

Engle doubts he will wash windows forever – he’s thinking about launching a digital media marketing company – but says the lessons he has learned should work in any field. “I had always thought that growing a business just kind of happened, word-of-mouth-wise,” he said. “When I started really taking it seriously, you discover the correlation between how much effort you put in and the result. “I’m still dealing with that. I’m only 24.”

• Business growth attributed to social media engagement
• Owner thinks his window cleaning service if biggest in Wichita
• Old-fashioned leg work is important, too, he says

David Van Bebbers 50 Foot Fall To The Aisle

David Van Bebber worked hard to recover after falling from a 50-foot building while helping his father with his window-washing business.

Louisburg Rehab celebrates a remarkable patient: David Van Bebber’s fall from atop a 50 foot building put him in a wheelchair with a fractured back and damaged spinal cord. His determined recovery let him walk unaided down the aisle just over a year later to marry his bride and gain the title of 2014 Great Recovery Patient from Miami County Medical Center Louisburg Rehabilitation.

Van Bebber’s therapists gave him this recognition to highlight National Rehabilitation Awareness Week and to laud his positive attitude one calls “electric” and all admire. “That’s the majority of the battle,” said physical therapist JJ Vogelsberg. “We point them in the direction and guide them along, but ultimately what the patient does is the difference.”

Van Bebber, 30, said he takes full responsibility for the fall he took May 27, 2013, at Geary Community Hospital in Junction City while helping his father at his window-washing business. “I had been a certified outdoor guide at the time,” Van Bebber said. “I would inspect climbing equipment, so I told my dad ‘I’ll look at your stuff.’ “I looked at it, it looked good, so I said I would rappel down before anyone else.”

He said he knows he overlooked a few things. “The mistakes were mine,” he said. “Just as I started to rappel down, the rope popped and down I went.” His experience as a rock climber, boulderer and zip-line attendant all combined, he said, to desensitize him to the sensation of free-falling, and he subconsciously moved in place to land on his feet.

Extensive damage

His injuries included damage to his spinal cord — the result of a burst fracture in his back bone that sent bone fragments flying — lumbar fractures, ankle fractures and heel bone fractures. He had four surgeries on his heels, three lower back surgeries, including a L1-5 spinal fusion, and two surgeries to place and remove blood clot filters.

He said his recovery process began with a determined thought that, down the road, he would not regret that he had not put forward a full effort. “I didn’t want to have to think that I could have worked harder,” he said. “That essentially was the more motivating factor, it is simple to settle, and I don’t like that idea. “I had worked hard prior to being injured, and I hated to let that seem to be all for naught.”

He knew, too, that he was not alone in his recovery. “I had a lot of people around me that are incredibly encouraging, people who spent time praying for and with me and speaking affirmations in my life. When you have people wanting you to do well, you seem to be persuaded or compliant to pushing in that same direction,” he said.

The right place

After finding Louisburg Rehabilitation in January, he said he always felt like he was in the right place, and he encountered the right people. His physical therapists were Vogelsberg, Christine Davis and Lisa Robbins. “They take ownership in you as a patient and in your recovery,” he said. “That’s what sets Louisburg Rehabilitation apart.”

“He was very fortunate that he didn’t end up paralyzed,” Vogelsberg said. “He came from a very low place to now he rides his bike 20-some miles, he’s back to some light running, it’s just an amazing kind of recovery.” Had Van Bebber avoided physical therapy, his physical therapist said he would not have gotten back much function. “He had a fall that damaged him clear to the frame of who he is,” Vogelsberg said. “The doctors put the frame back together, but that does nothing to what holds the frame or makes it move. “What moves, supports and protects the frame, that’s what we worked on in physical therapy.”

He’s gone from a wheelchair, to a walker, to a cane to walking unaided, albeit with what Van Bebber calls “a few deficits” including numbness and tingling sensations. “Recovery isn’t linear,” Van Bebber said, “You have to shift your paradigm to reassess what progress is. It is forward and backward, but you can use the setbacks to assess, to take time off. It prevents things from getting worse.” From the time of his fall until his wedding day in July was just under 14 months. “Thanks to Louisburg Rehab,” he said, “I could walk down the aisle.”

Roof Fall Window Cleaner Making Recovery

"I was helping my dad do some window cleaning and I was showing the other workers how to use a repelling device and so I demonstrated by going off the building and I just had a freak accident and the rope broke."

Man Who Fell Off Hospital Continues To Rebound (Manhattan, Kan. ) - David Van Bebber is defying the odds. The 29-year-old pastor and instructor at Missouri State University came home for the summer to help with his family's business when he fell from the top of the Geary Community Hospital in Junction City on May 27, 2013. "I was helping my dad do some window cleaning and I was showing the other workers how to use a repelling device and so I demonstrated by going off the building and I just had a freak accident and the rope broke," Van Bebber said.

He fell 50 fifty feet from the top of the building, plummeting several stories to the ground. "When the rope broke, I just thought in my head, not ‘oh darn’ or ‘oh I’m falling,’ it was ‘I better land on my feet.’ And so I did situate by body so that I could land on my feet and I did land my feet. That’s why I have two shattered heel bones. I landed on my feet and then hit my tailbone and it bounced off the concrete and I fell back. The impact basically crushed my heels, my tailbone and a burst fracture of my L-3 lumbar which in your lower back," he said.

Right away, crews brought him into Geary Community Hospital's emergency room and he was then transferred to Stormont-Vail Hospital in Topeka where the spinal surgeon was amazed that he could move his legs. Van Bebber says multiple doctors have told him that people who have a burst fracture of the L-3 or below are paralyzed below the waist. 

The pain from his injuries was unimaginable and the road to recovery has been grueling but he continues to make strides and grow stronger. "I really want to get better and so every day, I just pray that God will help me work as hard as I can to recover as much as I possibly can. I can take steps and walk with a walker. I've been doing that for two weeks," Van Bebber told WIBW during one of his physical therapy sessions at Maximum Performance Physical Therapy and Fitness in Manhattan.

His parents have been by his side supporting him through his recovery. He's also found strength in the support from those in his hometown of Riley, KS and members of his church in Missouri. Friends and family have been visiting him and sending him notes of encouragement. "I think I’m going to recover to about 95% percent. Already, I’ve done more than what I should be able to do and so I’m just going to keep doing everything I can because I want to be able to run again, ride my bike, rock climbing. I love to run. I love to swim. I want to hunt again and I want to get all those things back because I love them," he said.

As he continues to heal and strives to get back to his active lifestyle and ministry, Van Bebber is teaching an online communications class (Intro to Public Speaking) for Missouri State University. He says he is grateful for every step he takes and his continued progress. "What's great is that everyday, things get a little bit better," he told 13 News.

Window Cleaner Cleaning Hospital Becomes Patient

Identified as 29 year old David Vanbebber Jr. of Riley, Ks. The contract worker fell approximately 30 ft. from the roof of the hospital. He received treatment at Geary Community Hospital before being transported to Stormont Vail Hospital.

Man Falls Several Stories From Geary Community Hospital (Geary County, Kansas) - Officials say a man sustained very serious injuries after falling 3-4 stories in Geary County Monday morning. The man was cleaning windows at Geary Community Hospital in Junction City when he fell to the ground. The man was wearing a rope harness at the time of the accident, according to Geary County Sheriff Tony Wolf. He was taken inside the hospital to be treated.

A 29 year old Riley man, David Vanbebber Jr. was transported to Stormont Vail Hospital in Topeka following an accident as he was washing windows at Geary Community Hospital Monday. Geary County Sheriff Tony Wolf said Vanbebber was “on a harness, and a kind of a rapelling rig off the side of the building there.” And he was washing windows when something went wrong with his rigging or the  harness, and it broke, and down the side of the building he went.” Wolf estimated Vanbebber was approximately 25 to 30 feet off the ground when he fell, or about two stories up in the air. The sheriff reported Vanbebber was believed to have suffered feet and possible back injuries. The incident occurred just before 10 a.m. Monday.

Man in stable condition after fall from GCH roof: A Riley man is in stable condition Tuesday after he fell approximately 30 feet from the Geary Community Hospital roof Monday morning. The Geary County Sheriff’s Department reported contract worker David Van Bebber Jr., 29, received treatment at GCH before he was transported to Stormont-Vail Hospital in Topeka. On Tuesday, GCH Public Relations Director Cyndy Platt said Van Bebber was in fair condition Monday when he was transported to Topeka. Platt said Stormont-Vail officials Tuesday morning told her Van Bebber is in stable condition and awaiting surgery in the intensive care unit.

Sheriff’s department deputies responded to the call shortly before 10 a.m. Monday. Sheriff Tony Wolf on Tuesday said Van Bebber was at the hospital with a crew washing windows. He was experimenting with some new rigging at the time of the fall. “He was over the edge (of the roof) showing these guys how the new rigging worked,” Wolf said. “All of a sudden, the rope broke and down he went.” Van Bebber suffered injuries to his feet, legs and lower back, Wolf said.

Basketball Star Grounded By Window Washing

"There was an art to washing windows, a technique and detailed sequence, passed down from brother to brother."

Memories keep KU’s Tharpe focused on future: Naadir Tharpe is telling a story from back home, one that his father would have loved. It’s about hard work, order and learning your place.

In his first two seasons at Kansas, Tharpe, a 5-foot-11 reserve guard, has had a crash course in all of the above. One year after suffering through what he calls one of the toughest years of his life, Tharpe is now averaging 5.2 points and 2.8 assists for seventh-ranked Kansas, which opens the Big 12 Tournament at 2 p.m. Thursday in the Sprint Center.

But on a March evening in Lawrence, Tharpe sits in Allen Fieldhouse, rubbing his left hand over his right biceps, drinking in a long, warm glance at the words on his arms. There’s a story here, too. A good one. But first, you must hear about Ronald Tharpe’s window-washing business.

In Worchester, Mass., Ronald Tharpe was a lovable character who seemed to know everyone. He was an assistant bank manager, doting father on his five sons and a descendant of a military family. But above all else, Naadir says, his father was a worker. So on Saturday mornings when the clock struck 7, Ronald would roust his sons for a day of window-washing. They did pizza parlors and local businesses and residential homes. And if Naadir or any of his four older brothers tried to sneak in some sleep in the car, Ronald would roll down the windows and let the New England weather take over. “That cold air blowing in,” Naadir says, smiling, “you really couldn’t get any sleep.”

The brothers, Naadir says, did it for the extra allowance. If you wanted to go meet friends on Saturday night, it was nice to have a little cash in your pocket. But all these years later, the memory means something different. There was an art to washing windows, a technique and detailed sequence, passed down from brother to brother. “Those were the last times we were all together,” says Tishaun Jenkins, Tharpe’s second-oldest brother. “It was just beautiful.”

More than seven years later, Naadir Tharpe came off the bench for KU and dropped in a game-winning shot in the final seconds of a double-overtime victory over Oklahoma State on Feb. 20. It was the biggest basket of his life — one that helped KU hold onto the Big 12 title for the ninth straight season — but it was also a reminder. Those are the nights, he says, when he misses his father the most. 

The end came too soon.

It was June 2, 2006, and Naadir returned home to find blood on the floor of his house. His father had been battling lung cancer for close to a year, but this didn’t seem right. Naadir wasn’t ready for this. Nobody was. When Ronald and Naadir’s mother, Lori, had told the family about his dad’s illness in 2005, Naadir had figured it was just a phase. “He would get the treatment and it’d be over,” he says now. His father had been his rock. He had been at nearly every basketball game he’d ever played, screaming a few familiar words from the bleachers: “No mercy.”

Everything about Ronald Tharpe seemed larger than life: The way he smiled; the way he’d taken in Tishaun and two other Jenkins brothers and raised them as his own; the family ties to a rising political family from Chicago. Naadir’s paternal grandmother, Zenobia, was the younger sister of a man named Fraser Robinson Jr., whose granddaughter Michelle would one day become the First Lady of the United States. This cancer fight, the family thought, would be no different. But on that day in 2006, Ronald Tharpe’s heart failed under the stress of chemotherapy. He began coughing up blood, Tishaun says, and he died shortly thereafter. He was 47. “It was hardest thing I’ve gone through in my life,” Naadir says. “I wasn’t gonna see him anymore at my games, I wasn’t gonna see him anymore. That was it.”

The inside jokes. The postgame talks. The Saturday window-washing. All gone. “I was 14,” Naadir says. “I was ready to go into my freshman year, and he was gone.” In the year after his father died, Naadir says that basketball began to feel hollow. For years, he had pored over games with his dad. Now, his security blanket had been ripped away. “There wasn’t anything I was playing for,” Naadir says. “And I felt like, when I lost him, I didn’t want to do it anymore.”

But if Naadir had lost his father, he had four older brothers willing to step up: Abdullah, Tishaun, Kaamil and Jaarmil. The family had always been tight, and now they would have to be tighter. Tishaun, a former small-college star at Salem State, would talk to Naadir after games. For a time, the boys even picked up some of their dad’s window-washing clients. And slowly, Naadir says, his drive came back. “I just kind of thought about my father,” Naadir says. “My father never threw in the towel. He worked every single day of his life.”

His basketball talent would earn him a scholarship to Brewster Academy, a prep school in Wolfeboro, N.H. And soon, KU coach Bill Self was showing interest in the friendly point guard from Worchester. He wasn’t highly ranked, but the kid had a natural charisma. On his official visit, Naadir showed up in a shirt and tie. “The biggest thing Naadir had going for him were his intangibles,” Self said. “Everybody likes him. He’s funny and he makes everybody feel at ease.”

In the fall of 2011, during Naadir Tharpe’s first month at KU, Tishaun visited his brother. As they walked on campus, a young kid walked by on crutches. “Hey!” Naadir yelled out, calling the kid by name. A moment later, Tishaun stopped. His brother had been on campus a month. How did he already know some random stranger’s names? “He’s in my English class,” Naadir answered.

This was Naadir in his natural state, making friends, talking to strangers, always smiling. But inside, he says, he was hurting. He had picked Kansas because he wanted to play for a winner, but now he couldn’t get on the floor. He was far away from his family. And even worse, his long-time girlfriend, Janine Spring, was set to give birth to their daughter in January. When Amara Grace Tharpe was born on Jan. 21, 2012, Naadir was in Austin, sitting on the bench as Kansas beat the Longhorns. “It was horrible,” Tharpe said. “It was the majority of the time. I had to look myself in the mirror and ask ‘Is this what I really want to do?’ ”

One year later, as his daughter was celebrating her first birthday, Naadir had finally claimed a spot in the KU rotation. His daughter was healthy, his mind more free. The distance can be tough, Naadir says. (Amara lives with her mother in Massachusetts.) But the hardest part for Tharpe is that his father was always there for him. He hasn’t been there for his daughter, he says, but he will. “It’s no longer about me, and what I want to do,” Naadir says. “It’s about her. I have to set out a life for me, to provide for her.”

As he says these words, his left hand rubs at his right shoulder. A Batman-themed tattoo covers his biceps, and here’s that story he wants to tell. His father, he says, was a big movie guy. Loved all those superhero films. So after he died, he got a tattoo in memory of his father — one with the only two words that made sense. My hero. “I look at it,” Naadir says, “and I think about what he would say, and I just smile.”

Window Cleaning News & Photos

Tim McGraw, Bob Burns and Bill Davis, from PJ’s Window Cleaning Inc., of Plains Township, clean the glass at PNC Bank on West Market Street in Wilkes-Barre on Monday. Temperatures didn’t get above 40 Monday, and will remain in the 40s today, but they’ll be pushing 60 on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. Click to enlarge.

With the pylons of Bartle Hall in the background, a window cleaning crew from MTB Services worked Monday to make sure the Sprint Center looked its best for this week's Big 12 basketball tournaments. The window cleaners rapel from the top of the building and clean on their way down. Games tip off on Wednesday with the men playing in the Sprint Center and the women playing in Municipal Auditorium.

Paul Stamm of MTB Services of Grandview, Mo., was part of a crew washing the windows Monday afternoon Feb. 27, 2012 at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo. They started out in the morning on the outside of the panes and then moved to the inside. It takes about two weeks for them to do the annual window cleaning on the arena. Click to enlarge.

Party prep: Bill Berry of the Columbus Window Cleaning Co. makes the glass shine at the Columbus Convention Center. The center was being spruced up yesterday for the city’s bicentennial party. Click to enlarge.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/02/28/1892954/the-days-best-022812.html#storylink=cpy

FLUORESCENT safety clothing is becoming bizarrely ubiquitous: They are everywhere. Police, security officers, postal workers, courier drivers, on-foot delivery staff, truck drivers, window cleaners, tree loppers, council workers, cleaners, rubbish collectors, electricity, water and gas maintenance and installation staff, meter readers and parking inspectors are among the many employees now required to wear yellow, orange or lime green clothing. And the insidious spread continues. Last week I met a city office worker who is required by his management to wear a yellow jacket when he goes outside to have a cigarette or when he walks to the deli to buy lunch. I know a salesman who has been told to wear a yellow safety jacket when he goes to his car in the office car park. Where will it finish?

Gardus Inc. today announced the availability of its latest product, the VertaLok(TM) Rotary Gutter Cleaning System. This innovative tool provides an effective solution to an age-old maintenance problem for homeowners - all done without stepping foot on a ladder. The product utilizes ultra-light, extendable pole sections with an internal rotary drive and water channel. The poles connect to your cordless drill and garden hose for a speedy and complete removal and rinse process. The combination of rotary power and non-rotary tools with built-in water jet nozzles makes the toughest gutter cleaning jobs a breeze, while helping to prevent problems from clogged gutters that may include roof leaks, mold growth, insects, iced walkways in winter, and damage to your home interior, foundation, wood fascia, siding, basement and landscaping. The aluminum drive poles in the system reach up to 12 feet and are extremely strong yet weigh only 12.8 ounces each. The product also includes a mounting bracket for your digital camera which enables photo or video inspection from ground level before or after cleaning; and a Flow-Thru Threaded Adapter that can be used with a variety of common cleaning brushes, painting tools and window washing attachments to perform many additional jobs around the home. A 6-Foot Extension Pole Kit is sold separately for higher reach.

A man repeatedly punched a neighbour about the head the morning after he complained that loud music was ruining his television viewing. Anthony Bonney, a 56-year-old window cleaner, of Langdale Road, Mereside, pleaded guilty to assault. He was given an 18-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £85 costs by Blackpool magistrates, who said they believed Bonney had been provoked. Martine Connah, prosecuting, said his victim and his partner had friends round for drinks on February 11 and were playing music. Bonney, who lived in the flat upstairs, arrived at about 10pm and complained he could not hear the television programme he was watching because of the music. The victim agreed to turn the music down and the guests left around midnight. The next morning, a Sunday, at 9am Bonney again arrived at the flat. There was an argument and Bonney punched his neighbour to the head six to seven times. Gerry Coyle, defending, said Bonney had lived at his flat for 20 years without incident until the victim and his partner arrived two years ago. Mr Coyle added: “Since then his life has been one of abject misery because they party every night. He admits he saw red and lashed out.”

National Study: Hawaii Tops the List of State with Most Services Taxed: State Budget Solutions, a nonprofit organization advocating for fundamental reform of state budgets, released its study on the states that tax the highest number of services. Topping the list is Hawaii with 160 services taxed, leading Bob Williams, the organization’s President, to note “Hawaii takes taxing to a new level.” Only six states tax more than 100 services, including New Mexico and Washington, which are in second place with 158. As State Budget Solutions notes in its report, Hawaii taxes “barber shops and salons, dating services, interior design, pet grooming, window cleaning, gift wrapping services, laundry and dry cleaning, bowling alley and amusement park admission and tuxedo rentals.” Unlike other states, service business is also assessed a General Excise Gross Income Tax, which is equal to four percent of the gross income of the business.

Lawrence “Larry” Allen Crouse, 72, passed away on Feb. 13, 2012. He was born July 17, 1939, in St. Helena to Howard and Irma Crouse. Larry served in the United States Navy for 14 years and then worked as a window cleaner at the Veterans Home of California at Yountville. He is survived by his daughter, Marina Crouse; granddaughter, Angelina; grandson, Noah; brother, Ronald (Yvonne) Crouse; nieces, Angela (Rob) England and Tina (Chris) Kneis; and seven great–nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his parents, Howard and Irma Crouse, and niece, Julie Crouse. Per Larry’s request, no services will be held. Words of sympathy may be sent to the family online here.

Emprise Services plc has announced that, following the latest SIA assessment, it has increased its score to achieve a position in the Top 5% of ACS-registered companies. As a result of the Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS) audit, Emprise enhanced its score from 114 in 2011 (which placed the company in the Top 10% of ACS companies) to 143 in 2012, in turn attaining a place in the Top 5%. The maximum score available for each audit is 159. Range of services for customers - Security services encompass integrated solutions, security guarding, mobile patrol and alarm response, key holding, Help Desk solutions, CCTV and remote monitoring, technical services and electronic security. Emprise’s key services in the cleaning arena include office and daily cleans, periodic and deep cleans, window cleaning, building site cleans, caretaker services, pest control, environment and waste management and energy efficient lighting. The company has a turnover of £90 million and employs circa 7,600 people to deliver a range of integrated support services to clients on a national basis. Its primary goals are to be a great business with a culture of service and be a trusted service partner and support to its customers.

Ian McMillan: A cut price guide to the barbershop economy: I’m now pleased to announce to my legions of readers that I now understand economics, and I understand the economic situation so completely that I’ve even come up with an idea that students will come to call “McMillan’s Haircut and Window-Cleaning Theory of the Failure of Late Capitalism”. Trips off the tongue, no? Well, I’m dying to explain. A couple of years ago, I wrote a radio play that featured a window-cleaner and I put in the script that he charged £3 for cleaning the windows. The producer, a gentleman from Leeds, thought this was a misprint and looked genuinely shocked to his Leeds core when I told him it wasn’t. “Three pounds?” he said, like Peter Kay doing his Cheesecake? Cheese? Cake? Routine. “Three pounds?” I got a bit defensive. “Well, we’ve got quite a few windows,” I said in what somebody once described as my “fruity North-country brogue” like I was a combination of healthy snack and comfortable shoe. He still looked aghast. “We pay 10 quid,” he said.

Now it was my turn to widen my eyes and let my mouth flap open like a trapdoor. “Ten pounds for your windows doing? You could buy new windows for that in Barnsley! And doors!” Now, I know I was exaggerating for effect, but not much. You wouldn’t get the doors. We both talked for a while about the relative prices of window-cleaning and in the end he prevailed because he said, probably with some justification, that no Radio 4 listeners would believe it’s only three pounds to have your windows done. And, as I said, that was a couple of years ago. And ours are still three quid. I’ve not seen him for a while so I don’t know how much he pays these days, but I bet it’s not gone down. I’m going to get some ladders and a bucket and move to Leeds!

Having dealt with the window-cleaning aspect of McMillan’s Theory, let me turn to the haircut side of the equation. I recently went for my hair cutting in York. It cost me £13 and as I paid the barber asked, just out of interest, how much I normally paid. “Well, I come from Barnsley,” I said, and he nodded a sage nod that meant “Say no more!” So I told him about Mad Geoff and the fact that he’s charged a fiver for a trim for years, since my hair was dark, in fact. He rang my Barnsley money as quickly as he could into his York till before I changed my mind and asked for my quiff sticking back on. “You couldn’t charge that round here, they’d think you were daft,” he said.

I’ve paid £10.50 in Leeds and I’ve seen barbers round Barnsley that charge £4 or even £3 and in each location they think it’s a fair price. You can tell the economic health of a place by the scalps and the windows and the normality of how the price feels, depending on your postcode. I’ve never had my hair cut in Richmond in Surrey but I bet they charge more than Geoff. And more than that place in Leeds. And more than that place in York. And yet it’s still the same hair, still the same head. McMillan’s Haircut and Window Cleaning Theory of the Failure of Late Capitalism: easy, isn’t it? The money follows the scissors and the chamois leathers. And the solution? Get your hair cut by a Barnsley window-cleaner. Three pounds to you.

German diplomat joins tirade against Trident management: Dubai A senior diplomat who leased out a penthouse at a 45-storey tower in Dubai Marina has lashed out against poor maintenance and non-availability of facilities in the posh residential building. He said he had rented the penthouse on the 44th floor as the official residence of the Consul General of Germany in November 2010. "We loved the apartment because it was bright, airy and spacious with an excellent layout and stunning views of the sea, The Palm and The Marina." Among his other complaints were "poor installations, non-activation of panels for control and communication, non-activation of an escalator to basement 1, non-replacement of broken bulbs, no window cleaning, stoppages of elevators, poor air-conditioning in the community areas, defective main entrance door, unsafe installations at the pool level, no replacement of dead plants and non-operation of the decorative fountain in the main lobby". The Consul General said he had nothing against his flat owner. "I am not complaining against the owner of the apartment. In fact, I sympathise with him. I will be moving out once my lease expires next year, but he will still have to deal with these problems."

Market for Smart Windows Covered in New Report: Industry analyst firm NanoMarkets has announced the release of its latest report on smart windows, "Smart Windows Markets 2012." In the report the firm analyzes the opportunities for smart windows including hot new technologies such as thermochromics, photochromics, PDLC and SPD. It also covers the established markets for retrofit window films and low-e glass. The report provides forecasts of all of the smart windows technologies and materials mentioned above for both the architectural and transportation sectors of the smart windows market, with breakouts by both market value and area covered, as well as by glass or film substrates. Additional details about the report are available here.

Before he was winning an Oscar and taking America by storm, Bret McKenzie was a Wellington schoolboy who played the oboe, washed shop windows in Kelburn and busked in Cuba St. He created a job for himself as a window-washer at shops around Kelburn, wheeling around the winding streets on his BMX with the cleaning equipment lashed to the front. "I'm pretty sure he sold that business to a friend? When Bret McKenzie leapt into the air on the Academy Awards red carpet, legs akimbo and arms flung to the side, it looked like a sweet move. As photographers' flashes exploded, McKenzie's spontaneous leap of faith – with a stiff-looking Jane Seymour managing to squeeze half an emaciated elbow in the frame. The musician-turned-celebrity won Best Original Song at the 84th Annual Academy Awards on Monday for his song Man or Muppet, one of the three tunes he penned during his role as the musical supervisor on The Muppets.

Sarah Beeny is the telly property guru familiar to millions for her shows charting the ups and downs of amateur developers. She also runs an online dating site and a free online estate agency. She's mum to four boys aged under ten. Busy Sarah joins our roster of star columnists from tomorrow and will write each week on all the latest property news and tips as well as other business news from her world. And she knows her subject inside out. Sarah was just 19 when she first invested in bricks and mortar. She says: "I like property because it's always different — every house, every situation is different and you're always learning." Property Ladder, the series which launched Sarah to fame, began in 2001 and she only got the job through a chance meeting. She had begun making money from property after building up cash through small-time ventures including window-cleaning and sandwich-making.

Building Babel was preceded by "Paraiso" (directed by Nadav Kurtz), a short film about skyscraper window washers in Chicago. I liked it better than the feature. Apart from the vertiginous locations over the sides of some very tall buildings--Mission: Impossible has nothing on this--it also touches on a bittersweet sense of mortality as its workers all contemplate their own deaths should they fall from their workplace. A beautiful film.

Van Morrison song brings back happy memories: In that year, Van Morrison gave me another gift, the upbeat jazzy tune called “Cleaning Windows,” about a Dublin window washer who plays music in clubs on the weekend. “I’m a working man in my prime, I’m happy cleaning windows,” he claims. And somehow he made me happy to be a workingman, who wrote doggerel and little pieces of fractured prose in my few free hours. I listened to the music and felt the ache.

Northcenter Chamber Leadership Respond To Charges of Mismanagement: In recent weeks the Northcenter business community has been roiled by a series of accusations against the Northcenter Chamber of Commerce and its leadership of poor management. A condo board collects association fees from residents for joint expenses and then hands over a portion of that fee to a management company, which handles things like window washing, carpet cleaning and contracting out for repairs on behalf of owners, who would rather spend their time doing anything but window washing, carpet cleaning and contracting out for repairs. Similarly, SSAs collect a special tax from members for things like snow removal and flower planters and then pay someone to manage those services. “An SSA would have to pay a management fee to anyone who managed it,” explains Stein. So why not the Northcenter Community Corporation, which, he says, was established as separate entity to minimize, not increase, the risk to the Chamber’s assets.

The American Bird Conservancy is selling a new, translucent adhesive tape, which tests show can significantly reduce bird collisions with glass windows and doors. Birds can't see glass and don't understand architectural cues, such as window frames, that alert people to the hazard. Experts estimate that up to one billion birds may die each year from collisions. Unlike some sources of bird mortality that predominantly kill weaker individuals, there is no distinction among victims of glass. Because glass is equally dangerous for strong, healthy, breeding adults, it can have a particularly serious impact on populations. Studies have shown that even small windows can be dangerous to birds that are accustomed to flying through gaps between trees and shrubs. Learn more about the ABC Bird Tape.

What you should know before you clean your windows: Is your home ready for Spring?  It may just need a good cleaning, starting with the outside. Matt Swales works with a window cleaning company:  He says,  "It's important to have your windows cleaned because windows left unclean for long periods windows are porous and mother nature the mineral from things flying around can absorb into the pores of the glass and stain it permanently or it could take costly extensive measures to get that staining out of glass."

Consumer group Angie's List offers this advice on cleaning windows properly and safely:

·    Frequency of cleaning: Most homes should get a thorough window cleaning twice a year - ideally in the spring and fall. You may find your windows need cleaned more often if you live on a busy street or near saltwater. Letting salt stay on the glass too long will eventually damage the glass.

·    Which cleaning method is best? The type of cleaning solution and equipment you need varies according to the type of windows you have. With dozens of types of glass, windows often require special cleaning agents and using the wrong one could be ineffective or cause damage. For example, double glass windows are held together with a vacuum that could be compromised if the rubber trim that seals it is damaged by the wrong type of cleaner. If the seal breaks, moisture and dusts can get in the window, making it impossible to get clean. Most glass can be cleaned with soap, water and a squeegee. However, some situations will call for specialized cleaning solutions. For smaller windows where a squeegee is too large, use a lint free towel to wipe them clean.

·    Ideal weather conditions: If you clean the windows, do it during a cool, cloudier time of day. The hot sun dries windows faster, which can lead to streaking.

Angie's List window cleaning hiring tips:

·    Check insurance: If you hire a pro, make sure the company is insured. Because a lot of window washing involves ladders, safety harnesses and scaffolding, precautions are essential to ensure everyone's protection. Damage can be done to glass by someone is who not qualified. You need someone who not only knows how to clean glass, but knows glass and how to maintain in properly.

·    How do they clean windows? It's important to ask what types of chemicals and tools are used during the cleaning process, especially if your windows are tinted. Many companies will clean with eco-friendly materials upon request.

·    What's the cost: Window cleaning prices vary and are often based on the number and size of windows, the time estimated to do the job and the complexity of the job. Always ask for an in-home estimate. MONEY SAVING TIP: You could save a few bucks by cleaning the first floor windows yourself, and leaving the second floor, more difficult to reach windows, to a pro.

·    Satisfaction guaranteed? Ask the company if they provide a money-back guarantee if you're not 100% happy. Most companies will offer one and some even offer a rain guarantee - so if it rains within a certain amount of time of the cleaning and your windows are spotted, the company will come back out at no charge to you.

Tony demonstrates what they've come to do: wash windows.

Workin' it: Bruce goes over the edge: Now that The Morning Show anchors are (somewhat) grown up, they decided it would be fun to try out some of those childhood dream jobs for a day. Up first: Bruce Hamilton's learns how to be a high-rise window washer. "I was inspired when I saw Mike Rowe's Dirty Jobs show recently, when he learned how to be a high-rise window washer," Bruce says. There's no scaffold. You climb over the edge of the roof tethered by a 6-foot safety cable and sit on a 2x4 suspended off the side of the building. You literally repel down the building on a safety line (slowly) stopping at each window and using your feet to steady yourself while you dangle in mid-air. Bruce was told: "If you fall, don't worry. The most you can tumble is 6 feet. Just don't rock back and forth and hit the wall you'll hurt yourself, and we'll get to you in 20 minutes or less." One he got settled, Bruce actually looked comfortable on that little seat 150 feet in the air. The big window cleaners secret? What's the secret recipe for their professional window cleaner's washing solution? Water and dishwashing detergent like Dawn.

Jim Davidson was another who came up the hard way. Born in Kidbrooke, South-east London, he was a shelf stacker and window cleaner before finding his way into show- business. He got his break when the comedian at his local in Woolwich didn’t show up and he volunteered to take the microphone.

“Invisible” Solar Panels are on the Way: Window gazers of the future may soon find themselves looking right through an energy-producing transparent glass solar panel, if the folks at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory are on the right track. Working with the company New Energy Technologies, Inc., the lab has produced a transparent photovoltaic module that is 14 times bigger than its last attempt.

Windows that double as solar panels: At 170 square centimeters (about 26 square inches), the new module is about the size of a small window. If the technology can be ramped up to a more useful scale, practically any glass window could double as a clean energy generator, with the embedded photovoltaic cell all but invisible.

The largest device of its kind produced at NREL, the new module represents a breakthrough in organic photovoltaic cell (OPV) technology according to a statement by Dr. David S. Ginley of NREL, who said that integrating solar technology into window glass represents a “promising avenue for OPV deployment.”

Edmonton's burgeoning tech sector sent out a new shoot last week when the team behind Jobber, a piece of online software aimed at small ser-vice companies, announced they've secured a six-figure investment from venture capitalists. Sam Pillar, who co-founded the company with Forrest Zeisler in 2010, says the money will allow Jobber to hire some new staff, buy advertising and remain solvent for around 14 months. Jobber falls into this category. In-stead of a one-time fee like tradition-al software, Jobber customers pay a subscription rate of $30 a month, with added costs for extra features and additional users.

The software helps small businesses such as landscapers and painters co-ordinate their information online. Users load records such as invoices or worker schedules into the software. They can then access it anywhere with an Internet connection. While Pillar refused to divulge specific user numbers, local customers include Painters Enterprise, Clear Skies Window Cleaning and Crack Buster Foundation Repair. Businesses in North America, Europe and Australia use Jobber. Jobber, like most tech startups, re-mains unprofitable after the investment. Pillar estimated that could change within the year.

A woman who proposed to her man on Leap Day was answered with a resounding “yes”. Susan Evans, aged 32, of Rhyl, popped the question to boyfriend David Gore through the Rhyl Journal last week and got the reply she wanted. Susan said: “It went fine. he was surprised, but he was happy. He took the day off and we spent the day together. We’re going shopping for the ring soon.” Susan said the surprise proposal on February 29, traditionally the only day a woman can get down on one knee, was almost spoiled as the paper was delivered the evening before Leap Day. She said: “I had to tell him a bit early. Everyone was texting me to see if he’d seen the paper. I went upstairs and chucked the paper at him and said ‘read that’. He said: ‘Why? What have you done?’ “He didn’t speak for 10 minutes because he was shocked, but then he said yes straight away, so it’s all good. I gave him a Haribo ring and he ate it.”

Susan, former Rhyl high pupil, lives with David, a self employed window cleaner, and between them they have six children including little Callum, their first child together who was born last year. David, aged 34, said: “She was quizzing me to see if I’d say yes or no. I told her she didn’t have to ask me, that I’ll get round to asking her, so I had an inkling that she put something in the birthday section - but not a big article! “We’re going to put it in the guestbook for the wedding. All my customers have been saying good luck. They think it’s sweet.” Initial story here.

Cancer sufferer Shania Dempsey-James is edging closer to her £15,000 fundraising target after a masquerade ball. Shania, 12, has spindle cell sarcoma, a rare bone condition, which means that she needs groundbreaking treatment in America. On Saturday night, there was a ball at Hertfordshire Golf Club in Broxbourne and on Sunday, 19-year-old Luke Daniel and his brother Ryan, from Cheshunt, ran 17 and a half miles from Tesco at Cheshunt Old Pond to Big Ben to raise more money. Shania, who is a pupil at the Broxbourne School, will have treatment in a hospital in Jacksonville, Florida. She will need to be there for three months, while she has photon laser surgery on her pelvis to rid her of the tumours. She will finish her current round of chemotherapy next week and then will be able to confirm dates to fly out to the USA.

The brothers’ run, which took just under four hours, raised nearly £1,000. Ryan (pictured right), 24, who works as a window cleaner, said: “The run went well, it was just about keeping going, mentally and physically. “It’s great to be able to raise that money, because Shania needs help. She’s part of the community so we wanted to give her as much help as we could. “She’s a lovely girl who has a great character – she’s really smiley, despite her illness, and she’s got so many great people around her as well. “Fingers crossed this money can get her the treatment she needs to get better.”

Steven Castro in front of his Maspeth home. An underground water leak from a neighbor’s property has been springing up from the sidewalk for about a month and has yet to be fixed despite numerous calls from Castro and his neighbors. Steven Castro was leaving his Maspeth home to head to work one morning about a month ago when he first noticed a stream of water seeping from the sidewalk, flowing down the block and pooling where 60th Dr. meets Fresh Pond Rd. Dozens of phone calls and several visits from environmental officials later, the leak has yet to be fixed, leaving homeowners concerned about potential damage and puzzled by the lack of action by the city. “Seeing this in front of your house for 30 days straight can start to get to you a little bit,” said Castro, 44, a window cleaner by trade. “Neighbors are calling about it everyday. Who knows how much longer this can go on?”

Kansas Kauffman Klean

Click to enlarge all pictures in this series.

Jeremy Lamb, of Excelsior Springs, uses high-pressure hot water to clean the exterior of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Kansas City on Wednesday, Jan. 25. Lamb, a 20-year- veteran of high-rise window washing, uses a main line and a safety line to dangle from the center. Lamb, a supervisor with Shawnee Mission-based MTB Services, has been working on cleaning the interior and the exterior and the exterior of the building for about a month. He plans to be finished by this weekend.

What began as a sketch on a napkin has become an architectural icon and home for the performing arts in Kansas City. The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts has changed Kansas City’s skyline, as well as the experiences of artists and audiences throughout the region. Designed by renowned architect Moshe Safdie, the building’s most distinctive features are the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Theatre, Helzberg Hall, Brandmeyer Great Hall, its acoustical design and accessibility.

The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts being built.

Each space contains dramatic eye- and ear- catching design that combines sophisticated aesthetics, acoustics and technology with the intimacy of a smaller space and the comforts of home.

The building Features nearly 285,000-square-foot facility with two main performance halls. Exterior surfaces include glass, pre-cast concrete and bead-blasted stainless steel. 27 cables are anchored by the weight of the pre-cast walls and hold up the glass in the lobby. It also has 196 public restroom stalls in the building!

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The Day's Best: A window washer works on the side of a hotel, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Atlanta.