Commercial window cleaning is done in two ways, and most premises need a mix of both. The Reach and Wash system cleans external glass from the ground with a water-fed pole. Conventional cleaning uses a ladder, a bucket, an applicator and a squeegee, the method the trade has used for a century. Which one is used on a given elevation depends on the height, the access, the type of glass and frame, and whether the inside is being cleaned as well as the outside.
The Reach and Wash system
Reach and Wash is a water-fed pole system. Water is passed through a filtration unit that strips out the dissolved minerals, and the purified water is pumped up a telescopic pole to a brush head. The operator scrubs the glass with the brush, then rinses it with a stream of the same pure water and leaves it to dry.
Two things make this work. The first is that pure water has nothing dissolved in it, so when it dries it leaves no spots or streaks. Tap water leaves its minerals behind as a white haze. The second is that no detergent is used, so there is no residue on the pane to attract dirt, and the glass tends to stay clean longer.
Working from the ground has its own advantages on a commercial building.
- Glass up to several storeys can be reached without a ladder, a cherry picker or scaffold.
- The operator is never at height, which removes the main risk in the job.
- Frames, sills and cladding are rinsed along with the glass.
- Flower beds, gravel, sloping ground and busy pavements matter less when nothing has to be footed.
- Work continues in light wind that would keep a ladder on the van.
When conventional cleaning still makes sense
The water-fed pole cannot do everything. Olivers still carries out conventional ladder work where it is the better method, and there are several common cases.
Internal glass is the obvious one. Partitions, internal doors, atrium glazing and the inside face of the front windows are cleaned by hand with applicator and squeegee, because a water-fed pole cannot be used indoors without soaking the floor.
Some frames and sills need hand attention. Heavily soiled or oxidised frames, glass with paint spots or builders’ residue, and leaded or Georgian-bar windows with many small panes are all quicker and cleaner done by hand with a scraper and a cloth than with a brush on a pole.
Some ground rules a pole out. A pane directly above a canopy, a glazed porch or a flat roof can be closer to the ladder than to the ground, and sometimes there is no line of sight from where the operator would stand. Shopfronts at street level are usually squeegeed by hand simply because it is faster and the finish is easy to check.
Conventional cleaning is also the way to get a first clean on glass that has been neglected. Once the build-up has been removed by hand, a pole round keeps it at that standard.
Why a site survey happens before every job
Olivers surveys a site before every window cleaning job, whether it is a single visit or the first of a regular round. The survey establishes which elevations can be reached from the ground, where ladders will be needed, whether there is a safe place to foot them, and where the van and the water supply can go. It also counts and measures the glass so that the job can be priced on the amount of work rather than a guess.
Things that come up on surveys and change the plan: opening windows that swing outward and cannot be brushed from below, a public footpath along the frontage that needs cones, glazing over a loading bay in use during the day, and roof lights that turn out to be cleanable only from inside.
The survey is also where the client says which glass matters. Some buildings want every pane on every visit. Others want the front elevation and reception monthly and the rear quarterly, which is a sensible way to spend a window cleaning budget.
Setting up a regular round
Most commercial window cleaning is carried out on a round rather than as one-off visits. Monthly is common for shopfronts, showrooms, restaurants and any premises where customers see the glass. Quarterly suits offices, industrial units and buildings set back from the road. A mixed pattern, with the front done more often than the sides and back, is frequently the right answer.
The interval is agreed after the survey and written into the schedule with the method for each elevation. On a fixed round the operator learns the building, notices when a pane has been broken or a frame has started to fail, and can report it.
Window cleaning is where Olivers began, seventy years ago in Hemel Hempstead. The window cleaning page explains what the survey covers and how a round is priced and scheduled.
