Most jobs are fairly similar, incredibly dangerous and thrilling because of the heights we clean at as high-rise window cleaners, but similar – rectangular buildings, lots of dirty windows. But this job stood out. To start off with it was a restaurant rather than a high-rise residential or commercial block, then there was the curved shape of the building and finally there were the precious assets below us that had to be protected.

Yes, dirty windows are an eyesore, but why should you spend a portion of your cleaning budget on keeping them dirt and grime free?

If you are responsible for your office budget you may have asked yourself this exact question, because surely the cleanliness of the inside areas of your office are costly enough so is there really any justification for instructing a high-rise window cleaner?

As you might imagine, on a high-rise window cleaning firm’s blog, the answer is yes, but bear with me because there are some very important reasons why window cleanliness is just as important as polished desks and emptied bins inside your workplace.

Corrosion

While most windows and sills these days are made from sturdier materials and ‘good’ old-fashioned acid rain seems to be on the decline, what you don’t see is that your windows and frames are under chemical attack every day. The ph make-up of raindrops, pollution and city grime can combine to corrode your windows. Older glazing and wooden frames are, of course, more vulnerable, but modern windows are not always immune to prolonged exposure between window cleaning. So don’t leave grime on your windows and sills to fester – ensure that you have a regular window cleaning programme in place.

Cost

A dirty window may only have a tiny impact on the amount of light and warmth entering your office space, requiring you to use your lighting and heating a little more often. But, if you multiply the number of windows you have and the days they’re covered with the dust and dirt that prevents light and warmth entering, you’ll be spending more on utilities and these costs can mount up.

Bacteria

From bird droppings to food particles whipped up by the wind, and from dead bugs to leaf matter stuck to windows and frames, left uncleaned, your window can become a bacteria holiday camp. Microbes can make their way into your office through tiny cracks in frames or when windows are opened for ventilation and cause similar issues to any other hygiene issue in an office.

First Impressions

As mentioned in a number of our articles, the cleanliness of your windows, signage and the cladding on the outside of your building, will impact the impression people will have of your business. Which company cares more for the impression it gives off, the reputation it generates, the way people think about them: the one with gleaming signage, windows and cladding or the one stained and streaked by time and grime? Make the right first impression to all those who visit your office by ensuring that your building exterior is kept clean throughout the year.

Mould

This is primarily an issue for older properties, but where there is a difference in temperature between outside and inside – and this is most relevant in the wintertime – there is an opportunity for condensation to happen. The dampness the pools on window frames could, if left for long enough, encourage the growth of moulds, and we all know this is hazardous to our health. Don’t give your windows the opportunity to create their own ecosystem, make sure they are regularly cleaned.

Dust

Dust can accumulate on the inside and outside of windows. Dust can attract dust mites and these can cause breathing issues and allergic reactions in some people. So, if you want to minimise sick days in your office and ensure your staff are comfortable, it would make sense, once again, to ensure that any dust is cleaned away on a regular basis to ensure that such an infestation cannot occur.

As you can see, six good reasons why you should commit a portion of your company’s cleaning budget to keeping your windows clean throughout the year.

We were instructed on a job in Chelsea, a second-floor establishment with windows that were not only dirty, but also covered in vinyl branding promoting the restaurant. Our task was to remove a layer of vinyl and clean all the windows. Sounds simple enough doesn’t it? However, it was anything but.

Instead of there being just one layer, as we were briefed, there were three layers of vinyl on each window which had to be stripped one at a time. This took a considerable amount of time and not a single window could be cleaned until that was finished.

Because of the shape of the building and the location of the restaurant within it, the most cost-effective and efficient solution available was a mobile elevating work platform. These are not the easiest machines to bring on site in central London, but our team are skilled at manoeuvring them carefully and safely. However, even this was not enough to get to all the windows. We are perfectionists and we always make sure that every window we’re asked to clean is not only cleaned, but cleaned to our exacting standards, so we had to go into problem-solving mode. Eventually we found that we could reach the remaining windows from the next-door property, so we gained permission and access and completed the job.

The thing we’ve forgotten to mention is those precious assets below us. Whenever and wherever we work we do so to strict health and safety standards to avoid anything being dropped, to ensure that the public below are warned of our work overhead and sometimes to cordon off areas directly below us. The water we use is chemical free, simply warmed up and deionised so anything that drips will not harm or damage. But what was below us on this job was a little more valuable than usual. This was the building’s car park entrance through which a stream of Lamborghinis, Rolls Royces and Bentleys would normally have driven… We wouldn’t want to damage any of those – just imagine how many windows we’d have to clean to pay for that! So, we got the building’s security chaps to close that entrance while we worked over it.

The long and the short of this story is, we can clean any windows anywhere and we have the equipment, skill and training to do so quickly, safely and affordably.

If the windows on your building are in need of a clean, then contact London Window Cleaners today, the high-rise window cleaning specialists, on 020 3954 2900.