The Squeegeelution
I washed my first window in 1979 at age 9 in an office building where my step-grandparents were cleaning for their son, my mother’s ex-husband, whose flashy, decadent ways captured my imagination as a child.
He owned a successful building maintenance company in Portland. I remember making a big smeary streaky mess with some towels and a bottle of blue spray. when I was done it didn’t look that great. Discouraged I went back to life of boyhood.
At 11 I got my first paper route delivering The Columbian to some low income apartments in Vancouver, Washington. This pretty much established my entrepreneurial spirit.
At 15 I quit the paper route and mowed lawns for the summer.
At 16 I took a job cleaning a 40,000 square foot office in suburban Oregon. And then when school started back up, I cleaned floors in the local Kmart early in the morning before class.
Then late in my 17th year I started C&N Janitorial Service in Vancouver WA. The N stood for nobody, because I did it all myself pretty much.
At 19 I got the contract to clean the windows for a small real estate office, so I bought some squeegees and a mop and attempted to do the work. Frustration ensued, but a friendly window cleaner happened by and taught me a few techniques that got the ball rolling. Then I washed my parents windows, my grandmas windows and picked up house clients and commercial jobs here and there.
When I quit the janitorial racket in the mid 90s and went back to college to get my journalism BA and English minor from Washington State University, I kept my squeegees and would beat the mid-range to nicer residential neighborhoods in Pullman, Washington knocking door to door seeking travel bucks for clean windows. I always found all the work I needed to help pay for school, buy food and pay the rent and travel, and I built a small repeat client base while in college.
I’ve been in California now for 12 years and over time I’ve picked up a client here and there from friends and talking with people, 99% residential with second story reach capacity. I’m doing a little advertising and I invest regularly in new equipment and better supplies.
While I’m focused on cleaning the beautiful homes of the Ojai Valley, I’ve washed windows in Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, New Mexico and a few places in Europe.
For your window cleaning and window washing needs in the Ojai Valley, call me. (805) 208-9254 or email chris@windowashing.com