Every job has the potential for damage. New glass that has never been cleaned sometimes has the greatest potential. For many different reasons. It could have a defective (scratch sensitive) surface right from the float glass manufacturer. Which has been covered with construction debris. Even stickers from the window manufacturer. Razor blades cannot be used on this type of defective surface without causing scratches. New glass might be scratched already. Defective or not. This can happen at the window manufacturing plant, or on route to the construction site. Glass passes through many hands on the way to the construction site. And it is impossible to know who might have cleaned it or how it has been stored before installation. All of this means that the professional window cleaner must be Glass Smart. They must be able to identify by inspection any preexisting scratches, abrasions, etching, or other surface damage 'before' cleaning.
Problems with new glass are only the very beginning. Windows that are months, years, or decades old are potential nightmares. Anything that you imagine could be lurking beneath the dirt or stains. I call this the glass history. Lets say a building is completed. The windows have been in storage for six months. During this time they could have easily sustained damage by scratching or etching. But the cleaner that was used didn't identify the damage. So the building was signed off and the windows got dirty again. It was sold and now another cleaner was called in. The damage couldn't be seen until the windows were cleaned again. This time the damage was visible to everyone and the second window cleaner was blamed. That company was sued for scratches that were caused by someone else. Nothing was ever done to fix the problem however and the building was sold again to someone else. Who had no idea of the problem. The windows were cleaned again by a third window cleaner. But they used a "professional glass restoration" product to remove the excessive dirt and runoff from a concrete hydrophobic sealant. Or maybe hard water stains. The windows cleaned up very well. But the product was based on a glass etchant such as hydrofluoric acid. This type of product magnifies scratches by 2,000 times every time! At this point the latest owner is very angry. He never seen those scratches before! The window cleaner might claim that he never even used a razor blade. Nothing abrasive at all. And has no idea where the scratches came from. The latest owner of the building doesn't care and files a lawsuit. Usually this is the time that I am called in to make some sense of the situation and point the finger in the right direction. There are usually two lawyers. One representing the window cleaner. Another representing the building owner. Of course no insurance company will want to pay for anything. This isn't a car accident. Not that easy. So I am usually called on for some quick easy answers. And maybe to serve as an expert witness over the phone.
I could go on with stories involving many different situations. Involving plastic glazing, solar film, low e mirrored glass, anti-reflective coatings for photovoltaic panels, or low maintenance (self cleaning) coatings. The list goes on. But the singular point that I am intending to make here is that the window cleaning industry is changing radically. Windows are not what they used to be. The potential for surface damage and lawsuits is very real these days. Every window cleaning company must be aware of this. And work very hard at becoming Glass Smart. It also would not necessarily be a bad idea to adopt a First Time Waiver (FTW) for every new account. There should be a waiver to do the first window for testing and approval. A second to get paid for half the job and get approval to finish. And a third to get signed off which will assure getting paid for the rest of the job. So essentially a waiver for every job! This is one of the very best methods for protecting your company from lawsuits. Because they are right now destroying so many innocent window cleaners. As a consultant I have been called into many situations such as the ones I have described here. These were totally needless!
Written by Henry Grover Jr.
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