No business has remained untouched by the ill-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the nationwide complete lockdown for three to four months in 2019, every company, as well as individual, faced a tough time. Window cleaning companies in London are no exception. Before the pandemic, there was a huge demand for professional window cleaners in London and the demand is coming both from residential and commercial users. But the pandemic changed the scenario completely.
If reports are to be believed, the window cleaning business in the UK is one of the badly hit business services. It is because businesses like hotels, shopping malls, and schools were closed since March. This compelled employers of window cleaning companies to reduce their staff. Even reputed window cleaning companies reduce their manpower strength to 80%. The reason is easy to guess; when there is no demand, the income becomes zero, and with zero income, it is impossible to pay salaries to staff members. Talking about domestic users, outsiders weren’t allowed and residents had been performing all cleaning tasks by themselves. This further reduced their demand.
Fortunately, the situation improved in the last two or three months when customers started availing the services. It goes without saying that window cleaning companies have been fulfilling their demands by adhering to all necessary guidelines issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Government.
Important Changes Brought Post Pandemic
Some of the special precautions every professional window cleaning company bounds to follow are:
- Only physically fit workers are allowed to rejoin the work. If any trained window cleaner is feeling cough, cold, or fever, he is strictly advised to rest at home.
- While offering window cleaning solutions, the team pays special attention to practice social distancing. Companies are urged to send quotes to customers by email and encourage them to make payments by digital payment methods.
- All team members should sanitize their hands or wash them properly before entering any house. A similar practice is followed while exiting any home to ensure everyone’s safety. Not to mention, wearing a mask is compulsory.
- Professional window cleaners wear disposable shoe covers while performing indoor window cleaning tasks. If customers have any objection, they can give their own disposable shoe covers to the cleaning team.
- It is a standard practice to clean towels and soft goods before reusing them. Companies ensure to maintain multiple sets of clothes so that their team can easily change them from one job to another.
- Internal window cleaning services offered only when clients are satisfied with the new norms of social distancing.
- The cleaning team should disinfect and sanitize homes and offices before leaving the site while adhering to the guidelines of social distancing. If clients do not ask for sanitization, it is the duty of professionals to advise them to sanitize their homes once their job is over for their safety
- If any family member of a client is feeling sick, comes in contact with the virus, or has a history of traveling, we expect him/her to notify the same before fixing an appointment. It is understandable that it is not safe to pose any risk to the life of employees, therefore if any appointment is already fixed, we prefer rescheduling it.
Many established window cleaning London based companies even offer gutter cleaning services. But as gutter cleaning performed outside the home, therefore the cleaning team does not come into contact with family members. In such cases, only general standards are applicable.
Reduction in Prices: A Necessary Evil
To convince customers and keep getting orders continuously, the window cleaning business in the UK is under immense pressure to follow attractive marketing schemes. In such situations, the best way to lure customers’ attention is by offering window cleaning services at reduced prices. Many companies have slashed the prices by 20 percent and after witnessing the ongoing market conditions, many others seem to follow the suit. Some companies even offer gutter or carpet cleaning services as complimentary with window cleaning services (of course terms and conditions are applicable). Many companies are calling their loyal customers and informing them beforehand about their operation and slashed prices.
In fact, companies involving in the cleaning business are hopeful that the condition will improve in the near future. They are even ready to go to extra mile to support their employees and the entire community by bringing certain changes in their business operations.