Month: April 2014

Office Window Cleaning, Window Cleaning

How often should I clean my office windows?

We are often asked how often our commercial clients should clean their windows. There are a few rules of thumb, however, it really depends on your location, type of building and type of business.We’ve covered on our blog in the past that if you have a storefront window that customers are influenced by, it is a very high priority that your windows be clean. Likewise if you are a restaurant, you know that even one fingerprint or run-in with food can ruin someone’s appetite and drive them away – and they may not return. So those are cases where you definitely want to be cleaning your windows even up to several times per day. At least taking a look very often, and cleaning them as needed.If you have a more traditional office building, however, your schedule can depend more on the weather and routine maintenance. We offer plans to come out each month for many of our clients, though some preferred once per quarter.No matter what situation you are in always keep your eye open for windows that need cleaning. If it is something simple you might be able to do the job yourself, but for weathered windows it will take a more industrial product that only a professional window cleaning company can provide. Lastly, consider the type of building you have. If you are boxed in by other buildings, your windows may face less weather-related issues and look pretty good for a longer time. Conversely, if you are in an open field or have no “wind blocking” buildings or […]

Window Cleaning

What the outside sees in

We always hear about “location, location, location.” While it’s true that having an excellent location is crucial to a successful business, there’s another factor that can make or break your establishment: The image your business portrays to outsider viewers. Even if you have the most prime real estate out of all the businesses like yours in your city or town, you may as well begin throwing in the towel if a customer can witness one of the following from your windows. Wilting plants. If the plants you placed at your windows to make the inside of your business more aesthetically pleasing are wilting and dying, you should expect your customer flow to do pretty much the same. Since it shows that you don’t care about the up-keep at your business, customers may not expect you to take care of them as well. Scattered, messy papers, everywhere. Nothing says “disorganized” than a desk full of loose sheets of paper. Memos, quarterly reports and thank-you cards everywhere, and in no particular order: Sure, the mess shows you’re busy, but it also demonstrates that you can’t handle an even the simplest of paper filing systems. Bored or forgotten customers. If you are a service-providing business and your customers sit at the windows, make sure they don’t sit there too long to get apathetic or discontent – for all the world to see. At the very least, provide a stack of magazines or newspapers at the sitting areas. Just make sure things don’t get too messy.   Least of all, […]

Chicago Window Cleaning, Window Cleaning

Crowded window displays

Recently we discussed storefront windows and how to best utilize them. We again emphasize we are not interior designers or storefront window display experts. But we’ve seen so many windows, we can’t help but feel like we are starting to learn the trade.One thing we run into from time to time is the overcrowding of window space. It’s found at many gas stations, liquor stores, and convenience stores. Some of these storeowners think that they must jam as many promotions as possible into their window space. For a short time, you can grab some attention, but over the long haul it creates an atmosphere that we believe is detrimental to sales.When a window is so crowded that it actually blocks the view into the store, it actually makes it a non-inviting atmosphere. We feel like we’ve gone back to the 1980s and the clerk behind the counter will be smoking a cigar and selling expired food. Sure, we are being over-the-top and joking a little, but there is some truth to this. The perception is that your store is tight, crowded and stuffed. And we believe you should do everything possible to make your store open and airy and should be set up to be an inviting atmosphere.So instead of overcrowding your windows, consider putting a few select nicely designed posters up to promote your latest offerings and products. Change them often, so they get noticed when they change.And keep those windows nice and clear. Let the sunshine in and soon patrons will follow.

Window Cleaning

Taking care of the home front

If you’re a business manager or facility manager,  we understand all the tasks that you must juggle each day. We are a small business as well and we feel your pain. We know it’s easy to think about business, sales, the bottom line, expansion, new employees and day-to-day tasks. It’s a full slate. The one thing we see slip through the cracks is taking care of the home front. Maintaining your building so that it continues to invite customers and valued employees. Sometimes the focus on successful business leaves external image to be desired. You may be doing very well, but to the new prospect you don’t look professional. There’s more to your image then external maintenance, but Innovative Window Cleaning can take care of one repetitive task: making a window look great. Why not let us take care of your window cleaning instead of filling your schedule with a repetitive task that won’t go away? In fact, the only way to make it go away is to call today. So take care of that home front and make that front window and door look great. Give your prospects and employees impression of professional energy from the moment they walk in your door. In that way, your successful business will have a matching image to go along with it. Innovative Window Cleaning, located in Chicago, Illinois, has been a strong leader in the commercial window cleaning industry and provides excellent service to corporate clients in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. Our experienced includes hi-rise buildings, tall skyscrapers, sporting venues, such […]

Office Window Cleaning, Window Cleaning

Glass House owners should not throw stones

You’ve all heard the old saying “those who live in glass houses should not throw stones “. In our experience as a window cleaning company in Chicago, we’ve seen our share of this in action. You see, all of our clients are commercial, meaning they either have office workers coming in every day, or customers to walk in off the street each day. Before these people even get inside the building they can see the way that you maintain your “house”, that is your business environment. What kind of impression are you giving off? We hope it’s a great one. But often we see people not maintaining their buildings in the way that they should. Like all of us, these business owners or facility managers understand the value of appearance. They wouldn’t buy a car that looked bad, a house that didn’t have a great curb appeal or even clothes secondhand that are obviously worn. So why give that impression to your employees and customers? If you call us at Innovative Window Cleaning, we can come up with a routine maintenance plan for your building that will leave your windows looking great all year round. We can set up a schedule so that you won’t even have to think about calling us the next time time passes by or seasons change. So think about it. Image is everything in today’s society. When you can plan ahead for something as routine as window cleaning, why not go for it? Check one more item off of the “to-do” list […]

Window Cleaning

Industrial window cleaning

Sometimes window cleaning is tough. When you’re talking about a city like Chicago there are so many variables leading to dirty windows. At some point, doing it yourself is not an option, as every business owner knows. Sometimes – in fact most of the time – a spray bottle and rent won’t get the job done. That’s when you definitely need to call in the professionals like Innovative Window Cleaning. We have the team, the equipment and the chemicals and we are in know on how to get your windows sparkling clean even after years of procrastination. Furthermore, we know there are so many elements that can lead to dirty windows in the first place, especially in downtown Chicago. There’s pollution precipitation, lake effect and even traffic emissions that build up on the surface of your windows. It’s simply not worth your time to scrubbing hard to remove those stains from your windows. Call us today for a free quote. We can handle anything from one story commercial buildings, storefronts and restaurants, two multi story downtown Chicago buildings, including skyscrapers. When your buildings have this extreme buildup on the windows, we know price is your number one concern. But we can assure you Innovative Window Cleaning has excellent rates, you might be surprised at how much this will save you financially as well as in time and other costs. Innovative Window Cleaning, located in Chicago, Illinois, has been a strong leader in the commercial window cleaning industry and provides excellent service to corporate clients in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. Our experienced […]

Corporate Building Services, Window Cleaning

Glass doors for businesses

A wide percentage of businesses today have glass entry doors. Many of these include restaurants but also include commercial buildings like grocery stores and department stores. Stores allow people to see in your establishment making it an inviting atmosphere. There’s no question it’s a warmer feeling to know what you’re walking into. With that said, there is one big concern: cleanliness. These stores can be graced by thousands of fingers every day leaving germs, fingerprints, dirt – even food – that can turn off the next patron. Just like a public restroom we strongly recommend you take care of this task on a set schedule every day. That is, very often! Be sure to have an employee earmarked to do this task each hour. And train your staff to have their eyes peeled for things like food or other major issues. Innovative window cleaning can tackle the tougher stains and cleaning issues. But we are not able to attend to immediate cleaning needs. So let this just be a reminder to treat your beautiful door entryway with respect. It’s the first thing your customers come in contact with and the last thing before they leave. Innovative Window Cleaning, located in Chicago, Illinois, has been a strong leader in the commercial window cleaning industry and provides excellent service to corporate clients in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. Our experienced includes hi-rise buildings, tall skyscrapers, sporting venues, such as race tracks, event centers, venues, and arenas. Contact us for a free quote at 1-888-535-1440

Window Cleaning

The hidden costs of an ugly building

We talked in a blog about the benefits of your building and storefront displays. Conversely have you considered what your building may be costing you in sales alone? The fact is, if you have an ugly building,  you are losing customers and even valued potential employees. No one wants to walk into a building that is not inviting. The money you have saved by buying a building or renting one on the “seedy” side of town is going to come back to haunt you. And the money you saved by allowing your signage, display and street sign by falling to pieces is going to bite you.  We can’t tell you how many stores we see of signs that are peeling, damaged or falling apart from years of neglect. Signage alone, we believe, may be your number one advertising piece. If your building looks neglected, customers will assume they will be neglected as well. The world today has changed and people have more choices than ever. If they don’t choose McDonald’s they will go to Burger King next door. There are 50 dentists and  50 cleaners on every block in the city of Chicago. Don’t think people realize how much business they lose every day to competitors within walking distance. There are somethings you cannot control within your business. But somethings you can. We strongly suggest you put full effort into your curbside image. Make sure your signs are clean and have a modern design to them. Also, if possible. try to rent your building on the good side of town. And of course make […]

Window Cleaning

Thank you to all our customers!

We want to make a public thank you to all of our customers. It’s not every day we get to interact with our customers because we are always moving fast serving so many of you. Our ownership does not go to every job and sometimes we miss that customer interaction. We miss seeing happy customers at each wash site. So, as informal as it may be, we want to use our blog to thank all of our customers for their business. We thank all of the schools, office buildings, churches, and retail outlets. We sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed our service and that you will give us a call again in the future. The Chicago area weather never quits. So we know that our business is one of repeat customers. We are thrilled to get a new call, but we know we need to do the job right in order to get a call back. We are happy to know that a very strong majority of our customers return to us, Innovative Window Cleaning, for their window washing means each time. We hope that speaks to our quality as well as our affordable prices. So again, thank you for your business. We hope to continue the relationship for years to come!

Commercial Window Washing

Isn’t window cleaning easy?

As a follow-up to our previous blog, we wanted to address the do-it-yourself mentality for window cleaning. Many companies out there try to do window cleaning with in-house maintenance employees because they perceive it to be easy. For a one-story building, in most cases, we can understand that thinking. Just get some cleaner and a squeegee and go to work. Of course, there’s still knowing the best tools to use and the best cleaning solution, which we may discuss in the future blog. But there are some more obvious problems with thinking that window cleaning is easy. First, consider hard-to-reach places. This of course includes anything from the second floor and above. But it also includes things you may not think about: heavy brush or trees around  windows may prevent the maintenance man from properly reaching the window. There also may be ground issues, too, from window wells to puddles and even landscaping ponds. Lastly, there’s the issue of convenience, especially when doing the inside of the windows. When inside your building your maintenance person has even more obstacles to get around including valuable computers and files, and even desks and people. Our team faces this issue too, of course, but we work ahead with you on a schedule to best avoid such conflicts. So while it’s definitely not rocket science, window cleaning does take forethought and planning. It also takes knowing the right tools and methods to do the job right and quickly. Doing these simple few things will help you get the results you […]

Commercial Window Washing, Corporate Building Services

When do-it-yourself becomes a stumbling block

When it comes to washing windows for your business, doing it yourself can be pretty attractive. Sounds easy, right? It’s free, right? Not so fast. We will save the “window washing is easy” blog topic for another day. But let’s address the cost. Everything has a cost: it’s your time. And if you are using an employee to wash windows, it’s dollars as well. Before you decide to wash your own windows, you need like with anything else to figure out how much it is costing you. If you aren’t paying an employee $20 an hour, it may not sound so bad. It should just take him a couple hours right? Probably not. Depending on the size shape and location of your windows it could be a weeklong job for somebody. At that point, your cost competes with a professional service, and that service can come in and do the job typically in one day. Plus, a professional service has the right tools and skills – and insurance – to do a safe and quality job. Also consider that you lose the productivity of your employee if he is washing windows. Perhaps he can be repurposed and used on other projects that have a return on investment that far outweighs the cost of a professional window cleaning service. This debate is not new. From painting your own home to changing your own oil, we all make the decision each day whether to do the job ourselves or hand it off to a professional. Just do your […]

Commercial Window Washing, Corporate Building Services, Exterior Window Cleaning

Don’t play games with your safety

Each year there are reported cases of injury and even death from people falling off roofs and ladders. We don’t want to scare you, chances are you’ll be fine if you’re doing work on your own. But if you’re getting up there in age or just don’t have the agility you once did, it’s best to let a professional do second floor and roof maintenance for your home. Don’t hesitate to call a professional for such matters. Not only do we have a large team that can get the job done faster, but we know tricks and methods to doing the job best. We also have the proper equipment to make the job safe. In our case of course, our forte is window cleaning. So give us a call today for your free window cleaning quote. For some things business owners may decide on a low-budget, economical option. We encourage you, however, to be sure that window cleaning is not one of those things. Taking the low cost option for window cleaning means you may get someone who is not professional in appearance, methods, or workmanship. The last thing you want is a job that is not well done. That won’t be an issue with Innovative Window Cleaning. We are insured, bonded and licensed and have years of experience. We will come out, do the job well, and be safe while doing it. Even better, we are far from an expensive option. We believe our rates are very reasonable. Give us a call for a quote […]

Commercial Window Washing, Exterior Window Cleaning

Sticker residue on Windows

For some businesses there’s more than just a dirty window problem. Many storefronts and other commercial buildings have residue from old signs and stickers. Anything from display posters to “special of the day” for restaurants even to little stuff like Neighborhood Watch or “No concealed carry” signs. When these stickers and signs are indoors you have the time and a comfortable atmosphere to work on these yourself. From razor blades and “Goo-Gone” you might try many different ways to remove them with varying levels of success. When these stickers stains are outdoors, however, removal becomes another story. The windows may be in hard-to-reach places, or the weather may not cooperate. Plus, the last thing you want to do scratch the window, or make it worse in some way. The other variable for outdoor window stains is the sun. Four months, years or even decades the sun beat down on your sign, creating a haze, glare or other unsightly result. Once you remove the sign, your window no longer “matches” its smoothness, cleanliness or reflectivity. One solution is to purchase a new window altogether, and some of our competitors may suggest that. That’s the easy way out, but an expensive way out as well! Before you replace the glass, give Innovative Window Cleaning a call. We can come out and evaluate the situation right away. It may well be that you need to replace your window, but we will do everything possible to salvage what you have for a cheaper and greener solution.

Window Cleaning

Marshall Field’s Famous Christmas Storefront Window

Once in a while we here at Innovative Window Cleaning want to have a little fun with our blog. One of the ways we will do this is to link to some windows that have a place in history. Sounds silly, right? Sure, but try this on for size. Let’s start with the Marshall Field’s Christmas window displays. A Chicago tradition in its own right, and continuing today with Macy’s, who bought out Marshall Field’s in 2005. Below are a few great photos and references to this piece of Chicago history. Enjoy! WTTW’s Marshall Field’s Christmas Storefront Feature Chicago Now’s Feature on State St. and Marshall Fields Macy’s Christmas Window in Chicago, 2012

Chicago Window Cleaning, Commercial Window Washing

Should I hang posters in my storefront window?

We at Innovative Window Cleaning aren’t store display design experts by any means. But, we do have a lot of clients with all types of windows and displays aimed at the public. So we picked up a little knowledge along the way, And we thought it would be fun to talk about. In  many storefront windows we see posters for products, services or upcoming events. These of course can be beautiful graphically and attract attention right away. We can picture the old days where the record store would have the latest album artwork and concert posters from popular bands. Or we can picture the latest food offering at Taco Bell. Our answer to the question at hand is fairly simple. If you have beautiful products to show off in house, don’t hide them with posters. If you must, make sure that the poster is for a temporary event or sale. That way since it’s a new display it will gather twice the attention that it would if you always had it posted. On the other hand, if your storefront is for a service or something that’s hard to visualize, we think poster art might be a good thing. This is especially true if your building sign does not adequately state who you are and what you do. It may be silly, but those signs that just say “Cleaners” on them can be the most effective at conveying a message. And that’s the perfect situation to put up a poster that shows off today’s special. Your customers will notice […]

Chicago Window Cleaning, Commercial Window Washing, Window Cleaning

April showers bring May flowers

April showers bring May flowers. But you want to see those flowers sparkling colorful and beautiful, right? Let innovative window cleaning help you achieve that goal. Spring is supposed to be colorful and beautiful. You want to see the grass, flowers, birds and other animals and plants to inspire clean, that clean, fresh feeling of Spring. So let’s all get ready for spring! No matter what type of industrial or commercial building you have, we can clean them all. From the big – skyscrapers, churches, schools, and apartment building complexes – to the small, like strip malls and office buildings. With hired, trained professionals, Innovative Window Cleaning will get that sparkle and shine that you want. Your workplace will look great, inspiring your employees to do their best work, and drawing in more attention from potential customers on the street. Your building will shine like those around you are not after this brutal, long winter! Think about it. This Chicago area winter has been long enough. Allowing your windows to be gray and dirty for longer will just extend the dreary days. Let’s kick out the old with a fresh start from Innovative Window Cleaning. About Us Innovative Window Cleaning, located in Chicago, Illinois, has been a strong leader in the commercial window cleaning industry and provides excellent service to corporate clients in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. Our experienced includes hi-rise buildings, tall skyscrapers, sporting venues, such as race tracks, event centers, venues, and arenas. Contact us for a free quote at 1-888-535-1440