I started my window cleaning life in 2008, and was instantly hooked. I quickly set up Big Red Window Cleaning and introduced water fed pole and pure water systems to the business in 2010. We would have been one of the first in Brisbane for sure. The name came from our big red van and over the next seven years, water fed pole our way all over Brisbane and built a Google chart topping website that pulled in a stack of leads.

In 2015 we made a family decision to leave Brisbane and raise the kids in the country. We bought a property at a chilly 950m above sea level and sold the business. With a few pigs and chooks to look after, but not so much cleaning work around, I had a little extra time on my hands and decided to map out my processes in case I wanted to start something again. Once you've found a perfect system that works, you need to drill it into the minds of your hired hands. Not an easy thing for any business. 

I won't take all the credit. Joining the Window Cleaning Resource Association in the US was probably one of the better decisions I'd made over the years and with it came information about systems and processes. Now, things are a little different there than they are here, so have really used what I learned to make something that worked for me here.

The Spark Way, is my manual. It took shape over a period of 12 months and now contains pages and pages of 'how to' information including photos and instructional diagrams for staff to follow when working on the job. It's written in a way anyone can follow, and deliver the same results time and again. We've even included small scripts for staff to follow so there is almost no reason to call the boss in situations you may think should be pretty self explanatory, like the following from Chapter 3 - How We Clean Internal Windows;

Scenario 1.

“Excuse me Mary, is anyone sleeping or working in any of the bedrooms?”

        “Oh, yes. My son is asleep upstairs, I’ll go and wake him now.”

or;

Scenario 2.

“Excuse me Mary, is anyone sleeping or working in any of the bedrooms?”

        "Oh yes. My son is asleep upstairs. He works night shift so let’s just leave his bedroom.”

“Sure thing. Do you think you could open all the other doors upstairs so we’ll know which one not to disturb?”

It's little things like this that can help set you apart from others. All these little things add up to an experience for your customer, so why not make it a good one?

Cutting a really long story, short, Spark is for sale due to other business commitments and the travel just too much... we moved out here for a reason! To the right is a list of what is going with the sale (scroll down on mobile devices).