My alarm goes off at 6:00 AM and I jump out of bed and take the day on at full steam!... just kidding, I hit the snooze and drag myself out of bed 10 minutes later. After eating breakfast (oatmeal for the win!), making my lunch and bundling up for being outside most of the day, ill leave for work by about 10 after 7:00. That equates to about half an hour to eat breakfast and half an hour to make my lunch, after all I'm going at full steam. I bike to work, even through 4 feet of snow. I may start walking soon.
I get to the office soon after and sit around with the rest of the guys until our dispatcher gives us our work for the day, assigns us into groups of 2-3 and gives us the keys to a van. It is not unusual to be sitting around until 8 before we leave. (My boss doesn't like this, however he just bought the company so there are some things he is still working through. I love my boss. He is a Christian and I sometimes get to pray with him). Sometimes we are given route work, which is more regular and involves equal driving and working time. It is easier, and has more variety, sometimes doing route work we'll wash the windows of 20+ businesses. Other times we'll be given the ticket for a single job that will take us all day, or even multiple days, these are usually less fun than doing route work. (A ticket is the paper with the job details, also your name needs to be on the ticked to get payed, lose the ticket and you don't get payed.) So far my least favourite jobs are houses, they are more difficult for the simple reason that houses aren't built practical like businesses, they are built pretty, and artsy and frustrating for window cleaners. On top of that, houses are frequently rated lower than businesses (I am not sure why), government buildings are rated the highest, on purpose (cause it's tax payers dollars anyways I was told). I have yet to go on a stage and go up a tall building. I will also someday do chair work, that is where you come down the building sitting on a board, tied with ropes/cables (not for the faint of heart).
The highest I have been on a ladder is 3 stories. The most scared I have been so far is when we did this one house. I had to edge alongside a wall and reach up above my head to wash some little windows without any safety gear (i was 3 stories off the ground!). I had 3 feet of space to work with and it was approx. a 4/12 pitch.
I should explain how I get payed. Each job ticket is rated for a certain amount of minutes, for example the Subway restaurant in Osborne village on Osborne and River ave. is rated for something like 30 minutes inside and outside. that means we wash all the windows, inside and outside the restaurant. so no matter how long it takes us to wash the windows we will only get payed 30 minutes for it, and that is split between everybody, if there are 3 guys they will get 10 minutes each etc. the higher the rating, the more the minutes, the lower the rating the less the minutes. a positive of this system is you get payed for the work you do, and it motivates you to work harder, the more work you complete the more you get payed. The negative of this system is that it motivates cheating.
There. That is a typical day of work for me. I often get home between 2 and 4 in the afternoon. There was one day I got home at 8. Thankfully that is rare.
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