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AN UPLIFTING STORY
A Report on Lifts and Window Cleaners Using Them

(July August 2010)

By Bob Lawrence

It’s not Shakespearian, but a lift by any other name is a lift, whether it’s called a boom, aerial platforms, scissors or whatever that moves workers up higher than ground level. Question is, could lifts be the next big thing in the window cleaning industry in the wake of the dramatic growth in the use of waterfed poles and pure water? Given the buzz of late within the industry, one has to wonder. True, some window cleaners have owned or rented lifts for years, but suddenly, there is more talk about them because of their purported cost effectiveness and safe operation. Herein is what we learned in talking to the lift providers and the end users.

EVAN’S STORY

At Expert Window Cleaning in Baton Rouge Louisiana, Evan Pyle owns an LL63 Hinowa atrium lift from ReachMaster. Track-based and gas powered for outside work, and batteries or110 volts electric for inside, the 63' reach machine fits through a 32 inch door. With a price tag of $80,000 and around $92,000 with a trailer, Pyle couldn’t get a loan because many banks put a halt to lending due to the uncertain economy.  However, a financing arm of ReachMaster financed the loan using the lift as collateral, meaning that “If I fail to pay, they take the machine back,” says Pyle whose payments are around $22,000 a year. He made the purchase about 14 months ago after years of renting at $18,000 annually. Given that, ownership wasn’t that much more costly and “I knew it would be useful on existing jobs and others I could get,” he explains. “I knew that by having this lift, I would be able to solve problems I couldn’t solve before, and as soon as I got it on the job, people would ask me to do other things with it. I knew I would have the business.” Another factor in buying was that when he needed an atrium lift, he couldn’t rent one locally and getting one in Houston (270 miles away) cost $1,000 round trip to transport.

When renting, Pyle and other window cleaners use lifts only when it’s a matter of necessity. As he puts, it, “There are always certain situations that can only be solved with lifts. It all depends on the building’s architecture. Many are designed so that lifts are the only way you can get up there to clean the glass.” Problem is that “renting will run your bid price up quite a bit.  When using my own lift, the cost of that still gets folded in, but the lift is mine. I have control over it and it is always available. Before, I avoided renting whenever possible but now, it is an option right at the top.”  When there is a lift job over 63', he rents and sees the value of big lifts, saying, “they can reach greater heights, operate faster, and are heavy duty. While they are less costly than his atrium lift because there are so many on the market, a tractor trailer is needed to haul them.”

In addition to indoor use, an atrium lift, according to Pyle, is the only solution in some particular cases. For example, one job was on a four-story building that had been designed with inset glass preventing him from going off the roof or using waterfed poles. Additionally, the facility was surrounded by a steel fence with a 32" garden gate. When his machine is not in use, Pyle does not rent it out because the one time he did, it was abused.

The unit is not in use everyday, but Pyle uses it as much as he can. “Some weeks we use it every day but at times it might sit for a week.  I don’t have to have it out everyday to justify the cost. When I would rent a 60 ft. lift, it was $800 a day including fuel, pickup, delivery and insurance. Three one-day jobs would cost me $2400 compared to $1800 monthly payments to own.”

Before buying, ReachMaster paid for a round trip to headquarters in Houston where he spent a day learning to operate the machine. Once he made the decision to buy and the financing was arranged, a finance representative flew in from Pennsylvania for paper signing. The company delivered it free of charge and a technician spent the day working the lift with Pyle and one of his employees.

There are dangers common with using all lifts. “You’re asking for trouble if the user isn’t trained. You have to know your machine and the operating parameters and all of the basic safety requirements such as wearing a harness,” says Pyle. “When you decide where you are going to be using the lift, you must consider how high you’re going up, where the power lines are, and how stable the ground and level the landscape are.” The lift is safer, too, unlike 40' ladders he used in atriums previously.

Pyle says the increase interest in lifts in the window cleaning industry parallels that of the construction industry. As he explains, “When I first started renting lifts 20 years ago, there were only a couple of places in town where I could do it. Now there are a ton of them everywhere.”

BUY OR CONTINUE RENTING?

Geof White, Valley Window Cleaning, Inc.,Kaukauna, Wisconsin, is in his sixth year as a renter, but he’s been thinking about buying an 85 footer which he’s had experience operating. He’s also familiar with 60' booms, scissor and atrium lifts. Among brands White has used are JLG, Genie and Terex. He is high on lifts because there are increasingly more jobs where they are the only way to reach the glass, e.g., buildings with awnings sticking out four feet. That’s the kind of job that first got him into renting. In late June, he was in an atrium on a scissors lift cleaning windows 40' up. For some atriums where he can’t get a scissors through the door, White uses a Genie AWP 32' single lift. Calling the use of lifts cost effective, he says that while there are some buildings where you can drop from the top, by using a boom, the job gets done quicker. “Dropping is a lot cheaper and you might spend $500 or more with a lift, but you get the job done a lot faster.” The rental cost is built into his fee.

Annually, White spends about $10,000 on rentals which he uses “a day here, a day there.”
As for buying, White has been giving it thought for several years but the question is, “do I want to maintain it.” At the same time, he’s thinking if he finds a few more jobs where he needs one, he’ll buy.

The greatest danger White has faced in using a boom lift is wind at speeds of 25mph and greater.

FOR COBY, BUYING WAS A SURE BET

Up until two years ago, Coby Powell, Red Rock Window Cleaning, Las Vegas, Nevada, spent about $30,000 a year renting lifts. Then he decided to buy. In shopping around, he wanted a machine with a reach of at least 75 ft. because that worked well for a lot of his non-sky high jobs. Powell also wanted a lift that could be used both outside and inside where it would go through a 3' 3" doorway for atrium glass cleaning. Additionally, the machine would need to be light enough to be towed behind his trucks. He found all of that in the track-drive LEO23GT atrium lift from Teupen USA which features an articulating boom with a 180° rotating basket and weights 6,500 lbs. With a price tag around $140,000, he figured on paying it off within four years because of his annual cleaning contracts, other business he would pick up, and money saved in not having to rent a 75' rig. Periodically, if a higher reach is required, Powell still rents. His atrium lift is busy for about 10 working days per month and once during its downtime, he rented it to an energy company needing a lift for a week’s work inside a tank. “We made a fortune from that,” says Powell, adding that while he would rather not do it, “I will rent it out for the right price.” After he bought the lift in 2008, a Teupen official traveled to Vegas to train the operators.  There are dangers associated with using lifts, such as power lines and uneven surfaces, but you identify them at the work site and take appropriate action.

GETTING ABOVE THE COMPETITION

Jeff Ausprung knows great heights. His Central Wisconsin Window Cleaning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, gets there on everything from swing stages to lifts every day. He bought a Teupen and a ReachMaster after he started using lifts ten years ago. Ausprung has also been on the development end of the business having approached Milwaukee-based Man & Material Lift Engineering in 2006 about building a custom atrium lift for interior and exterior work. That resulted in the track driven, battery-powered A70TD that goes up 70 ft., fits though a standard single width door and sells for $129,900. He believes that using lifts puts you “above the competition,” no pun intended, and are an inexpensive way to get the work done. Productivity is also increased, says Ausprung. For example, it once required five employees to clean skylights that took four days, but with a lift, that same job can be done in three days by one person. There is also time-savings in that there is no need to set up and tear down scaffolding.

AT $50K, IT WAS TIME TO BUY

Mark Reinhart is no stranger to lifts. He’s been using them for 26 years. It’s another tool Award Window Cleaning employees use in addition to repelling and working from suspended scaffolding in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Once a renter exclusively, Reinhart owns two lifts, but when they are in use and others are needed, he rents and to the tune of about $12,000 a year. With the company shop near downtown, his 85' Genie S-85 can be driven into the heart of the city and from work site to work site thanks to some extras he added on including a hydraulic fluid cooler to keep the lift cool on hot days, lights for night driving, flashers and a “Slow Moving” vehicle on the back. For additional safety, a truck with flasher always follows behind when the lift is driving on the streets. When jobs are too far to drive, a lift rental company picks up and delivers it for $80. That same company also does maintenance and annual inspections on the lifts. In fact, it was through their assistance that Reinhart located the machine when he was researching whether to buy used or new. The 2001 Genie S-85 was used but had been refurbished in 2005 and was priced at $60,000. With what he added on, he had quite an investment and was “very concerned” it would not pay off. As it turned out, “it has paid off big.” As a result of the purchase, the company not only doesn’t have to rent an 85 footer, they also use it on jobs where lifts weren’t previously employed. Finding that it was more profitable and productive using a lift, Reinhart says the lift has brought into reach many buildings that once required several employees to rappel down, but now can be done by one man on the lift. The company’s other lift is a Genie TMZ 50/30 with a working height of 56' purchased for $23,000.

He decided it was time to buy lifts when his rental bills reached $50,000 per year. The money to purchase came not from a bank but from a leasing company requiring a first and last payment upfront. He went with the big reach machine with a range of 6' to 85' because, as he puts it, “In all the years, I’ve found that it’s better to have too much than not enough.”

YOU DO THE MATH

There are a number of reasons why lifts became a major part of Indianapolis, Indiana-based S&K Building Services’ window cleaning, pressure washing and metal restoration business, according to Mike Peine. “Productivity was the biggest factor because we can put a guy up in the air, keep him up there and still drive the lift around the building. The next factor was safety. I can put one or two guys in a lift and as long as they follow safety procedures, and as long as they keep the lift on a flat level surface, there is only a very slight chance of injury or property damage. Also, we can do a good job because we can put our hands on the windows without the use of poles. It’s just a good scenario for us all the way around.”

The company, which bought its first lift not long after starting eleven years ago, owns two SkyJack electric scissors lifts with reaches of 26' and 32'; and five JLG with reaches from 26' to 80'.  The price range is from $7,000 to $100,000. The machines are in use most every day and almost year round, according to Peine. “We have a lot of buildings we rope descend here in Indianapolis but anything that’s about six stories or less that we can drive around, I’m definitely going to put a boom lift on it. That’s probably 25% of the buildings we do.”

Have the lifts paid for themselves? “It depends on variables,” says Peine, “but being able to put one or two guys on the job instead of four or five, and in doing the job in half the time, well, you do the math.  We bid a job to be competitive and when we are able to do that particular job three or four times or ten or 12 times, the lift pays for itself really quickly.”

ARE THEY SAFE

Are there dangers associated with using lifts? You bet, but any operator will tell you that lifts are safer to use than any other equipment once you know how to operate them and under what circumstances. Here’s what else they say: Identify all potential risks such as power lines, and unstable, uneven ground when first visiting the job site. Indoors, find out if the floor will support the weight of your lift. Use harnesses and other safety gear, and always be cautious. Walk away from jobs you deem unsafe. While users are quick to say that operating a lift is safe, easy to learn and uncomplicated, law requires operator training which is provided by sellers and rental companies.

WHAT BRAND TO BUY OR RENT?

As you’ve read, window cleaners vary in their preferences for what’s available in the lift buying and rental marketplace. When you talk to those who sell and provide rentals, they have their preferences as well. Here’s what they had to say on the subject of what might best fit the window cleaning industry.

“Virtually all of our models are in one way or the other used for window cleaning purposes,” says ReachMaster’s Ebbe Christensen who represents several foreign-made lift manufacturers. Likewise, Florian Buescher of Teupen USA believes the entire line of the company’s Leo series (made in Germany) would serve the industry. Specifically, “our A70TD lift is ideal for window cleaners,” says Sarah Fronczak of Man & Material Lift Engineering who designs and builds custom lifts in Milwaukee. Genie’s Jeff Weido suggests scissor lifts, specifically the battery powered GS 3232 from the company’s Redmond, Washington facility. Wellbuilt Equipment’s Dave Webb prefers atrium lifts from ReachMaster and Teupen, among others that his company rents in Chicago, Illinois and northwest Indiana. For specific product information, see “GETTING SPECIFIC” below.

No question that there is growing lift interest among window cleaners, and manufacturing reps can attest to that. As Christensen puts it, “the window cleaning industry has always been one of the corner stones in our industry. So many buildings around the world are in need of window cleaning, and since they keep building atriums and challenging building designs, yes, the window cleaning segment will always remain a vital part of our business prospects.”

Buescher agrees that the window cleaning industry is, and will continue to be, a growth segment for lift sales. Furthermore, using lifts represent a “competitive advantage for any window cleaner. In the future, lifts will be the standard in window cleaning.”  Fronczak says “especially in the past year we have seen the level of interest climbing. Because of the economy, people have been struggling a bit, but we are seeing window cleaners who are starting to plan what they want to do and how they want to change their business in the future, and one ways is to become more efficient with lifts. We have seen and we have heard that you can get as much as a 50% increase in productivity with lifts versus scaffolding or ladders. There is also more recognition of the safety in using lifts.”

Christensen adds that more manufacturers are seeing the potential in marketing to window cleaners. He notes that for years, ReachMaster was alone in advertising in American Window Cleaner Magazine and in exhibiting at the IWCA trade shows, “but now there are at least a handful involved. The mere exposure of more manufacturers showing interest in the market has led to more awareness in the window cleaner segment.” He also points out that there are more buildings designed today that are impossible to clean without a lift because of the   angles and curves in the glass surfaces that prevent permanently mounted equipment or other suspended equipment to go down. “The advance use of steel and glass in architecture in the last ten years has presented more difficult situations for window cleaning and maintenance and that has boosted the need to look at these machines for window cleaning purposes whether it’s the facility owner, window cleaner or rental company that buys it.”

GETTING SPECIFIC

Specifics about what the lift people recommend for window cleaners are as follows:

ReachMaster’s Ebbe Christensen says Hinowa’s small track-based units have become popular. Both the 46' and 63' will go through a single door, while the 76' machine will go through a double door. “The lucrative price point compared with dual drive (either 110v or batteries on the inside, Honda engine on the outside) makes them popular in a lot of so-called limited height applications.” “Denka’s 72/82/92 ft. work height line is no doubt, the most popular atrium lift of all among window cleaners, and a pioneer in the market,” he says. “Wheel-based, single door access and aluminum boom systems make these units extremely light weight, plus the relatively simple technology makes them a very reliable workhorse. Battery driven, the lift can drive on any indoor surface, and measured in sheer numbers, I predict that there are more Denka’s in use than all other lifts combined when it comes to window cleaning in the US.” Christensen is also high on the Falcon line with work heights from 85 to 172 feet. “Wherever there is a complicated reach combined with single door access and significant work height requirement, the Falcon is the lift of choice.”  Because there are so many models, it would be difficult to cover all of the price points, according to Christensen, but the ranges goes from as low as $50,000 to a half a million.

TEUPEN

“The Teupen LEO Series was specifically designed to be compact and light for job sites
with limited access or floor load restrictions. Therefore it provides the most efficient height
access solution in the industry,” says Florian Buescher of Teupen USA. “The compact LEO lift passes through standard doors and narrow entrances to access job sites where great working heights are required. The series includes ten different models that can reach heights from 42' to 164'. Because they are built from very light materials and also distribute their weight well over the rubber track chassis, the LEO lifts can access areas with floor load restrictions or sensitive surfaces. The track system also enables the lift to be maneuvered into tight spaces where it can be safely positioned to the inch. For outdoor use, the machine has a strong diesel engine. Indoors it can be either used with an electric motor or a battery pack. Once the LEO lift has reached its work position, it can be set up even in the most complicated locations and on uneven surfaces using its automatic outrigger leveling and safety systems. These monitor the stability and only allow boom operation when full safety is guaranteed. With exceptional outreach, maintenance jobs can now be safely completed even at great heights.”

MAN & MATERIAL LIFT ENGINEERING

“When you look at the equipment available, the A70TD is the only option that is USA designed and serviced,” says the company’s Sarah Fronczak. “We are a small company working with specialty equipment, and are able to do everything from our office in Milwaukee. We design the lift, we build, test and service it right here.  When you are looking at this type of equipment for window cleaning, indoor work is something to be considered and the A70TD is battery powered so when you are driving down those hallways and turning those corners you don’t have to worry about an electrical cord dragging behind you. When you are where you want to be set up, you can plug it in and charge the battery while you are operating so you can have all day operation. Its tracks are adjustable to 34.5" wide so it can fit though a standard single width door. It is the only one with a platform height of 70' that can do that.
When you work outdoors, you can extend the track out for more stability. We also have an option for a touch of a button hydraulically adjustable track for working on uneven ground. It can be used outside with a generator you can run an extension cord.” The price is just under $130,000.

GENIE

Genie’s Jeff Weido says the battery powered GS 3232 scissor lift has a reach of 32' and can be used both indoor and outdoor.  List price is $36,000. Rough terrain units with a reach from 26' to 53' sell from $59,000 to $104,000.

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