web-2024_PWN_V6_No1

16 

contents 

Here Comes the Sun 

A new report finding solar panel cleaning boosts efficiency 

represents an opportunity for exterior cleaners. 

Taking the Leap 

Dealt a heavy blow by the pandemic, one Florida couple 

turns desperation into entrepreneurial success. 

24 

EDITOR’S 

NOTE 

Room 

to Grow 

4 

High-Rise Robot 

New York-based Skyline Robotics melds robotics, 

software engineering, artificial intelligence, and 

mechatronics to modernize the archaic industry of 

window cleaning. 

Vol. 6, No. 1, Summer 2024 

Publisher: Jackson Vahaly 

Editor: Drew Ruble 

Design: Katy Barrett-Alley 

Pressure Wash News is published 4 times per year and is independently owned by Jackson Vahaly. 

All inquiries should be directed to: Pressure Wash News, 110 Childs Ln. Franklin, TN 37067 | 

jacksonv@pressurewashnews.com 

Copyright © 2023 2 Dollar Media / Pressure Wash News. All Rights Reserved. 

DEPARTMENTS 

3 Editor’s Letter: 

Room to grow 

Is your self-view holding you back from 

becoming a successful salesperson? 

8 Industry Dirt 

A look around the exterior cleaning world 

for news and notes of interest. 

Sales do not come naturally to 

many entrepreneurs and business 

owners. They may be really good at the 

technical aspects of their trade, which 

is what got them in to the business 

in the first place. But sales require a 

whole different skill set that many 

never learned. 

Savana Pitts, co-owner of P&P 

Exterior Wash in Polk County, Florida, 

who is profiled in a feature story in this 

edition, describes herself as an introvert 

who has had to force herself to do sales. 

“I don't like talking to strangers,” 

she said. “You can ask my husband. 

When we’re in public, half the time, 

I'm wearing sunglasses because I don't 

want people to make eye contact with 

me. I'm just a ‘leave me in my little 

bubble’ type of person.” 

All that changes, though, when Pitts 

is selling her business. It has to. 

“I cannot be that person if we want 

to continue to grow our business,” she 

said. “I have to really step out of my 

comfort zone…I’ve learned to kind of 

step into this almost extroverted, very 

self-confident role, even though sometimes 

it just scares me half to death.” 

Pitts credits her training in Japanese 

martial arts ju-jitsu for helping her 

make the transformation. 

“One of the things it teaches 

you…is you need to get comfortable 

being uncomfortable,” she said. “That 

mindset, for us, now, is non-negotiable. 

I don't want to answer the phone or 

return this phone call. But I have to. 

That's applicable not only in our business 

but just in life in general.” 

As Pitts’ personal testimony shows, 

salesmanship isn’t so much a skill 

as it is a mindset. That said, a little 

training never hurt anyone. There are 

gobs of video training courses online, 

many of which are free, to uncork the 

salesperson inside of you. Udemy and 

HubSpot Academy have free video 

courses on sales. Paid sales training 

courses like Sandler Training and Dale 

Carnegie Training are also available 

online. Free online books like Intro To 

B2B Sales For Startup Founders, SPIN 

Selling, or The Psychology of Selling can 

help too. 

Chances are your employees 

aren’t trained sales people either. And 

yet they are the ones on the job sites 

interacting daily with the clients who 

form the foundation of your future 

sales! Teach them to simply ask your 

clients questions about their homes, 

to recognize additional needs on job 

sites (and point them out), and to 

recommend products and services you 

provide. Teach them to become problem-solving 

experts for your clients 

and you will have your clients’ eternal 

trust. 

Perhaps you try all this and find 

you still can’t sell. Know that there 

are companies out there that can do 

the legwork for you. Revity Consulting 

out of Wayne, Pennsylvania has been 

working hard over the past few years to 

network with pressure wash businesses 

nationwide to help them sell and grow. 

Clients include AEC Arizona Exterior 

Cleaning, Interstate Power Washing, 

Power Green Pressure Washing, and 

Westside Rounds, to name a few. 

Companies like Revity use big data 

to compile and target high-value 

prospects through personalized email 

campaigns that provide qualified leads. 

Regardless of the path you choose, 

the best advice is to get over your negative 

self-view that is holding you back 

from becoming a successful salesperson. 

Just do it! Experience will be your best 

teacher. Learn by trial and error. Fail 

fast and fail often. After all, failure is the 

only proven road to success. 

Drew Ruble 

drewruble@gmail.com 

Editor | PW News 

2 | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | VOL. 6, NO. 1 | SUMMER 2024 

VOL. 6, NO. 1 | SUMMER 2024 | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | 3

High-rise 

Robot 

Shop our Huge Selection of 

Power Wash Supplies 

New York-based Skyline Robotics melds robotics, software engineering, 

artificial intelligence, and mechatronics to modernize the archaic 

industry of window cleaning 

BY DREW RUBLE 

For the last Century, despite the 

fact that buildings have continuously 

gotten taller and taller, and their 

exterior surface areas are comprised 

more and more of glass, the process 

used to clean buildings hasn’t really 

changed. 

Suspended on platforms high in 

the air, humans have risked their lives 

to clean windows. 

New York-based Skyline Robotics 

aims to change all that. 

And in doing so, the company is 

disrupting the $40 billion window 

cleaning industry in the process. 

Meet Ozmo, a smart robot that 

combines artificial intelligence, 

machine learning, and computer 

vision with advanced robotics and 

sensors to offer what it describes 

as a smarter, faster, safer, and more 

economical alternative to human 

window washers. 

Importantly, Ozmo isn’t after 

any one’s job. Quite to the contrary, 

Ozmo needs human guidance. The 

robot’s development and deployment 

is rooted in its developer’s mission to 

keep its human operators safe, not 

replace them. 

Make no mistake -- humans 

operators are still needed. But those 

humans can control Ozmo from a 

safe distance, out of harm’s way. 

All that said, Ozmo can think 

quite well for himself, thank you very 

much. 

For instance, he has a 

powerful sense of touch. He 

knows how fragile glass is, and 

its force sensor informs it about 

the exact amount of pressure needed 

to clean windows superbly. 

He also has a wonderful sense of 

sight. While Ozmo is a robot without 

actual eyes, it can determine its exact 

location and direction at all times. 

Guided by its Lidar - Light Detection 

and Ranging - a precise remote 

sensing system, Ozmo can scan 

building surfaces, memorizing curves 

and edges as it moves along. 

No wonder, then, that the robot 

knows its cleaning path quite well. 

Ozmo continually recalculates its 

cleaning path hundreds of times 

per second, ensuring it is always on 

the right track - and taking the best 

possible cleaning path. 

Ozmo is also fast. Real fast. About 

three times faster than traditional 

cleaning methods. Ozmo can analyze 

and adapt to new settings while 

doing the work, creating additional 

efficiency. 

Ozmo also has incredible balance. 

Even in high winds. Artificial intelligence 

helps Ozmo remain stable 

at all times. A gust of wind poses no 

threat to the robot, and its algorithms 

keep it working efficiently through 

multi-variable conditions. 

That’s not always the case with 

human workers. And that highlights 

Ozmo’s greatest feature: safety. Not 

only does Ozmo keep human operators 

off of tall buildings, but he also 

can be stopped at any time by the 

human operator. 

Ozmo’s profile has been growing 

steadily since he was first unveiled in 

2022. New Yorkers have already been 

marveling at the robots at work on 

Manhattan towers such as 10 Hudson 

Yards and 7 World Trade Center. 

Reinventing the 

Workforce 

According to Fortune magazine, 

Skyline robots are doing more than 

revolutionizing skyscraper cleaning 

and enhancing worker safety; they 

are also helping to solve the labor 

shortage problem in the windowwashing 

industry. 

Make no bones about it, cleaning 

skyscrapers is a risky job. Hanging 

hundreds of feet in the air and wiping 

down glass is not for the faint of heart. 

Finding laborers willing to do the 

work can be an obvious challenge. 

According to Skyline, 75% of all 

window cleaners in the U.S. are over 

the age of 40 and only 9% of window 

washers are between 20 and 30 years 

old. The vast majority are over 40 

years old and likely to retire sooner 

than later. 

“The reality is that the work isn’t 

incredible, and the next generation 

isn’t showing up,” Skyline president 

Ross Blum told Fortune. By comparison, 

Blum argued, robotics offer 

younger workers a different incentive: 

and so 

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4 | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | VOL. 6, NO. 1 | SUMMER 2024

to learn about new technologies and 

gain a transferable skill set. 

Training and certification is available 

through the company. 

A recent BusinessResearchInsights. 

com report on the robotic cleaning 

sector confirmed the need for robots 

is growing as a result of a lack of 

skilled workers. 

“The use of service robots for 

professional purposes, rising robot 

sales, and rising spending on robotic 

device research and development are 

all contributing significantly to the 

development of automated facade 

cleaning system,” the report stated. 

“Additional concerns about the rise in 

workplace accidents are also growing. 

The advancement of the product is 

helping the market to grow.” 

A Growing 

Market 

How big is the opportunity here? 

The global market for windowcleaning 

robots could experience 

a compound annual growth rate 

(CAGR) of 15.2%, reaching $264.18 

billion, according to Contrive Datum 

Insights Pvt. Ltd. 

That’s in part due to the fact that 

buildings higher than 200 meters 

have increased by 176% in recent 

years, according to Skyline. 

ReliableBusinessInsights. 

com stated in its 2024 report that 

the unmanned, high-rise facade 

cleaning robot market “is experiencing 

significant growth due to the 

increasing demand for efficient and 

safe cleaning solutions for high-rise 

buildings. The market is driven by 

the growing number of tall buildings 

and skyscrapers in urban areas, 

which require regular and thorough 

cleaning to maintain their aesthetics 

and structural integrity.” 

According to that report, one key 

trend in the market “is the adoption 

of advanced technologies such as 

artificial intelligence and machine 

learning to improve the performance 

and efficiency of cleaning robots. 

These technologies enable the robots 

to navigate complex building facades, 

identify areas that require cleaning, 

and optimize their cleaning processes 

to deliver superior results.” 

The global automated facade 

cleaning system market size was 

$32.12 million in 2022, the website 

reported, and is expected to reach 

$888.05 million in 2031, at a CAGR of 

30% during the forecast period. 

Betting on 

Success 

No wonder private equity and 

venture capital is flooding in to the 

robotic building facade cleaning 

market. 

In October 2023, Skyline won an 

investment of an unannounced size 

from the venture branch of the Durst 

Organization, the owner of some of 

New York City’s more recognized 

skyscrapers. 

In December 2023 the company 

announced that it had closed a $9.8 

million pre-Series A-2 funding round, 

bringing the total it has raised to date 

to $19.4 million. 

Skyline previously announced the 

successful completion of a $6.5M 

pre-Series A funding round. Skyline 

Standard Holdings led that round 

with contributions from Karcher New 

Venture GmbH, Gefen Capital and 

others. 

“Ozmo has arrived to play a 

vital role in the future of window 

cleaning,” said Michael Brown, CEO 

& chairman of Skyline Robotics. 

“This successful funding round and 

first Ozmo deployment shows that 

the demand for our product and 

services are not just tangible and 

felt by investors, but that there’s a 

major business opportunity ahead of 

Skyline. The conviction of our team 

is being matched by the investment 

community.” 

“Karcher is pleased to continue 

to support Skyline Robotics on its 

mission to create a more efficient and 

safer work environment for window 

cleaning on a global scale,” said 

Patrick Nennewitz, of Karcher New 

Venture GmbH. “Skyline’s ability to 

transform an industry with robots 

while still creating jobs is a model 

that other robotics companies should 

replicate. With buildings getting 

taller and the workforce shrinking, 

Skyline’s arrival is as timely as it is 

necessary.” 

Just Rewards 

Working towards such a timely and 

needed solution to a modern problem 

has drawn a lot of attention to Skyline 

(and Ozmo) over the past year. 

The company has been recognized 

with a 2023 RBR50 Robotics 

Innovation Award. The annual awards 

from Robotics Business Review recognizes 

“the most creative and influential 

innovations from around the 

world that have advanced the state of 

robotics.” 

Skyline Robotics was recognized in 

the Technology, Products and Services 

category for its launch of Ozmo. 

“This year’s RBR50 Robotics 

Innovation Awards highlight the critical 

innovations, and organizations 

responsible for them, that will spur 

the development of new robotics 

solutions and drive robotics adoption 

forward around the world,” said Steve 

Crowe, Executive Editor, Robotics, 

WTWH Media. 

Skyline was also awarded Fast 

Company magazine’s 2023 “Next Big 

Things in Tech” Award. 

A panel of 18 Fast Company editors 

and writers selected 119 winners 

across 29 categories. 

The magazine wrote that in its 

evaluations, it looked “beyond just 

immediate triumphs (though nearterm 

impact is certainly a factor) to 

consider whether the innovations 

contain enough latent power to 

burgeon into even greater significance 

in the years ahead.” 

About Skyline, it specifically wrote 

“if that robot comes optimized for 

use cases that other firms have yet 

to tackle—especially those that are 

especially inefficient or hazardous for 

humans—then it’s earned some extra 

attention,” adding “cleaning the 

windows of high-rises is among the 

most obvious examples of the dirty, 

dull, and dangerous work that robots 

should take over from humans when 

possible.” 

Other recent accolades for Skyline 

came from PropTech, which awarded 

the company a “Breakthrough 

Award” for what it described as the 

“Construction Robotics Solution of 

the Year,” and from BuiltWorld, which 

named Skyline to its 2023 Robotics 50 

List. 

Only the 

Beginning 

Utilizing its knowledge in robotics, 

software engineering, artificial 

intelligence, and mechatronics, the 

company is taking an archaic industry 

such as window cleaning - which has 

remained the same since its inception 

more than a century ago - and giving 

it the breakthrough modernization 

it needs. 

Though it has started with window 

cleaning at heights, the company 

purports to have plans to revolutionize 

all types of facade maintenance 

work. 

Skyline envisions a future in which 

robots assist humans in work and 

everyday activities. 

“Being part of a company that 

continues to challenge antiquated 

operational strategies motivates us, 

drives us, and enhances our focus of 

the value we can provide to an entire 

industry,” said Blum. “The windowcleaning 

industry has remained 

unchanged as buildings have gotten 

taller and the risks to human lives 

have increased significantly. We’re 

offering a breakthrough solution that 

will save lives, improve efficiency and 

create 21st century jobs.” 

Editor’s note: Information from the Skyline 

website was used extensively in this report. 

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INDUSTRY 

DIRT 

A look around the cleaning equipment 

world for news and notes of interest 

Send your company news and press releases to drewruble@gmail.com 

Pulling the Trigger 

Mooresville, North Carolina 

company DeBerti began manufacturing 

AR-15 pressure washers, which 

are made to match the size, weight, 

and feel of the actual rifles. 

The gadgets can even include an 

authentic “red dot” sight. Red dots are 

electronic sights that project a small 

dot, crosshairs, or other configuration 

onto an optic, which the shooter uses 

for shot placement. 

The Woodlands, Texas-based The 

Valcourt Group, a leading provider 

of waterproofing, window cleaning, 

and facade restoration services for 

commercial properties, announced in 

February its acquisition of American 

Cleaning Systems (ACS), based in 

Phoenix, Arizona. The partnership 

marks the Valcourt Group's entry into 

the Phoenix metropolitan market, as 

the company continues to broaden its 

geographic footprint to new regions. 

Founded by Barry Frankel more 

than 40 years ago, ACS, and its divisions, 

Western Window Cleaning 

and Arizona Sweeping & Pressure 

Washing, have provided commercial 

cleaning services, including construction 

clean-up, data center cleaning, 

Water is supplied through a hose 

adapter in the faux weapon’s pistol 

grip handle and can sprayed at a 

high velocity by pulling the trigger. 

Some models include an adapter for 

mounting a bottle of foaming car 

wash formula near the front of the 

weapon. Each gun is different in terms 

of colors, style, and scopes. They're 

part numbered and are a collectible, 

as well as hand built and designed. 

Growing the Group 

window cleaning, power sweeping, 

and pressure washing throughout 

the state of Arizona. Continuing this 

legacy, Jonathan Frankel will keep 

managing day-to-day operations for 

ACS while Shelley Frankel and Jamie 

Finn will uphold their responsibilities 

managing sales and back office. 

The Valcourt Group, founded 

in 1986 as a small window cleaning 

company in Washington, DC, is now 

one of the largest building services 

companies in the country. For more 

information, visit valcourt.group 

Solving SORE 

Fort Worth, Texasbased 

PowerWash.com, 

an industry leader in 

commercial pressure 

washing solutions for 

half a century, celebrated 

Earth Day in April 2024 by 

unveiling its latest innovation: 

a high-performance, commercial 

grade, fully electric hot water pressure 

and soft washing integrated system 

that is compliant with California's 

recently enacted small off-road engine 

(SORE) regulations. 

Effective January 1, 2024, 

California's Air Resource Board 

began enforcing a prohibition on 

the sale of off-road spark-ignition 

engines capable of generating 19 

kilowatts (25 horsepower) or less. 

This new mandate impacts a range of 

equipment, including lawn mowers, 

blowers, edgers, and other handheld 

devices such as commercial pressure 

washing systems. 

PowerWash.com's innovative 

"California Skid" is a fully electric 

pressure and soft washing system 

that meets these stringent SORE 

regulations without sacrificing 

performance. Designed for easy 

installation on trailers or pickup flatbeds, 

the system can operate for up 

to 35 hours when powered by the 

Ford F150's built-in inverter. 

“PowerWash.com has built 

hundreds of fully integrated power 

and soft washing trucks, trailers, 

and skids over the last 50 years,” 

explained Christopher Blann, CEO 

of PowerWash.com. “Traditionally, 

gas engines have powered most of 

the commercial pressure washing 

systems while soft washing systems 

have evolved to use electric power 

as an alternative efficiently. We are 

extending this trend with our first ever 

fully electric skid, called ‘The California 

Skid’ specifically designed 

to address Californian’s 

SORE requirements in 

an all-in-one, commercial-grade 

system. It 

delivers high-performance 

hot water pressure and cold 

soft wash capabilities, enabling 

commercial operators to tackle even 

the most difficult challenges, including 

cleaning graffiti, oil, and gum.” 

As a result of the SORE law, organizations 

across California – including 

companies, municipalities, and universities 

-- are looking for alternative pressure 

washing approaches. California 

Skid is built within an aluminum 

tube frame that protects the pump 

and provides a stable base for securing 

the system to a flatbed of a truck. It 

also includes a state-of-the-art electric 

pressure washer capable of delivering 

hot water up to 220 degrees and 

four gallons per minute, enhancing 

cleaning efficiency. Additionally, a 12v 

soft wash unit is seamlessly integrated 

into a durable powder-coated steel 

box, featuring a deluxe 7 gpm 150psi 

soft wash pump with a Flojet accumulator 

tank for consistent chemical 

application performance. This setup 

is complemented by the Maverick 

Delux Proportioner, which allows 

precise adjustments of mix ratios 

through expertly scaled metering 

valves. A 200-gallon water tank with a 

Hudson float valve, chemical-resistant 

stainless steel hose reels, 100 feet of 

high pressure hose, 100 feet of freshwater 

fill house, and 200 feet of soft 

wash ag house ensures a complete and 

ready-to-use system for all professional 

cleaning needs. 

For more information, go to www. 

powerwash.com/marketing/california-skid. 

PowerWash.com is a subsidiary 

of Delux Cleaning Supply, Inc. 


INDUSTRY DIRT 

To the Dump 

Law360 reported in January 

2024 that the U.S. International 

Trade Commission unanimously 

found that domestic manufacturers 

were in fact being injured by subsidized 

Chinese gas-powered pressure 

washers that are being sold in 

the U.S. at unfairly low prices. 

The commission’s vote cleared 

the way for the U.S. Department of 

Commerce to enact high tariffs – 

some of which more than quadruple 

the products’ value – on pressure 

washers from China. 

“Commerce will issue antidumping 

duty and countervailing 

orders on imports of this product,” 

the commission said in a statement 

announcing the affirmative vote. 

The commission and Commerce’s 

International Trade Administration 

had both been investigating 

gas-powered pressure washers at 

the request of the Wisconsin-based 

FNA Group Inc., as previously 

reported by PW News. FNA Group, 

which describes itself as the largest 

gas-powered pressure washer 

manufacturer in the U.S., claimed 

to be facing a “low-priced, highvolume 

assault” from Chinese and 

Vietnamese imports, according to 

Law360. U.S. trade officials largely 

corroborated FNA Group’s claims, 

the report found, with Commerce 

finding that Beijing unfairly subsidized 

its pressure washer industry 

and that imports from both countries 

were being sold in the U.S. at 

unfairly low prices. 

To counteract those trade practices, 

Commerce finalized a 225.65% 

antidumping tariff on Vietnamese 

pressure washers, as well as antidumping 

duties between 189.52% 

and 274.37% on Chinese pressure 

washers (Law360). Pressure washers 

produced by 16 Chinese companies 

were also hit with a 206.57% 

countervailing duty, with only 

one company receiving the more 

subdued 11.19% countervailing duty 

rate, according to a December fact 

sheet from Commerce. 

Top Honors 

To recognize members who exemplify 

the best of the industry, CETA 

(the Cleaning Equipment Trade 

Association), annually presents 

awards. The 2023 awardees were: 

William (Bill) Sommers – Lifetime 

Achievement Award: Sommers, 

founder of Pressure Systems Inc. in 

Phoenix, AZ, joined the industry 

in 1958. Serving in the U.S. Army 

from 1963 to 1965, Sommers has 

otherwise been industry-engaged in 

product development (misting and 

cooling systems) and service. 

Jim O’Connell – Lifetime Achievement 

Award: O’Connell, president of Pacific 

Bay Equipment Sales and Service in 

Modesto, CA, originally established 

under the name Hotsy Pacific, has 

with his wife Karen well maintained 

their mission of merging the best in 

industry innovation and technology 

with “old-fashioned” customer service 

and expert repair. 

Melvin Farley – Distinguished Service 

Award: Farley, owner of Coils-R-Us 

in Siloam Springs, AR, touts “over 

150,000 Coils of Experience (Almost 

a Lifetime).” He launched the business 

in 2010. 

Brenda Purswell and John Purswell 

– Lifetime Membership Award: In 

2013, Brenda and John were the 

recipients of lifetime achievement 

awards. In 2022, the former owners 

of Alklean Industries, Inc. in Pasadena, 

TX received lifetime membership in 

CETA. The Purswells’ participation in 

industry organizations antedates the 

formation of CETA in which they are 

among the charter members. 

Opening the Gates 

Denver, Colorado-based 

Gates (NYSE: GTES), a global 

manufacturer of highly engineered 

power transmission and fluid power 

solutions, announced the launch of the 

Clean Master Plus hose platform, the 

newest addition to Gates' industrial 

hose lineup, built for high pressure 

applications in demanding industrial 

environments. 

Clean Master Plus leverages innovation 

in advanced materials and wire 

reinforcement technology to operate 

at extremely high pressures of up to 

6,000 psi, three times more than the 

average pressure washer hose. This 

next generation hose construction 

also stands out for being 22% lighter 

and 50% more flexible on average 

compared to existing 6,000 psi hoses, 

improving ergonomics and safety and 

reducing worker fatigue while also 

increasing productivity. 

Features and benefits of Clean 

Master Plus include: REACH 

compliant; ozone and abrasion resistant 

cover for lasting performance in 

tough environments; smooth cover 

for exceptional maneuverability on 

rough surfaces; higher operating 

temperature (up to 300ºF) compared 

to existing version; flexible and lightweight 

construction for easy handling; 

compact design reduces space requirements 

for storage; compatibility with 

Megacrimp couplings, stainless steel 

couplings, and Gates Crimpers. 

"We know industrial cleaning is a 

tough job and designed Clean Master 

Plus to last longer, operate at higher 

pressures, and be easier to use. This 

hose platform leverages the latest in 

our advanced materials and wire reinforcement 

technology to withstand the 

toughest conditions in construction, 

marine, general manufacturing, public 

works, mining, and commercial property 

maintenance applications, to name 

a few," said Tom Pitstick, President 

APAC and Global Strategy. "Gates has 

a long history of innovating and pushing 

boundaries to engineer products that 

exceed our customers' expectations." 

Clean Master Plus is a result of 

Gates' Eco-Innovation product 

development system. This process 

leverages the company's capabilities 

across materials science development, 

process engineering, and product design 

to develop high-quality, high-performance 

products that exceed customer 

expectations, while also helping to 

reduce environmental impacts of 

the products through the life cycle, 

including how they are manufactured. 

For more than a century, Gates has 

pushed the boundaries of materials 

science to engineer products that 

exceed expectations in many sectors of 

the industrial and consumer markets. 

Its products play essential roles in a 

diverse range of applications across a 

wide variety of end markets including 

industrial on-highway, industrial 

off-highway, mobility, and recreation, 

automotive, energy, and resources as 

well as diversified industrial. Products 

are sold in more than 130 countries 

across our four commercial regions: 

the Americas; Europe, Middle 

East & Africa; Greater China; and East 

Asia & India. 

To learn more about Gates and its 

products, visit Gates.com. 

Like Father, 

Like Daughter 

Terry 'Turbo' Burrows is known 

as the fastest window cleaner in the 

world. A Guiness World Record 

Holder for the last 29 years, he broke 

the record for the first time back in 

1995. He has gone on to break his 

own record nine times since, bringing 

the record time down to 9.14 seconds. 

He’s done so by cleaning three 

windows (45 x 45 inches each) and 

wiping the sills in less than 10 seconds. 

The BBC recently reported that 

Burrows’ daughter has joined her father 

at the top of the profession by clocking 

her own record-breaking time. Joining 

him at Manchester's Cleaning Show, 

Aliscia Burrows posted a time of 16.13 

seconds, beating the previous women's 

record by 0.15 seconds. Terry said he 

was not surprised, saying his daughter 

was "a natural" with a squeegee. He 

said the pair were at the show to take 

on challengers and see if anyone could 

beat his longstanding Guinness World 

Record. 

Aliscia, who won the 2023 

Women's Window Cleaning World 

Cup with a time of 17.08 seconds, 

said she wanted to beat the women's 

world record so they could have a 

father-daughter record. Her father 

said he was "elated" and "almost broke 

into tears" when he heard her result. 

"It's like I'm almost watching 

myself," he said. "She's really looking 

like me when she cleans the windows." 

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HANNAY.COM | 877.467.3357 



Taking the Leap 

Dealt a heavy blow by the pandemic, one Florida 

couple turns desperation into entrepreneurial success 

BY DREW RUBLE 

The future Mister and Missus 

Andrew and Savana Pitts first met 

when she was 4 years old and he was 

6 – at a wedding, no less. 

“We were ring bearer and flower girl 

in a wedding together when we were 

kids,” Andrew says. “We’ve always been 

friends. And this June was 18 years that 

we've been married.” 

Originally from Florida, the couple 

headed west after getting married, 

where Andrew partook in a laundry list 

of jobs – painter, auto body mechanic, 

you name it - across multiple states. 

At the auto body shop, the Pitts’ 

worked together for the first time. 

“Andrew did a lot of the welding,” 

Savana says. “He did body work. We did 

a lot of restorations for car shows, but 

also just, you know, your regular insurance 

claims damage, and I worked in 

the office. I pretty much ran the office, 

and then I did some sand blasting and 

some of the interior work and social 

media for the business.” 

Working together sparked a dream 

to one day own a business together. 

“I mean, it was always a dream, 

you know?” Andrew says. “We’d watch 

Shark Tank or The Profit on TV, and it 

kind of made you want to be an entrepreneur. 

But you have no idea how or 

where, or the avenue to get there…In 

my head, at the time, I was like ‘what 

the heck are we going to invent that's 

not already invented?’ That's the only 

thing I could think of.” 

Nowhere to 

Go but Up 

Ironically, it was all those random 

jobs that the couple had held down 

over the years that best equipped them 

for what was about to happen. 

It was 2019 and the couple had at 

long last moved back to Florida. Andrew 

was working for a paint company, travelling 

to roughly 25 states on about 200 

days a year while Savana (now with kids 

at home) held their lives together. Then 

the pandemic hit. It took Andrew off 

the road as the travel business quickly 

dried up. With just local work available 

to him, he wasn’t making enough 

money to support the family. 

They were renting a house and had 

lots of bills to pay while also trying to 

get out of debt. But they weren’t really 

making a lot of progress. In April of 

2020, right in the middle of Covid, they 

moved into a camper behind Andrew’s 

parents’ house. 

“So me and Savana lived in a 

camper, and our three daughters all 

lived in the house with my mom and 

dad,” Andrew says. 

The pandemic and resulting lifestyle 

forced their entrepreneurial hand. 

“It gave us the chance to start our 

business because we thought ‘what do 

we have to lose at this point?’ Because 

in the past it was always a fear of ‘how 

are we going to pay our bills? If we try 

to start a business, you have no fallback.’ 

But at that point we had no reason to 

not try,” Andrew says. 

From the 24-foot camper and a 

4-foot by 3-foot desk inside of it, the 

Pitts’ launched P&P Exterior. 

“Savana had worked in insurance. 

She'd worked in admin and accounting 

for multiple different offices, and 

the hospital for patient registration, 

that sort of stuff,” Andrew says. “I did 

construction, garage doors, auto body 

work -- all these little things that you 

don’t think are going to amount to 

anything worthwhile. But in fact it 

all just kind of plugged in perfectly to 

starting our own business. 

“We built our own rigs for our business, 

our own trailers and stuff like that. 

It's neat how everything kind of fell in 

place. The tendency is to be frustrated 

working for someone else. But in reality 

it's the perfect training that you need 

to eventually go out on your own and 

handle all the many facets of actually 

running a business.” 

The original plan was to start a 

painting business. After all, that’s 

what Andrew knew best. But while 

searching YouTube videos on starting a 

paint business, he came across a video 

on how to best prep a house for paint 

– namely, soft washing. 

“Soft washing was foreign to me,” 

Andrew says. “We were the painters 

out there just putting a lot of pressure 

on a house. So, in our efforts to figure 

out how to become more efficient as 

a painting company, we ran across soft 

wash. and I was like, ‘we’ve got to do 

this.’ I literally went back to the store, 

returned all our paint equipment just 

to get what little money we had, and 

used a credit card to buy everything 

else we needed to start soft washing. 

That's how it went. And in first month, 

not even 30 days, we made more 

money soft washing than I ever made 

in a month working on the road full 

time as a painter.” 

Sticking 

to Their Guns 

To what did they attribute such 

early success? 

“So, in the beginning, I would say the 

thing that really pushed us to achieve 

what I guess other people are calling 

success is that we just simply never 

gave up,” Savana says. “We tried literally 

everything. I would see someone 

online say they went door knocking and 

it worked. So, I'm like, ‘okay, well, I'm 

going to go try that.’ Then I would see 

someone else say they put out signs. 

‘Okay, let's get some signs. Let's go try 

that.’ So, we literally tried everything 

and did not give up. It's not a huge 

mathematical equation or a secret. It's 

just tenacity.” 

Andrew agrees it was desperation – 

necessity, even - that was the primary 

driver for their success. 

“How did we find that much work 

in our first month?” he says. “We had to, 

otherwise you're going to fail.” 

UPCOMING EVENT 

PowerClean® 2023 

Registration Now Open! 

Register Early and Save! 

PWNA.org/convention 

Come for the Experience, 

Stay for the Education 

THURSDAY, OCT 12TH 

Golf/Women's Wine & Wash 

Pre - Convention Paid Classes 

PWNA Unplugged - Outdoor Demos & Networking 

PowerClean® Kickoff Comedian 

FRIDAY, OCT 13TH 

Technical, Business, and Sales & Marketing Classes 

Trade Show - Manufacturers & Distributors 

PWNA Reception 

SATURDAY, OCT 14TH 

Technical, Business, and Sales & Marketing Classes 

Trade Show - Manufacturers & Distributors 

SUNDAY, OCT 15TH 

PWNA Certification Classes 

ATTENTION VENDORS: Limited Exhibit Space is Available 

Call 800-393-7962 or visit PWNA.org 

to take your business to the next level 

PWNA @ The Huge 

PWNA Classes on Safety @ The Huge 

Convention in Nashville, TN 

August 24th 

See you there! 

EDUCATION 

PWNA offers both traditional in person classes 

as well as online classes for PWNA members. 

NEW! ENTERPRISE MEMBERSHIP 

Contractor Membership plus 

Unlimited Education 

2 Options: $99 monthly or $999 yearly 

Unlimited technical, safety, and compliance training 

for you and your employees 

with over 15 courses online 

Contractor Listing - Bi-Monthly Newsletter 

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Check out ALL the benefits of being an enterprise member at 

www.pwna.org/membership *One membership per location. 

KEC and Window Cleaning classes are not included. 

PWNA is the leader in technical, safety and compliance 

training with a complete online education system 


TURNING CLIENTS 

INTO SALES PEOPLE 

Business coach Troy Howard, who 

worked with P&P Exterior to help them 

grow their business, founded SoTellUs, 

the world’s only review platform that 

lets businesses instantly collect video, 

audio, and written reviews from their 

customers using an app on a smartphone 

or tablet. 

Every review is phone-verified in 

seconds by SoTellUs and automatically 

marketed online for the businesses 

through their website, social media 

sites, and the first page of Google. 

You can learn more about this 

combination of video reviews, 100% 

phone verification, and automated 

review marketing at sotellus.com . 

Howard, who has spoken at past 

PowerClean conferences, recently 

published an article in The Six-Figure 

Coach Magazine on how to integrate 

social proof of the quality of your business 

into your marketing. The following 

are some excerpts from that article. 

Stop Selling 

Yourself 

Stop focusing so much on selling 

yourself and your services through 

marketing and instead let others sell 

for you. Create a group of clients that 

are “fanatical super fans” and leverage 

their stories to create marketing that 

will close sales every time. “People 

will believe your fans more than they 

will ever believe you when it comes 

to talking about what you can do for 

them, so stop selling yourself and let 

your super fans do it for you.” 

WEBSITE 

Your 24/7 

Salesperson 

Populate your website with social 

proof…Most people will fill their website 

with pages and pages of photos, 

quotes, and tons of sales content. Then 

as an afterthought, they squeeze a few 

testimonials onto the bottom of their 

homepage and bury a testimonials 

page somewhere on their website that 

no one will ever see. Does that make 

any sense? …Place your raving reviews 

or testimonials on your homepage in 

the top half of your website. They need 

to be instantly visible so they immediately 

stand out. Website visitors will 

skim your content but they will stop 

and check out social proof, especially 

reviews because they are third-party 

verified and therefore much more 

believable and trustworthy… Have a 

page dedicated just for reviews. Don’t 

label it testimonials because people are 

now trained to bypass testimonials in 

favor of reviews. People will watch a 

video review before they will read testimonials. 

Strategically place your social 

proof throughout your website – right 

before any calls to action…Your social 

proof is there to remind and assure 

them that they’re making the right decision 

and to take action now. 

EMAIL 

Your perfect 

messenger 

Never send out an email without 

some form of social proof…Use 

wording like ‘Click Here to check out 

our 5 Star Reviews!’ Even if the person 

does not click on the link you have 

subconsciously planted in their mind 

that you provide 5 Star Service and 

Results. 

PRINT 

Let them touch 

and feel your 

proof! 

Just like you should never send out 

an email without including social proof, 

you should never send out printed 

materials without it…Choose a piece 

of social proof that’s aligned with the 

message of the marketing piece and 

make sure it stands out. Use a photo 

of the person giving the testimonial or 

review because peoples’ attention is 

naturally drawn to faces. 

It’s all the more impressive that the 

couple built a book of business so fast 

given that Florida is the most saturated 

market in the country for soft wash. 

Savana says ignorance is bliss. 

“We didn't know that at the time,” 

Savana says. “We did not know that was 

a hill that we had to climb. And we did 

not know that it would be a constant 

battle even to this day. 

“It's something that's always at the 

back of your mind but you can't dwell 

on it. 

“I say, ‘watch your own bobber.’ 

Don't worry about what everyone else 

around you is doing. Don't worry about 

what the competitors are doing. Don't 

worry about what services they're 

adding or how they're hiring or the size 

jobs they're getting. You need to focus 

on yourself, and growth in your goals.” 

P&P also got a boost from an old 

friend: the painting business. 

“The first year was primarily 

washing,” Andrew says. “And then 

we had customers that knew we had 

painted previously. And they're like, 

‘can you paint?’” 

The Pitts’ didn't want to, but they 

did it. Then one day a customer with an 

apartment complex asked if they could 

handle a big painting project. The job 

was close to 800,000 square feet. 

“I didn't even think about my 

response,” Savana says. “I just said, ‘yes.’” 

P&P quickly hired help. A month 

later, they had a crew of eight employees 

painting nine different buildings. 

“It's like a wave,” Andrew says. “That 

year was chaos because we had so much 

going on. You have this huge job that 

takes five or six months to complete. 

But your phone still ringing. You can't 

stop answering calls and doing estimates 

for other people's work. 

“One of our business mentors told 

us ‘you're kind of like a rocket ship held 

together with duct tape,’” Andrew says. 

“And he was right. We’ve downsized 

since then. I'd say that now, we usually 

have two people in addition to us 

working full time. So it's about trying to 

find that balance, and that's something 

that's still in progress. Trying to find 

that sweet spot of where we want to be 

as a company. But we're also trying to 

define our definition of success.” 

Savana says she often has to remind 

herself of her original definition 

of success since first launching the 

company. 

“In the beginning, we had mentors 

setting goals for us, like ‘you can hit 

a million dollars this year, or you can 

have X amount of trucks,” she says. “I 

was on board for that because I'm the 

type of person who loves a challenge. 

I like to prove people wrong. I like to 

prove myself wrong. 

“But I think we got lost in that. I've 

had to sit back and remember why we 

started our business in the first place. 

It was because Andrew had spent so 

much time on the road away from the 

family. 

“When I take away all of the dollar 

signs, to me, my definition of success, is 

time with my kids. 

“I want to spend time with my kids. 

Our oldest -- she's got one summer left 

with us before she's out of the house. 

“It kind of hits me like I'll never get 

that back. That's everything to us.” 

Ears Wide Open 

The Pitts’ commonly also cite business 

mentors as key to their successes. 

“The old saying is, ‘you don't know 

what you don't know,’ right?” Savana 

says. “And I think at some point you 

have to swallow your pride and accept 

that you cannot grow without the 

knowledge of others.” 

One key piece of advice a mentor 

gave Savana was ‘don't expect what 

you don't inspect.’ 

“If we are leaving a crew unattended 

at a site, I can't just assume that they 

have dotted all the I’s and crossed all 

the t's,” she says. “It's on me as a leader 

to make sure that it's done. 

“I genuinely crave their wisdom, 

and I crave their experience. What 

better way to learn about success than 

to follow in the direct footsteps of 

someone who's been there?” 

Another mentor was Troy Howard, 

founder of the only video customer 

review system on the planet – SoTellUs. 

1000 

SERIES 

GET YOURS 

Howard’s influence led the Pitts’ to 

conduct video customer reviews after 

jobs were completed. They simply ask 

their customers to stand in front of a 

camera for 30 seconds and give a video 

testimonial as opposed to asking them 

to take the time after you leave the job 

site to sit down and write one for your 

website or social media, which many 

of them say they will do but never 

get around to. (Or because writing for 

many people is not a strength.) 

“The thing that we found with the 

video reviews, especially with older 

people, is that they don't have to worry 

about trying to navigate the Internet 

because a lot of them, if I ask them if they 

can leave a review, they say, ‘oh, honey, 

I don't know how to do that,’” Andrew 

says. “So it's just so easy for them.” 

Andrew recalls one video review 

he had that required some on-the-spot 

creativity to bring to life. 

“It was a lady, a real sweetheart, and 

she just did not want to be on camera,” 

he says. “It did not matter what I said. 

She wanted nothing to do with her 

HANNAY.COM | 877.467.3357 

face being on camera. And so, we were 

like, well, how about if we give you the 

phone and you just walk around and 

show us the job site? 

“And it was probably the best review 

we got. Because all she did was take 

my phone, I hit record, and she walked 

around, pointing out every little detail 

that we did on her property, and she 

never had to be on camera one time, 

and you could just hear the excitement 

in her voice and hear her personality. I 

didn't have to do anything. I just gave 

her the phone and let her go, and she 

was completely happy to do it.” 

Andrew says it’s not uncommon 

for people to share their review from 

the P&P site to their own social media 

– meaning the company reaches thousands 

of people they couldn’t otherwise 

contact by doing the videos. 

“Just by sending them a link, they 

can post it on their own social media 

and reach a crowd that we cannot 

reach, because I don't have access to 

post on their personal social media 

sites,” Andrew says. “Essentially, you've 

just created personal content for them. 

I mean, they're proud of their home and 

the way that it looks, and maybe even 

proud of their performance in front of 

the camera once they see it, and they 

want their friends to see it. And so now 

you just got access to 1,500 people you 

didn't previously get access to.” 

Motivational 

Mindset 

The Pitts’ aren’t resting on their 

laurels. 

“We're still learning ourselves,” 

Savana says. “I think we'll always be 

learning, forever, as long as we're in the 

business, and life keeps changing. But 

it's a fun ride. It’s wild.” 

It's also weird, she says. Specifically, 

the fact that they haven't had a boss in 

years. 

“I don't think I want to remember 

what that's like,” Savana says. “So we're 

just going to keep hustling.” 



Here Comes the Sun 

A new report finding 

solar panel cleaning 

boosts efficiency 

represents an 

opportunity 

for exterior 

cleaners 

BY DREW RUBLE 

A December 2023 study from the 

U.S. Department of Energy’s National 

Renewable Energy Laboratory 

(NREL) has changed the narrative on 

the value of solar panel cleaning. 

In the study, NREL analyzed five 

utility-scale solar plants in North 

Carolina. Panels studied had been 

in operation for seven years without 

being cleaned. 

During peak pollen season, energy 

output nosedived by up to 15% due 

to pollen barricades blocking sunlight. 

Rainfall can wash away many things, 

but even a steady downpour may not 

be enough to clean pollen from solar 

panels, the researchers also found. 

“There is still much work to do to 

fully understand the risks and implications 

of pollen and bio-soiling in the 

southeast U.S., but this work has made 

clear that regular rainfall is not sufficient 

to assume that solar plants are 

fully cleaned in certain environments,” 

said Matthew Muller, a research 

engineer within the PV Performance 

and Reliability group at NREL and 

co-author of a new paper describing 

the problem with pollen. 

The paper, “An Investigation on 

the Pollen-Induced Soiling Losses in 

Utility-Scale PV Plants,” appeared in 

the IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics. 

Other co-authors include Joao Gabriel 

Bessa, who visited NREL from the 

University of Jaen in Spain; Michael 

Valerino, who co-founded Solar 

Unsoiled; and researchers from the 

University of Jaen, Duke University, 

and Sapienza University of Rome. 

The Now- 

Scientific Facts 

Soiling, which occurs when dust, 

pollen, or other elements hinder light 

from reaching solar cells, has emerged 

as an ongoing problem, both in terms 

of PV performance and realized 

revenue for solar plant operators. 

Exactly how big a problem soiling 

presents depends on local conditions 

and climate. 

Previous research has estimated 

soiling losses in arid and semi-arid 

locations but not in rainier locations 

where pollen is a problem, such as in 

the southeastern United States. 

Muller, who has extensively studied 

the soiling problem, and his colleagues, 

answered that lingering question with 

their measurements of the effects of 

the utility-scale solar plants located in 

four counties in North Carolina. 

Their findings ran counter to a 

common assumption that frequent 

rainfall would result in negligible 

soiling impacts. 

The researchers noted in their 

paper that they had expected soiling 

losses would be minimal because of 

a relatively high average rainfall and 

short dry periods, but the losses were 

higher than expected. 

Even after the end of the pollen 

season, the performance of solar 

panels did not return to their previous 

“cleaned” levels despite frequent rains. 

Because PV panels cool down at 

night and attract morning dew, the 

dust can also go through a process 

called cementation where the soiling 

is literally cemented onto the panel. 

The findings confirmed that soiling 

potential must be carefully examined 

in regions with frequent rainfall and 

that planned cleaning may be necessary 

to avoid large financial losses and 

system underperformance. 

Solar Unsoiled, working in 

conjunction with the North Carolina 

system owner, measured performance 

increases from 5% to 11%, following 

mechanical wet brush cleaning. 

As a result of all this work, NREL 

and Solar Unsoiled are designing a 

study to further investigate the mechanisms 

and risks associated with pollen 

and bio-soiling in the southeastern 

United States. 

As NREL has written, “since solar 

power first became widely accepted 

decades ago, scientists have toiled to 

improve the efficiency of PV panels and 


to bring down the cost of producing 

electricity from the sun. Those were 

the big tasks. Now, with solar providing 

an increasing percentage of the nation’s 

power needs at a low cost, researchers 

have turned to secondary problems 

with the technology.” 

“We made it,” said Muller, in 

explaining the relevance of all this 

study. “Solar’s getting deployed, but 

we’re losing energy because solar’s 

getting deployed in dusty locations.” 

According to NREL, the energy 

lost annually from soiling amounts to 

as much as 7% in parts of the United 

States to as high as 50% in the Middle 

East. 

A Ripe 

Opportunity 

The Power Washers of North America 

(PWNA) industry organization has 

been hard at work adding courses that 

address industry issues, now including 

solar cleaning. 

With studies like the one published 

by NREL, more pressure washing 

companies are likely to seize the 

opportunity to become qualified solar 

panel cleaners. 

PWNA recently added solar safety 

and application courses, including 

solar safety in Spanish. 

Michael Draper, PWNA Safety 

and Compliance Director, has written 

extensively about solar cleaning safe 

practices. 

“Solar Energy is becoming 

commonplace in the United States 

and its further expansion is expected,” 

Draper said. “In fact, most of U.S. Solar 

is forthcoming and yet to be built.” 

In 2021, residential solar installation 

rose by 30% over the previous 

year, according to the Solar Energy 

Industries Association. Rapid 

growth amongst homeowners maintaining 

home solar systems has only 

increased since. Solar panels require 

at least annual cleaning, though twice 

annually in some areas is recommended. 

In addition to pollen, tree 

sap, pitch and bird droppings, dust, 

smog and other pollution can wreak 

havoc on efficiency. 

With the onset of both solar panel 

and PV surfaces becoming more abundant, 

so will the need for cleaning such 

substrates, according to Draper. 

“Solar cleaning, unlike other surfaces, 

is not cosmetic and most panels will 

need to be cleaned at some interval 

to maintain proper wattage output,” 

he said. “While initially systems were 

sold to consumers with a mindset that 

rain will do the cleaning current data is 

proving that notion false.” 

Nuts 

and Bolts 

So, how do you clean solar properly? 

“Many service contractors have 

begun to offer solar cleaning, and while 

job sites and cleanings may have some 

of the same safety concerns, solar does 

present contractors with unique safety 

challenges that need to be addressed,” 

Draper said. 

The PWNA Solar Safe Practices 

addresses all safety concerns in residential, 

commercial/industrial, and 

solar farms/utility-scale operations. 

High pressure is not used to clean 

solar surfaces. The methods to clean 

solar involve the same equipment 

many contractors currently have. For 

instance, often a low GPM pressure 

washer is utilized on power brushes 

used on extension poles to clean 

surfaces. Also, water-fed poles are 

utilized, as well as utility-scale projects 

often need water carried to the job site 

(and pressure washers are no stranger 

to that aspect). 

Solar systems should be turned 

off prior to cleaning to prevent electrical 

hazards. Contractors generally 

opt to clean during evening or night 

hours when surfaces are not as hot. 

A low-pressure setting with a wide 

nozzle for gentle cleaning is crucial 

as high pressure could damage panels. 

No residue can be left on the panel lest 

it have the same deleterious effect as 

pollen or grime. 

“The pressure washing industry 

is…best poised to handle the tasks at 

hand,” Draper said. 

In addition to safe practices, the 

PWNA has partnered with Carla 

Dawson and Solair and Expert 

Safety Services to offer its members 

a complete certification in the solar 

arena. The classes have the North 

American Board of Certified Energy 

Practitioners® (NABCEP®) accreditation 

for continuing education and 

can be found on the PWNA website. 

Windows 

to the World 

The window cleaning market could 

get an extra boost in the solar arena 

as well since windows that double 

as solar panels are increasingly being 

introduced to the market. 

Solar windows made of solar glass 

mimic solar panels in converting solar 

energy into usable electricity. But 

they also let light to pass through like 

a normal window. Though they look 

like conventional windows, they have 

photovoltaic glazing that capture solar 

energy and converts it into electricity. 

According to a recent CNET 

article, researchers at the University 

of Michigan have also developed a 

means of capturing solar in windows 

by using plastic, semi-transparent light 

absorbers sandwiched between the 

panes of glass. 

The commercial sector is the real 

market for solar windows. Ubiquitous 

Energy CEO Susan Stone told 

CNET, “You see tall office buildings, 

we see vertical solar farms…Our 

vision is for every piece of glass to be 

energy-producing." 

Many companies are already ahead 

of that curve. In 2023, outdoor apparel 

company Patagonia installed solar 

windows at its corporate headquarters 

in Ventura, California. A coating 

was integrated into 22 windows on 

the south-facing façade of Patagonia’s 

campus, and the power is being used 

to charge phones and other devices in 

the employee community spaces. 

“We’ve been using solar power 

at our headquarters in Ventura since 

2005 and at our Reno Distribution 

Center since 1996,” said Corley Kenna, 

head of Communications and Public 

Policy at Patagonia. “We rely on 100% 

renewable electricity for our owned 

and operated facilities in the United 

States and 76% globally, achieved 

through on-site and off-site installations. 

We have funded more than 

1,000 solar arrays on homes across the 

U.S. and have helped install more than 

600 kilowatts of solar power globally 

to support agriculture. Finding better 

ways of doing business is something 

we always strive to do.” 

No wonder pressure wash, soft 

wash, and window cleaning business 

owners alike are coming to a similar 

conclusion: entering the solar panel 

cleaning business makes good dollars 

and good sense. 

Editor’s note: Information from the NERL 

website was used extensively in this report. 

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