- Elite Window Cleaning
- August 25, 2020
- 3 Comments
Water Fed Pole Trends
This report is written to identify water fed pole trends and highlight the key indicators of major growth across the industry. It also examines the relationship between water fed poles and the growth of window cleaning services. Heads up, the majority of this information was found through Google Trends*.
The first indicator of increased demand (across the entire window cleaning industry) comes from the following image.
The first thing that jumps off the page is the growth of overall searches. From 2004 to 2020 (Canada) we see the total searches relating to window cleaner/cleaning increasing dramatically. In fact, there is over 100% growth, visible on both the peaks and troughs.
Beyond this, we see that it still follows a seasonal peak and trough pattern. The peaks and troughs have both increased over this time. This indicates healthy industry growth across the board.
Then we add in a comparison term “house cleaning” and see the home services industry as a whole is experiencing growth.
We also see that house cleaning is more consistent throughout the year. However, the window cleaning growth substantially surpasses the growth of house cleaning. This indicates that both services exist in a growing market, with window cleaning growing at a faster rate. Consider window cleaning search volumes will now consistently outnumber house cleaning searches in peak season, even though the total number of window cleaning searches is only 66% of house cleaning.
As a company that has been operating in the home services industry in Ontario since 2012, our anecdotal evidence supports these trends. We have seen an increase in the number of home service companies, and this trend has continued every year we have been in operation.
USA Window Cleaning Trends
We also see that this trend exists across Canadian and US markets without much variance.
In the US market, the biggest difference is the relative search volume of “house cleaning”. It dwarfs comparative searches in Canada. This is true even after equalizing relative size differences of the populations (see below).
The growth in these areas indicates to our company the significant opportunity in the market. This is because we have identified multiple revenue streams to grow.
Water Fed Pole Opportunities Available
The first revenue stream comes from providing the window cleaning/house cleaning service. This is something we already operate and grow every year. We have franchise opportunities available.
The second revenue stream comes from offering homeowners a product to conduct the cleaning themselves. It comes in the form of a consumer-grade water fed pole. Currently, there is no consumer-grade water fed pole. The closest you can get on the market are 15ft poles (USD $215 – 337) and 20ft poles (USD $383).
The average homeowner will require a pole with a reach of 25-30ft to clean the outside of their home. The cheapest options available at this length are USD $500.
There is no water fed pole product offering for homeowners. Currently, professional window cleaners are the market.
You can be successful just selling to window cleaners. The largest supplier/manufacturer of water fed poles in the United States generates estimated yearly revenue of $22M (Tucker). However, Tucker is not looking at their biggest opportunity – homeowners in the United States.
For instance, when we were looking at “house cleaning” in the United States, the number of searches was staggeringly large. There is demand for a homeowner water fed pole – it just doesn’t exist at the right price point currently.