North Adams — After high school, Dan Orcutt, now 44, thought he might spend his entire life as a student — but in an unusual way. “Anything I didn’t know how to do already, I wanted to learn,” he says. “I didn’t go to college because I didn’t know enough what I wanted to do to spend a ton of money on an education. So instead, when I wanted to learn something, I went out and got a job in that field and learned that way.” From learning how to work on cars to save money when his own vehicles broke down, to learning how to make donuts, nothing seemed too out of reach for Orcutt’s desire to learn. “I was a serial employee on all different types of jobs my whole life. I’d work there for a year or two until I’d know how to do whatever it was; from my first job making donuts, I went on to fixing cars, mixing automobile paint, landscaping, convenience stores, fast food restaurants, driving, and more. Someone asked me once, about twenty years ago, how many jobs I’d had, and when I sat down and counted, I think I got to about forty. I don’t even know what that number would be now.” Eventually, though, he landed on something he never wanted to stop doing; “I love washing windows. I am so happy I found this work, and wish I had found it earlier.”
Before moving to the Berkshires, Orcutt lived in Telford, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia, where he worked for ten years for a window washing business. At the same time, he was making regular visits to the Berkshires to stay with friends. He saw a business opportunity here. “There was no dedicated residential window washer up here with an online presence or anything; no one that we could find. There was clearly a market for somebody who wanted to wash windows. Because North Adams would be an affordable place to live and there would be lots of potential clients in the area, I thought this could be a fantastic place to start the business. We started looking at houses. We saw lots of cute, little, affordable houses that were selling quickly and decided we’d better grab one.” In 2017, he and his partner bought a house in the mountain valley. After taking a year off to work on the property, Orcutt launched his business in 2018: Wonder Dano Window Washing, serving residential homes not only in Berkshire County, but neighboring Franklin and Hampshire Counties, too, and in Vermont and New York as well.
Starting up the business was incredibly easy, according to Orcutt. “I figured, since there’s such low overhead, I could just fire the business right up. I already had all my stuff because the guy I worked for before had us go to clients’ homes as independent contractors. You’d get your own ladder, washing equipment, insurance, all that stuff. So, I had everything I needed; all I had to do was pay for the business license and the insurance.” He loads his equipment, including his ladder, into a Subaru Outback, making his work vehicle affordable and fuel-efficient for cross-county traveling.
And he had no trouble finding clients. “When we first got here, I did almost nothing to advertise the business. We started a Facebook page, a website, and I got business cards and left them around at places. After that, as soon as I got a client or two, it was just word of mouth. I got a client in Pittsfield at Applewood, and she said everyone was going to want me there. I still do barely any advertising.“ Orcutt explains that, since he’s a one-man team, his current work load is about all he can handle. “There’s a lot of room to expand. If I actually did some advertising, I’d be fully booked into next year.”
Orcutt hopes to hire some new employees, not only to provide sustainable jobs for others, but to increase the number of clients his company can service. This is proving to be a challenge. “I’m overloaded with clients. I have way too much work. But there’s a shortage of skilled labor here. Trying to hire people who would do a good job and be personable is tough.” He explains. “I’m looking to hire employees who are looking for flexible hours, a change of scenery, and satisfying work. It’s fairly seasonal, too, which is nice — I like to work long days, as many days as I can, because I usually take the whole winter off.” This year, since business is booming, Orcutt has decided to work through the off-season, but for him, anything is better than doing nothing. “It’s physical labor, but I think that’s a good part about it. I hate going to the gym, so I get my exercise on the ladder, in front of a window, for money! Sitting behind a desk is awful to me. I’d rather be doing anything else.”
Being a small business owner is not easy, especially when all the responsibilities fall on one person. Orcutt would like to find a business partner, or at least a system onto which he could offload some of the behind-the-scenes work. He hopes one day to be able to focus solely on the part he loves about the job — washing the windows. “Honestly, I wish I were better at running the business. I would love to have a partner, someone who wants to grow the operation. That way I could take care of my current clients as well as offer services to new ones without my having to do everything myself. I like washing windows so much more than I like running the business,” he says. “I don’t want to do marketing, scheduling, or bookkeeping. I don’t want to hire people. I just want to wash the windows and make people happy.”
During the pandemic, there has been no shortage of work. “I’ve been so much busier during the pandemic than I had expected, it’s been crazy. People were calling me every day,” he says. This was a blessing in disguise, as his usual plans for the summer had been compromised. “We usually volunteer for a few weeks at a music festival, but since that was canceled due to the pandemic and clients were available, I decided to work through that part of the summer. It was so busy the whole time.” The surge in need for skilled workers was apparent in many fields; “I’ve heard similar things from all types of trades people. Because people were at home, they were taking the time to do the home maintenance they didn’t have time to do otherwise. Plumbing, electrical, and janitorial — that’s where I fit in.” Working at this capacity during a global pandemic took a toll on a lot of workers, and Orcutt’s experience was the same; “It wore me out in a big way. It’s tough to take a break sometimes, too. It was challenging and tiring, but one of these days soon, I’ll get a break. There are so many things I want to do.” This includes getting his Volkswagen Vanagon back into shape. He calls it “The Van-O” — his other pride and joy.
What makes Orcutt’s business so special is his genuine love for his craft. “I like when I make the windows clean. It’s so satisfying to me. Twenty to thirty times a day, I’m just satisfied.” He says, demonstrating a sigh of relief. “I’ve been to places that haven’t had their windows cleaned in thirty years! And that’s even more satisfying to me because they were so dirty.” He laughs. “Like garage and attic windows. I love cleaning those.” The business has a strong mission to do the best work possible, and always keep the customer happy; “Providing the best service — exceptional, even —means a lot to me. It’s anchored to my own sense of self-worth,” he says. “I care about what I do so it matters to me a lot, and I hope it shows.”
Orcutt is also conscious of the need to demonstrate proper etiquette when entering a client’s home. “When you go into somebody’s house, you have to be very respectful, and very trustworthy.” And being personable is also a major aspect of the job. “I’ve had people come to my house and complain about doing jobs I’m paying them to do. I don’t want to be like that to people. And that’s why I get more business than I can handle, I think. You have to be totally charming, and care about the work. I would do it for free if I could, honestly.”
His services don’t stop at window washing. “Sometimes clients will ask for favors,” he laughs, specifically recalling a condo complex he visited recently; “A broken lamp, or a stubborn skylight shade, I’m happy to help. It takes me what, five minutes, whatever. If it makes a ninety-year-old woman’s life easier, why not?”
In the world of window-washing, it is the individual business owner who sets his own pricing. Orcutt charges by the window, even though in some cases this pricing does not bring a profit. But in the end, he sees these cases as an investment in future business. “Ideally, the second time around at a house is when I’m actually profitable. The first time around, I almost always take a hit, because it usually takes me twice as long to clean windows for the first time. This means fewer windows in a day, but also means the next time I visit this house, it will take half as long to clean, since I’ve already been there. So, I crush through it, no problem,” he explains. “The next time I will also know the house, I will know how to put up the ladder, I will know the windows. And there’s never as much dirt on windows the second time I’m there.” Even though these first visits take a little longer, Orcutt is more than satisfied knowing those once-neglected windows are now crystal clear.
“One of my favorite things about the job is driving somewhere different every day,” he exclaims. “I love that. The jobs I’ve had at the same place every day are so tedious.” While traveling to a new work site daily can be exciting and fun, it also means each day presents new challenges and learning curves. This isn’t always fun and games, and sometimes, can even be somewhat dangerous. “One time on a job, I went to put the ladder up to a second story window. As soon as I look down,” Orcutt says suspensefully, “I see a hornets’ nest staring right at me! I dropped the ladder and ran. Now they’re swarming; I’m not deathly allergic, but it takes me a good week to recover from something like that. Eventually, I threw a ratchet strap with the hook on the end from, like, two hundred feet away, and caught the ladder so I could pull it back towards me. It took a couple of hours to get my ladder back, waiting for the bees to calm down. And when that happens you tell the owner of the house you just can’t do that window until they take care of the bees.” Sometimes, though, things go in a different direction. “When I’m washing windows, I love seeing all types of nature. One time I watched a bear ruin someone’s shrubs while scratching its back,” he laughs.
To some, washing windows might sound tedious, but Dan Orcutt finds solace in sparkling glass and smiling customers. To him and his business, that qualifies as success. “The clients are happy when I’m done! Their windows are clean, and I had a good time doing it,” he says. “And if they call me back next year, I know they’re satisfied.”
