Members of the Unity and District Chamber of Commerce new business welcoming committee met with Bronson Volk of Edge Window Washing, May 24. Volk was officially welcomed into the Unity business community, and gifted a year’s membership in the chamber.
As part of the welcome visit, chamber members Kelsey Sperle, president; Gerald Hauta and Helena Long took the time to learn about Volk’s business and his path to entrepreneurship.
Volk, the son of Mike and Sandi Volk, is an inspiring and enthusiastic entrepreneur, first starting a lawn mowing business at the tender age of seven.
As a high school student starting Grade 11, he worked with Mark Odishaw from North Battleford, helping take care of Odishaw’s Unity and area window washing customers.
Odishaw proved to be a gracious mentor, teaching Volk the business and even transferring his Unity clients to Volk the following spring. So Volk started his own exterior window washing business a year before graduating from Unity Composite High School in 2023.
Even though Volk can wash windows of a building as tall as four storeys, it is rare to find him on a ladder. His expandable water-fed pole system extends high enough that he can remain on the ground and still clean upper-level windows.
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Volk’s business is the fact that he only uses water to get windows clean. The trick is he uses the purest water possible.
Volk purchases water from Polar Pure Water in Unity, after it has gone through Polar Pure’s reverse osmosis (RO) system. The water then goes through yet another filter, installed right on the Edge Window Washing truck, before it is used on any glass.
Volk said there are several advantages. Not having to use the homeowner’s water means no time is spent looking for suitable taps and hooking up hoses.
More importantly, the purity of the water means he does not need to use soap or any other product, so no residue is left on windows, siding or flower beds.
Filling up the tank on his truck at the start of the day allows Volk to do about six houses, which usually equates to a full day’s work.
Because his entire window washing system, including the filter, is mounted on the work truck, Volk is mobile and can go pretty well anywhere. Farms are on his client list, as are homes in Macklin, Wilkie and Atton’s Lake.
Volk credits Odishaw for teaching him the business, as well as his dad who helped design the Edge filtering system so it could be mobile and remain on the truck.
After a busy summer washing windows following high school graduation in 2023, Volk left to attend post-secondary school to study – what else? – business. He is two classes away from his certificate and plans to take those classes online so he will be available until freeze-up this year to help businesses and homeowners keep their windows spotless.
Of course, window washing is a seasonable business, and Volk has not yet decided what he will be doing next winter. Chamber members hope he will spot another opportUNITY in Unity, so that this ambitious entrepreneur can remain part of the Unity business community.
Because of the mobile nature of the business, Edge Window Washing does not have an office, but can be contacted at 306-210-7273, if you wish to enquire about having your outside windows cleaned.