Window cleaning business pricing guide

Window cleaning pricing 101

If you’re the new owner of a window cleaning business, learning how to price your services is an important step. You want to make sure you’re earning the right amount for your services while also giving your customers a fair price. Service fees can impact your client recruitment, your bottom line, and so much more.

No matter what types of window cleaning services you offer, you have numerous factors to consider as you build your fee schedule.

This guide is here to help you break down all of the elements that could inform your pricing and make the process as simple as possible. We’ll help you consider your options during the price-planning process and highlight two examples of businesses with top-tier fee strategies.

Types of window cleaning services

Before you start to determine your exact pricing model, consider how the type of window cleaning services you offer will shape your window cleaning prices. Different types of window cleaning services may necessitate different pricing strategies.

Commercial window cleaning service

The commercial cleaning sector is a broad one, but your window cleaning business might be considered a commercial service provider if you primarily plan to work on:

Retail buildings
Industrial or manufacturing facilities
Healthcare complexes
Office buildings

Essentially, anything aside from residential or post-construction work could fall into the category of commercial window cleaning projects.

As you flesh out your pricing for commercial services, consider how non-financial rewards from new projects could impact your fee schedule, like:

Networking opportunities as you work with a new client
High-quality reviews and feedback from fellow local brands
Connections for potential joint partnerships and promotions

In your company’s infancy, these benefits can impact your growth potential just as much as your service pricing.

Residential window cleaning service

If you plan to offer residential window cleaning services, you might find yourself working on an entirely different range of projects. These could include:

Single-family homes
Multi-family buildings, like apartment complexes
Single-family homes converted into multi-family housing

Residential projects could also entail commercial-residential hybrid projects, like cleaning windows in:

Senior residential buildings, like:
- Nursing homes
- Assisted living facilities
- 55+ living communities
Short-term residential facilities, including:
- Hotels
- Resorts
- Vacation rental properties

Residential projects can bring you plenty of business, but some residential clients (especially individual homeowners) may want to negotiate more than commercial clients. Residential project pricing can be highly customized.

Remember that if you agree to a lower price on one residential job, you might be able to make up lost profits on the next one.

Post-construction cleaning

Before the final client walkthrough and building delivery, contractors often complete (or hire a subcontractor to perform) a post-construction clean. This is an in-depth cleaning that will:

Remove dust, dirt, and other construction debris
Find and remove forgotten pieces of tape or plastic coverings
Transform a space from an active job site into a ready-to-use building

Windows are installed relatively early in the construction process, so they’re highly susceptible to dust and dirt buildup after installation. This makes window cleaning a major element of any post-construction cleaning.

If you plan to market your window cleaning services to general contractors, keep the following in mind as you prepare your price list:

You can offer special pricing to contractors who stay loyal to your business.
You could partner with a full-service cleaning brand to provide post-construction cleans.
General contractors may offer unique networking opportunities in exchange for discounted services.

General maintenance packages

Window cleaning is likely only one item on clients’ routine maintenance lists. You may have the option to partner with a full-service cleaning or maintenance company as you seek new customers.

This tactic could impact your pricing in a variety of ways. You could consider offering:

Subcontracted services to more general cleaning brands
Joint promotions in partnership with other cleaning services companies
A discount to clients who choose one of your preferred cleaning businesses
Continuing services contracts for regularly-scheduled cleanings throughout the year

Seasonal window cleaning

Depending on your local climate, you may experience an uptick in businesses depending on the season. You may receive a high volume of requests for:

Post-hurricane cleanup in the summer
Salt and snow removal during or after the winter months
Yearly cleanings in preparation for the fall and winter holidays
Spring cleaning services

Seasonal upticks in requests provide an excellent opportunity to offer promotional pricing. Consider offering discounts or other incentives related to local weather changes, upcoming holidays, and more.

How to charge for window cleaning services

The types of services you offer can impact your pricing, but there are several other factors you’ll want to consider as well. Keep the following elements in mind as you build a fee schedule for your window cleaning business.

#1 Number of windows

If you’re looking for a straightforward, simple pricing model, a per-window fee could be an ideal solution.

Unit-based pricing can take a variety of forms. Some examples include:

Per-window pane prices – You could charge a fee for each window to be cleaned for windows that fall within certain size limits.
Grouped window prices – Consider charging a flat fee for each group of five windows to be cleaned during a project. This model might be particularly useful for commercial or large-scale residential work.
“Punch card” pricing – You could offer a loyalty program that tracks the total number of dirty windows you clean for a client, providing one or more free services (or other rewards) as clients meet repeat business milestones. For example, after cleaning ten windows, you could offer to clean two windows for free.

#2 Total surface area

Per-window pane pricing can become complicated as windows increase in size. Cleaning ten 24” x 36” windows, for instance, is a significantly smaller undertaking than cleaning ten 48” x 72” windows.

Depending on the types of jobs you take on, you could consider offering a price per square feet of windows cleaned. This fee model has the potential to:

Simplify estimating for high-rise buildings or other large projects
Provide promotional or tiered pricing opportunities
Create a pricing calculation based on more accurate labor times than per-window fees

#3 Per hour

Hourly pricing could be another viable solution for pricing nuanced projects or contract types. Consider providing clients with an hourly fee for:

General window cleaners’ cost-plus construction projects

In a cost-plus project, contractors will charge clients for the total cost of labor and materials plus a percentage markup
Projects with irregular window shapes or special service requests
Work subcontracted to full-service cleaning companies or partner brands

Your hourly price should cover the costs of:

Materials
Labor
Travel time and fuel
Overhead expenses needed to complete the job

#4 Per person

Similar to hourly pricing, a per-person fee could give you and your clients additional flexibility. This may be true for two reasons:

You could optimize your job costs by using more or less manpower than usual
Your clients could stay within budget by opting for a smaller team

Still, remember that reducing your labor force on a job could extend the timeline. Make sure to communicate to your clients that, while a smaller team could cost less, they may experience a lengthier completion time for the whole job.

Your per-person pricing should also adequately account for the time you’ll need to complete a job with a certain number of team members.

#5 Per story

Building height can complicate your safety and equipment needs for a project. In some cases, it might make sense to create tiered pricing based on the number of building stories you’ll need to reach.

On a job with multiple stories, consider offering specific prices for windows on:

The first floor, which will likely be accessible without advanced equipment
The second floor, which may require ladders or scaffolding (and associated safety gear)
The third floor and up, which will require scaffolding or an aerial lift to reach

#6 Continuing services contracts and bundles

As you plan out your regular pricing schedule, don’t forget about more unique, bespoke pricing opportunities. These may include:

Joint, promotional service packages offered in partnership with another brand
Continuing or long-term contracts for customers seeking regular cleaning services
Discounts for clients who can provide significant networking opportunities, like:
- General contractors and construction industry professionals
- Property managers
- Real estate agents
- Local business owners

While these pricing models may give you an opportunity to offer discounts, you’ll still want to ensure that you’re covering your costs and making a profit.

#7 Service location

Window cleaning pricing can vary based on your location in the US—and regional industry standard pricing matters when you’re building your fee schedule.

So, how do you determine general costs for a window cleaning service in your area?

Nextdoor is an excellent tool for scoping out local pricing standards. Take a look at your competitors’ Nextdoor Business Pages to get a feel for:

Common pricing models in your area
Typical seasonal promotions
The actual fees customers pay for window cleaning services

Window cleaning pricing examples

As you evaluate your pricing options, you may wish to use a combination of pricing models to best suit your business. Let’s explore two examples of businesses providing window cleaning services that do just that:

Bellows Window Cleaning in San Antonio, TX provides specific pricing for two different service types—commercial and residential projects. They also bundle window cleaning with other tasks, including solar panel cleaning and power washing.
Diamond Shine Window Cleaning is based in Detroit, MI. The company offers a variety of bundled services (gutter cleaning, deck cleaning, and more). They provide specific pricing for residential, commercial, and post-construction cleaning projects.

Nextdoor: Your resource for small business success

No window cleaning job is the same and learning how to price window cleaning jobs takes time. But remember that you can adjust your pricing model as the local market, your services, or your costs change. With so many factors to consider, you’ll want to use all the tools available to determine the best pricing model for your new window cleaning business.

With Nextdoor, you can do so much more than market research. You can interface with potential clients one-on-one, advertise your services to a wide local audience, scope out potential business partners, post company updates, and more.

Nextdoor is a hub for small businesses in your area, and 88% of Nextdoor neighbors shop at a local business once a week.

Connect with local clientele in just a few clicks—set up your free Nextdoor Business Page today.