How Much to Charge for Window Cleaning: A Per-Pane Method
Window cleaning looks like the easiest job in exterior cleaning to price, and it's one of the easiest to underprice. A customer says "about 20 windows," and you find 46 panes, a back wall of French doors and a second story on the slope side. Spring and fall stack the requests up, so you need prices you can give without stopping to think.
This post shows how to price window cleaning with rules instead of gut feel. Every dollar figure below is a labeled hypothetical, so swap in your own numbers.
What changes the price of a window cleaning job?
Five things move the price. Check them in this order every time, because each one builds on the one before.
- Panes. Count panes, not windows. A double-hung window has two, and a big picture window may count as more.
- Height. Upper stories mean longer ladders, slower work and more risk.
- Inside or out. Exterior glass is the base job. Interior glass is a second pass through the house.
- Extras. Screens, tracks and sills each take their own time, so they get their own line.
- The minimum. A small house still costs you the drive, the setup and the ladder.
The pane count is the only input you can't guess from the street. So ask for it on your quote form, along with the number of stories and whether the customer wants the inside done. Let the rule read the answers.
How to price window cleaning with six quote rules
Write these once, then use them on every lead. Skipping a step is how a Sunday evening quote loses money.
- Count the panes. Use the customer's count, and check it against a street photo when you can. Decide once how you count French and divided-light windows, then write that rule down.
- Multiply by an exterior rate per pane. One rate, every time. Consistency is what lets you quote without a site visit.
- Multiply for height. Use a multiplier for two and three stories instead of a flat ladder fee, so a big two-story house pays more than a small one.
- Check the minimum. If the exterior charge lands under your minimum, charge the minimum.
- Add interior glass as its own line. Price it by the same pane count. Leave the height multiplier off, because the inside doesn't need a ladder.
- Add screens, tracks and sills as their own lines. Screens go per screen. Track and sill detail can be a flat fee.
Then run one sanity check. Divide the quote by the hours your crew will spend on site, drive time included. If the answer is under your hourly floor, raise the minimum before you touch the pane rate, because small homes are where the money leaks.
Keep the rules in a sheet anyone on the crew can read. A rule you have to remember is a rule you'll skip.
How much should you charge per pane?
Quote per pane and let the rule do the math. The right rate is yours, not ours, because it depends on your crew cost, your water setup and what the next house would pay you for the same hour.
Say your rate sheet looks like the one below. These are made-up numbers that show the shape of the rules, not a price to copy.
| Input | If-then rule | Hypothetical charge |
|---|---|---|
| Exterior glass | Panes times the exterior rate | $6 per pane |
| Height | Two stories, times 1.15. Three stories, times 1.3. Exterior only | 1.15 or 1.3 |
| Minimum | If the exterior charge is lower, charge this instead | $199 |
| Interior glass | Panes times the interior rate, no height multiplier | $4 per pane |
| Screens | Screens times the screen rate | $4 per screen |
| Tracks and sills | If the customer asks for detail, add a flat fee | plus $50 |
Say a two-story home has 40 panes, the customer wants inside and out, and there are 20 screens. Forty times $6 comes to $240, and times 1.15 for the second story it comes to $276. The inside is 40 times $4, which comes to $160, and the screens are 20 times $4, which comes to $80. The total comes to $516, or $566 with tracks and sills.
Say a second home is a one-story ranch with 24 panes, outside only, and 12 screens. Twenty-four times $6 comes to $144, which is under the $199 minimum, so the glass line is $199. Add $48 for the screens and the quote is $247. Without the minimum, you'd unload the ladders for $144 and a stop that takes nearly as long as a bigger one.
You can run these exact rules in the free window cleaning price calculator. It starts with the same example numbers, so type in your own rates and the quote lines update as you go.
Should you charge per window or per pane?
Per pane, for most crews. A "window" means something different to every customer. A pane is a piece of glass you can count, so two people counting the same house land on the same number.
Three kinds of glass need a rule of their own:
- French and divided-light windows. One sash can hold a dozen small panes. Either count every small pane at a lower rate, or count the sash as one pane with a surcharge. Pick one and put it on your quote form.
- Picture windows and sliding doors. A big sheet of glass takes longer than a small pane. Count it as two or three panes and say so on the quote.
- Storm windows. If they have to come off to clean behind them, that's extra time. Price it per window as an add-on, or hold the quote until you've seen them.
Here's a reply you can copy. Fill in the capitals from your rules, and keep each line separate so the customer can drop one without a re-quote.
Hi NAME, here's your window cleaning quote for ADDRESS. Outside glass, NUMBER panes, NUMBER stories: AMOUNT. Inside glass, optional: AMOUNT. Screens, NUMBER: AMOUNT. Total if you take everything: AMOUNT. This price holds for NUMBER days. Pick a time here: BOOKING LINK.
Screen out bad jobs, then quote the rest fast
Not every request should get an instant price. Some conditions change the job so much that no rule can see them. Hold the quote and take a quick look first when:
- The glass has hard water stains or mineral spots. Restoring glass is a different job with a different price.
- It's a new build or a remodel, with paint, stucco or stickers on the glass.
- Some glass sits above the third story, or needs a lift to reach.
- There are skylights, a sunroom or glass you can't reach from a ladder or a pole.
- The customer can't give a pane count, and you can't see the back of the house.
Everything else gets priced by the rules, and speed matters here.
Say a request comes in at 8:15 on a Sunday evening in April for the $516 job above. Suppose you reply Tuesday morning, and the owner already booked whoever answered Sunday night. That's $516 gone.
Say your week brings four requests like it, and all four are answered late. The total comes to four times $516, which is $2,064.
A Harvard Business Review study from 2011 found that the companies that did reply to a web lead took 42 hours on average. The same Harvard Business Review analysis found that reaching out within the hour made a company about 7x more likely to qualify the lead than waiting even one hour more.
Workely's Price workflow handles the quoting half of this. A lead that fits your rules gets a quote from your own prices, ready with a booking link for your tap, or sent on its own if you turn on auto-send. A lead that doesn't fit waits for your OK, which is where the hold list above goes. You can read how lead capture and qualification works, or how it fits exterior cleaning crews.
Your next step
Pick six numbers this week: the exterior rate per pane, the height multipliers, the minimum, the interior rate, the screen rate and the track fee. Then test them in the window cleaning price calculator on three homes you've already cleaned, and fix any rule that gives a result you'd hate to quote.
Once you know how much to charge for window cleaning as rules, the work left is speed. Workely quotes from your own rules and sends a booking link, and follow-ups go out automatically until the lead books. When you're ready, look at Workely plans and pricing.