Starting A Window Cleaning Company

Is A Window Cleaning Business Right For You?

A window cleaning business is a lucrative business with low overhead. If you have an out going personality and a drive to run your own business, this might be right for you. Business’ need to advertise which requires time and effort. Advertising here on this website will aid in earning customers that are on the internet. This type of customer will probably be a company or home owner that has the means of paying a premium price for a valuable service. Other advertising may include door to door soliciting and word of mouth.

Window Cleaning Business Aspects

Insurance should be considered as lawsuits are always a consideration in any business. Attaining a DBA (Doing business as) for a company name can be attained locally for around $25-$50. This gives you a legal name that nobody else can use. It also allows you to start a checking account so customers can write checks to the business name. Most customers will pay in cash which makes us window cleaners happy. As for collecting and paying your taxes, depending on your state, check on-line on your states governmental website to learn how to sign up. In New York State, taxes are paid quarterly. Usually a business that provides a service will build the tax into the customer’s price. For example, you customers price is $20, in NYS, 8.75% of that will go for taxes.

Getting Started With Your Window Cleaning Business

You will need supplies. There are many websites that are good to buy from. I will review some of the supplies needed. This may vary depending on what type of windows you clean.

1. Rectangular Bucket to hold your T-bar/wash mitt (website)

2. Plastic Milk crate and (4) 1 gallon jugs (Milk crates can be found at places like Target or Wal-Mart. Jugs can be old wind shield washer fluid jugs.)

3. Poles: 10ft expandable and an 18ft expandable for second floors. (website or Home Depot)

4. Towels: Blue used medical towels (website)

5. Squeegees: A variety like 5” 18” and 22” (website)

6. Scrapers: 4” or larger with replacement blades (for scraping tape/debris of glass)

7. Solution: Websites sell a variety of concentrate solutions. This is personal preference. For exterior windows, a generic grease cutting dish soap and hot water works well. A solution for spray bottles will be needed for interior windows.

After the initial purchase of these supplies you will be able to start practicing. Professional Window Cleaners make it look easy but it is not. Time, experience and knowledge are the key to success. You may want to practice on your own house and offer to clean relative’s windows as well.

Window Cleaning Technique

If you can get to a low hung window fairly easy, you would start by scrubbing the window with your soupy water mixture. Try not to get a lot of water at the top of the window frame as this will cause runs.

Squeegee from side to side overlapping slightly. Pause at the end before lifting the squeegee of the glass. This helps the water run down the window frame more than the glass. As for the side you started from, you will notice water on the glass. Take your towel and wipe it down. You will also need to wipe the top frame to avoid drips. When cleaning a door, be sure to squeegee away from the side the door opens. This will ensure that people don’t slip on the excess water. If water hits the ground, be sure to soak up the bulk with your towel.

Remember, the more you clean windows the better you will get. Having a feel for the squeegee, as well as how much pressure to apply will be crucial to a good job. If you have a lot of streaks, dry them off with your rag. If your squeegee rubber is in good shape and you have experience, you will get virtually no streaks.

As for inside windows, you can use your water and scrubber if the window is filthy. Make sure you drain as much water out of the scrubber as possible. For a window that is not that dirty, you will spray it down with your spray bottle and proceed to squeegee. Make sure to stay away from soaking down the top window frame to avoid drips/runs.

If the window has old tape or other debris like bug droppings, spray the area first and use your scrapper to scrap the surface clean. Window preparation is crucial before you start running the squeegee across it.

Quoting a Window Cleaning Job

Quoting is always going to be hard to do. When you are at a customer’s sight, you will notice many things such as the quality of the business; whether you think they do well or just alright. If you have this feel, you can judge what the customer might be willing to pay. For example, a Hair Salon has money coming in all the time. The customers usually always pay with cash. This is an ideal customer because pulling some money out of their pocket is not a big deal. You could pitch an every 2 week service to keep their windows looking great for the large amounts of customers that they have coming and going. A business with less traffic may want their windows cleaned 1 time a month. Judging an exact price is not an exact science. A small store front with 2 windows and a door may be a $10.00 job inside and out. A bigger store front with 8 windows and a door may be $20.00. Different aspects come into play when quoting. Difficulty level and size of the windows are all a part of it. Some Window cleaners charge by the window but we say charge by the job. Look at it and quote it… Eventually you will get a feel for it and be able to judge a prospect with in a couple of minutes. The customer may want to under cut the price so be prepared for that. Have a price quote for inside and outside and a second price for just the outside as some customers clean their own inside windows. If they are not interested give them a flyer for future reference.

Homes are a different type of business than commercial. Commercial business’ can be charged less because they are in your desired territory and hopefully clustered together in plazas. Homes require more drive time and a personal appointment which takes time. A 2 story home takes more time and patients as well. You can charge more for these factors but customers are always looking for cheap alternatives for cleaning their own windows. A small ranch exterior can be as cheap as $25 or a large house could be as much as $75 ($150 in and out). Word of mouth can make homes worth the time and trouble but on the other hand, (5) 10-15 dollar store fronts in a plaza is faster, easier and every couple weeks versus the twice a year home owner.

Find A Window Cleaning Company Here

Find Window Cleaning Supplies Here