Window cleaning price calculator
Window work is priced per pane almost everywhere, but the pane is not what varies — access is. This calculator starts from a pane count and a minutes-per-pane figure, then applies the two multipliers that genuinely change the job: how you reach the glass, and how many storeys up it is.
Before you quote
- Count panes from outside, then again from inside
- Note every window you cannot reach from the ground
- Ask about screens and tracks before you quote
After the first job
- Record the real time on the first job and correct the rate
- Photograph any glass that was already scratched
- Offer the recurring frequency while you are still on site
Price this job
$93
- Time on site
- 74 min
- Per pane
- $3.88
- Effective rate
- $75.22 / hr
Counting panes without arguing later
Count each sash or fixed light as one pane, and count inside and outside separately if you are cleaning both. A French door is not one window. Write the count into the quote so the number is agreed before the ladder comes off the van.
Two and a half minutes a pane is a reasonable starting figure for ordinary residential glass with a pole. Detailed sash windows with glazing bars run at double that and should be counted as such.
Access, not height, is the cost
Reaching a first-floor window from the ground with a pole is barely slower than a ground-floor pane. Reaching the same window from a ladder over a conservatory roof is a different job with a different risk profile, which is why the access multiplier in this calculator moves the price far more than the storey count does.
Anything that needs a ladder on soft ground, over glass, or above a slope is a job to price properly or refuse. A fall costs more than every window on the street is worth.
Screens, tracks and the call-out
Screens and tracks are separate line items because they are separate work: pulling, washing and refitting a screen has nothing to do with the glass. Price them per unit and say so.
The call-out line covers setting up and packing down. On a small job it is most of the profit, which is why a four-pane job at a per-pane price is a job you should not be doing.