Window cleaning is one of the cheapest home service businesses to start. A residential window cleaner can begin with a squeegee, a ladder and a phone. The money is in turning one-off jobs into repeat customers: houses cleaned two or three times a year, and storefronts on a weekly or monthly route.
This guide covers how to start a window cleaning business step by step: what kind of work to take on, safety rules, equipment, insurance, pricing and getting customers.
1. Choose your market
- Residential. Houses and townhomes, inside and out, often with screens and tracks. Higher price per job, seasonal demand, and customers who rebook once or twice a year.
- Storefront routes. Ground-level glass for shops, restaurants and offices, cleaned on a regular schedule. Lower price per stop but steady, recurring revenue, and you can clean many stops in a morning.
- Low-rise commercial. Offices and buildings up to a few stories, using ladders, water-fed poles or lifts.
- High-rise. Rope access, suspended platforms and lifts. This needs specialist training, equipment and insurance, and isn't where most new businesses start.
Many window cleaners add gutter cleaning, screen repair, pressure washing or solar panel cleaning to fill the schedule and raise the ticket on each visit.
2. Register the business
The SBA's guide to launching a business covers the steps: pick a business structure, register your business name, get federal and state tax IDs, and get the licenses and permits your location requires. An employer identification number (EIN) from the IRS is free and takes minutes online, so never pay a website for one. Open a separate business bank account from the start.
Licensing. Most places require a general business license, not a window cleaning license. Some cities do license window cleaning. Saint Paul, Minnesota, for example, has a window cleaning license for cleaning outside windows above the first floor using ladders, scaffolds or lifts. It requires a certificate of insurance but doesn't apply to work on one- and two-family homes. Ask your city and county before you start.
Sales tax. Some states tax cleaning services. New York's tax department, for example, says purchases of interior or exterior cleaning and maintenance services are subject to sales tax, and lists window washing among them. Check your state's rules before you set prices, so you know whether to add tax to invoices.
3. Get insured
Working at heights, around other people's glass and property, makes insurance essential. Talk to an agent about:
- General liability, for broken windows, damaged frames or injuries to others
- Commercial auto, for the vehicle that carries your ladders
- Workers' compensation once you hire, where your state requires it
- Tools and equipment coverage for ladders and water-fed pole systems
Property managers and commercial clients will usually ask for a certificate of insurance, and Saint Paul's license requires one.
4. Learn the safety rules
Falls are the main hazard in window cleaning. If you have employees, OSHA's general industry rules for walking-working surfaces apply:
- Ladders (29 CFR 1910.23). Portable ladders used to reach an upper landing must have side rails extending at least 3 feet above it. Ladders must be inspected before each work shift, and a defective ladder must be tagged "Dangerous: Do Not Use" and taken out of service. Stepladders need a spreader or locking device, ladders on slippery surfaces must be secured, and ladders can't be set on boxes, barrels or other unstable bases.
- Fall protection (1910.28). Workers on a surface with an unprotected side or edge 4 feet or more above a lower level must be protected by guardrails, safety nets or personal fall protection. This section doesn't cover portable ladders, which follow 1910.23.
- Rope descent systems (1910.27). Before anyone uses an anchorage, the building owner must tell the employer in writing that each anchorage has been identified, tested, certified and maintained to support at least 5,000 pounds per attached worker. Rope descent can't be used above 300 feet unless other access isn't feasible or is more dangerous. Each worker needs a separate personal fall arrest system, and tools like squeegees and buckets must be tied off so they can't fall.
Even as a solo operator, the same practices protect you. Ladder stabilizers, levelers and leg extensions for uneven ground are worth buying from day one.
Training. The International Window Cleaning Association (IWCA) is the secretariat of the ANSI/IWCA I-14.1 Window Cleaning Safety Standard, which it describes as the only safety standard written specifically for window cleaning. The IWCA sells the standard ($50, free for members) and runs safety training, including an online route and residential course and a rope descent system certification. Commercial clients may ask for proof of safety training.
5. Buy the equipment
A starter kit for residential and storefront work:
- Squeegees in a few sizes, with spare rubbers
- Strip washers (scrubbers) and sleeves
- Scrapers with spare blades, for paint and debris (use with care on tempered glass)
- A bucket and a tool belt or holsters
- Towels and detailing cloths
- Extension poles for reaching higher glass
- Ladders: a stepladder and an extension ladder, plus a stabilizer and leg levelers
- Window cleaning solution recommended for professional use
Water-fed pole systems use purified water and a brush on a long pole to clean upper windows from the ground, often without a ladder. They cost more up front (the pole, hoses and a filtration system to make pure water), but they're faster on exterior glass and keep you off ladders. Many window cleaners add one once they have steady work.
6. Price your work
There are three common ways to price window cleaning:
- Per window or per pane: easy to quote over the phone and explain to customers.
- Per job: an estimate of how long the house takes, multiplied by your hourly target. More accurate for unusual homes.
- Per visit on a route: a flat rate for each storefront cleaning, weekly or monthly.
Charge extra for:
- upper floors and difficult access
- screens and tracks
- hard water stains
- French panes
- post-construction cleanups (paint, stickers, debris)
Write the scope and price into a quick estimate. Our free contractor estimate template works for this, and our contractor invoice template for billing. Offer repeat customers a schedule (spring and fall, for example) and book the next visit before you leave.
7. Find your first customers
- Storefront routes. Walk your local main street and offer a first cleaning at a fair price. Small businesses value clean glass and like a set schedule.
- Google Business Profile. People search "window cleaning near me." Set up a service-area profile with real before-and-after photos. Our Google Business Profile guide walks through it.
- Reviews. Ask every happy customer. See how to get more Google reviews.
- Neighborhoods. Door hangers and yard signs near finished jobs bring in neighbors.
- Partners. Realtors, property managers, house cleaners and builders need window cleaning before move-ins, sales and handovers.
8. Run it like a route business
Once you have regulars, scheduling becomes the job: recurring storefront visits, seasonal reminders for homeowners, quotes, invoices and payments. Field service apps built for recurring routes handle this. Our field service management app comparison and cleaning business software roundup compare options and prices.
Window cleaning business startup checklist
- Choose your market: residential, storefront routes or low-rise commercial
- Register the business, get an EIN, open a business bank account
- Check city and county license rules and your state's sales tax on cleaning
- Get general liability, commercial auto and, once you hire, workers' comp
- Learn OSHA ladder and fall protection rules and consider IWCA training
- Buy squeegees, scrubbers, ladders and safety accessories
- Set your pricing method and an estimate and invoice template
- Sign up storefront routes and create a Google Business Profile
- Book repeat visits and set up scheduling and invoicing
Thinking about other cleaning work? See our guides on how to start a cleaning business, how to start a pressure washing business how to start a commercial cleaning business and how to start a carpet cleaning business.
