J. Racenstein Forums

I'm interested in offering window cleaning to my residential customers as an additional service. I am currently a professional carpet and upholstery cleaner, have portable water softeners (sodium)on my vehicles and want to know what I need to get started. I am in Nampa, Idaho and would like to see about training and gearing up, pricing etc. Any advice would be great.

(02-28-2011 01:43 PM)Guest Wrote: [ -> ]I'm interested in offering window cleaning to my residential customers as an additional service. I am currently a professional carpet and upholstery cleaner, have portable water softeners (sodium)on my vehicles and want to know what I need to get started. I am in Nampa, Idaho and would like to see about training and gearing up, pricing etc. Any advice would be great.

I did just what you are trying to do years ago, with great success. So many different ways to go, using buckets/squeegees or getting into pure water... water softeners are of little to no help in this trade... to be honest they do little for your TM anyway.. (assuming you are a TM operator) the best way to go is waterfed, more revenue... easy transition.

My clients tend to have their carpets done more often, because they have windows done at closer intervals.

Hey Lance,
How've you been? We've talked about this topic on the phone before.

I cleaned carpets and upholstery for over ten years with a truck mount. There are a couple guys in my area that offer both services and they go very nicely together.

Personally I prefer doing one thing. Easier to train the help. Easier to schedule the help. Easier to manage the help. Easier to build a team. Easier to be the best in your market.

At one time I offered window cleaning, janitorial, office cleaning, floor waxing, and carpet cleaning. I sold off everything but the carpet cleaning and that made things much more manageable.

Now it's back to just window cleaning. The best one in my opinion.


Personally I say do one thing and be great at it.

(03-05-2011 05:12 AM)mdefiel Wrote: [ -> ]Hey Lance,
How've you been? We've talked about this topic on the phone before.

I cleaned carpets and upholstery for over ten years with a truck mount. There are a couple guys in my area that offer both services and they go very nicely together.

Personally I prefer doing one thing. Easier to train the help. Easier to schedule the help. Easier to manage the help. Easier to build a team. Easier to be the best in your market.

At one time I offered window cleaning, janitorial, office cleaning, floor waxing, and carpet cleaning. I sold off everything but the carpet cleaning and that made things much more manageable.

Now it's back to just window cleaning. The best one in my opinion.


Personally I say do one thing and be great at it.

Hey Mike, good to see you here also!!

I strive to be the best at whatever I add onto this biz... the latest add is natural stone hone/polish.There is a challenge... I dont have/dont want employees. been there/done that! the way I see it, keep the truck parked as long as possible, collect more from 1 client instead of several... the more diversified the better...

Back to try and answer the original question....

what to charge can vary way too much, I personally charge by the window, per screen, brush vs. washed. if ladder work is involved, can it be waterfed poled. I try and keep it at a min. of $80 per hr.

I dont know if that helped or hurt.... good luck!!!

Everybody should own a copy of Straight Talk About Window Cleaning Bidding by John Baxter. It was $29 in the 2010 JRC catalog.

Like Mike, I have done carpet cleaning, window cleaning, and janitorial work. I did a little buffing and burnishing but I was never a devoted floor care guy. Carpet cleaning was the hardest work for me because I am a perfectionist and that is hard to achieve in the realm of carpet cleaning. Some of those olefin carpets with traffic patterns in them and carpets with 3 year old stains. It was hard to convince people that I did the best I can do but the problem cannot be fixed. Don't even get me started on pet stains that have seeped through the pad into the plywood - people expect miracles is all I can say.

Window cleaning should be a breeze after carpet cleaning. Of course there is a learning curve but the customer expectations seem more realistic. You have to be in better shape to be a window cleaner, in my opinion. I have seen a lot of out of shape carpet cleaners, but not as many out of shape window cleaners. I guess if you are hiring someone it doesn't matter.

One of the advantages to window cleaning is it easier to grow your company faster. With an extractor or truck mount setup hiring an extra person doesn't double your productivity. After a couple of helpers, you would need to buy more costly equipment to be more efficient. But with window cleaning, you hire 3 people and give them each a squeegee and mop and you've tripled your productive capacity.

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