People search for window cleaning prices and get a homeowner's answer: what to expect to pay. If you clean windows for a living, you need the other side of it. What does a window cost you to clean, what should you charge for it, and how does that change between a ranch house, a two-story colonial and a row of storefronts? This guide answers all three, with every outside number sourced and dated.
- Time yourself per window, inside and out. Your production rate is the most important number in window cleaning pricing.
- Published national prices run $4 to $8 per pane (Fixr) and about $4 per pane (Thumbtack), with whole-house jobs most often around $266 to $310, checked October 8, 2026.
- Cost math gives you the floor. If it comes out below the going rate in your area, price at the market, not at the floor.
- Commercial storefront work is low per visit but steady. Price it as a route and bill it on a schedule.
- Anything above what you can reach safely from a ladder or a pole changes the job. Price access, equipment and safety rules separately.
The four ways window cleaning is priced
- Per pane. Common for homes with divided-light windows. Fair to both sides because a 12-pane colonial window takes longer than a single slider.
- Per window. Simpler to quote and to explain. Works when most windows on the job are similar.
- Hourly. Used for post-construction cleanup, heavy hard water stains and jobs where nobody can tell how long it will take.
- Flat route price. Storefronts and offices on a weekly, every-other-week or monthly schedule. One price per visit, billed on a schedule.
Whichever you show the customer, you build it the same way: how long it takes, what that time costs, and what you need on top.
What customers are told to expect
These figures come from consumer price guides. They tell you what homeowners have read before they call you.
| Item | Published price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Whole job | ||
| National average range | $184 to $387 | Thumbtack |
| Most common price | $266 | Thumbtack |
| National average range | $190 to $460 | Fixr |
| Most common price | $310 | Fixr |
| Per unit | ||
| Per pane | $4 to $8 | Fixr |
| Per pane, multi-pane | $4 | Thumbtack |
| Double-hung window | $8 to $16 | Fixr |
| Casement window | $15 to $30 | Fixr |
| Skylight | $25 to $35 | Fixr |
| Screens | $0.50 to $5 each | Fixr |
| Hourly | ||
| National average | $50 an hour | Thumbtack |
| Typical range | $40 to $75 an hour | Fixr |
Sources: Thumbtack window cleaning prices (updated March 31, 2026) and Fixr window cleaning cost (updated August 29, 2025), both checked October 8, 2026. Fixr also notes that third and fourth floor windows cost $3 to $5 more per window than lower ones. Thumbtack's guide breaks jobs down by count: 6 to 10 windows at $127 to $249, and 16 to 20 windows at $187 to $368.
Start with your production rate
Your production rate is how long one window takes you, inside and out, including screens and moving the ladder. It is the number that makes or breaks window cleaning pricing, because almost all of the cost of the job is your time.
Time yourself on your next five jobs. Note the window type, the count and the minutes on site. Then divide. You will end up with a few numbers you can trust: minutes per standard double-hung, minutes per French pane, minutes per slider, extra minutes for a second story.
Do not borrow another cleaner's production rate. Ladder work, pole work, water-fed poles and interior work all run at different speeds, and so do different houses.
The cost of a window cleaning job
- Labor and burden. The wage plus payroll taxes and workers' comp. BLS does not publish a window cleaner group on its own. Window washers fall into building cleaning workers, all other, whose national mean wage was $22.32 an hour in May 2025, with a median of $21.17 (BLS OEWS 37-2019, checked October 8, 2026).
- Supplies. Solution, scrim, squeegee rubber, razor blades, towels. Small per job, but real.
- Drive time and fuel. The hours and the miles. On a $150 job, a long drive can eat most of the margin.
- Equipment wear. Ladders, poles, a pure water system if you run one. Set aside a fixed amount per job.
- Overhead. Insurance, phone, software, advertising, the vehicle. Take it as a share of last year's sales.
A worked example: a two-story house
Every input below is an assumption for the example. Use your own timed numbers.
- House: two stories, 20 double-hung windows, inside and out, screens included.
- Production rate: 6 minutes per window, inside and out. 20 x 6 = 120 minutes, or 2 hours.
- Setup, ladder moves between sides and the drive: half an hour.
- Wage: $22 an hour, with 20% burden, so $26.40 an hour loaded.
- Supplies: $8. Drive: 20 miles at $0.76. Equipment wear: $6.
- Overhead plus the profit you want to keep: 35% of the price.
- Labor: 2.5 hours x $26.40 = $66
- Supplies: $8
- Drive: 20 x $0.76 = $15.20
- Equipment wear: $6
- Direct cost: $66 + $8 + $15.20 + $6 = $95.20
- Price at 35% overhead and profit: $95.20 / 0.65 = $146
That is $7.30 a window. Thumbtack's range for 16 to 20 windows is $187 to $368, and Fixr puts a double-hung window at $8 to $16. So in this example the cost math lands under the market.
The 76 cents a mile used here is the IRS standard mileage rate for business use from July 1 to December 31, 2026 (72.5 cents from January to June 2026, 70 cents for 2025, per IRS standard mileage rates, checked October 8, 2026). If you track your own cost per mile, use that instead. The profit margin calculator will show you the margin at any price you pick.
Set a minimum
A single picture window still needs the drive, the setup and the pack-up. Price your minimum from the smallest job you will take: labor for the shortest visit, plus drive, supplies and wear, divided by one minus your overhead and profit share. Thumbtack's figure for 1 to 5 windows is $99 to $194, which gives you a sense of where minimums usually sit.
Pricing commercial window cleaning
Commercial window cleaning is mostly two kinds of work, and they price very differently.
Storefront and low-rise routes. Ground floor glass on shops, restaurants, banks and offices, cleaned on a schedule. The visits are short and the price per visit is low, but the work repeats and the stops cluster. Thumbtack's guide quotes local examples such as $3 a window exterior and $1 interior in Salt Lake City. Price these from your minutes per stop plus the drive between stops, not from the drive from home, because a route spreads one drive across many stops.
As an example with assumed numbers: a stop that takes 15 minutes on site plus 10 minutes to the next stop is 25 minutes of loaded labor. At $26.40 an hour that is $11. Add $1 of supplies and $1 of wear for $13 of direct cost, and divide by 0.65 for $20 a visit. If the shop owner pays more than that for exterior glass, the market is your price.
Mid-rise and high-rise. Anything beyond a ladder or pole means lifts, swing stages or rope descent, along with training, anchorages and inspections. OSHA's walking-working surfaces rules (29 CFR 1910 Subpart D) cover rope descent systems and anchorages. Fixr gives $85 an hour for high-rise work as a reference. Price the access separately: get the lift rental quote or the stage setup time first, then add the cleaning on top.
Offer good, better, best
Three options let the customer choose how much to spend instead of whether to hire you. Our guide to good, better, best estimates covers why. For windows:
- Good: exterior only.
- Better: inside and out, with screens and sills.
- Best: inside and out, screens, tracks and hard water stain treatment, plus a second visit in six months at the same price.
Koira estimates send up to three options from your price list. The customer picks one, signs and pays the deposit on the same page. Koira follows up on day two and day four if they have not decided, then stops.
Recurring work and route density
Window cleaning pays best when the same customers come back on a schedule and the stops are close together. Homes twice a year, storefronts every other week, offices monthly. Each repeat visit skips the sale, and each nearby stop shortens the drive.
On the Front Office plan, Koira sells maintenance plans on your site and on every invoice, bills them on the card on file and books the visits when they come due. After each job, neighbor postcards go to nearby homes most likely to hire you, which helps fill the same street.
Quote faster
Most homeowners want a number before they will book a visit. A Get a price button on your site answers from your own price list. You set prices per window type, per story and for add-ons, and anything not on the list comes to you as a question. Koira never invents a price. See how a window cleaning business runs on Koira.
Raising your prices
- Rerun the cost math every year. Wages, fuel and insurance rise whether you change your prices or not.
- Raise prices for new customers first.
- Give regular customers written notice with the new price and the start date.
- Look at your slowest jobs. If one type of window or one property always runs long, price it on its own line.
To see how your business shows up next to other window cleaners nearby, get the free AI report. More calculators are on the free tools page.
Questions contractors ask
How much should I charge per window?
Build it from your minutes per window, your loaded labor rate, supplies, drive and overhead, then check it against the market. Fixr lists $8 to $16 for a double-hung window and $4 to $8 per pane, and Thumbtack uses about $4 per pane, both checked October 8, 2026.
How much does commercial window cleaning cost?
For storefronts and low-rise buildings, it is usually priced per visit on a schedule, based on the minutes at each stop and the drive between stops. Thumbtack's guide quotes local examples such as $3 a window exterior and $1 interior. High-rise work needs lifts, stages or rope access and is priced with the access cost on its own line; Fixr gives $85 an hour as a reference.
Should I charge per pane or per window?
Per pane is fairer on homes with divided-light windows, because they take longer. Per window is simpler where most windows are similar. Either works as long as the price behind it comes from your timed production rate.
What is a good minimum charge for window cleaning?
Enough to cover the shortest visit, the drive, supplies and wear, plus overhead and profit. Thumbtack lists $99 to $194 for jobs of 1 to 5 windows, which shows where minimums commonly sit.
How much do window cleaners make an hour?
BLS groups window washers under building cleaning workers, all other. In May 2025 that group's national mean wage was $22.32 an hour and the median was $21.17. What a business charges per hour is higher because it carries overhead and profit; Thumbtack lists a $50 national average and Fixr $40 to $75.
Do I charge more for second and third story windows?
Yes. Upper windows take longer and carry more risk. Fixr notes third and fourth floor windows cost $3 to $5 more per window than lower floors. Above what you can reach safely, price the access separately.
How do I price hard water stain removal?
As its own line, by the window or by the hour, because it can take several times longer than a normal clean. Time a few stained windows, price the extra minutes at your loaded labor rate, and put it on the quote as an option so the customer can choose it.
