How To Start A Window Cleaning Business

If you are planning to start your own business, then a window cleaning business can be a great opportunity to get into entrepreneurship: it is relatively accessible and won’t require too high startup investments, but has a high potential profit.

Buildings will always need their windows cleaned on a regular basis, and both residential and commercial business wonders would be happy to hire your service to do the job. Meaning, with some hard work and smart planning, you wouldn’t have a shortage of clients.
Thinking that the window cleaning business is for you, but you don’t know where to start? Here we’ve compiled some tips you can use right away to start a successful window cleaning business.

Is Window Cleaning The Right Business for You?

Below are some important considerations to have before committing yourself to start a window cleaning business:

Window cleaning has a reputation for being a dangerous practice. However, with the advancements in technologies, window cleaning is now safer than ever. Tools like telescoping poles now let us clean taller windows from the ground without any ladder.
It’s no secret that newer buildings nowadays feature more glass, and many new buildings are made entirely from glass. This, obviously means the market for window cleaners will still grow.
You can start a window cleaning business with just several essential tools and equipment and a vehicle, so the required startup capital is fairly low. You don’t really need an expensive physical office to start the business.

Legal Requirements of Starting Your Window Cleaning Business

Most locations in the U.S. will not require you to be certified before you can start a window cleaning business, so most likely you’ll only need a business permit.
You can start the window cleaning business as a sole proprietor or start an LLC. While it will take (slightly) more paperwork, incorporating your business into an LLC will protect yourself when it comes to liability (i.e. when clients decided to sue you), and it will also make it easier for you to hire more employees in the future. We’d recommend incorporating your business from the start to ensure it’s future-proof.
In most states, you are legally required to have business insurance before you can start a window cleaning business. However, even if you are not legally required to be insured, insurance is important to protect yourself, your business, and your employees in the events of accidents and other issues.
In window cleaning, you might be using ladders frequently and work from height, and accidents can happen. This is why you should at least invest in the following insurance policies:

Liability insurance: will protect you from accidents such as dropping your ladders on a customer’s car
Worker’s comp insurance: typically a legal requirement if you have employees. Will compensate your employees in the event of any workplace injury.
High-rise window cleaning insurance: specific for the window cleaning industry, you’ll need additional liability and worker’s comp insurance if you do high-rise window cleaning.

What Kind of Tools and Supplies Do I Need?

Fortunately, tools and supplies for window cleaning are relatively affordable, and you should be able to get them virtually anywhere. You’ll need the following tools and supplies:

A squeegee of various different sizes depending on your service
Extension pole
T-bar and sleeve
Microfiber cloths and towels
A scraper
A ladder
Cleaning solution and buckets

Nowadays, you’ll also need to invest in digital infrastructures to ensure your business can run seamlessly.
You’ll need a proper bidding and invoicing system in place, as well as a time management and scheduling solution to manage your team and clients. We’d recommend window cleaning software like fieldd so you can quickly create a unique competitive advantage by having a well-managed business that can always deliver your promises on-time.

How To Find and Attract New Customers

There are three main ways to attract your window cleaning clients:

Cold calling

This can involve going door-to-door, sending emails, or calling homes and commercial buildings. While it might be a daunting task if you are not familiar with it, it definitely works if you do it right.

Marketing your business

You don’t really need to hire an expensive marketing agency to start attracting new clients, and you can use the following inexpensive ways to market your window cleaning business:

Build a website: in this digital era, a website is like a storefront where you can showcase what you do and your business’s unique value. Building a website with a web design specialist nowadays is fairly affordable and accessible with various website building platforms available.
Social media presence: fairly self-explanatory, build your presence on social media
Create and optimize your Google My Business listing
Provide free service for people you know and ask them to leave online reviews.

Obviously, there are many more ways you can use to market your business. Be creative and focus on understanding your target audience and how to deliver value to this audience.

Conclusion

Now that you’ve followed the tips above, congratulations! You are now ready to start your own window cleaning business. However, just because you have your window cleaning business up and running, doesn’t mean your clients will automatically flock to hire your service.
Above anything else, you should always provide customer service excellence so you can retain happy customers that will recommend your business to their friends and peers. This is why having a field service management software like fieldd is important, so you can always show up on time and finish the job on the agreed deadline. This is how you can effectively grow your client base, revenue, and ultimately, profit.