Residential and small-commercial window cleaning built around a recurring route, not one-off jobs.
Why that grade Pricing from two field-service software companies' cost guides; not independently verified operator income. Course-seller index 3/10.
Figures are researched estimates, not guarantees. Check local rules before you trade.
Streaky, grimy windows are highly visible and most homeowners will happily pay a modest recurring fee to never think about cleaning them again.
US $10-$18/window or $45-$100/hr; small home job $150-$275, large home $450-$900+; UK £4-£8/pane or £60-£100 per house.
Someone comfortable with basic ladder/height work who wants a low-cost-entry trade built around recurring, route-based revenue.
Anyone with a fear of heights or balance issues — even with a water-fed pole system, some jobs still require ladder work.
Ladder falls are the real injury risk on upper floors, though a water-fed pole system removes most of that risk for 2-3 story homes by letting you clean from the ground entirely.
5 steps to your first paying customer
This lets you clean 2nd/3rd story windows from the ground with purified water and no ladder — the single best safety and efficiency investment in this trade.
Done when You own a water-fed pole kit with a deionizing filter and have cleaned at least one 2nd or 3rd story window from the ground with it.
Offer a first-clean discount specifically to build a recurring route on one street rather than scattered one-off jobs across town.
Done when You've knocked on doors on one target street and booked at least one first-clean discount job on it.
The rest of the playbook: what to charge, what you need in place before you take money, where the first customers come from, and what each step costs.
Free forever · no card · 30 secondsEasy to copy the basic service; the recurring route itself, once built, is what a new entrant would have to displace you from street by street.
Own the recurring route on specific streets before a competitor door-knocks the same area
Add high-rise/rope-access certification as a genuine skill barrier for commercial work
A built recurring route of 100+ properties has real resale value to another window cleaner or a small facilities-services company.
Same idea, different rules. One playbook, with the facts that actually differ overlaid per market.
High-rise work needs IRATA/rope access certification.
No license typically required for ground/low-rise work.
Mobile or market-stall sharpening for kitchen knives, garden tools and mower blades — genuinely overlooked.
Weekly chemical-balance and skimming visits for residential pools — a genuine technical-knowledge moat.
Screen and battery repairs done at the customer's location — the come-to-you angle beats fixed kiosks.