How to Invoice for Window Cleaning (Per Pane Pricing, Screens, Access & Storefront Routes, 2026)

Window cleaning has a counting problem, and it shows up on the invoice. The customer counts windows — they walk around the house and get to twelve. You count panes, and floors, and screens, and tracks, and how you reached each one. The same house is 'twelve windows' to them and 'forty-six panes, inside and out, half of them from a ladder' to you. When the invoice says 'Window cleaning — $385', the customer divides by twelve and decides you're expensive.

This guide is about writing an invoice that does the counting for them. It covers per-pane and per-window pricing, splitting outside from inside and ground floor from upper floors, screens and tracks, hard water and post-construction glass, recording failed seals and scratches before you start, rain policies, minimum charges, and the recurring storefront routes that keep a window business busy all year. If you want to start from a filled-in draft, the free window cleaning invoice template opens with these lines already in place.

Per Pane or Per Window — Pick One and Show the Count

There are two common ways to price residential glass. Per window is simple: a standard double-hung or single picture window is one unit. Per pane counts every separate piece of glass, which is fairer on houses with French doors, colonial grids or divided-lite windows, where one 'window' can be twelve or fifteen panes that are each cleaned on their own. Many cleaners mix the two — per window for standard windows, per pane for divided lites and French doors.

Which one you use matters less than showing the count on the invoice. 'Exterior window cleaning — 1st floor, 22 panes (incl. 2 French doors, 15 lites each)' is a price a customer can check. It also answers the neighbor comparison before it happens: a house with the same number of windows but no French doors really is a cheaper job, and your invoice now shows why.

Rates vary a great deal by region and by the kind of glass on your route. Build yours from your own numbers — minutes per pane, travel, equipment, insurance — rather than a national average, and check them against local competitors.

Outside and Inside Are Two Services

Put exterior and interior on separate lines, always. They are different work: exterior glass is dirtier and often higher, interior work means moving furniture, protecting floors and working around the customer's home. Many customers only want exterior cleaning most of the time, and inside once or twice a year.

Separate lines do two useful things. They let a customer choose — exterior-only in spring, in and out before the holidays — instead of cancelling because the full price felt like too much. And they show the work the customer didn't watch: most people are not standing outside while you do the second floor, but they will read '2nd floor exterior, 24 panes' on the invoice.

Height and Access Change the Price — Say So

The biggest single reason two similar houses get different prices is height. Ground-floor glass is quick. Second- and third-story glass takes a ladder or a water-fed pole, and some glass — over a sunroom roof, above a stairwell, on a steep slope — takes longer still. Commercial buildings above a few stories need lifts or rope access, special training and often a site safety plan.

Give upper floors their own line with the access method: 'Exterior window cleaning — 2nd floor, 24 panes, ladder / water-fed pole.' If a pane needs special access — a skylight, glass over a roof, a two-story foyer window inside — list it separately. The customer does not need to know how a water-fed pole works; they need to see that the second floor is a different job from the first.

Screens, Tracks and Sills

These are the add-ons customers most often assume are included, and the ones that cause the most small arguments. Screen cleaning means taking each screen down, washing it, drying it and putting it back — count them and bill per screen. Track and sill detailing — vacuuming and scrubbing the dirt, dead insects and grime out of window tracks — is slow and often takes as long as the glass. Bill it per window.

You can include a quick sill wipe in your base price if you like; many cleaners do. What matters is that the estimate and the invoice say what was included and what was extra, so the customer who expected spotless tracks and the customer who never thought about them both get what they agreed to. Before you take screens down, look for torn or bent screens and write them down — a screen that was already damaged will be noticed when you hand it back.

Hard Water and Post-Construction Glass Are Not Maintenance Cleans

Hard water stains — white mineral spots from sprinklers, pools or well water — need special products and much more time than a normal clean. And sometimes they have already etched the glass, which means some marks will not come off at all. Put the treatment on its own line and write down what you promised: 'Hard water stain treatment — 6 panes, back elevation near sprinkler (improvement, etching may be permanent).' Say the same thing on the estimate, before the work.

Post-construction cleaning — removing paint, stucco, mortar, labels and adhesive from new windows — can take several times as long per pane as a maintenance clean, so bill it separately, by the pane or by the hour. It also carries a real risk: tempered glass can have tiny bits of debris baked into the surface during manufacturing, and scraping those with a blade can scratch the glass. Ask the builder which panes are tempered (they are usually marked in a corner), follow the glass maker's cleaning guidance, and write the method on the invoice: 'tempered glass: no razor on marked panes.' That line is your record if a scratch question comes up months later.

Write Down the Problems Before You Clean

Clean glass shows everything. Failed seals on insulated windows — fogging or condensation between the two panes — are an age or manufacturing problem that no cleaning causes or fixes, but a customer who first notices one on a freshly cleaned window will often blame the cleaner. The same goes for old scratches, chips, small cracks, etching, and damaged screens or frames.

So walk the job first. Look at each elevation, photograph what's already wrong, and carry it onto the invoice as a $0 line: 'Pre-existing conditions noted before work: 2 failed seals (fogging between panes, kitchen), scratches (patio door), 1 torn screen — photos on file.' Put the same note on the estimate and get it approved. It does not replace insurance — you should carry general liability for damage you actually cause — but it changes 'your cleaner broke my window' into 'this was written down before we started.'

Rain, Weather and the Guarantee

Customers worry that rain the day after a clean will undo the work. Many window cleaners offer a rain guarantee: if exterior glass spots from rain within a set number of days, they come back and re-clean it at no charge. If you offer one, write it on the invoice with its limits — how many days, exterior only, what counts (spotting, not storm debris or sprinkler overspray). A guarantee that exists only in conversation becomes whatever the customer remembers.

Weather also moves jobs. A one-line rescheduling policy on the estimate — weather reschedules are free; late cancellations after the crew is on the way may carry a trip charge — saves the argument for the day it happens.

Minimum Charges and Trip Charges

A window job has a fixed cost before the first pane: driving there, unloading ladders or the water-fed pole, setting up, and packing up. Five ground-floor windows at a per-pane rate pay for none of that. The usual answer is a minimum job charge — state it on your price list, the estimate and the invoice. On small jobs, show the calculated amount and the minimum plainly: 'Exterior, 1st floor, 8 panes (minimum job charge applies).' A customer who sees the rule doesn't feel overcharged. Do the same for a trip charge on jobs far outside your area.

Storefront Routes and Commercial Accounts

Residential window cleaning is seasonal. Storefront routes are what fill a calendar: shops, restaurants, offices and banks that want their glass cleaned every week, every two weeks or every month. They are small tickets, but they repeat, and they are billed differently.

Set each account up with a short route agreement: the location, what is cleaned (outside only, or in and out, plus door glass and display cases if included), the frequency, the price per visit and the payment terms. Then either invoice each visit, or send one monthly statement that lists every visit date: 'Storefront route — Main St. location, 14 panes in/out, visits 9/2, 9/16, 9/30, PO #4471.' The visit dates are the important part — when a visit moves for rain or is skipped because the store was closed, the invoice shows it, and the month's total is never a mystery. Card on file works well for small shops; larger clients usually want net 15 or net 30. For the mechanics of repeat billing in general, see how to invoice for recurring services.

Larger commercial buildings — office blocks, medical buildings, HOA communities — buy differently. They often take bids per building or per elevation, pay against a purchase order, and may ask for your certificate of insurance before you start. Bill by the unit they bought, name each building or side, and quote the PO on every invoice.

Add-Ons: Gutters, Solar Panels and Pressure Washing

Many window cleaners also clean gutters, rinse solar panels, wash siding or clean skylights and light fixtures. Give each its own line with its own count — 'Gutter cleaning — 140 linear ft, downspouts flushed' — so the window price stays a window price. (Gutter lines have their own traps; see how to invoice for gutter cleaning.) If you also pressure wash, the same surface-by-surface approach is in how to invoice for pressure washing. Check your state's sales tax rules too: some states tax cleaning services on buildings and many don't, and when tax applies it should be its own line.

Payment Terms That Fit the Trade

For residential jobs, payment on completion is standard — card on site, or a payment link sent before you leave, with a short net-7 fallback for customers who weren't home. Take a deposit on large post-construction jobs. For route and commercial clients, write the terms into the agreement, and if you plan to charge a late fee, put it in writing before the first overdue invoice. For wording, see how to write payment terms on an invoice.

A Complete Window Cleaning Invoice, Line by Line

Put together, a typical residential invoice reads like this: exterior, 1st floor, 22 panes · exterior, 2nd floor, 24 panes, ladder / water-fed pole · interior, 46 panes · screens washed and reinstalled, 23 · tracks and sills, 23 windows · hard water treatment, 6 panes, etching may be permanent · pre-existing conditions noted before work, photos on file, $0 · rain guarantee: exterior re-clean within 7 days if spotted by rain · payment due on completion. Every line has a count, says where and how, and states what was promised. That is an invoice a customer can check against the house, not against a guess.

You can build exactly that in a couple of minutes: the window cleaning invoice template opens the invoice editor with these lines already in place — fill in your counts and rates, and download a PDF. No sign-up. If your business also does interior cleaning, see how to invoice for cleaning services.