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A 22-pane home in-and-out quotes $198 and pays $59/hr — the 8-stop storefront route pays $70/hr and repeats every month.
Window cleaning has two businesses inside it: residential homes that pay premium per visit, and storefront routes that pay less per stop but repeat forever with zero marketing. A 22-pane home at $4.50 per side quotes at $198 and nets $59/hr after drive time; eight storefront stops at $35 each run a tight $70/hr route. This calculator prices both models with the real time costs, so the quote sheet and the route plan come from the same math.
Window cleaners use it to split the business in two: the $198 home pays $59/hr with drive time, the 8-stop storefront route pays $70/hr and repeats every month.
Per pane — a picture window and a 6-over-6 double-hung both photograph as "one window" but clean nothing alike, and per-window pricing loses money on every divided-light home. Per-side rates run $4–7 depending on region and access; count panes on the walkthrough, quote from the count, and the quote survives contact with the job. Standard modifiers: storm windows double the pane count, skylights and second-story glass carry access premiums, and French panes (the true divided lites) price higher than grids-between-glass. First cleans are a separate quote: initial visits run 1.5–2× maintenance price for hard water, construction residue, and neglected tracks — skip that distinction and the first visit eats the year's margin on that account.
Storefronts — restaurants, retail, offices with street glass — sign monthly or bi-weekly service agreements and pay on invoice. Stops run $25–50 each and take 15–25 minutes with a squeegee and no ladder; a tight route of 8 stops in one corridor pays $70/hr and repeats without a single marketing dollar. The discipline is density, same as pool routes: stops in one corridor beat scattered accounts at double the price. The tradeoffs: early mornings (before open), weather holds that compress the schedule, and slower pay cycles on commercial invoices. The strategic value beyond the hourly: storefronts are the winter bridge when residential slows, and a book of commercial accounts is a sellable asset — routes trade at multiples of monthly revenue.
The minutes-per-dollar winners: screens ($3–5 each, cleaned with a brush while the glass dries), tracks and sills ($1–2 per window), hard-water stain removal ($15–40 per pane, quoted on inspection — mineral deposit remover plus elbow grease at full-rate pricing), gutter cleaning, and skylight interiors. The seasonal giant is holiday lights — installation and removal at $400–1,500 per home fills the November–January trough exactly when glass work dies, using the same ladder skills and customer list. Package the add-ons at the quote: "full service" (glass + screens + tracks) at a bundled price anchors higher than glass-only and costs you minutes. Insurance is the non-negotiable overhead: general liability always, and workers comp the moment a helper touches a ladder — ladder falls are the industry's defining claim.