Frequency by Building Type
Class A office typically runs two to four times per year driven by tenant expectation. Hotels run two to four times per year since guest-facing glass ties directly to reviews. Retail and storefront runs monthly to quarterly at ground level with high touch. Restaurants need monthly or more due to grease film plus fingerprints. Medical and dental runs quarterly since appearance signals cleanliness. Warehouse and industrial runs one to two times per year covering office frontage and dock glass. Multifamily and condo runs one to two times per year for common areas plus unit exteriors.
What Belongs in the Scope
Specify elevations on a drawing — not just 'the building.' Exterior glass, interior glass, or both, and at what respective frequencies. Frames, mullions and sills: most visible grime sits on the frame, not the glass, and a glass-only scope leaves the building looking half done. Ground-level extras: entry doors, vestibules, canopies, signage glass, drive-through windows. Access method and who provides it — lift rental, roof anchors, permits. Tenant notification requirements and working hours. Weather rescheduling terms, which matter in a four-season climate.
Access and the Anchor Problem
Water-fed pole is ground-based with purified water, effective to roughly four to six stories depending on setback. Boom lift is fast where there is ground to set up on but loses viability at a plaza or a sidewalk that must stay open. Rope descent systems are efficient on repetitive high-rise elevations and subject to strict OSHA requirements for anchorage. Under the federal walking-working surfaces rule, building owners must inform contractors that anchorages have been identified, tested and certified as capable, and that certification has to be current. Drone systems reach elevations without rigging, anchors, lift setup or street closure — no scaffolding, no anchor certification queue, no equipment parked outside a tenant's window for a week.
See also: High-Rise Window Cleaning Methods Compared · Drone Window Cleaning Cost · Drone Cleaning vs Scaffolding