Window cleaning cost at WashLabs is $10 to $20 per pane for the outside of the glass on a house. Interior panes are not included, and screen cleaning is not in the base price. A house with 30 exterior panes comes to $300 to $600. Commercial glass is $8 to $14 per pane, and the [pricing page](/pricing/) lists both rates.
How much does window cleaning cost for a house?
This is an example, not a quote. It uses the published rate and two sample houses.
| Sample house | Exterior panes | At $10 per pane | At $20 per pane |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two-story colonial | 30 | $300 | $600 |
| Large house with a sunroom | 50 | $500 | $1,000 |
The pane count drives the total more than the size of the house. A sunroom adds much glass to a small floor plan. A stone house with deep walls can have fewer panes than its size suggests.
The WashLabs quote counts the panes on your house. Before you compare two quotes, ask each company for its pane count. The same house can get a different count on two quotes, and the per-pane rate then means nothing.
For example, say 20 of the 30 panes on the colonial are on the ground floor and you clean those yourself. The 10 upper panes then come to $100 to $200 at the residential rate.
What moves the price within $10 to $20
Height and reach
Ground-floor glass that you can reach from the lawn is the low end. Second-story glass above a porch roof, dormer windows and skylights take more time per pane.
The housing stock on the Main Line makes this range wide. A stone colonial can have third-floor dormers set into a slate roof. A Victorian twin can have tall, narrow sashes on three stories. A mid-century ranch has large picture windows that a person can reach from the lawn. The same pane count costs less on the ranch than on the colonial.
The condition of the glass
Glass that gets a clean once a year is quick. Glass with hard-water spots from a lawn sprinkler, paint overspray or a film of construction dust takes more passes. Old hard-water spots can etch the glass. A clean makes them lighter, but it does not always remove them.
Grilles and divided lites
A window with a grille has more edges and corners than a single sheet of glass. Each edge holds dirt, and each corner takes a separate wipe or rinse.
Tree cover
On the Main Line, oak and tulip poplar canopy puts pollen on the glass in spring and sap on it in summer. Pollen comes off in one pass. Sap is sticky, and it takes a second pass.
What the $8 to $14 commercial rate covers
The $8 to $14 per pane rate is for commercial buildings. It is not a second-story rate or a bulk rate for a house. A commercial building has many panes of the same size on flat walls. That is the usual reason a per-pane rate is lower for a building than for a house. On a house, each window has a different shape and height.
The total for a commercial building depends on the size of the job, so there is no single price for a building. Interior panes are not included in either rate.
When drone cleaning changes the cost
On a house, the drone does not change the rate on the pricing page. There is one residential window rate, $10 to $20 per exterior pane, and there is no separate drone rate. What the drone changes is reach. WashLabs drones reach 190 feet, so a third-floor dormer or a skylight above a sunroom does not need a ladder on the roof.
The large change is on tall buildings. There, the other choices are scaffolding or rope access, and drone cleaning is typically 30-50% cheaper than scaffolding or rope access. WashLabs pilots hold FAA Part 107 certification. For the building numbers, read drone window cleaning cost.
How often to clean windows
Plan on one or two cleans a year for a house. Glass under heavy tree canopy collects pollen and sap faster, and a spring clean after the pollen drops gives the longest clear period. Glass near a lawn sprinkler gets hard-water spots each week the sprinkler runs. Turn the head away from the house before the clean, or the spots come back in days.
What a window cleaning quote must show
Two quotes are easy to compare when each one shows the same items. Before you sign, check for these:
- The pane count, and how the company counted the panes.
- Exterior only, or exterior and interior.
- Screens, sills and tracks: in the price, or not.
- Hard-water spots: in the price, or a separate line.
- The access method for each story: from the ground, a ladder, a lift or a drone.
A low price that leaves out the second story is not a low price. It is a smaller job.
When DIY is fine, and when to hire
DIY is fine on ground-floor glass. A bucket of water with a little dish soap, a soft scrubber and a squeegee will do it. Work on the shaded side of the house, because glass in direct sun dries before you can pull the water off, and it streaks.
Stop at these points:
- Do not stand a ladder on a porch roof or lean it on a gutter. The ladder feet slip on shingles, and the gutter bends under the load.
- Do not use a pressure washer on windows. High pressure can break the seal on double-pane glass, and the glass then fogs between the panes.
- Do not scrape dry glass with a razor blade. It can scratch tempered glass, and the scratches stay.
Hire when the glass is on the second story or above, or when there are skylights or glass above a roof. Hire too when hard-water spots cover the lower panes.
For glass above the first floor, see how window cleaning works with a drone. Text a photo of the house and the number of windows to (610) 665-3995. We reply with a quote within 24 hours.