How to choose a window cleaner: six things to check before you book

Late October is when people look out the back window, see a summer of pollen and rain spots on the glass, and decide to get someone in before it gets cold. So they search, call two or three companies, and end up with two numbers that are $100 apart and no idea why.

Most of the time the cheaper quote is for less work. It is not a better deal, it is a different job. So the way to choose a window cleaner is not to compare the prices. Compare what is written on the quote, and who carries the risk if something goes wrong. The price only means something after that.

Here are the six things we would check if we were the ones booking.

1. What does "the windows" actually include?

Ask this one first, because it explains most price gaps.

• Inside, outside or both? Outside only usually runs 60 to 70 percent of the price of a full clean. A quote that does not say is usually outside only.
• Screens. Taken out, washed and put back, or left alone?
• Tracks and sills. Vacuumed and wiped, or skipped? The sill is where the dirt that streaks the glass after a storm comes from.
• Frames. Wiped down, or just the glass?
• Basement windows, the patio door, the glass in the front door, skylights. Some companies count these, some do not.

If the quote says "all windows, $189" and nothing else, ask for the list. A company that knows its job will write it out in a minute. For what a full clean includes, the tracks, screens and frames guide shows every part we touch, in order.

2. Ask for the insurance, on paper

This is the expensive one to get wrong.

A window cleaner works on ladders and roofs around your house. If they crack a pane, mark your siding or fall, you want that to be their problem and not yours. Ask for two things:

• A certificate of liability insurance. We carry $2 million. Ask what theirs is.
• A WSIB clearance certificate. In Ontario that shows the company is covering its workers. If someone without coverage gets hurt on your property, it can land on you.

Anyone legitimate sends both the same day you ask. If the answer is "don't worry, we're careful", keep looking.

3. How are they getting to the second floor?

On a two-storey in Painswick or Holly, the upper windows at the back are the hard ones. There are two ways to reach them.

One is a ladder, leaned against the house or the eavestrough. Eavestroughs are not built to hold a person, and that is how troughs get bent and shingles get cracked.

The other is a water-fed pole: a long carbon-fibre pole with a brush on the end and water running through it, worked from the ground. Ours reach three storeys. No ladder against your trough at all.

While you are at it, look up. If a hydro line runs to the back of your house near a window, a good cleaner will mention it before you do. Ontario's rule for workers near overhead lines up to 150,000 volts is to keep at least three metres away, and that includes the ladder and the pole. Anyone who waves that off is not someone you want on your property.

4. What are they putting on the glass?

A bucket of soapy water and a squeegee works on a ground-floor window you can reach. On upper glass, from the ground, what matters is the water.

Tap water around here carries minerals. In Barrie, Alcona or Orillia, let it dry on glass and it leaves white spots. That is why we run ours through a deionizer first: pure water, nothing dissolved in it, so it dries clear without a squeegee touching it. If you want the longer version, it is in what professionals use to clean windows without streaks.

You do not need to know the chemistry. Just ask how they get upstairs glass clean without streaks, and listen for a real answer.

5. Get a real number before anyone starts

"We'll see when we get there" is how a $250 job becomes $380 on the driveway, when it is awkward to say no.

A real quote comes before the work, and it is based on your house: roughly how many windows, how many storeys, and what is included from point 1. Plenty of companies, us included, can do that from a few photos or a short form.

For a sense of what is normal: on our window cleaning page a bungalow inside and out is about $300, outside only $150 to $200, and a standard two-storey inside and out about $400. The full breakdown, with window counts, is in how much window cleaning costs in Barrie. If a quote is far below that, go back to point 1 and point 2. One of them is usually where the gap is.

6. Ask about the drive

If you live out past the edge of town, on a side road in Oro-Medonte or Springwater, or on the water near Orillia, ask if there is a trip charge. Some companies add one and only mention it on the invoice.

We are based in Horseshoe Valley, about 30 minutes from anywhere in Simcoe County, and there is no rural surcharge anywhere in the county. A Midhurst bungalow and a farmhouse off a gravel road are priced the same way.

What matters less than you would think

• The lowest number. See all of the above.
• A big branded truck. A good cleaner can show up in a pickup.
• Promises about how long it will stay clean. Nobody controls the pollen or the weather. A good clean lasts longer because the frames and sills were done, not because of a spray.

And read the reviews, but read the ones that mention a street or a town near yours. A review from someone with a house like yours tells you more than a hundred five-star lines that just say "great job".

The short version

Before you pick, get these in writing: what is included, the liability certificate and the WSIB clearance, how they reach the top floor, and the price. Then compare. If you are still not sure you need a pro at all, we wrote about that too: is professional window cleaning worth it.

The cover photo is one of our crew from behind, mid-wipe. The belt holds what goes up to every house: squeegees, a scrubber, a spray bottle and a towel.

If you want to put us through the same six questions, try the instant quote or book online. Ask for the certificates and we will send them over.