Window Cleaner: What is the cost of hiring?

Why recruit a window cleaner?

Professional window cleaners will be able to clean your commercial property windows to a high standard, using specialised equipment and resources. They are an important asset if you want to maintain the quality of your windows, as they tend to last longer if they are regularly cleaned by a professional. Commercial cleaning is a great way to keep employee morale up, and your clients reassured by the presentation of your building. 

Qualities of a great window cleaner:

• Can use specialised tools to make sure that your windows are cleaned to a professional degree
• Improves the appearance of your commercial buildings, especially tall buildings with difficult-to-reach windows
• More safe and cost effective than attempting to clean your commercial property yourself

Deciding between a full-time vs freelance window cleaner

If you own a large building that needs regular maintenance, such as a retail outlet, then you may look to recruit a full-time cleaner. This may be due to environmental reasons, such as to avoid hard-water damage and the accumulation of dirt and debris.

However, if you are only likely to need a cleaner several times a year or own a small commercial building with few difficult-to-access windows, you may choose to recruit one on a project-by-project basis. Doing so will be more cost effective, especially if you are having to consider this as part of your overall cleaning budget. You may include occasional window cleaning as part of an overall cleaner’s duties, and so will only need a professional window cleaner from time to time.

What are the different types of window cleaner?

There are different kinds of window cleaner depending on the kind of commercial property that you are looking to clean. You may also be looking for someone to take on more general cleaner duties, rather than a specialised window cleaner. You might consider taking on a trainee window cleaner who requires on-the-job experience. 

• Trainee Window Cleaner: supports a professional window cleaner, helping with the cleaning of specialist machinery and tidying the area.
• Office Window Cleaner: is able to provide a professional cleaning service with resources that enable them to clean difficult-to-reach or high windows.
• Car Valet: washes and polishes car windows, alongside other cleaning, waxing and polishing duties.
• Retail Window Cleaner: maintains the appearance of your retail outlet for customers by cleaning windows regularly.
• Window Cleaning Manager: manages a team of window cleaners, assessing performance and ensuring that all your window cleaner practices are in line with health and safety laws.

Where to find a window cleaner?

To find the right window cleaner for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

• Contacting window cleaning businesses directly: You can contact local window cleaning businesses via their website and speak to them directly via email or telephone. 
• Via recruitment agencies: You can narrow your search for an affordable yet reliable window cleaner by posting a job advertisement through a recruitment agency.
• Word of mouth or internal recruitment: If you already have a cleaning team, they may be able to suggest good window cleaners to you.
• Job bulletins: Add your job advertisement to job bulletins in local shops or job centres.

Post your job online: Try posting your job for a window cleaner on Indeed to find and attract quality window cleaner candidates.

Skills to look for in a great window cleaner

A great candidate for a window cleaner role will have the following skills and attributes as well as work experience that reflects:

• ability to work at heights
• knowledge of how to safely operate scaffolding and aerial lifts
• knowledge of how to safely use other specialist cleaning tools
• ability to work in all kinds of weather
• strong concentration skills

Writing a window cleaner job description

A thoughtful description is important for finding qualified window cleaner candidates. A window cleaner job description includes a compelling summary of the role, a detailed list of duties and responsibilities and the required and preferred skills for the position.

When writing your  job description for a window cleaner, consider including some or all of the following keywords to strengthen the visibility of your job posting. These are the most popular search terms resulting in clicks on jobs for window cleaners, according to Indeed data:

• window cleaner
• cleaner
• window cleaning
• cleaning
• rope access
• driver

Interviewing window cleaner candidates

Strong candidates for window cleaner positions will be confident answering questions regarding:

• training and previous experience
• customer service and working with feedback
• ability to work at heights
• fitness and balance
• ability to use specialised tools to clean windows

Need help coming up with interview questions? See our list of window cleaner interview questions for examples (with sample answers).