What Makes One Window Quote Different

Almost every window quote starts with a count, and the count is the least useful thing in it. Panes tell you how much glass there is. They tell you nothing about how long it takes to stand in front of each one, which is where the time goes.

A ground-floor picture window and a stairwell window over a staircase are one pane each. They are not one job each.

• Access. Reachable from the ground, from a ladder, from a pole system, or from inside over a stairwell — four different jobs, and the last one is the one that gets underestimated.
• Interior as well as exterior. Interiors mean furniture moved, floors protected and someone home. Some quotes assume both sides; some assume one.
• Tracks and sills. Cleaning the glass and cleaning the opening are different amounts of work, and the difference is not small on an older house.
• Screens. Removing, washing, drying and refitting screens is a real block of time and is the single most common thing to be quietly excluded.
• Frames. Painted, vinyl and aluminium frames all clean differently, and cedar frames are a soft-wash job rather than a glass job.
• Hard water and mineral staining. Glass with etched mineral deposits is a restoration task, not a cleaning one, and it should be quoted separately or it will be argued about later.

Two quotes that look ten per cent apart are usually thirty per cent apart on scope. The gap is nearly always in the same four places: screens, tracks, interiors, and what happens to glass that will not come clean.

That last one deserves a sentence of its own. Glass with hard-water etching or construction overspray may not return to clear with ordinary cleaning, and a contractor who has looked at it should say so before the job rather than after it.

Frequency is driven by exposure rather than by preference. A west-facing elevation on an arterial road collects traffic film and needs doing more often than a sheltered garden elevation on the same building.

For commercial frontage the driver is presentation and it is usually a fixed cycle. For a house it is generally twice a year, weighted to spring — after the winter has finished putting everything it has onto the glass.

Salt is the regional variable worth naming. Properties near the water in Tsawwassen, Ladner and along the Fraser carry a salt film that returns faster than ordinary road dust, and the interval there is genuinely shorter.

Why does one quote cost more than another for the same windows?

Nearly always scope rather than rate. Check four lines specifically: are interiors included, are screens removed and washed, are tracks and sills done, and what has been assumed about access. Two quotes matching on all four are comparable; otherwise they are not.

Are screens usually included?

Not by default, and this is the most common exclusion. Removing, washing, drying and refitting screens takes real time, so it should be a named line either way rather than an assumption on either side.

How often should house windows be cleaned?

Twice a year suits most properties, weighted towards spring so the winter's film comes off. Exposure moves it — an elevation facing a busy road or sitting near salt water will want doing more often than a sheltered one on the same house.

Can all glass be made clear again?

No. Hard-water etching, mineral scale and construction overspray can be permanent, and standard cleaning will not shift them. Anyone quoting should identify that before starting and price any restoration attempt separately from the cleaning.

Do high windows cost significantly more?

They can, because the access method changes rather than the glass. Pole work, ladder work and anything requiring a lift are different jobs, and a quote that has not stated its access method has assumed the cheapest one available.

Glass, frames, sills, tracks and screens are all set out on the window cleaning page. Cedar frames and painted trim are handled as soft washing rather than as glass work.