Diversify Your Commercial Cleaning Services by Offering Window Washing to Your Clients Employees

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Diversify Your Commercial Cleaning Services by Offering Window Washing to Your Clients' Employees

Steve Hanson

Many cleaning business owners are looking for ways to diversify their service offerings during the down economy. One way to do that is to provide window washing services to customers you might not normally work with. For example, if you clean commercial buildings, you may find that the people working in those buildings need window washing services at their homes. See if you can post a flyer in the break room, offering window washing services to employees' homes.

Window washing for homes can be very different than window washing in a commercial building. You'll most likely be dealing with screens, a wider variety of sizes, more obstructions and odd angles to work around. This can affect how you price window washing for homes. Following is a list of items to consider when deciding on a price:

Are there screens on the windows? How many? What condition are they in? How easy are they to remove? (some screens are screwed onto the window, which will add a lot of time to the job). Are the screens removed from the inside or outside?
How much dirt build-up is on the windows? Is there any paint overspray on the windows?
Is there hard water deposits on the windows? Will you be able to remove it or are the windows etched?
Is there smoke residue on the inside windows? How dirty are they? Is the window above the kitchen sink splattered with grease and food?
Are any of the windows tinted?
What obstacles do you have to work around (check both inside and outside)
Are there any windows that are hard to reach? What size ladders will you need?
On the outside, is the ground sloped away from the house?

Be sure to make notes on any and all of the situations listed above, as this will affect the price. Some people make the mistake of simply counting the windows and adding up a price per window. If you don't take into consideration all the things that might slow you down you could be setting yourself up for a loss of profit. Take the time to price the job right and you'll have a new service adding profit to your bottom line.

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Steve Hanson helps owners of small cleaning companies build a more profitable and successful cleaning business through his online community at TheJanitorialStore.com. Read inspirational cleaning success stories at http://www.cleaning-success.com, and sign up for weekly cleaning tips at http://www.TheJanitorialStore.com.