So you’re finally deciding to start a business. Maybe you’re searching around for different business models or you’re dead set on starting a window cleaning business. Coming from us, it may be bias but we can’t recommend starting a window cleaning business more, especially if you live in an area with money or next to an area with money.
Understanding the primary demographic for any business is extremely important. For window cleaning, it is the most important aspect before you actually get started. Window cleaning services perform the best in affluent areas with large houses and lots of money. That isn’t to say that you can’t start in an average area but the clientele quality and job sizes will improve massively if you start somewhere with money.
You can start a window cleaning business for cheap. The starting cost is extremely low for the amount of money you could make. In many cases, window cleaning business owners make their initial investment back within a week if they’re smart about how they purchase equipment and market their services early on.
When you’re just starting out, you don’t need expensive RO/DI tanks and water-fed poles. As long as you have a truck, a van, or even a car, a ladder, and some basic window cleaning equipment, you can get started. While it may not be ideal, you can actually make a massive amount of money with just these things. But maybe you’re more serious, you want to learn about the more expensive equipment, the best marketing techniques, branding techniques and how to manage clients and produce repeat customers. Let’s break it down.
Many first time business owners make the mistake of prepping all the legal licensing and business bank accounts before actually knowing how to provide the service. For a business like this, you first need the equipment and need to understand the skill before becoming ‘legal’.
The type of equipment you should order purely depends on your budget. We use water-fed poles for all exterior window cleaning, and the initial $2.5k investment paid itself off extremely quickly. When you’re starting a business, you have to spend money to make money. While you can get away starting with $250 in this business, you’ll never fully grow past a small-time window cleaner unless you have the confidence to invest in better equipment and marketing.
Once the equipment has arrived, practice on your friends and family house free of charge. Let them know you’re starting a window cleaning business and you need windows to practice on. You have to develop the skill before you can begin to sell your services for money. Practice makes perfect.
When I first started my business, I had a background in designing websites. While I’m not the best designer in the world, I was able to get the job done. The reason I recommend building a quality website or paying for one is because it separates you from the 80% of the competition in your area. Many window cleaners don’t utilize digital marketing tactics such as SEO & Google Ads. These tactics alone can separate you from the competition and bring in early revenue.
You also want to get a nice logo designed based on your name. Your logo is important because it’s what people will remember. Try to keep it modern, sleek, and easy to remember. I would highly suggest you print some shits with the logo and if you want to go the extra mile, get a truck decal. These tactics will being to build out your branding which is extremely important in this business.
Social media platforms are the most important aspect of digital marketing. You can utilize platforms like Facebook to post content and updates about your business, build a business page following, post in groups and generate clients. The more platforms you’re on the better. Content, content, content! Producing content is the name of the game. Even if you’re content doesn’t have a specific goal in mind, producing BRANDED content with your logo will separate you from your competition.
My company has had massive success on the platform. We started a Nextdoor business page for completely free and have grown it into the biggest window cleaning business in my area on the platform.
The most important marketing tactic is Google My Business. GMB is a completely free service offered by Google to post your business information on google, collect reviews, and generate tons of business. In the early stages of your business, get on GMB and every single client you get, ask for reviews. Don’t stop asking them until they do it.
A CRM will allow you to track your clients, your jobs, your invoices, expenses, quotes and more. At Window Cleaning Bay Area, we use Jobber. The platform has been amazing for our business. We’ve been able to track all our previous clients and remessage them later in the year to service them again. Been able to track our revenue & expenses, and manage where our employees are going.
Building a business of first-time clients will never last. There are only so many window cleaning customers in each area. Once you get a customer, service them to the best of your ability, go above and beyond, and use a CRM to try and generate a repeat customer. That is how you build a long-term business.
Once you're in the stage of your business where you are generating clients and revenue, you should now get a business license and a business bank account.
It’s very important that you’re tracking your businesses financials when you go ‘official’. We recommend using software like Quickbooks and connecting it to Jobber to easily track and manage your finances.
The amount it costs depends on the quality of equipment you invest in. You may also be more interested in investing in paid marketing tactics rather than organic marketing tactics. If you’re somewhere in the middle, you can expect to invest around $4,000 to get everything started. That is assuming you already have a truck, car, or van to move your equipment.
On the low side, you could start with $250 by purchasing bad quality squeegees and mops at Ace Hardware and a smaller ladder. We don’t recommend this if you’re actually serious about growing your business.
We don’t recommend you invest more than $6,000 to get started. In the beginning stages of your business, you’re not going to have enough clients to need multiple sets of equipment. Don’t overspend your working capital. Invest 80% of your startup capital into quality marketing strategies then turn around and re-invest to better equipment.
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