Let's be honest about why you're here. Before you care about streak-free glass, water-fed poles, or how long we've been in business, you want to know one thing: what is this going to cost me?
A lot of window cleaning companies in Upstate New York won't tell you. They make you fill out a form, book an in-person "consultation," and then a salesperson stands in your driveway and reads you a number. We don't operate that way. So here is the honest breakdown of what professional window cleaning actually costs around Bloomfield, Canandaigua, Victor, and the greater Rochester area — and exactly what makes the number go up or down.
The short answer
Most residential window cleaning jobs in our service area land between $150 and $400, with the typical home coming in around $250–$300 for interior and exterior glass.
That's not a number we made up. It tracks with 2026 national data: professional window cleaners generally charge $4–$8 per pane or $10–$18 per window, and most companies carry a minimum job fee between $100 and $250 to cover travel, setup, insurance, and equipment. Rural and spread-out routes — which describes most of Ontario County — usually need a slightly higher minimum than a dense city route, because we're driving further between jobs.
Here's roughly how that shakes out by home size:
| Home type | Approx. window count | Typical range (in + out) |
|---|---|---|
| Small ranch / cape | 10–15 windows | $150–$275 |
| Standard 3-bed colonial | 20–25 windows | $250–$400 |
| Large home / lots of glass | 30+ windows | $400+ |
| Exterior only | Any | Roughly 40–50% less |
Now, the part most companies skip: why your quote might sit at the top or the bottom of that range.
1. Pane count beats square footage every time
This is the single biggest misunderstanding homeowners have about window cleaning pricing.
We don't price your house by how big it is. We price it by how much glass there is and how many separate pieces that glass is broken into.
A 2,000-square-foot modern home with wall-to-wall picture windows can easily cost more than a 3,000-square-foot older home with standard double-hung windows. And a window with colonial grids or muntins — those decorative dividers that split one window into twelve little rectangles — takes several times longer to clean properly than one flat sheet of glass, because every single small pane has to be scrubbed, squeegeed, and detailed by hand.
So when you're comparing quotes, don't ask "what's your rate per square foot." Ask "what's your rate per pane, and how are you counting my windows?" That's the question that tells you whether a company actually knows what it's doing.
2. Accessibility and story height
Ground-floor windows you can walk right up to are the cheapest glass in your house. Everything above that costs more, and it costs more for a real reason.
Second and third-story windows require extension ladders, water-fed poles, ladder standoffs, and a slower, more careful pace. If your home sits on a slope, has landscaping beds or air conditioning units pinned against the foundation, or has a walkout basement that turns a "second story" into a functional third story, the safe setup takes longer. Skylights, sunrooms, transom windows over the front door, and cathedral-ceiling glass all fall into the same bucket.
None of this is an upcharge for the sake of an upcharge. It's time and equipment and the insurance that covers a crew working at height. But it's why an accurate quote needs someone to actually look at your home — even if it's just at photos you text over.
3. Screens, tracks, and frames — the "extras" that aren't really extra
This is where the gap between a $150 quote and a $300 quote usually lives, and it's the number one place homeowners get burned.
A cheap splash-and-dash job cleans the glass and nothing else. You end up with clean panes sitting inside filthy frames, tracks packed with dead flies and grit, and screens that dump a decade of dust back onto the glass the second it rains.
A true professional window cleaning service handles:
- Screen cleaning — removed, scrubbed, rinsed, dried, and reinstalled in the same opening they came out of
- Track and sill detailing — vacuumed and wiped so debris doesn't wash back onto clean glass
- Frame wipe-down — the perimeter that frames what you actually see
Ask any company you're quoting whether these are included or billed separately. There's no wrong answer — plenty of good companies price screens as an add-on — but you need to know before you compare two numbers side by side.
4. Condition and how long it's been
If your windows haven't been professionally cleaned in five years, the first visit costs more than the maintenance visits after it. Baked-on winter road salt, sprinkler overspray, hard water spotting, paint overspray from a remodel, and construction dust all require extra dwell time, specialized solutions, or restoration work.
That first clean is the heavy lift. After that, an annual or twice-a-year schedule keeps the job — and the price — light.
5. Frequency
Most companies, us included, price recurring service lower than a one-off. A home cleaned every spring never gets truly filthy, so each visit goes faster. If you're planning to do this more than once, say so when you request a quote. It usually saves money.
What a fair quote looks like
Before you hire anyone in Ontario County, make sure the quote spells out:
- Interior, exterior, or both
- Total pane count they're basing the price on
- Whether screens, tracks, and sills are included
- Whether sliding doors, storm windows, and skylights are counted separately
- Proof of liability insurance (non-negotiable for anyone climbing a ladder on your property)
If a quote is just a single number with no breakdown, that's not a quote. That's a guess.
Get an actual number, not a guess
If you're in Bloomfield or anywhere in the surrounding Finger Lakes and Rochester area, you don't have to wonder what this costs. Call Dan's Window Cleaning or request a quote online. We'll count your panes, ask about screens and access, and give you a clear, itemized, no-nonsense price before we ever set foot on a ladder.
Clear glass. Clear pricing. That's the whole idea.
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