How to Choose a Window Cleaner You Can Trust
- Kris Richardson
- Jul 16
- 3 min read
Hiring a window cleaner sounds simple. You want clean glass, a fair price, and someone who shows up when they say they will. But there's a quieter part of the decision that we all feel and very few say out loud: you're inviting someone onto your property, around your home, and into your routine.
That part deserves as much thought as the price, moreso in my opinion.
Here's how to choose a window cleaner in Windsor-Essex you can actually trust — and the questions worth asking before anyone leans a ladder against your home.
Trust starts before the first window
Anyone can make glass shine for a photo. What separates a professional from someone with a bucket is everything around the cleaning: how they treat your property, how they protect your privacy, and whether they do the parts of the job you'll never see.
When you're evaluating someone, look past the before-and-after shots and ask yourself, and them, what kind of operator they are.
What happens at your house should stay at your house
This is the one people rarely think to ask about — and it's the one that matters most.
When you hire someone to clean your windows, they learn things about your home. Your layout. Your schedule. What's inside. A trustworthy cleaner treats all of that as confidential, without you having to ask.
For me, that means a few specific things:
I don't post jobs in real time or tag locations while I'm on site. Where I'm working, and when, isn't something I broadcast.
I don't share client names or announce whose home I've cleaned. Where you live, and the fact that you hired me, is nobody's business but yours.
Job photos go into CompanyCam — a professional home-services app — not my personal phone. When I share work publicly, it's shot so your home is never identifiable, and full-property shots only happen with your permission. On waterfront homes especially, that means close-ups and angles only.
I walk through my full approach to this in the first video of my Clear Answers series:
I'm a homeowner too. This is simply how I'd want someone to treat my home — so it's how I treat yours.
Ask whether they're insured and trained to work at heights
Window cleaning involves ladders, poles, and sometimes roofs. That's real risk — to the worker and to your property. Plenty of home servie providers scoff but if their feet are above 3m (~10ft) they must be certified to work at that height. If not - their WSIB, insurance, all of it is negated and it's on you.
A professional carries liability insurance and is trained and certified to work at heights. Ask directly. A cleaner who takes safety seriously will be glad you asked; one who gets cagey has already told you what you need to know.
It also protects you. If someone is hurt on your property and isn't properly insured, that can become your problem. If they don't have insurance - any damages are on your homeowner insurance. It shouldn't be.
Ask how they protect your home while they work
Small details separate careful operators from fast ones.
Does the ladder have protectors so it won't scratch or dent your eavestroughs and siding?
Are they using clean water and proper tools, or dragging dirty water across your glass?
Do they put booties on or have an indoor set of shoes?
How do they prevent or protect from dripping?
The best answer to "how do you protect my home while you work" is a specific one. Vague reassurance isn't the same as a real process.
Look for a Window Cleaner who does the whole job
A window is only as clear as its dirtiest side. Frames, tracks, sills, and screens are all part of a proper clean — including the parts you'd never look at yourself.
The cleaners worth hiring do those parts whether anyone's checking or not. That standard, held consistently, is what turns a one-time job into a company you call every season.
Consistency is the real luxury
Most people don't want to re-hire and re-explain every year. They want one company they trust, that shows up, does it right, and treats the home with respect.
That's the whole point of choosing carefully the first time. Get it right, and window cleaning becomes one less thing you ever have to think about.
A clear answer, every time
If you're looking for a window cleaner in Windsor-Essex and you've got a question I haven't covered here — ask me. I'd rather you know than wonder.
Richardson Clean serves Windsor and all of Essex County with residential and commercial window cleaning, eavestrough cleaning, soft-washing, screen cleaning, and specialty interior work.
Call or text 519-963-6161 or fill out the contact form for a quote.
