WindowBossPro Blog — Billing & Payments

Post-Construction Window Cleaning Invoices: Billing the Builder Clean

Post-construction window cleaning is a different job from a maintenance clean. The glass has paint overspray, stucco, mortar, sticker residue and labels, and the frames and tracks are full of drywall dust. It takes longer, it carries more risk of scratching glass, and the customer is often a builder who pays on their own schedule. All of that needs to show up on the invoice, or the job that looked profitable on paper ends up as a long day for little money.

A Different Kind of Customer

Storefront billing choices were covered in Storefront Window Cleaning Billing: Monthly Statement or an Invoice per Visit?. Post-construction is the opposite of a steady storefront: a one-time job, often big, often for a general contractor or builder rather than the person who will live or work there.

Builders are used to subcontractor invoices. They expect clear scope, clear pricing and a clear due date. They do not expect to be surprised.

Quote the Scope in Detail

The invoice is only as good as the estimate behind it. Walk the job if you can, and quote it from your service list with enough detail that there is no argument later:

• Window count, stories and sides. “46 windows · 2-story · Inside & Outside.”
• Sticker and label removal. Per window or included, but say which.
• Paint and construction debris removal. Overspray, stucco and mortar take time and care.
• Screens and tracks. Tracks after construction are often packed with dust and debris.
• Story add-ons for upper floors.

In WindowBossPro, estimates are built from your service list and the customer approves them online. The approved estimate becomes scheduled services with those lines already on them.

Write Down the Assumptions

Post-construction jobs go wrong when the job on the day is not the job you quoted. Put the assumptions on the estimate:

• The site will be accessible and other trades will be out of the rooms.
• Glass with existing scratches or defects will be noted before work starts.
• Extra work found on site, like a second round after the painters come back, will be quoted separately.

That last one matters. A builder who calls you back because the painters touched up after you cleaned should get a new line, not a free return trip.

Document Before You Clean

Scratched glass is the biggest risk on a post-construction job, and it is usually there before you arrive. Before-and-after photos in the tech app, saved with the job, are your record. Have the tech photograph any existing scratches or damage before starting and add a note to the job. If a builder or homeowner questions the glass later, you have the answer with a date on it.

Photos also help the invoice get paid. A builder who sees the before shots of paint-covered glass understands why the job cost what it did.

Deposits and Progress Invoices

Big post-construction jobs are where deposits make the most sense. Run it with invoices: invoice the deposit when the estimate is approved, then invoice the balance when the job is complete. Deposits for Big Window Cleaning Jobs: A Simple Policy Built on Invoices covers how to set that policy.

Some builders will not pay deposits. On a multi-day job, invoice in stages instead: exterior one day, interior the next, each as its own invoice when that part is complete. You never float more than a day or two of work.

The Invoice Itself

A post-construction invoice should read like the estimate:

• Post-construction window cleaning, inside and outside — 46 windows, 2-story
• Sticker and label removal
• Paint overspray and construction debris removal
• Tracks — construction dust removed
• Second-story add-on
• Less deposit received
• Sales tax and balance due

Include the job address and, for builders, the lot number or project name they use. Their accounting office matches your invoice to a project, not just a street.

Getting Builders to Pay

Builders often pay on a cycle. Find out what it is before the job. Put a due date on the invoice and use past-due follow-up, which in WindowBossPro reminds by text and email. A polite email to the builder's office is usually more effective than texting the site super.

If you do regular work for one builder across several projects, set them up as one client with each project as an address. Set to Monthly, they get one statement with each line labeled by address, which is how many builders prefer to pay subs anyway.

Bill the Real Job

Post-construction cleaning pays well when the scope is clear, the condition is documented, and the invoice matches the estimate. To see how WindowBossPro handles estimates, photos and invoices together, visit the window cleaning billing software page.