WindowBossPro Blog — Routes & Scheduling

How Many Homes a Day? Scheduling Window Cleaning by Window Count and Stories

“How many houses can we do tomorrow?” is the wrong question, and every window cleaner who has booked three “houses” that turned out to be mansions knows it. The right question is how many windows, at what height, on which sides, with which extras. Count houses and you will overbook one day and underbook the next. Count windows and the day starts to make sense.

Why House Count Lies

Storefront scheduling has its own clock, covered in Early-Morning Storefront Routes: Cleaning the Glass Before the Stores Open. Residential scheduling is driven by size.

A 1-story ranch with 14 windows, outside only, might be a short stop. A 2-story colonial with 32 windows inside and outside, with screens and tracks, might be most of a morning. A 3-story with hard-water stains on the back glass can be a full day for a two-person crew. All three are “one house” on a calendar. None of them take the same time.

The Details That Size a Job

WindowBossPro keeps the window details on every address: number of windows, stories (1-story, 2-story or 3+ story), sides (outside only, inside and outside, or inside only), and extras like screens, tracks and hard-water removal. They show under the address on the Waiting List, the Scheduled List and the tech's phone, as a line like “28 windows · 2-story · Inside & Outside · Screens.”

Each piece changes the time. Windows are the base count. Stories mean ladders or poles and slower moves between panes. Inside doubles the work on each window and adds drop cloths, shoes off, and moving furniture. Screens and tracks are their own work. Hard water can take longer than the cleaning itself.

Find Your Own Numbers

Every crew is different, so the most useful numbers are your own. A simple way to find them is to watch a few weeks of completed jobs. Techs tap Start and Complete on every job, and the time clock records each day, so jot down how long jobs of different sizes really took. Compare those times against the window details on each job and patterns appear quickly.

You might find your crew averages a certain number of minutes per window outside on a 1-story, a bit more on a 2-story, and close to double for inside and outside. Screens add a fixed amount per screen. Once you have rough numbers, sizing a day becomes simple math: add up the windows, adjust for stories and sides, add drive time, and see if it fits. Estimating Job Time for Window Cleaning: Windows, Stories, Sides and Extras walks through it.

Building a Balanced Day

With the window details visible on the Waiting List, a few habits make for good days:

• One big job, then smaller ones. Pair a large 2-story or 3+ story with two or three smaller homes nearby rather than stacking big jobs.
• Watch the inside count. Inside cleanings need someone home and take longer. Two of them is a lot for one day.
• Group by height. If a day has several 2-story and 3+ story homes, make sure the ladder crew is on that van.
• Leave a little room. A job that runs long should not push the last stop into the dark. A small buffer, or a short stop near the shop at the end, gives you flexibility.

When the Day Is Too Full or Too Light

Even with good numbers, days go wrong. A homeowner adds the garage windows. Hard water is worse than the estimate said. When a day runs long, the last stop or two can move to tomorrow on the dispatch board, and since they are still due they stay on your radar.

When a day is light, the Waiting List map is the place to look. Due jobs near today's route, or not-due-yet jobs in the same neighborhood that a customer would happily take early, can fill the gap. More in Filling Gaps in the Window Cleaning Schedule Before They Cost You a Day.

Get the Details Right at the Quote

The window details are only as good as what was entered. The best time to capture them is at the estimate. WindowBossPro builds estimates from your service list, with per-window, per-screen, story add-ons and hard-water pricing, so the same information that sets the price also sizes the job. When the customer approves the estimate online, it becomes scheduled services with the details already on the address.

If a tech finds the count is off on the first visit, note it and correct the address. The next cleaning will be sized right.

Count Windows, Not Houses

The number of homes a day is the result of the window count, the stories, the sides, the extras and the drive. Keep those on every address and the day sizes itself. To see how window details tie into routing and the tech app, visit the WindowBossPro window cleaning route software page.