How Much Do Window Cleaners Earn in the UK? (2026 Figures)
Day rates, round values and the costs nobody mentions. Here's an honest look at what a UK window cleaning round actually pays in 2026.
Practical guides on quoting, pricing and running a window cleaning business, written and reviewed by the Squeegify team.
A full-time self-employed window cleaner in the UK typically turns over £200 to £350 a day on a settled domestic round, which works out around £40,000 to £70,000 a year before costs. Take-home after fuel, water, insurance, equipment and tax is usually 65 to 80% of that. Employed cleaners are commonly paid £12 to £16 an hour, and commercial or high-access work pays more again.
Those are typical market ranges, not guarantees; the spread inside them is enormous, and it comes down to four things: price per house, houses per day, drop-off rate, and how much of your week is unpaid admin.
What a domestic round pays
- Average domestic clean: commonly £18 to £30 per visit for a 3-bed semi, higher in London and the South East.
- Houses per day: 20 to 35 on a tight round with a water-fed pole, far fewer if your work is scattered.
- Cycle: most rounds run 4-weekly or 8-weekly, so each customer pays you 6 to 13 times a year.
- Round value: rounds change hands at roughly 3 to 5x the monthly cleaning value, depending on tightness and payment record.
The costs that come off the top
- Fuel and van running costs: the single biggest variable, and the reason tight routing beats high prices for profit.
- Water and filters: resin and RO membranes are a real monthly line, more so in hard-water areas.
- Insurance: public liability is essential, and employers' liability once you hire.
- Equipment replacement: poles, brushes, hoses and pumps all wear out.
- Tax and National Insurance: budget for it monthly, not in January.
Unpaid evening admin. Quoting, chasing, invoicing and rescheduling can quietly consume 6 to 10 hours a week. That is a full working day you are not being paid for.
Four levers that raise take-home pay
- Raise prices on the existing round rather than chasing new work: a 10% increase lands almost entirely in profit.
- Tighten the round geographically so you clean more houses per mile.
- Add services you are already on site for: gutters, fascias, conservatory roofs, solar panels.
- Cut quoting time, so evenings stop being unpaid work.
Why quoting speed shows up in your income
Most homeowners ask two or three cleaners and book the first credible reply. If your quotes go out the next evening, you lose jobs you had already won on price. Putting an instant quoting tool on your own website means the customer gets a real, branded price in minutes, and you keep your evenings.
That is exactly what Squeegify does: your pricing rules, your branding, on your site, quoting while you're still up a pole.
Put what you just read to work while you're out cleaning.
You came here to get better at the trade. Squeegify turns that knowledge into a quote form on your own website, so visitors price themselves, book a slot, and drop into your inbox while you're on the ladder. No more lost enquiries because you couldn't answer the phone.
