How much do window cleaners earn?

Whether you’re starting out as an apprentice window cleaner, thinking about setting yourself up as a self-employed window cleaner, or you run your own window cleaning company – this guide is for you.

How much do window cleaners earn in the UK?

As a window cleaner in the UK, you can expect to earn a window cleaner yearly salary starting at around £9,270 as an apprentice. That can go up to somewhere in the region of £44,370 as a window cleaning limited company owner.

The exact salary you can earn as a window cleaner will depend on your qualifications, skills, experience, and where you’re based – as well as the size and complexity of the window cleaning jobs you do.

Great news if you’re thinking of starting window cleaning business: by running your own business, you’ll considerably increase your earning potential as a window cleaner.

What is an average window cleaner yearly salary?

Here’s the window cleaner average salary for different levels of cleaning experience:

• Apprentice window cleaner – £9,270 per year (£9,140 take home)
• Newly qualified window cleaner – £16,680 per year (£14,840 take home)
• Employed window cleaner – £21,670 per year (£18,230 take home)
• Sole trader window cleaner – £36,880 per year (£22,530 take home)
• Window cleaning company owner – £44,370 per year (£29,910 take home)

How much can window cleaners earn per month?

Based on the figures above, we’ve calculated how much window cleaners can earn per month in the UK:

• Apprentice – £915 per month
• Newly qualified – £1,647 per month
• Employed – £1,806 per month
• Sole trader – £4,333 per month
• Window cleaning company owner – £5,213 per month

How much does a window cleaner earn per week?

As a weekly figure, this is roughly how much UK window cleaners can earn per week:

• Apprentice – £211 per week
• Newly qualified – £380 per week
• Employed – £417 per week
• Sole trader – £1,000 per week
• Window cleaning company owner – £1,203 per week

How much money do window washers make a day?

When you break down how much window washers can earn in a year, here’s the average window cleaner day rate in the UK:

• Apprentice – £42 per day
• Newly qualified – £76 per day
• Employed – £83 per day
• Sole trader – £200 per day
• Window cleaning company owner – £241 per day

How much do window cleaners make an hour?

A lot of window cleaning jobs in the UK are charged by the hour, so it’s useful to know the average window cleaner hourly rate:

• Apprentice – £5.28 per hour
• Newly qualified – £9.50 per hour
• Employed – £10.42 per hour
• Sole trader – £25 per hour
• Window cleaning company owner – £30.08 per hour

How to start a window cleaning business

How much do people make from cleaning windows as an apprentice?

If you’re planning to start a career in window cleaning, you’ll want to know how much you can earn as an apprentice.

Below are the average figures for a trainee window cleaner in the UK:

• Hourly rate – £5.28 per hour
• Day rate – £42 per day
• Yearly salary – £9,270 per year
• Annual take-home pay – £9,140 per year

What’s an average self-employed window cleaner salary in the UK?

If you already have some experience in window cleaning and you’re wondering how to make more money, starting your own window cleaning business will certainly boost your earning potential.

Below are the figures for the average self-employed window cleaner salary in the UK, looking specifically at window cleaners who operate as sole traders.

• Hourly rate – £25 per hour
• Day rate – £200 per day
• Yearly salary – £36,880 per year
• Annual take-home pay – £22,530 per year

If you decide to operate as a limited company, you’ll have more admin and expenses to deal with. However, you’ll have the potential to earn even more, with the average limited company owner earning around £44,370 per year (£29,910 take home).

Should I be a sole trader or limited company?

Is window cleaning profitable in the UK?

Every window cleaning business is different and the exact amount you can make by setting up a window cleaning business will depend on a number of factors – such as the size of your business, the amount of work you do, and how profitable your window cleaning jobs are.

That said, below are some estimates to help give you an idea of how much you could earn running your own window cleaning business .

Window cleaning business revenue

Here are some figures for the average window cleaning business revenue in the UK:

• Sole trader window cleaner – £36,880 per year
• Window cleaning limited company – £44,370 per year

Window cleaning business profit

To work out your profit as a window cleaning business, whether as a sole trader or a limited company, you need to factor in the cost of running your business – such as your work vehicle, fuel, materials, tools and insurance.

For a limited company, it’s important to factor in wages as part of your business’s running costs.

After deducting business costs from your revenue, a self-employed window cleaner can expect their window cleaning business profit (i.e. their take-home salary) to be somewhere in the region of £22,530 as a sole trader.

If you’re the owner of a window cleaning limited company, you could be looking at an average window cleaning business profit of around £29,910.

Want tips to expand your window cleaning business? Check out our guide on how to grow your business:

How to grow your trade business in 2023 – Free guide included

How to make your window cleaning business more profitable

One of the key principles of running a successful window cleaning business is to make sure that your jobs are profitable. In other words, you need to charge more for a job than it costs you to carry out the work.

With this in mind, we’ve put together our top tips to make your window cleaning business more profitable:

• Make sure you’re charging enough to cover your outgoings (including tools, materials, insurance, marketing, wages, fuel etc).
• Focus on the jobs that make you the most money and require you to spend the least (for tools, materials, etc).
• Limit how far you travel to avoid vehicle and fuel costs eating into your profits.
• Minimise your outgoings by trying to have no or as little debt as possible.
• Shop around for the best deals on tools, equipment, materials and workwear (remember, Checkatrade members get exclusive discounts with our trade partners).
• Get your business name out there through marketing (including your website, customer reviews and SEO).
• Provide the best customer experience to all your customers to build a strong reputation and win more work through word of mouth.
• Join Checkatrade to get a steady stream of leads for your window cleaning business, and enhance trust between you and homeowners.

For more tips on boosting your window cleaning business profit, check out our dedicated guide.

Expert tips to increase profits as a tradesperson

Become your own boss with your new window cleaning business

You could get your window cleaning business started with the help of our ‘Become the Boss’ series.

You’ll receive a series of emails with actionable tips. That’s seven emails in total (and a cheeky bonus email) featuring fellow tradespeople who were once in your position, a free business strategy call, and at the end of it all, you’ll get to be the Founder of your new business. What’s not to love?

To get trade business insider secrets sent to your pocket, put your email address in the form below so we can help you to get started.

FAQs

Do window cleaners earn good money?

Experienced window cleaners can earn a decent amount of money, especially if they run their own business. As an apprentice or trainee window cleaner, your starting salary would be around £9,270 per year (£9,140 take home). But if you run your own window cleaning business, you could earn around £36,880 per year (£22,530 take home) as a sole trader, or £44,370 per year (£29,910 take home) as a window cleaning limited company owner.