What Is Included in a Professional Window Cleaning Service?

What’s Included as Standard

Exterior glass

The primary work of a professional window clean is the exterior glazing — the glass itself, cleaned to a streak-free finish using purified water. Purified water has had its mineral content removed through a filtration process, which means it dries without leaving the calcium and mineral spots that tap water leaves behind.

Window frames and sills

A thorough window clean includes the frames — uPVC, painted timber, or aluminium — and the external sill ledges. Frames accumulate the same grime as the glass and should be cleaned in the same pass. Leaving dirty frames around clean glass produces an unsatisfactory result, particularly on white uPVC which shows grime clearly.

Communal glazing (tenements and shared buildings)

For tenement buildings and properties with shared areas, a complete window clean includes the common stair glazing — entrance door glass, stairwell windows, and any communal area windows accessible from the exterior. Tenement window cleaning in Edinburgh covers every flat in the close in a single visit — from ground floor to top floor, all exterior-facing windows, frames, and communal glazing included as standard.

What Can Be Added

Interior cleaning

Interior window cleaning is available on request and is quoted separately from the exterior service. It requires access to the property and takes more time, so it is usually carried out as a dedicated visit. Interior cleaning is most commonly requested for properties coming onto the rental market, seasonal deep cleans, and ground-floor commercial premises where interior glass is visible to customers.

Gutters and cladding

Blocked gutters are a common Edinburgh problem — stone buildings with cast iron or uPVC guttering that fills with debris from trees and rooftop moss. Gutter clearing is available as a separate service and can be scheduled alongside a window cleaning visit where timing allows. Glass roofing, conservatory panels, and exterior cladding can also be cleaned using the same water-fed pole system.

How the Water-Fed Pole System Works

The water-fed pole extends to reach upper-floor windows — including the higher floors of Edinburgh tenements — from ground level. The operator stays on the ground throughout: no ladders against stonework, no working at height, no contact between ladders and the building facade.

Purified water is pumped through the pole to a brush head that scrubs the glass, frames, and sills simultaneously. The rinsing action of pure water means the glass dries spot-free without requiring physical drying with a cloth or squeegee.

For particularly soiled windows — properties that haven’t been cleaned in some time — the first visit may take longer and require more passes. This is one of the reasons that ongoing scheduled cleaning is more efficient: each visit is quicker because the build-up between cleans stays manageable.

What to Expect From a Regular Scheduled Service

A regular window cleaning service in Edinburgh is structured as a scheduled round rather than a reactive booking:

• Fixed schedule — fortnightly or monthly visits, set in advance. No need to rebook.
• Same cleaner — Tommy handles the round personally. Same person, same method, same standard each time.
• Fixed pricing — agreed at the outset and stays there. No re-quoting, no surprise invoices.
• No management overhead — once the schedule is in place, the clean just happens.

Edinburgh Context

Edinburgh’s building stock presents specific challenges that a professional service handles differently from a standard domestic cleaner. Sandstone tenements in the Southside and New Town shed fine particulate dust from their facades, which settles on window frames as much as on the glass, and requires thorough cleaning of both surfaces.

The city’s older timber sash-and-case windows — common in Victorian tenements and Georgian properties throughout the New Town and Old Town — require careful attention around the frame joints and the lower sill rail, where water and grime tend to collect. The water-fed pole system is gentle enough to clean around these frames without the pressure risk associated with jet washing.

For commercial window cleaning services in Edinburgh, the water-fed pole method allows high shopfront glazing and office windows above the first floor to be cleaned safely from the pavement.

What This Looks Like in Practice

A full tenement stair in Newington
Eight flats across four floors. The exterior-facing windows for every flat, the common stair glazing, and the external frames and sills across the whole building. All cleaned in a single visit. The close looks maintained from the street.

A commercial restaurant in Stockbridge
Exterior shopfront glazing cleaned weekly as part of the regular round. Interior cleaning done monthly as a separate visit to maintain the front-of-house standard.

A single flat wanting a one-off interior and exterior clean
Tommy’s round is designed around ongoing, scheduled work. A one-off interior and exterior clean for a single flat is better suited to a cleaner who specialises in one-off residential visits.

Who This Service Is Best For

The service is designed for clients who want a consistent, professional standard maintained over time — not recovered occasionally. Tenement buildings cleaned as whole stairs, commercial premises on a scheduled contract, landlord portfolios, and homeowners who want cleaning built into their property routine.

If you’re looking for a reliable ongoing window cleaning service in Edinburgh, get in touch and we’ll let you know if it’s a good fit. For more on how a scheduled service works, see regular window cleaning in Edinburgh. For pricing context, see our window cleaning prices guide.