Guide · Window Cleaning
Clean glass is one of those small things that quietly changes how a whole house feels — brighter rooms, sharper views, a place that looks cared for. Here's an honest guide to what window cleaning costs, what actually drives the price, how often windows really need doing in our corner of Ontario, and what a good clean should include.
Whether a cleaner charges by the window or, like us, publishes a flat rate by home size, the same handful of things move the number up or down. Knowing them helps you read any quote:
To give you a fair yardstick: across Canada, most residential window cleaning runs about $5 to $15 per window for the exterior, with interior glass adding roughly $3 to $8 more per window. For a typical detached or semi-detached house, whole-home projects commonly land between $150 and $500 — an exterior-only clean toward the lower end, a full inside-and-out visit toward the upper end, depending on how much glass the home has and how high it reaches.1
Those per-window numbers are useful for understanding the market, but they make for an unpredictable final bill — you don't know the total until someone counts every pane. So Nord does it differently: we publish flat-rate prices by home size. You pick the size that matches your home, choose exterior-only or In & Out, and see the exact figure before anyone books — no per-window mental math, no surprise on the invoice.
For most homes in Simcoe County, twice a year keeps the glass genuinely sharp, and the timing follows a local rhythm:
Some homes want a third visit. If you're near a gravel road, a working farm, or the water, dust, field spray, and lake mist land on the exterior glass faster than they do in a sheltered subdivision, and a mid-season exterior clean keeps up. Cottages and waterfront homes especially tend to run on this rhythm.
This is where it pays to ask questions, because the words "window cleaning" mean different things to different companies. Screen cleaning is often an add-on, and tracks and sills are frequently left out entirely.
At Nord, screens are included with every In & Out clean at no extra charge — they come out, get washed, and go back in, because dirty screens are half of why glass looks hazy in the first place. Tracks and sills are detailed by hand as part of the work, so the whole opening looks clean, not just the pane. When you compare any two quotes, line up what's actually in each one before you compare the numbers.
Good glass isn't about one magic tool — it's about using the right one per window. Interior glass, ground-floor windows, and any pane people see up close get the traditional scrubber and squeegee, which removes the water entirely instead of pushing it around, so there's nothing left to streak. Upper-storey exteriors and frames get the pure-water pole, which cleans from the ground and washes the frames and sills as it goes. Our crews carry both and choose per window, not per ideology.
If windows are the thing you never quite get around to, NordCare is built for exactly that. It's an exterior-window subscription: Nord cleans the outside of your glass every spring and fall, on the natural Simcoe County rhythm, so it just happens without you booking each time. Members get 20% off, and you can cancel anytime — it's a standing arrangement, not a lock-in.
Two more things members get. There's a 7-Day Weather Guarantee: if rain dirties the exterior glass within seven days of a plan visit, Nord re-cleans the outside free — because it feels lousy to have the sky undo a fresh clean the next afternoon. And interior glass is optional whenever you want it, priced the same as an exterior clean, so you can add an inside pass in a given season without changing your membership. It's there if it suits how you live; there's no pressure either way.
Honestly, it depends on how you feel about the job. Doing your own windows on a nice Saturday is genuinely satisfying, and our how-to guide walks you through the pro method if that's your kind of project. Where hiring earns its keep is three places: time (a whole house of glass is a full day by hand and a couple of hours with the right equipment), finish (a streak-free result across every pane, screens and all), and safety — upper-storey windows mean a ladder at height, which is the single biggest hazard in this trade. That's exactly why we reach for the water-fed pole on anything above the ground floor: the glass gets cleaned from the ground, and nobody's balancing on a rung. If keeping off a ladder is worth something to you, that's a lot of what you're paying for.
Across Canada, most residential window cleaning runs about $5 to $15 per window for the exterior, with interior adding roughly $3 to $8 more per window, and whole houses commonly landing between $150 and $500.1 The drivers are pane count and type, height, In & Out versus exterior-only, and whether it's a first clean or maintenance. Nord charges a flat rate by home size instead — see your exact number on the instant quote.
Twice a year suits most Simcoe County homes — spring after the June pine pollen, and fall before winter. Homes near gravel roads, farms, or the water often want a third exterior visit.
With Nord, screens are included with every In & Out clean at no charge, and tracks and sills are detailed by hand. Always check this on any quote — it's the piece most often left out.
Exterior gets dirty fastest, so many homes do the outside more often and the inside on a longer cycle. NordCare is exterior-focused, with interior optional and priced the same as an exterior clean.
For the time saved, the streak-free finish, and the safety of not being on a ladder at height, most people find it is — though a DIY Saturday is a fine choice too if you enjoy it.
Sources: HomeStars — Window Cleaning Cost in Canada Price Guide · Bark — How Much Does Window Cleaning Cost in Canada