Best Window Cleaning in Melbourne

How we ranked Melbourne's window cleaners

Google Maps lists 87 window cleaning businesses around Melbourne, and 53 of them cleared our bar of 20 or more reviews plus a working website they control. The ones that passed average 4.90 stars. Customers can judge this job within minutes by looking through the glass, and happy ones rate generously, so a star figure close to perfect is the norm in window cleaning and cannot separate one operator from the next.

For that reason the order follows an adjusted score. Each operator starts from a cautious 4.5 and its reviews carry it towards its real rating. Thirty flawless reviews earn roughly 4.67, three hundred averaging 4.9 earn roughly 4.83. Operators with several depots count once, by the Melbourne branch with the highest rating. The 10 sit between 4.95 and 4.82, payment plays no part, and access method and price should settle the rest.

How the score works →

How much does window cleaning cost in Melbourne?

A typical Melbourne job comes in between $130 and $300. Size and storeys set the figure: an apartment or small home runs $110 to $180, a house on one level $180 to $330, and a house of two storeys $330 to $500 or more. Those totals assume the glass is in ordinary condition and can be reached without special equipment, which is the first thing a cleaner will ask about.

Quotes are built in one of three ways. Some cleaners charge per window, from $10 to $32 a window inside and out and $6 to $19 for the outside only. Others charge by the hour, from $42 to $84, or give a fixed price after counting panes from photos. Frames, tracks and flyscreens are often extra, and a full clean that includes them runs from $250 to beyond $450.

Condition can add more than size. Removing hard water staining adds $60 to $200 or more, and scraping off paint, adhesive or construction residue adds $100 to $300 or more, because both are slow hand work. Mention sprinklers fed by bore water, a recent renovation or salt exposure near the bay when you ask for a price, and send photos. A quote given sight unseen tends to change once the cleaner arrives.

Ladders, water fed poles or rope access: which method suits your building?

Water fed poles suit most houses and low rise shopfronts. Purified water is pumped up a telescopic pole to a brush, the glass is scrubbed and rinsed, and with no dissolved minerals in the water it dries without spots. The operator stays on the ground, which WorkSafe Victoria ranks as the first choice for any task at height. Heavily stained glass and all interior panes still need hand work.

Ladders sit at the bottom of WorkSafe's ranking of fall prevention measures, suitable only for simple, short tasks. Where a pole cannot do the job, glass on a mid rise building can be reached from an elevating work platform, which counts as a passive fall prevention device. Operating a platform of the boom type with a boom of 11 metres or more requires a high risk work licence, class WP, so ask to see the operator's licence card.

Towers are cleaned by rope access technicians or from a building maintenance unit on the roof. WorkSafe classes industrial rope access as a work positioning system, and it depends on anchor points that have been properly installed and maintained. That makes it the most expensive method by the hour, with Melbourne rates running from $84 to $210 per technician.

What safety rules cover window cleaning at height in Victoria?

Part 3.3 of Victoria's Occupational Health and Safety Regulations applies wherever a worker could fall more than two metres, which takes in the upper windows of nearly every house with two storeys. The employer must use the highest level of fall control that is reasonably practicable, starting with working from the ground. WorkSafe adds that lower falls still injure people, so the risk below two metres must be managed too.

Electricity is the hazard people forget. Long poles and metal ladders can conduct, and Energy Safe Victoria's No Go Zone rules call for contact with the power company before any work within 6.4 metres of an overhead powerline, or within one metre of a power pole. If lines run past your upstairs windows, tell the cleaner when you book. A careful operator will raise it without being asked.

Commercial owners and owners corporations carry a duty of their own. Under Victorian safety law, whoever controls a workplace has to make the parts they control safe for contractors, and that reaches roof access and installed anchors. Before a first clean, ask the contractor for a written description of how each elevation will be accessed, the relevant licences, and a current WorkCover Certificate of Currency.

Who is responsible for cleaning apartment windows in Victoria?

The answer sits in two documents. The plan of subdivision shows where your lot ends and common property begins, and the owners corporation must repair and maintain whatever is common property. The building's rules can then go further: Consumer Affairs Victoria lists requirements to clean the exterior windows and doors of lots among the matters an owners corporation is allowed to make rules about. Read both before paying anyone.

In a low block with no lift the rules may leave each owner or tenant to book a cleaner for their own glass. In a tower, outside glass can only be reached from the roof or a platform, and a lot owner must not carry out maintenance on common property without the express authorisation of the owners corporation. Ask the manager when the next external clean is scheduled before hiring anybody for the inside.

What should you ask a window cleaner before booking?

Pin down the scope first, because "windows" means different things to different operators. Say how many storeys there are, whether you want inside, outside or both, and whether tracks, sills, flyscreens, skylights, balustrade glass or shower screens are part of it. Mention security screens that need removing and any windows that are painted shut. Then get the total in writing with GST shown.

Paid window cleaning falls under the consumer guarantees, so it has to be done with due care and skill, and that includes care to avoid damage. Streaks or missed panes are a minor problem the business must be given the chance to fix within a reasonable time. Scratched glass or a bent flyscreen frame is damage the operator has to put right, so photograph anything doubtful before the crew leaves.

• Will you use a water fed pole, ladders or a platform for the upstairs windows?
• Are tracks, sills and flyscreens included in the price, or charged per item?
• Do you carry public liability insurance, and can you send the certificate?
• What happens if it rains on the day or shortly after the clean?
• If I find streaks once the glass dries, will you come back at no charge?