How Much Does It Cost to Have Your Windows Cleaned at Home?

It's the question private clients ask us before any other, and for good reason: advertised rates online run from €3 a pane to €60 an hour with no explanation of the gap. Most of all, they leave out the variable that changes the entire calculation — the tax credit.

We work in private homes across Paris, Hauts-de-Seine and Yvelines. Here are our real rates, how we build a quote, what the 50% tax credit actually does to your invoice, and the situations in which we'll tell you to clean your own windows.

Our real rates: per pane, and by property type

We don't charge by the hour for home window cleaning. We work primarily per pane, adjusted for size and complexity. It's the clearest model for a private client: you know what you're paying before we arrive.

The base rate, pane by pane

Two price levels cover the vast majority of homes in the Paris region:

• €10 per window or glazed door, up to roughly 2 m², cleaned inside and out where both faces are safely reachable.
• €20–40 per large patio door, more for very large bays or glazed runs: they take more time, more equipment and often two people.

What that means for your home

These are the budgets we invoice most often. They cover glazing reachable from inside, before the tax credit is applied.

These ranges are before tax credit. Once applied, a four-bedroom flat at €140 really costs €70, and a house at €300 costs €150. That's the gap most price comparison sites leave out.

The minimum charge when windows are booked alone

About half our window jobs are folded into a regular home cleaning service — in which case reachable panes are included in the package, and that's almost always the best deal for the client. When window cleaning is booked on its own, we apply a minimum charge of €90–120 incl. VAT depending on the area. Below that, between travel, equipment preparation and admin time, the job isn't viable.

The 50% tax credit: what you actually pay

This is the variable that changes everything, and it's widely overlooked. Window cleaning carried out in a private home falls within the French personal services scheme. As such it qualifies for a 50% tax credit when performed by a company holding the appropriate SAP licence or declaration — which we do, under number 2023-433.

The main condition: it must be your home

The rule is simple with no grey area: the windows must be part of the private client's dwelling. A shopfront, an office building or the common areas of a residential block don't qualify, even when the work is done by the same company with the same equipment.

A worked example

Take a job invoiced at €180 incl. VAT:

• With immediate advance: you pay €90. URSSAF pays the remaining €90 directly to the provider.
• Without immediate advance: you pay €180, then recover €90 through your tax return.
• Either way the real cost is €90 — only the cash flow changes.

The blockers we actually run into

The scheme works well once running, but four situations recur:

• The client has never created their URSSAF account — the number one blocker, and it takes ten minutes to fix.
• Invoice approval is delayed by a few days, pushing back payment.
• Older clients less comfortable with computers prefer help setting up the account — we provide it.
• The annual tax credit ceiling has already been reached through other home services, in which case the advance no longer applies to the excess.

What makes a home quote vary

Price depends far more on complexity than on the number of panes. Here's what we systematically cost into a quote, with its real impact.

Glazing bars: the most underestimated item

This is what lengthens a job the most, by a distance. On a window with glazing bars the squeegee can no longer make one continuous pass: each section must be worked and wiped separately, or it leaves a line at every edge. A six-pane window takes as long as three plain ones. That's why a quote given over the phone without seeing your window frames is never reliable.

Why we quote a fixed price, never hourly

All these factors stack up, and no private client can anticipate them alone. A fixed price solves it: we absorb the estimating risk, you know your budget in advance. An hourly rate would put the uncertainty on you, and you'd learn the final figure only once the job was done.

Case study: an apartment on boulevard d'Ackerman, Neuilly-sur-Seine

A 95 m² apartment with 9 windows, 2 large patio doors and a glass balustrade. Inside and outside, all reachable from within. The windows hadn't been cleaned in over a year.

Time on site: 3 hrs 15. Invoiced: €210 incl. VAT. With the tax credit as an immediate advance, the client paid only €105.

His feedback touched on something that comes up often: he'd stopped noticing the gradual build-up, and it was the light returning to the living room that struck him. A twice-yearly schedule was set up straight away — the rhythm we recommend for a family apartment that size.

What we refuse to do, and when not to call us

We clean every pane that can be reached without taking a risk. There is, however, a list of things we won't do, however insistent the request — and it's better to know before calling:

• Climb fully out of a window.
• Work without an anchor point.
• Walk along a ledge.
• Use a ladder on a narrow balcony.
• Any job requiring rope access or a cherry picker.

When we'll tell you to do it yourself

We'd rather say so before the visit than after. Hiring a professional adds little real value if:

• you live in a studio with two or three easily reachable windows;
• you enjoy doing your own windows and already own a decent squeegee and applicator;
• you keep on top of them, which avoids the build-up that needs know-how to remove.

Our home service area

We cover all of central Paris, the Hauts-de-Seine — notably Neuilly-sur-Seine, Levallois-Perret, Boulogne-Billancourt, Issy-les-Moulineaux, Courbevoie, Puteaux, La Garenne-Colombes and Suresnes — and several towns in the Yvelines: Versailles, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Le Chesnay-Rocquencourt, Le Vésinet, Chatou, Croissy-sur-Seine and Marly-le-Roi. Beyond that, it's possible for larger jobs or grouped visits, but not for a call-out covering a few windows.

Avoiding the traps of home window cleaning

The first risk isn't overpaying: it's the absence of insurance. If the person breaks a large patio door or falls while working in your home, the financial consequences can be heavy — and they won't fall on them.

Five things to check before letting someone in

1. Current professional liability insurance, with a certificate to prove it.
2. A properly registered business, and the SAP licence or declaration number.
3. The ability to claim the tax credit and receive an annual tax certificate.
4. Consistent client reviews, dated, and not clustered in a single period.
5. A written quote before the visit, listing the number of panes and what's included.