WindowBossPro Blog — Storefronts & Commercial

Medical and Dental Office Window Cleaning: Working Around Patients and Appointment Books

Medical and dental offices want their buildings to look clean in a way most businesses do not. A patient who notices streaky glass at the entrance may wonder what else is not being cleaned. That makes practices good window cleaning accounts, as long as you work around the thing they care about most: the patients and the appointment book.

Why Practices Are Good Accounts

Medical and dental offices are a close cousin of the general office accounts in Office Window Cleaning Accounts: Low-Rise Buildings, Lobbies and Interior Glass, with a few differences. They have steady hours, they rarely move, and they tend to stay with a vendor that does not cause problems. Many are part of a group with several locations, which makes them a natural fit for a single account with many addresses.

The glass is usually simple: an entry door, a vestibule, waiting room windows and the outside of the exam room windows. Some have a glass reception partition or a check-in window that gets handled all day.

Timing Around Patients

The first rule of practice accounts is to stay out of the way. Nobody wants a ladder in front of the entrance while a patient with a walker is trying to come in. Ask the office manager when the building is quietest. Common answers:

• Before the first appointment, usually 7 to 8am
• During a lunch closure, if the practice has one
• A half day, like Friday afternoon, when the office is closed

Write the answer on the address: “Before 7:45 only. Closed Fri after 1, outside glass OK then.” The note shows on the tech's phone under the address, so whoever runs the route knows the rule. On the dispatch board, put the practice early in the storefront route's order.

Quiet, Tidy Work

Even when you work outside during hours, patients can see you through the glass. A few habits go a long way:

• Keep buckets and gear off the walkway and away from the entrance.
• Wipe up water on the entry floor before you leave it.
• Do exam room windows from the outside only, unless the office specifically asks otherwise.
• Never look in exam rooms. If a blind is open, work the next window and come back.

Add the relevant rules to the access notes so a new tech reads them before the first visit, not after a complaint. Patient privacy is the practice's responsibility, but your crew's behavior near the glass is yours.

Cycles for Practice Accounts

Most practices do well on a monthly cycle for the full outside and every two weeks for the entry glass. Set them as separate recurring services on the address: 14 days between visits for the entry, 30 for the outside. Each comes due on the Waiting List on its own, with pins turning overdue after a 7-day grace if one is missed.

If the practice asks for inside windows twice a year, add a third service at 180 days. It will come due on its own and show up on the list when it is time.

Practice Groups With Several Offices

Dental groups and medical groups often own or lease several locations, with one practice administrator who pays the bills. Set the group up as one client and add every office as its own address, each with its window details and access notes. More on that setup in One Account, Many Addresses: How Commercial Window Cleaning Clients Are Set Up.

Then set the account to Monthly billing. The administrator gets one statement each month covering every visit at every office, each line labeled with the address. That is far easier for them to approve than a separate invoice from each location.

Keeping the Office Manager in the Loop

The office manager is usually the one who notices dirty glass and the one who would call another window cleaner. Make them your ally. Let them pick the alerts they want: night before, when the crew is next, or when the tech arrives. A night-before text lets them warn the front desk. Two-way texting lets them reply with “please skip the side door, we are painting,” and the office sees it right away.

Before and after photos from each visit stay with the job. If the practice owner ever asks whether the glass is being cleaned, the office manager can say yes and you can send the picture.

Clean Glass, No Disruption

Practices keep the vendors who do good work without ever bothering a patient. Set the timing and privacy rules on the address, split the glass by frequency and bill groups with one statement. For the rest of the commercial setup, visit the WindowBossPro commercial window cleaning software page.