WindowBossPro Blog — Billing & Payments

Story Add-Ons on a Window Cleaning Invoice: Billing Two- and Three-Story Homes

A first-floor window and a third-floor window are both windows. They are not the same job. The upper one means a taller ladder, more setup, more moves, more risk and usually a slower pace. Story add-ons are how window cleaners charge for that difference, and the invoice is where the customer sees it.

Height Is Its Own Line

The extras on a window job, screens, tracks and hard water, were covered in Billing Screens, Tracks and Hard-Water Removal on a Window Cleaning Invoice. Story add-ons work the same way: a separate line, priced from your service list, quoted up front and shown on the bill.

Some companies bake height into a higher per-window price for tall homes. That works for the math but hides the reason. A separate add-on line tells the customer exactly why their bill is higher than the neighbor's ranch house.

How Window Cleaners Price Height

There are a few common approaches, and the right one depends on your market and how you work:

• Per upper window. A set amount added for each window above the first floor. Simple and fair, but you need an accurate count of upper windows.
• Per job by story. A flat add-on for a two-story home and a bigger one for three-plus stories. Quick to quote and easy for customers to follow.
• A combination. A per-story add-on plus extra for hard-to-reach panes like over a roofline or a stairwell.

WindowBossPro does not force one method. Story add-ons live on your service list at your prices, next to per window, per screen and per track pricing. Estimates and invoices use the same list.

Record the Stories on the Job

The number of stories belongs on the job, not in someone's memory. In WindowBossPro every job carries its stories as 1-story, 2-story or 3+ story, with the window count, sides and extras. The office and the tech see it under the address, like “34 windows · 3+ story · Outside only.”

That helps billing in two ways. The invoice has the information it needs to show the add-on. And the office can see at a glance that this is a tall house before putting it on a van, so the crew that handles tall homes shows up and finishes the job you quoted.

Show It Clearly on the Invoice

A clear residential invoice for a tall home might read:

• Window cleaning, outside only — 34 windows
• Three-story add-on — upper windows
• Screens — brushed and reinstalled
• Sales tax

Use the same wording on the estimate and the invoice. If the estimate said “Second-story add-on,” the invoice should not say “Height surcharge.” Same words, same price, no questions.

Split-Level Homes and Odd Cases

Not every house is a neat one, two or three stories. Walk-out basements, split-levels, homes on a slope where the back is a story taller than the front: these are where height pricing gets argued about.

The fix is to decide at the estimate and write it down. Note on the job what the height add-on covers, like “Back of house is 3 stories over walk-out basement, add-on applies to rear windows.” The note is there for the tech, and it is there for the office when the customer asks about the bill six months later.

Skylights and windows over a roof are worth a note too, since they are usually priced separately and often need special access. Access notes on the job tell the tech where to set the ladder and what to watch for.

Tall Homes and Card on File

Two- and three-story homes are often the biggest residential jobs on the schedule, which makes them the ones you most want paid on time. A card on file, charged when the tech taps Complete, means the biggest invoices of the day are settled before the crew drives away. For how that works, see Card on File for Window Cleaning Customers: How to Ask and What to Say.

Very large one-time jobs on tall homes, or heavy hard-water work at height, are also where many owners ask for a deposit. That is a policy decision you make, and it is easy to run with invoices: invoice the deposit when the estimate is approved, then invoice the balance at completion.

Charge for the Ladder Work

Height is real work and real risk. Price it, put it on the job, and show it on the invoice. Customers accept a story add-on far more readily when they see it as its own line than when they get one larger number with no explanation. To see how WindowBossPro puts story add-ons on the bill as their own line items, visit the window cleaning billing software page.