Window cleaning quote template: write the scope before the price

What to take away

This is general business guidance. Tax treatment of your services and any consumer-contract requirements are set locally, so confirm both with a qualified professional for your own jurisdiction.

The eleven parts at a glance

Most disputes come from the scope half of a quote, not the number, so write the scope first and the number last. The template runs in this order.

A copy-ready quote form

Copy the lines below into a document and fill each blank. The numbers after each label show which of the eleven parts it covers.

A completed example

This is a fictional house quote. The numbers are illustrative, not a market price.

Writing the scope half, part by part

Naming both the person who authorizes work and the person who lets you in saves a week later, because for commercial properties these are often different people.

Part three records how the quote was produced: a site visit, photographs, or a description supplied by the customer. That line explains any later adjustment.

Count the scope so that two people would reach the same total. Ground floor rear elevation, upper front elevation, and so on, with the openings listed under each. Then say what happens to each part: glass only, or glass with frames, sills, screens or tracks, and interior, exterior or both.

State the access method for each part and the highest pane included. Anything above that line is out of scope and named as such. The methods themselves are covered in the equipment and setup guide.

Write exclusions plainly, in the same size type as the inclusions: skylights, sealed or damaged glass, hard-water etching, moving furniture or stock, anything requiring a lift. Then record any pre-existing scratches, seal failures or mineral damage seen at survey, with photographs attached.

For part nine, a recurring quote needs the frequency, the visit window, the access arrangement, the weather policy, the price review point and the notice period on both sides. The weather policy is worked through in setting a cancellation policy.

Three worked scopes

Every figure below is filled in for illustration; replace it with your own measurements and costs. The three shapes show how much the scope wording changes between jobs.

A storefront on a recurring agreement

A storefront is the simplest shape. The scope is the frontage, the treatment is usually glass and frames, and the terms carry the frequency and the visit window.

The shape works because a store owner can check it against the shopfront in ten seconds. The range moves with frontage length, glass count, frame work and visit frequency.

A house, interior and exterior

The price depends on opening count, stories, screen and track work, and how much interior clearing the customer does. A two-story house with 30 openings carries more scope than a single-story ranch with 12.

A commercial building priced on a rate

This example gives a rate and a count rather than a bare total. An added elevation then has an obvious price rather than a negotiation.

The variation clause that saves the most money

One short paragraph, in every quote:

Work outside the scope above will be photographed, described and priced against the same basis before it is carried out, and will proceed only on written approval.

That sentence, used consistently, is worth more over a year than most price increases. It converts the awkward conversation on site into a routine.

What you may claim in a quote

Everything you promise here is an advertising claim and has to be supportable. The FTC's small business advertising guide states that the law requires that advertisers have proof before the ad runs.

Keeping quotes as records

Every issued quote should be stored with its outcome: accepted, declined, or expired. That file is where your conversion rate lives, and conversion rate by service type is one of the few numbers that can genuinely change your selling.

The IRS says you may choose any recordkeeping system suited to your business that clearly shows your income and expenses. Quotes belong in it, because an accepted quote is the document that explains an invoice.

Where the numbers come from

Every price in the examples above resolves to two things: your measured time for that job shape, and your cost per productive hour.

The rate you apply is derived rather than chosen. The method and the wider decisions about billing basis, discounts and increases sit in the pricing and profit guide.

For parts four to seven, use a fixed menu for scope wording instead of writing it fresh each time. The shapes to draw from are in service package structures worth offering.

Common questions

How long should a quote stay valid?

Long enough for a normal decision and short enough to protect you from cost movements. Many companies use a period measured in weeks. What matters is that the date is stated rather than assumed.

Should I quote on the spot or send it later?

Quote on the spot for simple, familiar work. A same-day decision converts better. Send it later for anything with access questions or a first clean, because the survey is doing real work.

Does a quote need a signature?

Some form of written acceptance is worth having. An email reply is usually enough for residential work. Commercial customers will often issue their own purchase order, which then becomes the governing document, so read it.

What if the job turns out bigger than the survey suggested?

Use the variation clause. Stop, photograph, describe, price, and get approval. Absorbing it silently teaches nobody anything and costs you the difference every time.