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Window Cleaning Subcontractor Agreement vs Employee: Which Should You Use?
Window cleaning subcontractor agreement or employee: the IRS and state tests that decide which one you need, and the tax and liability each choice carries.
What to take away
- The IRS looks at behavioral control, financial control, and the working relationship, not job titles or a signed contract. A written agreement helps, but it does not settle the question.
- A window cleaning subcontractor agreement fits when you hand off a defined job, the crew supplies its own tools and insurance, and you pay by the job or square foot.
- Employee status is the safer answer when you set the schedule, supply the ladders and squeegees, and direct each stop on the route.
- Misclassification is expensiveback employment taxes, unpaid overtime under the FLSA, and state unemployment assessments can reach back several years.
- Either way you need a written agreement, a W-9 or I-9 on file, and a certificate of insurance.
A window cleaning owner with three vans and a growing commercial book faces the same choice every spring. The work is there, the crew is thin, and the fastest fix is a squeegee hand off payroll.
Subcontractor or employee decides who pays payroll tax, who carries workers' compensation, and who answers for a broken pane.
The criteria that matter
Four tests separate the two arrangements in practice. The IRS weighs them together rather than scoring them one at a time, so a single strong factor rarely decides the case.
Subcontractor vs Employee Tests
Subcontractor
- Control of work
- Worker sets methods
- Tools and equipment
- Worker supplies gear
- Financial risk
- Can profit or lose
- Relationship
- Short project, other clients
- Insurance
- Worker carries liability
Employee
- Control of work
- You direct how and when
- Tools and equipment
- You supply the gear
- Financial risk
- Hourly pay, no risk
- Relationship
- Ongoing, exclusive, indefinite
- Insurance
- Your policy covers them
Points to subcontractor
- Control of work
- Worker sets methods and sequence
- Tools and equipment
- Worker supplies ladders, pumps, squeegees
- Financial risk
- Worker can profit or lose on the job
- Relationship
- Short project, worker has other clients
- Insurance
- Worker carries general liability
Points to employee
- Control of work
- You direct how and when
- Tools and equipment
- You supply the gear
- Financial risk
- Hourly pay, no job-level risk
- Relationship
- Ongoing, exclusive, indefinite
- Insurance
- Your policy covers them
Option by option
Window cleaning subcontractor agreement. You engage another business to complete a scope: a storefront route, a post-construction clean, a high-rise exterior. Payment is by the job, the pane count, or a flat monthly figure. The worker invoices you, and you file a Form 1099-NEC if payments reach $600 in the year. The IRS page on independent contractor status sets out the three-category test, and the W-9 collects the taxpayer number you need before you pay. The legal treatment of an independent contractor differs from an employee on liability, tax withholding, and benefit obligations.
Employee. You hire the person onto payroll, withhold income tax and FICA, pay your share of Social Security and Medicare, and cover them under workers' compensation where your state requires it. You control the schedule, the methods, and the equipment. The Department of Labor fact sheet on the FLSA employment relationship explains that economic dependence, not the label in a contract, drives the analysis for minimum wage and overtime.
Where each one wins
Use a subcontractor agreement for a discrete project with a clear end, when the crew brings its own truck and gear, and you pay for a result, not hours. Post-construction cleans, one-time high-rise jobs, and overflow route coverage fit.
The worker sets the pace, hires help if needed, and can lose money if the job runs long.
Use an employee when you need the same person at the same building every second Tuesday. That also fits when you train them on your method and supply the water-fed pole and the van.
Recurring residential routes and storefront work with fixed windows fit payroll. If you would be upset that they sent someone else, that fact leans toward employment.
What neither option solves
Neither arrangement transfers all risk. A subcontractor agreement will not shield you from a misclassification finding when the day-to-day facts say employee, and no contract clause overrides the IRS test.
Putting a worker on payroll does not make you liable for every mistake if the agreement clearly defines scope, insurance, and indemnity. Both routes still need a certificate of insurance naming you, a signed scope, and payment terms stating when invoices are due.
Before you draft either one, settle the commercial terms. What Window Cleaning Contract Terms Should You Always Include? covers scope, access, and damage language that applies to both. If you pay subcontractors on net-30 and chase late invoices, What Payment Terms Should a Window Cleaning Contract Include? sets out deposit and interest options.
Example
A two-van Ohio operator adds a third crew for a spring storefront push. The crew owns its truck, carries its own liability policy, and invoices per store per month. The operator files a 1099-NEC in January.
Two months later the same crew shows up at 7 a.m. because the operator asked them to, uses the operator's water-fed pole, and takes no other clients. On those facts the arrangement now looks like employment. The state unemployment agency can assess back contributions for the whole period.
