You ask three window cleaners for the whole house. One means exterior glass. One includes the inside, except the basement. One includes screens but not the sunroom because apparently the sunroom has left the union.
Before you compare providers, walk through Mom’s house and count the job the way someone will have to perform it. This is especially important in a West County house with a walkout basement, tall foyer glass, divided panes, storm windows, or landscaping that makes a first-floor window feel like a small expedition.
Your goal is not to produce a professional estimate. Your goal is to give every company the same house, the same expectations, and the same awkward details. Then you can compare what each provider will actually do, how the visit will fit Mom’s day, and what work may quietly land back on you.
Make one room-by-room window list
Start inside and move through the house in one direction. Write down each room, the number of window openings, and what is attached to them. Count a pair of side-by-side windows as two if each has its own glass, screen, or moving parts.
For each room, note whether you want the inside glass, outside glass, screens, tracks, sills, storm windows, or removable grids cleaned. Identify doors with glass, sidelights beside doors, basement windows, garage windows, and any glass above a door. Ask whether mirrors, shower glass, or interior glass doors are outside the normal window job. Do not assume “all glass” means the same thing to everyone.
Take a few plain photos of the house from outside. Include the back of the house, because a walkout basement can turn an innocent-looking window count into work at a very different height. Photograph windows above decks, roofs, retaining walls, shrubs, window wells, and sloped ground.
Send every provider the same list and the same photos. If someone needs an in-person look, that is fine. Keep the written list as the starting point so the scope does not shrink or grow depending on who is standing in the driveway.
Ask what “clean” includes
Have each provider answer the same questions in writing. Will both sides of the glass be cleaned? Are screens washed, brushed, or only wiped? Are tracks vacuumed, washed, or excluded? Are interior sills wiped? Are exterior frames included? Will stuck screens or storm windows be removed, and who is responsible if they cannot be safely removed?
Ask how the provider handles paint, tape, hard water marks, old adhesive, construction residue, and other material that may not come off during ordinary cleaning. You are not asking for a promise that every mark will disappear. You are asking the provider to identify what counts as routine cleaning and what requires separate approval.
If Mom has older windows, point out loose screens, brittle clips, painted-shut sashes, damaged seals, or grids that no longer sit firmly. Ask the cleaner to stop and contact you before forcing, scraping, or disassembling anything questionable. Window cleaning should not become surprise window repair.
Compare access, not just glass
The inside of the house matters as much as the outside. Look at what sits in front of each window. There may be a dresser, a row of plants, a heavy chair, family photos, cords, blinds, curtains, or a desk that Mom uses every day.
Ask each provider who moves small objects, who moves furniture, and what must be cleared before arrival. Find out whether blinds and curtains need to be raised, removed, or simply left alone. Ask whether the crew wears shoe coverings or follows another indoor routine. If a pet lives there, decide where the pet will stay while doors open and people move between rooms.
Outside, ask whether the crew needs gates unlocked, vehicles moved, sprinklers paused, or shrubs trimmed back. Confirm whether the company can reach every listed window with its normal equipment. “We will see when we arrive” is not a useful access plan for a window above a roofline or behind a steep planting bed.
Run the visit through Mom’s actual afternoon
A provider can look perfect on paper and still collide with dismissal, practice, your work call, and Mom’s usual afternoon routine. Put the visit on the kids’ row and Mom’s row before you book it. Mark the arrival window, expected work period, and the time someone must be available at the end.
Ask whether Mom needs to let the crew in, remain home, answer room-by-room questions, or inspect the work. If you are the contact person, decide whether the provider should call you instead of asking Mom to approve changes at the door. Put that instruction on the work order.
Also ask how many people may arrive and whether the work begins inside or outside. Mom may be comfortable with a crew in the house, or she may prefer to have you or another familiar person there. That preference belongs in the comparison. It is not an inconvenience that needs to be argued away.
Give every provider the same finish test
Before anyone starts, choose a simple way to check the completed job. Use the room list and mark each area as it is finished. Look at a few windows from inside and outside. Check corners, screen edges, tracks if included, and the floor or furniture below the work area.
Open and close only the windows Mom normally uses, if doing so is already safe and ordinary for her. Confirm that screens, locks, grids, curtains, and furniture are back where they belong. Count any removed screens before the crew leaves. Make sure gates are closed and exterior items have been returned.
Ask how the company handles a missed pane, a streak noticed after the glass dries, or accidental damage. You want the contact route and response process, not a vague promise that they will “take care of it.” Also ask whether completion photos can be sent if you cannot be there.
Compare the work that remains for you
Lay the written scopes next to each other. Highlight what is included, what is excluded, what needs separate approval, and what you must prepare. A provider who cleans more types of glass may also require you to empty every sill and move every piece of furniture. Another may handle light room preparation but exclude storm windows. Those are different jobs.
Then count your part. Will you need to spend the night before moving plants? Must you drive over to unlock a side gate? Will you have to return after school pickup to reinstall curtains or put twenty framed photos back on the sill? The best fit is the provider whose whole process works for the house, for Mom, and for the rest of your week.
Leave a short record for next time
Save the final room list, access notes, and any photos that helped define the work. Add what surprised you: the basement windows counted as another level, the porch screens were separate, or the foyer glass needed special access. Note which furniture had to move and where Mom preferred to sit during the visit.
That record turns the next comparison into a smaller job. You will not have to reconstruct the house from memory while sitting in the school pickup line, wondering whether the laundry room has one window or two. It has two. One is simply hiding behind the drying rack, as windows do when they sense paperwork.