How to Start a Window Cleaning Business in the UK (2026 Step-by-Step)

You can start a window cleaning business in the UK for £500 with a trad kit and a car, or £3,000–£5,000 with a van-mounted water-fed pole system. Either way the sequence is the same: sort the paperwork, buy the kit, set your prices, then spend every spare hour getting customers. Most of the failures happen at the last step.

Step 1 — Register the business

1. Register as a sole trader with HMRC (or form a limited company if you plan to employ quickly).
2. Open a separate business bank account on day one — mixing accounts is the most common bookkeeping mistake.
3. Note the VAT registration threshold and keep an eye on turnover; most one-van rounds stay under it for a while.
4. Set aside tax from every payment as it arrives rather than at year end.

Step 2 — Get insured before the first job

Public liability cover of at least £1m, plus tools cover for your kit. If you're taking on any help, employers' liability is a legal requirement. Our window cleaning insurance guide covers what each policy actually pays for.

Step 3 — Buy the right kit (twice is expensive)

Starter trad kit (~£300–£600)

• Professional squeegee set and channels
• Applicators, scrim and microfibre cloths
• Buckets, detergent, scrapers
• Ladder plus stand-off, if you're going to use one (know the work-at-height rules first)

Water-fed pole setup (~£2,800–£5,000)

• 400–650L tank, pump and controller
• RO/DI water purification for producing pure water at home
• 18–25ft carbon pole and brush heads
• Hose reel and long hose
• Van, roof rack, and signwriting

Step 4 — Set prices you can defend

Don't price by what the person before you charged. Set a base per-window rate, apply a multiplier for property type, add honest surcharges for access and extras, and publish a frequency ladder so the discount rewards the schedule you want. The full framework is in our UK pricing guide.

Step 5 — Get your first 50 customers

1. Pick one estate and work it door to door — density beats reach, always.
2. Set up a Google Business Profile the same week you start. It's free and it's the highest-intent traffic there is.
3. Get a one-page website with an instant quote form, not a 'contact us' box.
4. Leaflet the six houses either side of every job you book.
5. Ask for a Google review after every single clean, by text, within 30 minutes of payment.

Step 6 — Systemise before you're busy

The habits that feel unnecessary at 20 customers are the ones that let you reach 300: every customer in a CRM with access notes and price, recurring schedules rather than memory, direct debit or card links rather than cash, and automatic follow-ups on quotes you haven't heard back on.

Realistic first-year numbers

A full-time solo round built steadily over twelve months commonly reaches £30k–£60k turnover, with the wide spread coming down to pricing discipline and how consistently you prospect. Costs are low — fuel, water, insurance, kit replacement and software — so margins are strong, but the round only compounds if customers stay. Reliability is the growth strategy.

The mistakes that cost the most

• Pricing to win every job — you end up busy and broke.
• No insurance for the first few months 'until it's worth it'.
• Keeping the round in your head instead of a system.
• Chasing one-off cleans instead of building recurring frequency.
• Letting quotes go unanswered — most lost work is never actually turned down, it's just never followed up.