Domestic rounds pay the bills. Commercial contracts are what make a window cleaning business worth something, because they are predictable, invoiced monthly and rarely cancel.
They are also assessed by people who need paperwork, not a friendly chat at the door.
Decision 1: is the building within your capability
Height is the first filter. A two-storey shopfront, a four-storey office with a cradle and a building requiring rope access are three different businesses. Being clear about what you cover saves surveys that were never going to convert.
Decision 2: what access is required
Reach and wash poles, ladders where permitted, mobile towers, cherry pickers or cradle systems. Each carries different costs, training and insurance. Capturing the building height and whether there are obstructions decides the method.
Decision 3: frequency and timing
Weekly, fortnightly, monthly or quarterly, and whether cleaning must happen before opening, after closing or at weekends. Shopfronts usually want early mornings. Offices often want evenings. Both affect price.
Decision 4: paperwork the buyer needs
Public liability insurance with the cover level stated, risk assessments and method statements, and confirmation of training for the access equipment used. Facilities managers cannot appoint a contractor without these, and having them ready signals professionalism immediately.
Decision 5: what to capture in the enquiry
Building address and type, number of floors, approximate number of windows or frontage length, current arrangements, preferred frequency and timing, access restrictions and who signs off the contract.
Facilities manager: We need our office windows cleaned monthly. Assistant: The commercial page explains the services and the insurance and documentation provided. To quote, could you share the building address, how many floors, whether there is any restricted access and whether cleaning needs to happen outside working hours? The team can then arrange a survey.
Answering from your own pages
SpideyChat for cleaning companies answers commercial questions from what you publish, including insurance levels, methods and frequencies, and captures building details for a survey. Facilities managers comparing three contractors will usually shortlist whoever answered their questions first.
Contract terms
Businesses want notice periods, what happens in bad weather, whether missed visits are rescheduled and how invoicing works. Publishing these removes objections before they are raised.
Health and safety on site
Buyers in offices, schools and retail parks need to know how work is carried out around staff and the public: cone placement, signage, wet floor management and whether operatives wear identifiable uniforms and carry identification. A contractor who explains this without being asked looks like one who has worked in occupied buildings before.
Multi-site buyers
Retail chains and property managers appoint one contractor across many sites. Capturing the number of sites at first contact identifies these opportunities, which are worth far more than a single building.
Related commercial buyers
Office cleaning buyers evaluate on the same criteria, as described in office cleaning contracts and the questions buyers ask, and commercial pest contracts follow an identical pattern, covered in commercial pest contracts for restaurants and warehouses.
Domestic work continues
The domestic round still generates constant price questions, as covered in window cleaning quotes without knowing the house size.
Answering when buyers are working
Facilities managers send enquiries during the working day, precisely when cleaners are on ladders. Answering automatically and capturing the details means nothing waits until evening, in the way described for other trades in chatbots for automotive dealerships and repair shops.
How SpideyChat handles it
It answers from your published commercial page, captures building and access details and passes qualified enquiries to you. You can see handover on the demo, and plans are on the pricing page.