What to expect from a professional window clean

Most people have never watched a professional clean closely — the glass just goes from hazy to invisible while they are in another room. Knowing the steps helps you tell a thorough job from a quick wipe, whether you are hiring help or tackling the panes yourself. Here is the routine, in order.

1. The walk-through

Good work starts with looking, not washing. Which panes face the weather? Where are the cobwebs and the paint flecks? Are there delicate coatings, old putty, or sashes that stick? Five minutes of assessment stops surprises halfway through — like discovering the ladder is a metre short for the stairwell window.

2. Frames and sills first

Amateurs start with the glass; professionals start with everything around it. Tracks are brushed or vacuumed, sills wiped, and frames washed down. Skip this and the first rain drags all that grime straight back across your clean panes in grey runnels.

3. Scrub, then squeegee

The glass is scrubbed with solution to loosen everything bonded to it — dust, pollen, smoke film — and then the squeegee pulls it clean in overlapping passes, the technique this business is named for. The blade is wiped between passes; a dirty blade just redistributes dirt in neat lines, which is where most DIY streaks come from.

4. Detail the edges

Squeegees cannot reach the last few millimetres where glass meets frame, so edges and corners are finished with a detailing cloth. This is the step rushed jobs skip — and the step your eye finds within a day, as a faint border of haze around each pane.

5. The daylight check

Every pane is sighted against natural light before pack-up. Indoor lighting hides streaks that low sun exposes mercilessly, so the check happens in daylight or it does not count. Anything less than streak-free gets reworked on the spot.

What it is not

A proper clean is not a hose-down, not a paper-towel polish, and not a chemical fog. It is methodical hand work, and it takes as long as it takes — a standard three-bedroom home typically runs a few hours for a full interior-and-exterior clean, depending on access and condition.

That is the routine behind every service on this site — from home window cleaning to workplaces and height work. Sign of the Squeegee works Christchurch weekdays, Monday to Friday 8:30 am to 8:30 pm; see the contact page for hours, location and the Maps listing.