Tenement Window Cleaning in Glasgow: Factor Rules, Costs and How It Works
If you live in a Glasgow tenement, window cleaning comes with a question most homeowners never have to think about: which windows are actually yours to arrange? Your own flat’s windows are straightforward enough. The ones on the shared stairwell — the close windows — are where it gets muddled, and it’s where most of the confusion we hear about starts. Here’s how it works in practice: what a factor does, when you need permission, what it costs, and how the clean itself gets done.
What a factor actually is
A factor is the property manager appointed to look after the shared parts of your building — the roof, the close, the stairwell windows, the back court. Most Glasgow tenements have one, and owners pay a factoring fee that goes towards common repairs and services. If your building doesn’t have a factor, the owners usually self-manage those shared jobs between them, which works fine right up until someone has to organise eight households around one decision.
Your own windows are yours — the close windows aren’t
Here’s the simple split. If it’s just your own flat’s exterior windows you want cleaned, you don’t need anyone’s permission — you book it the same way a householder would, and we clean them from outside with the water-fed pole. The shared stairwell and close windows are different: they belong to the building as a whole, so cleaning them is arranged through the factor, or agreed among the owners if you self-manage. It’s the one thing we can’t take a booking for from a single flat — see our tenement and factor-arranged cleaning page for how those contracts are usually set up.
How a whole-close clean is arranged
In practice, it runs like this. We speak to the factor directly — or to the owner who manages the building — agree a date, and make sure residents know in advance so nobody’s surprised by a pole appearing at the stair window. Most closes are cleaned twice a year, which suits Glasgow’s weather: often enough to stop grime building up on glass that rarely gets a proper rinse. The whole close is done in one visit and invoiced in one go — one invoice to the factor, not a dozen separate bills chased flat by flat. Point us at your factor on the first call and we’ll liaise with them from there; you don’t have to coordinate anything.
What it costs
For your own flat, tenement window cleaning sits in the same range as our other domestic work: a 2–3 bed tenement flat is typically £15–£25 per visit on a regular rota, and typical Glasgow prices overall run from around £15–£40 per visit depending on the size of the property and access. Whole-close and factor-arranged work is quoted per building, because it depends on the number of floors and windows — but the price is agreed before we start, not estimated afterwards. A one-off clean costs a bit more than a rota visit, for the simple reason that there’s more built-up grime to shift.
Reaching the top floor without ladders
Most Glasgow tenements are three or four storeys, and the top-floor windows are the ones people assume we’ll struggle with. We don’t put ladders against the building at all: our pure water-fed pole system reaches up to 4 storeys — around 60ft — from ground level, so the clean is done safely from the street or the back court. It also means nothing leans on old stonework or original sash frames, and we never force a stuck sash or rest weight on brittle putty lines.
How to book
If it’s your own flat, you can book straight away — send us the address through our contact page or give us a call, and we’ll give you an exact price before booking, not a vague estimate. If it’s the close windows you’re after, just tell us who your factor is and we’ll take it from there. We’re based at 116 Elderslie St in Glasgow, we’re fully insured, and we’re happy to show proof of insurance before any work starts.
