A Clean Streak:
Meeting the Window-cleaning Challenge

The Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay, Calif., sits atop an ocean bluff overlooking 50 miles of rocky coastline on one side and a golf course and a mountain range on the other. Guests can take in the beautiful surroundings by gazing out any of the several thousand windows in the hotel.

When a property’s top attraction is its view, keeping the windows clean has to be a priority.

“Every one of our rooms has a view of something,” says Shaun O’Bryan, the resort’s assistant director of housekeeping. “Everybody’s looking out the windows nearly all the time so they are going to notice dirt more than at another hotel.”

The 261-room Ritz may put more emphasis on its windows than other businesses, but the challenge of keeping windows clean is pretty much universal.

Over the years, glass has become an integral part of the architectural design of a variety of buildings. Windows have become prominent architectural building features. Keeping them clean has become a bigger chore for housekeeping departments and is eating up more and more time.

Built along the Northern California coast, the Ritz sits in the salty ocean air and thick fog of Half Moon Bay, which can leave the resort’s windows looking cloudy or filmy, O’Bryan adds.

The environmental services department at Parkview North Hospital, in Fort Wayne, Ind., spends 5 percent of its time cleaning windows. If the workers did the job as thoroughly or frequently as would be ideal, it would take closer to 15 percent of their time, says the department’s supervisor, Paula Phillips.

“That’s a lot, considering everything our department has to do,” Phillips says.

Parkview has several thousand windows, many of them in its new orthopedic hospital, which has “windows galore.” The 56,000-square-foot building surface is approximately 50 percent glass.

Dirt inside and out
The problems with glass are universal. Fingerprints top the list for interior windows, followed by stains from dirt or cigarette-smoke residue, and streaking. The top offender for exterior windows is Mother Nature.

“The weather is our biggest challenge,” Phillips says. “We are a few hundred yards from I-69 and because of the oil, dirt and weather elements, the outside windows pretty much stay dirty during the winter months.”

Ginny Arnsberger can commiserate. She heads the housekeeping department at Temple University in Philadelphia. Dirt, pollution and pigeons wreak havoc on the exterior windows of the urban campus.

Get an expert involved
The quintessential contract cleaning chore — ridding exterior windows of filth and grime — involves ladders, poles and sometimes scaffolding.

Most housekeeping departments find a balance between what can be handled internally and what must be farmed out to a professional, based on manpower, skills and time.

“Windows are not our area of expertise,” Arnsberger says. “To have someone hang off a building from the 12th story, they have to be specially trained. Because of the dangers of putting people out there the university contracts [window cleaning].”

Temple’s contract window cleaner performs a complete exterior and interior window cleaning once each summer. The contractor also is hired to clean windows in all public areas before graduation and four open-house events. Arnsberger says she would prefer more frequent window cleaning, but budget constraints do not allow for it.

Cost is a big factor in hiring a professional window cleaner. But it should not be the only factor, says Tim Fitzpatrick, a member of the International Window Cleaning Association (IWCA) and owner of Reflections, a window-cleaning company.

Companies’ expertise and track record also should weigh heavily on the decision. When searching for a cleaner, Fitzpatrick suggests first visiting the IWCA Web site.

“It’s a place to find highly trained and qualified businesses,” says Fitzpatrick, who has been cleaning windows for 18 years. “Many companies are so concerned with price that they are always switching companies, looking for a good one.”

Be certain the company you hire is insured, practices good safety precautions and has a drug-free work culture. Also, interview the owner to be sure his work values mesh with yours.

The 261-room Ritz resort turns to a window-cleaning contractor to help keep up with glass surfaces and other cleaning tasks.

“We look for someone who is detail-orientated, takes pride in their work — someone who has the same philosophies and standards as the Ritz-Carlton,” O’Bryan says. “Guests don’t know whether [the contractors] are a vendor or a paid employee.”

Before signing a contract make sure both parties understand and agree to every provision. Arnsberger learned this the hard way. Some of Temple’s windows rotate for cleaning purposes. But others do not. One of Arnsberger’s early window-cleaning contracts did not make the distinction.

“They took that to mean that if the windows rotated in, then they had to clean both sides and if they didn’t rotate in, then they only had to clean the inside,” Arnsberger recalls. “I made sure that wouldn’t happen again.”

She now writes very detailed specifications, including a line that says, “All windows must be cleaned inside and out, regardless of difficulty reaching them”. She even specifies that contractors cannot leave drips on window sills.

Learn from contractors
Forming a positive partnership with a contractor can have benefits beyond getting the windows cleaned. Contractors can be good sources of tips and advice for in-house housekeeping executives.

Ask a contractor to show your staff the proper way to use a squeegee, provide tips on eliminating streaks and give advice on the best products and equipment for the job.

The contractor in charge of the Ritz’s windows also gets involved in the housekeeping department’s training program. Trainers spend about half a day on window cleaning with new housekeeping staff. The contractor shares his techniques for making the job quicker and more effective.

“He’s a valued part of the housekeeping department,” O’Bryan says. “Our windows are very challenging. He’s always looking for new ways to [clean them] — new equipment and techniques — and he shares that with us.”

The hotel staff is responsible for all interior windows and does about half of the exterior cleaning — thanks to windows that open in.

The contractor also is kept very busy. He cleans windows in the public areas at least three times a week and every window is touched at least once a week. The contractor can be found on resort property every day and checks in with housekeeping management twice a day.

Not all housekeeping departments are blessed with the time, budget or resources to clean windows as often as once a week, or even once a month.

But when windows are clean, the smudge-free glass allows more natural light to filter into buildings, making for a more pleasant environment.