A commercial window cleaning bookkeeper bills and collects on building contracts, pays rental yards and subcontractors, and codes each crew hour and lift rental to the building it served. They also handle the paperwork that construction cleans bring: pay applications, retainage and weekly payroll reports.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, building services companies · BLS, May 2025
You'll keep the books for a commercial window cleaning company with recurring building contracts, high-rise jobs that use rented lifts and swing stages, and one-time post-construction cleans. You'll post payments, pay vendors, code costs to each building, and give the CFO numbers they can trust.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Post payments from property managers, including those paid through vendor portals, and reconcile bank and card accounts monthly.
Check the contract list against invoices each month so no scheduled building goes unbilled.
Code crew hours, lift and swing stage rentals, and rope access gear to each building for job costing.
Prepare pay applications, lien waivers and retainage tracking for post-construction cleans billed through general contractors.
Keep payroll records by job type for the workers' compensation premium audit, as your carrier requires.
Pay vendors and subcontractors, collect their certificates of insurance, and prepare year-end 1099 forms.
Prepare payroll reports for public building contracts where prevailing wage rules apply.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Post payments received by check, ACH and property manager portals.
Code crew timesheets and equipment rental invoices to the right building.
Enter vendor bills and match them to purchase orders.
Flag completed cleans with no invoice to the Office Manager.
Update the certificate of insurance log for subcontractors.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Unbilled completed cleans found at month-end: [your target].
Bank and card reconciliations on time: [your target].
Costs coded to the right building: [your target].
Vendor bills paid by due date: [your target].
Workers' comp audit adjustments: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
[2+] years of full-cycle bookkeeping, ideally for a contractor or commercial service company.
Experience with job costing and recurring contract accounts.
Strong skills in [your accounting software] and spreadsheets.
Organized enough to track many buildings, contracts and vendor portals at once.
6. Preferred Experience
Experience with construction pay applications, lien waivers and retainage.
Experience with workers' compensation premium audits.
Experience with prevailing wage or certified payroll reports.
7. Physical Requirements
Sit at a computer for most of the day.
Lift file boxes up to [20] pounds.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Office-based at [location], [your hours].
Extra hours at month-end, year-end and during insurance audits.
[Hybrid options, if any].
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new bookkeeper gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
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What makes commercial window cleaning bookkeeping different
The work is the same debits and credits. What changes is the billing rhythm of building contracts, the construction paperwork on new buildings and the subcontractors on high work.
Some contracts only bill a few times a year
Many building accounts clean the outside glass only a few times a year, and lobby glass may run on its own cycle. A missed invoice on one of those accounts can sit unnoticed until the next clean. Each month, line up every contract's cleaning dates against completed work orders and invoices, one building at a time.
New buildings bill like a trade contract
A post-construction clean is billed through the general contractor, not a property manager. Expect a pay application by the GC's cutoff date, a lien waiver with each draw and retainage held back until the project closes. Track retainage by project, send conditional waivers with each pay app, and save unconditional waivers for money already received. Each state sets its own waiver forms and lien rules.
Federal construction cleans need weekly payrolls
When a construction clean is part of a contract covered by the Davis-Bacon Act or a related act, the clause calls for a certified payroll every week the crew does covered work. Optional Form WH-347 is one format that meets it. Hold payrolls and basic records for 3 years or more once the prime contract's work is all finished. Source: 29 CFR 5.5, Davis-Bacon contract provisions (govinfo, 2025).
A sub's comp certificate protects you
High-rise and post-construction overflow often goes to subcontracted crews. In West Virginia, for example, a company that hires a subcontractor is expected to make sure the sub carries workers' comp. Getting the sub's certificate of coverage relieves you of that duty. Without it, the sub's injured worker can file a claim against you. Log each certificate's dates before paying. Source: West Virginia Code 23-2-1d, prime contractor and subcontractor liability.
How much commercial window cleaning bookkeepers make
The closest BLS group for commercial window cleaning bookkeepers is bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks who work for building and home services companies earned a median of $22.50 an hour ($46,790 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s below the $50,670 median for bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks in all industries. About 17,470 of the 1,373,680 bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks in that survey work for building services companies.
Usually hourly. Some companies pay a salary to a full-charge bookkeeper who closes the month without help.
Building services companies
$46,790$46,790 median Middle half $40,700–$56,960 10th–90th $32,590–$67,710
All industries
$50,670$50,670 median Middle half $43,520–$61,470 10th–90th $36,000–$74,550
$20k$30k$40k$50k$60k$70k$80k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Building services companies
$32,590
$40,700
$46,790
$56,960
$67,710
All industries
$36,000
$43,520
$50,670
$61,470
$74,550
BLS doesn’t publish pay for window cleaning companies on their own. These figures cover services to buildings and dwellings, which include them. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Full-cycle books: payables, receivables, bank reconciliations and month-end close
Job costing by location, not just by customer
Patience with the upload rules of each management firm's payment portal
Clean handoffs to the CFO, with notes on anything unusual
Following up on late payments by phone and email without souring the account
Teach these on the job
Your contract list and each building's cleaning cycle
Pay applications, retainage and lien waiver forms
Certified payroll reports on covered construction work
Reading lift and swing stage rental invoices
Your carrier's payroll categories for the yearly audit
Name your accounting software and your field service or scheduling system in the ad, since cleans are marked done in one and invoiced in the other. Mention any property manager portals and payroll service the bookkeeper will log into each week.
Two of the 6 questions we'd ask, and what a strong answer sounds like. Ask every candidate the same questions, and rate each answer on your own before you compare notes.
Situational · Premium audit preparation
Your workers' compensation carrier's premium audit is next month. How do you prepare?
A strong answer: Pulls payroll split by job type as the policy's classifications require, backs it with time records, gathers current certificates for every subcontractor, and reviews it with the CFO before the auditor arrives.
Behavioral · Tracing payments
Tell me about a time a customer payment came in without enough detail to apply it. What did you do?
A strong answer: Matched it using amounts, dates and portal records, contacted the payer when needed, and kept a note of how that customer pays.
Every target in this template is left for you to fill. Let a few closes show where your books tend to slip, then pick numbers from what you saw.
Unbilled completed cleans found at month-end
Count work orders marked complete with no matching invoice when the month closes. Track who caught each one, and how long it sat unbilled.
Bank and card reconciliations on time
Record the date each bank and card account is reconciled against the deadline the CFO sets. Note any account that carries unmatched items into the next month.
Costs coded to the right building
Each month, pull a sample of timesheets and rental invoices and check the building they were coded to against the work order. Tally how many had to be recoded.
Vendor bills paid by due date
Compare each paid bill's payment date with its due date in your accounting software. Look separately at rental yards and subcontractors, since late payment to either can hold up a job.
Workers' comp audit adjustments
After the carrier's yearly payroll audit, compare the final premium to the estimate. Ask the auditor which records changed the result, and fix how those hours are kept.
Career path
Accounts receivable clerkPosts payments from property managers and learns which firms pay through portals.
BookkeeperKeeps the full books, codes costs to buildings and handles construction billing.
ControllerRuns the close, builds reports by building and contract, and manages the audit calendar.
Should the customer in the books be the building or the management company?
Set up each building as its own job or sub-customer under the management firm. Firms often manage many buildings and may lose one to a sale or a new manager. Keeping buildings separate lets you invoice with the right purchase order, see what each building earns, and close one out without touching the rest.
How much does a commercial window cleaning bookkeeper make?
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks who work for building and home services companies earned a median of $22.50 an hour ($46,790 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $40,700 and $56,960 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
What happens in the books when a building is sold mid-contract?
Bill the old owner for every clean done before the sale date and ask the manager who pays any open invoices. The new owner may sign a new contract, use a new portal or ask for new tax forms. Treat it as a new customer, even if the same crew cleans the same glass next month.
What does a commercial window cleaning bookkeeper need from the field?
Completed work orders or signed tickets for each building, crew timesheets that name the building, and rental tickets for every lift or stage. Without those, costs land in overhead and cleans go unbilled. Agree with the operations manager on a daily cutoff for turning them in.
Why does a bookkeeping job list lifting file boxes?
Year-end and audit work still involves paper. Expect to haul banker's boxes of payroll records to the insurance auditor's table, or move closed project files to storage. If a candidate can't lift a box, a cart or a coworker can help, and you can talk through other ways to get it done.
