When it comes to washing windows for your business, doing it yourself can be pretty attractive. Sounds easy, right? It’s free, right?

Not so fast.

We will save the “window washing is easy” blog topic for another day. But let’s address the cost.

Everything has a cost: it’s your time. And if you are using an employee to wash windows, it’s dollars as well.

Before you decide to wash your own windows, you need like with anything else to figure out how much it is costing you. If you aren’t paying an employee $20 an hour, it may not sound so bad. It should just take him a couple hours right? Probably not. Depending on the size shape and location of your windows it could be a weeklong job for somebody. At that point, your cost competes with a professional service, and that service can come in and do the job typically in one day. Plus, a professional service has the right tools and skills – and insurance – to do a safe and quality job.

Also consider that you lose the productivity of your employee if he is washing windows. Perhaps he can be repurposed and used on other projects that have a return on investment that far outweighs the cost of a professional window cleaning service.

This debate is not new. From painting your own home to changing your own oil, we all make the decision each day whether to do the job ourselves or hand it off to a professional.

Just do your due diligence and crunch the numbers if you have a sizable building. That way, when it comes to window washing and all other forms of building maintenance, you’ll make wise decisions.