Why we clean twice a year (and why once a year costs more)

For years, once a year was the standard rhythm around here, and for some homes it still works fine. But I've been moving more and more of my clients to twice a year, and once you understand what's actually happening to the glass between visits, it makes sense why.

Everything I described in the last note — the bugs, the bird droppings, the pitch — starts light and builds gradually. A window that gets attention every six months never lets that buildup get a foothold. It stays close to the same easy job every single time: quick, straightforward, predictable. Stretch that gap to a full year, especially through a hot summer, and that same buildup has twice as long to bake on and bond to the glass. What should've been routine turns into something closer to restoration work — more time on the ladder, more product, more effort to get back to actually clear.

The off-season quick wash

Twice a year doesn't mean two identical full-service visits. The second visit is what I call the quick wash — we bring the water-fed pole, leave your screens in place, give them a scrub and a rinse, and we're in and out fast. It's not the deep clean; it's the maintenance pass that keeps the glass clear and keeps buildup from ever getting a running start before the next full visit. Fast for you, fast for us, and it's the difference between "wipe it down" and "scrub it off" the next time around.

"Once a year lets it bake on. Twice a year, it never gets the chance."

Why once a year actually costs more

This is the part people don't expect: skipping a visit doesn't save anything, it just moves the work downstream and makes it bigger. A year of baked-on buildup, hard-water spotting, and coastal salt spray takes real time to lift back off — time that a twice-a-year rhythm never lets accumulate in the first place. Two easy visits, spread evenly, end up being less total work than one hard one.

The coast plays a part too. Certain times of year bring moss and slow biological growth on glass and roofs, especially on shaded or north-facing surfaces, and salt off the water is hard on everything it touches, all year round. A rhythm that matches the coast — not just the calendar — is what actually keeps a home looking cared for.

Bottom line: twice a year isn't about doing more work. It's about never letting the job get big enough to notice.