Round planning
How to plan a window-cleaning round that works on the ground
Build a route that reflects parking, walking, recurring frequencies and the time available—not just the shortest line between postcodes.
Published 23 August 2026 · 7 minute read
Key points
- Group work by a practical service area before ordering individual stops.
- Keep frequency and route position separate.
- Use honest cleaning durations and include travel, parking and breaks.
- Lock the stops that must not move and approve every schedule change.
Define a useful round boundary
A good round is a group of properties that can be worked together repeatedly. Start with a compact area, estate or cluster of streets, then check whether it fits the way you travel. Two nearby postcodes can still belong in different rounds when parking, traffic or walking access makes the real route different.
Give each round a recognisable name that staff can understand without opening a map. Avoid creating one enormous round merely because every property shares the same four-week frequency.
Put stops in the order you can actually clean them
Order the first version manually. Consider where the van can be left, which streets are best completed on foot, schools and traffic at particular times, locked access and any customer time restrictions. A route engine can compare distances later, but local knowledge should remain visible and controllable.
Mark fixed or sensitive positions before trying an automated suggestion. When software proposes an order, compare it with the current route and accept it only when the change makes sense on the ground.
Model recurring work correctly
The round describes grouping and order; each service describes when work repeats. Keeping those ideas separate allows one property to have four-weekly window cleaning and a six-monthly gutter clean without duplicating the whole customer.
Use a target date plus a sensible working window for flexible residential work. Fixed appointments should remain fixed, while ordinary recurring cleans can be moved deliberately after rain, holiday or over-capacity.
Measure capacity using real durations
Estimate cleaning time at property level and include travel, filling, parking, breaks and expected access problems. After several completed cycles, compare estimates with real working time and correct the outliers. A nine-hour list does not become an eight-hour day because a calendar displays it in one column.
- Total productive minutes available to the assigned worker.
- Expected service time at each stop.
- Travel and parking between clusters.
- A margin for no access, conversation and equipment issues.
- The effect of holidays, short winter days and known disruption.
Create a rain-day recovery rule
Decide what happens when work is unfinished before the bad-weather day arrives. Keep the original visit history, identify which work remains due and look for a future day with enough capacity. The software should explain the proposed move and wait for approval.
Avoid silently pushing an entire round forward if that breaks frequencies or overloads the following week. A smaller catch-up group is often easier to communicate and complete.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
What is the best frequency for a window-cleaning round?
There is no single best frequency. UK residential rounds commonly use weekly, fortnightly, four-weekly, six-weekly, eight-weekly or monthly services. Store the agreed rule per service.
Should software automatically optimise my route?
Treat optimisation as a suggestion. Parking, walking clusters, access and customer restrictions can make the mathematically shortest route impractical.
How many houses should be in one round?
Use time and geography rather than a fixed house count. A round is workable when its expected service and travel time fits the people and hours assigned to it.
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