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What is the market size for Commercial Exterior Window Cleaning in the USA. Building type, please differentiate between under 100 ft and over 100 ft. * Excluding private homes (ground +1 and/or 2).
Since your desired market sizes are not readily available and there is not enough information to perform a top-down analysis, a bottom-up analysis using rough assumptions was attempted. The bottom-up analysis resulted in market sizes of $7.56 billion and $0.78 billion for low-rise and high-rise commercial buildings, respectively. However, if window cleaning's share of the $51-billion cleaning industry in the United States is assumed to be similar to that in Europe, then the total size of the United States market for commercial exterior window cleaning must be lower than $5.1 billion.
METHODOLOGY
The share of the cleaning industry accounted for by either commercial exterior window cleaning or window cleaning, in general, is not publicly available for both the United States and North America, so I attempted to perform a bottom-up analysis instead of a top-down analysis. To estimate the desired market sizes, I looked for the number of low-rise and high-rise commercial buildings, the number of floors, the number of windows per floor, the price per window, and the frequency of window cleaning. As there is very limited information on the subject, I made several assumptions. I did not include the IBISWorld report in my research, as requested.
NUMBER OF COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS
The U.S. Energy Information Administration has its Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS), which is "a national sample survey that collects information on the stock of U.S. commercial buildings, including their energy-related building characteristics and energy usage data (consumption and expenditures)." Based on the CBECS summary tables it updated in December 2016, there were 5,557,000 commercial buildings in the United States in 2012, and this number breaks down, by number of floors, into the following categories. Please note that the numbers below do not add up to exactly 5,557,000 due to rounding.
One — 3,836,000
Two — 1,158,000
Three — 374,000
Four to nine — 177,000
Ten or more — 13,000
Given that the National Fire Protection Association defines 'high-rise' as "7 stories above grade" and the Life Safety Code defines 'high-rise' as "75 feet (23 meters) in height, measured from the lowest level of fire department vehicle access to the floor of the highest occupiable story," it can be estimated that commercial buildings with at least ten floors are at least 100 feet in height. Also, it can be estimated that there are around 5,545,000 commercial buildings that are under 100 feet and around 13,000 commercial buildings that are at least 100 feet in height.
Under 100 feet: 5,545,000 commercial buildings
At least 100 feet: 13,000 commercial buildings
NUMBER OF FLOORS
The combined number of floors can then be estimated in the following manner:
Under 100 feet
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Min: (1 x 3,836,000) + (2 x 1,158,000) + (3 x 374,000) + (4 x 177,000) = 7,982,000
Max: (1 x 3,836,000) + (2 x 1,158,000) + (3 x 374,000) + (9 x 177,000) = 8,867,000
At least 100 feet
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Min: (10 x 13,000) = 130,000
*If the number of floors is set to a number slightly higher than the minimum, say, 20, the total number of floors would be 260,000.
With these figures, it can be roughly assumed that the average number of floors is as follows:
Under 100 feet: 8,400,000 floors
At least 100 feet: 260,000 floors
NUMBER OF WINDOWS PER FLOOR
While the average number of windows per floor is not readily available for both low-rise and high-rise buildings, there are quotations that could be used to roughly estimate the numbers.
According to a sample project posted on Thumbtack.com, a site matching customers with local professionals, a two-story office or business building has around 21-25 windows. Meanwhile, based on a recent forum post on WindowCleaner.com, a 14-story commercial building has around 1,500 windows.
If these examples can be considered representative of the low-rise buildings and high-rise buildings, respectively, the following averages can be roughly assumed:
Under 100 feet: 10 windows per floor
At least 100 feet: 100 windows per floor
PRICE PER exterior WINDOW
Comparison site KompareIt.com provides price ranges for commercial window cleaning. According to the site, majority of cleaning companies charge a flat fee per window pane. Some charge per window. For one- or two-story commercial buildings, price per pane ranges from $3 to $6 for exterior cleaning and $4 to $8 for both interior and exterior cleaning, while price per window ranges from $4 to $16.
Given that midway between $4 and $16 is $10 and exterior cleaning is cheaper than combined interior and exterior cleaning by 25%, it can be estimated that the price of cleaning per exterior window of a low-rise building is around $7.5.
An estimate of the price for high-rise buildings is not readily available, but KompareIt.com says the service is "far more expensive" as it involves insurance, expensive equipment, and a higher level of danger. Given that the price was $1 to $10 around a decade ago, it may be safe to assume that the price now is about twice the price for a low-rise building.
Under 100 feet: $7.5 per exterior window
At least 100 feet: $15 per exterior window
CLEANING FREQUENCY
There are several factors that influence how often the exterior windows of a commercial building need to be cleaned. Among these factors are location, landscaping, weather, and structure. The most important factor, however, is the type of business the building is used for.
It appears windows of office buildings are cleaned less often compared to those of restaurants, healthcare facilities, and retail stores. Windows of office buildings can be cleaned only twice a year, while windows of healthcare facilities and retail stores should be cleaned every month.
Given that high-rise commercial buildings are mostly office buildings, the following frequency estimates can be roughly assumed.
Under 100 feet: Every month
At least 100 feet: Twice a year
ESTIMATED MARKET SIZE
The size of the market for exterior window cleaning in the United States can therefore be roughly estimated as follows:
Under 100 feet
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(8,400,000 floors) x (10 windows per floor) x ($7.5 per exterior window) x 12 = $7.56 billion
At least 100 feet
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(260,000 floors) x (100 windows per floor) x ($15 per exterior window) x 2 = $0.78 billion
Since several crude assumptions were made, this bottom-up analysis resulted in a total market size of $8.34 billion, a value that is bigger than expected. If it is assumed that, similar to Europe, window cleaning accounts for 10% of the $51-billion U.S. cleaning industry, then the market for commercial exterior window cleaning must be smaller than $5.1 billion. The discrepancy may be due to generalizations made with respect to the number of windows per floor and the frequency of cleaning.
CONCLUSION
A rough bottom-up analysis revealed that the markets for cleaning of exterior windows of low-rise and high-rise commercial buildings could be $7.56 billion and $0.78 billion, respectively. But if window cleaning's share of the $51-billion cleaning industry in the United States is assumed to be more or less the same as that in Europe, it is expected that the size of the United States market for commercial exterior window cleaning is only a fraction of $5.1 billion.