There is no single correct interval. The right frequency is a function of building class, glazing type, exposure, and what your tenants or residents expect to see — and it can reasonably vary by elevation on the same building.
Treat frequency as a variable you set deliberately, informed by four factors below, rather than a number you copy from another building.
Property and strata managers often ask for a single number — "how often should we clean the windows" — expecting a universal answer. There isn't one. A Class A office tower with curtain wall glazing facing English Bay has a materially different cleaning need than a low-rise strata building set back from the water in a quiet residential pocket, even though both are technically "high-rise" or mid-rise construction.
What follows is a framework for setting frequency deliberately, plus a planning-range table you can use as a starting point for budgeting. Treat every figure here as a planning range to be adjusted once a site walk or a season of service history is available — not a guarantee.
Metro Vancouver's coastal, high-rainfall climate behaves differently from drier interior or prairie markets, and the difference matters for frequency planning.
Wind-driven rain moves fine airborne salt, road grime, and biological growth (algae and mould spotting) onto glass and cladding at a rate that's higher than most inland cities. Buildings within a few blocks of the water — English Bay, False Creek, Burrard Inlet, and the Fraser waterfront corridor — see accelerated mineral deposit from salt-laden air even where there is no direct irrigation overspray involved (see our separate guide on hard water stain prevention for the chemistry).
The practical effect: a building three blocks from the water may reasonably run on the same interval as an equivalent building in a drier city, while a building directly on the waterfront often needs one to two additional visits per year to avoid the soiling crossing from "removable with routine cleaning" to "requires restoration."
Use this as a starting range. Every building should be adjusted up or down from here based on the four factors above and confirmed after the first service cycle.
| Building class | Planning-range frequency | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Class A office tower, curtain wall | Quarterly | Tenant expectation and lease commitments usually drive this, not just soiling. |
| Class B/C office, punched windows | Semi-annual | Lower tenant-facing pressure; interior/exterior often split across visits. |
| Residential strata, standard exposure | Annual to semi-annual | Set by council preference and budget more than by soiling rate. |
| Residential strata, waterfront or exposed | Semi-annual to quarterly | Salt-laden air and wind-driven rain accelerate mineral deposit and grime buildup. |
| Ground-level retail podium | Monthly to bi-monthly | Street-level soiling, handprints, and irrigation overspray are the drivers, not height. |
| Institutional / mixed-use | Semi-annual | Adjust per elevation rather than treating the whole envelope as one zone. |
The most common mistake in frequency planning is treating an entire building envelope as a single zone. A tower with a lobby-facing plaza elevation, a waterfront-facing elevation, and a service-lane elevation rarely needs the same interval across all three. It is common, and defensible to a strata council or ownership group, to clean the highest-visibility and highest-exposure elevations on a shorter cycle and treat lower-exposure elevations on a longer one.
This is also the mechanism most buildings use to control cost without sacrificing appearance where it matters: the total number of annual visits per elevation goes down, but the visible standard at street level and lobby level stays high.
No. There is no provincial or municipal code that mandates a cleaning interval for glass or cladding. Frequency is a maintenance decision made by ownership or strata council, usually documented in the maintenance plan or depreciation report rather than a bylaw.
Indirectly. Depreciation reports typically address building envelope replacement cycles, not routine cleaning. However, a documented cleaning and inspection history gives the depreciation report author better evidence of envelope condition, which can affect projected replacement timing for sealant and glazing components.
Sometimes, and it should be tested deliberately rather than assumed. Stretching an interval on a low-exposure elevation with good glazing rarely causes damage. Stretching it on a ground-level or salt-exposed elevation more often shows up later as etching that requires restoration rather than routine cleaning — a materially higher cost.
Turn a chosen frequency into a defensible line item for council and the AGM package.
Read more →Why exposure and irrigation overspray drive frequency on some elevations more than others.
Read more →Get a frequency and pricing recommendation specific to your building's exposure and glazing.
Read more →Send us the building class, glazing type, and elevation exposure and we'll propose a schedule with reasoning attached.