A window cleaning business we can envy

Most start-up window cleaning owners don’t make it through their first winter before hanging up the squeegee and turning to a new line of work. Learning how to cope with a slow winter season can be very difficult, and those who make it year after year deserve a pat on the back.

Surviving the seasonal change is one thing, but thriving through it is another. That is the case with Chris Lambrinides’ New Jersey window cleaning service. In 2000, after deciding that he didn’t want to have to punch a clock, he decided to start All County Window Cleaning, now one of New York and New Jersey’s biggest window cleaning operations. Prior to his window cleaning adventure, Chris worked as a golf cart and newspaper delivery boy. He also worked construction, hardware, sales, telemarketing, and a grocery store clerk. Then he decided to take control of his future.

Now All County now has a large fleet of Toyota Tacomas that are equipped with the newest tools and plenty of water-fed-pole equipment to brighten your windows on any building up to 4 stories high. They also have a great staff of 55 people during the busy season who have all been thoroughly trained at the company’s facility.

One thing that Chris likes about the window cleaning industry is that “with a hundred dollars worth of supplies, you could drop me in any town in the US, and I can be up and running very quickly. It’s very easy to make a good living with a minimal investment.”

The business does have its challenges though, especially because the seasonality of the business makes things difficult from an operational standpoint. In order to keep things organized and streamlined, the company uses Service CEO’s business management software for their day-to-day operations.

Chris has a few books that he thinks entrepreneurs should invest some time into; those being Getting Things Done by Dave Allen and The Emyth Mastery by Michael Gerber.

When asked about his view of being a small business owner, he quoted a famous unknown quote, “Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.”

Here are a few tips that we can take from Chris

1) Find a balance of residential and store-front window cleaning can help your company fight off the change in demand for your services during the slower winter months.
2) Find good add-on services such as gutter whitening and rain flow instillation, which is All County’s favorite add-ons, to help when window cleaning is slow.
3) Invest in yourself by reading the best of the best.

Thanks Chris for sharing some of your insight with us.



Each week we are going to take a close look at a different window cleaning company. If you would like to be next to share your story or just have some helpful advice for your fellow window cleaners, please email kcpowerclean@gmail.com and tell me you want to help out.

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