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HSE sets out the same three steps for cleaning contractors as for anyone else working above ground: avoid work at height where you can, use work equipment or other measures to prevent falls where you cannot avoid it, and where the risk of a fall cannot be eliminated, use equipment or measures that minimise the distance and consequences of a fall. For window cleaning specifically, HSE names telescopic water-fed poles and cleaning from the inside as the way to avoid the work at height in the first place.

Where the work at height cannot be avoided, HSE's next step is to use a place of work that is already safe — from inside the window, or from a balcony — before any access equipment is brought in. Fall arrest, a harness on an energy-absorbing lanyard connected to an anchor point, is the last measure rather than the first, and HSE points out that anchor points used for fall arrest need periodic inspection and testing by a competent person. On a converted building nobody can assume the eyebolts are still good because they were installed once.

The part homeowners rarely hear about is rescue. HSE asks directly how a person who has fallen while using a fall arrest system will be recovered, and says it is not acceptable simply to rely on the emergency services. A firm quoting for high-level glazing on a block of flats should be able to answer that without hesitating; a firm that has not thought about it is telling you something about the rest of its planning.

This is the single most misquoted piece of health and safety in the trade. HSE's own page on ladders states plainly that ladders and stepladders are not banned under health and safety law, that the law calls for a sensible, proportionate approach to managing risk, and that ladders can be a sensible and practical option for low-risk, short-duration tasks — while adding that they should not automatically be your first choice. HSE keeps a list of common work at height myths and puts the claim that it has banned ladders on building sites at the top of it, with the answer: no, this isn't the case.

What HSE actually requires is a reason. A ladder may be used where an assessment of the risk shows that equipment offering a higher level of fall protection is not justified because the risk is low and the task short, or because of existing site features that cannot be altered. HSE treats short duration as no more than 30 minutes at a time on the ladder and recommends alternative equipment beyond that, expects the ladder to be level, stable and secured where it is reasonably practicable to secure it, and expects the user to be competent or supervised by someone who is. On the competence point HSE is equally direct: you do not need a formal qualification, you need to be competent, and that can be learned on site.

For a homeowner the practical reading is that a pole is not proof of professionalism and a ladder is not proof of recklessness. What matters is whether the choice was made deliberately — a ten-minute clean of a ground-floor bay from a footed ladder is exactly the case HSE has in mind, and a full morning spent moving a ladder round a three-storey house is not.

The dirt that matters on British glass is not dust. It is rain carrying road film and soot onto the pane, salt on coastal exposures, pollen and lime flowers in early summer, and the fine grit thrown up by traffic on a wet road all winter. A south-facing front elevation on a main road and a sheltered rear elevation on the same house genuinely do not need the same frequency, and a cleaner who suggests different intervals for different elevations is being sensible rather than awkward.

Winter work goes ahead more often than people expect, because pole systems work in cold weather until the water in the line freezes, and glass that is left through a wet season accumulates more than a season's worth of film. What does stop work is wind: poles are long levers, and a cleaner who postpones a windy day is making the correct call under the planning duty rather than looking for an excuse.

Frequency and location do most of the work on the price, because a house on an existing round costs a cleaner almost nothing extra to reach while a one-off clean carries the whole journey. After that it is the count and type of openings rather than floor area, the number of storeys, whether the rear is easy to get into, whether frames and sills are included, and whether anything on the building needs equipment beyond a pole — a cradle, a tower or rope access moves a domestic quotation into a different bracket entirely. Conservatory roofs, roof lanterns and glazing over a fragile structure are almost always priced on their own.

LokalMatch is where the introduction happens, and nothing more. You describe the property once, add your postcode, and window cleaners who already work your streets contact you with their own price and their own interval. Using LokalMatch costs a homeowner nothing; the professionals pay for the requests that reach them. LokalMatch does not clean windows, does not set what anyone charges, and does not vet, rank or recommend the people who get in touch — the references, the insurance certificate and the decision stay with you.