Window Cleaning at Windsor at Bay Colony. Mission: every pane.

Windsor, at 8477 Bay Colony Drive, was completed in 1998 as the last of the Bay Colony beachfront towers, and it sits right beside the Bay Colony Beach Club. It has 21 floors but only 31 residences. Twenty-four of them are about 6,900 square feet, arranged two to a floor, and seven are penthouses of more than 10,000 square feet. That is the lowest density of any Bay Colony high-rise, and it means each Windsor home has a very large amount of glass. A typical visit here is closer to cleaning a large single-family house than an ordinary condo.

Why a Windsor visit takes longer

With only two homes per floor, each residence wraps around a large share of the building’s perimeter. Expect Gulf-facing glass on the west, plus windows to the north or south and toward the mainland. We usually send a team of two and plan most of a day for a full home, and longer for a penthouse. Tell us your residence number and whether you would like screens, mirrors or glass shower enclosures included, and we will give you a firm written price.

South side or north side

The south-facing homes get the most natural light and look over a quieter stretch of beach. The north-facing homes face the Beach Club, where the sand is busier, and can feel darker depending on their interiors. For us that difference matters: southern glass bakes in the sun, so mineral spots dry and set quickly. Northern glass tends to show sea mist and fingerprints more than hard spots. We adjust products and timing to the side we are working on.

Penthouse levels

Seven penthouses of more than 10,000 square feet are a different scale of job. These homes can include tall window walls, upper clerestory panes and long runs of sliding doors. We bring extension poles and water-fed tools for high interior glass and use ladders only where the floors and finishes can be protected. If a pane is out of safe reach from inside or from your terrace, we will say so rather than improvise.

Renovation season

Windsor finished a remodel and expansion of its common areas in the fall of 2021, and because the building is now more than 25 years old, many owners are renovating their homes too. Local agents suggest choosing a designer, builder and architect by December or January and submitting plans by February so the work can be permitted and done on time. If you are renovating, book a post-construction cleaning for when the trades leave. Construction dust, paint overspray and labels on new glass are best removed by someone who knows which tools are safe on which coating.

The amenities and the Beach Club next door

Residents have a fitness center with a massage room, separate men’s and women’s saunas, a social room and library with a catering kitchen, a boardroom, and a pool, spa and barbecue area. From the pool deck, owners can walk straight onto the beach to the Bay Colony Beach Club, which offers chair and umbrella service and dining on the sand. That traffic brings sand onto terraces, so we always vacuum the door tracks before cleaning the glass.

No rentals, many seasonal owners

Windsor does not allow rentals, and pets are allowed with approval. Homes are often closed up for the summer. A cleaning shortly before you return lets you walk into clear views, and a second visit after a summer storm season helps clear salt that built up while the shutters or doors were closed.

Our scope at Windsor

We clean every pane reachable from inside the home and from your terraces: interior windows, both faces of terrace doors, railing glass, frames, tracks and sills. Fixed exterior glass on a 21-floor tower that can only be reached from outside is cleaned by the association’s rope or swing-stage contractor.

Arriving at the building

Bay Colony has a staffed gate, and Windsor follows its own rules for contractor arrival times and elevator use. We send our certificate of insurance to the building office before the first visit, ask to be added to the gate list and arrive with protective covers for floors and furniture.

Between visits

Keep a soft microfiber cloth and a spray bottle of distilled water near the main Gulf terrace. Wiping the lower part of the doors after a breezy afternoon stops salt from drying into spots, and distilled water leaves nothing behind.