How to Prepare for Your Exterior Cleaning Appointment

A Short Checklist

None of this takes long, and most of it is about protecting things we cannot see or move ourselves.

• Close windows and doors, including basement and garage windows and any storm windows.
• Move vehicles out of the driveway or away from the work area.
• Take down anything hanging you would rather not get wet — flags, wind chimes, hanging baskets, bird feeders.
• Move patio furniture, grills, and planters off the surfaces being cleaned if you can. If you cannot, tell us and we will move them.
• Bring in or secure pets. Equipment is loud and gates get opened.
• Point out anything fragile — a light fixture that leaks, a window seal that has failed, an outlet cover that is loose, a soft spot in the trim.
• Let us know about outdoor electrical that is not obvious, and where an outside spigot is.

You Do Not Need to Prep the Property

Site protection is our job, not yours. Landscaping beds get pre-wet before we start and rinsed afterward. Posts, columns, coping edges and fixtures get masked on sealing jobs. On tighter lots we cover neighboring property and vehicles as part of setup.

If something needs moving and you are not able to move it, say so. We would much rather shift a planter than work around it or, worse, damage it.

Do You Need to Be Home?

Usually not. Most jobs only need access to an outside water spigot and to the work area itself. Plenty of our customers are at work, and a good number of the lake properties we clean are second homes where nobody is there at all.

What we do need is a way to reach you if something comes up, and clear instructions about gates, pets, and anything we should stay away from.

For the estimate itself, it helps if you are there. That is the conversation where you tell us what is bothering you about the property and we tell you honestly what needs doing and what can wait.

What to Expect on the Day

Exterior cleaning is loud. Equipment runs, and on a house wash there is a period where water is going onto the building on purpose. If you work from home and take calls, it is worth knowing which side of the house we will be on.

You may notice cleaning solution on the surface before it is rinsed. That is the product doing its work rather than force doing it, and it is the whole point of soft washing.

Surfaces stay wet for a while afterward. On a sealing job, the surface needs to stay off-limits until it has cured, and we will tell you exactly how long before we leave.

Before We Go

We walk the job with you if you are there, and we let you know anything we noticed that is worth keeping an eye on — a gutter seam pulling apart, a soft board, growth starting somewhere we were not working. We are on ladders around your house all day and we would rather tell you than not.

If anything is not right, say so before we leave. It is far easier to sort out while the equipment is still on the truck.