How exterior cleaning is priced.

It is priced per job, not per hour

Exterior cleaning is quoted against the work in front of it — the surface, its area, and how bad it has got — not against a clock. That matters to you in a specific way: an hourly number rewards working slowly, and a per-job number does not. It also means the figure should be firm before anyone unrolls a hose.

The four things that move a number

1 · Surface and area

The single biggest input. Square footage for concrete and pavers, elevation count and footprint for a house, roof area and pitch for a soft wash, run length for fencing. Different surfaces also need different chemistry and different methods, so two jobs of the same size are not automatically the same price.

2 · Access, height and storeys

A second storey means ladder work and reach. A courtyard with no gate wide enough for equipment means carrying. A property a long way out carries travel. None of this is padding — it is time, and time is what is being bought.

3 · How heavy the growth is

A wall washed eighteen months ago rinses down quickly. A wall that has never been touched needs dwell time and often a second pass, because the growth has roots and a single application will not kill it. This is the variable most people underestimate on their own property.

4 · Anything that is not organic

Irrigation rust, oil and transmission fluid, efflorescence on pavers, oxidised "tiger stripe" gutter faces and a failed or cloudy old sealer are each a separate product and a separate step. They are not what a general wash addresses, and a quote that ignores them is a quote for a different job.

What should not move the number

Once a figure is agreed it should not drift because it rained, because the job ran longer than expected, or because something was "worse than it looked". If a genuine surprise turns up — a cracked tile, a failed seal, something behind a shrub — the right thing is to stop and raise it before more work happens, not to add it to the invoice afterwards.

Booking more than one thing at once

Setup and pack-down happen once per visit regardless of how much gets cleaned. A house wash booked with the driveway on the same visit costs less than the same two jobs on separate days, and it is worth asking for the combined number rather than adding two quotes together.

Getting a real number for your property

Call, or send the address and what needs doing. Straightforward work — a driveway, a single-storey house wash — can usually be quoted without anyone visiting. Larger or heavier jobs are worth a look, and that look should be free.