Questions, answered properly

For most homes in our area: a house wash runs $279–$650 depending on size and stories, a driveway $189–$450, a roof soft wash $549–$1,200, and a deck wash $219–$400. Staining and paver sealing are priced per square foot — roughly $3.75 and $2.10 respectively, including the wash beforehand. Anything unusual, steep, or very large is quoted after we look at it. We would rather show you real numbers than make you call to find out whether we are in your budget.

No. Most quotes can be done from photos and an address within a day. Larger properties, commercial sites and anything involving access or containment questions get a site visit, also free.

Yes, meaningfully. Most of the cost of a small job is getting a truck, water and two people to your address. Combining a house wash with a driveway or gutters on the same visit typically saves 15–20% against booking them separately, and it is the same for neighbors who schedule on the same day.

Power washing uses water at high pressure and is right for hard flat surfaces: concrete, brick and stone. Soft washing uses low pressure with a cleaning solution that kills the algae, mold and mildew at the root, and is right for everything else — siding, roofs, decks, painted surfaces and stucco. A company that only owns one approach will use it on everything, which is how siding gets cracked and roofs lose granules.

Most homes here need it every 12 to 18 months. Sooner if you are near the shore, under heavy tree cover, or on a north-facing lot that stays damp. Longer if you are in open sun with good airflow. Roofs go three to five years, driveways every one to two.

No. We need access to an outside water spigot, gates unlocked, and cars moved off the surfaces being cleaned. We will text when we arrive and when we are finished, with photos.

A house wash is usually 2–4 hours, a driveway 1–3, a roof 3–5. Deck staining and paver sealing run across two visits because the surface has to dry properly in between — that wait is not padding, it is the reason the finish lasts.

Washing in light rain is fine and changes nothing about the result. Staining and sealing do not happen in rain or with rain forecast inside 24 hours, so those get moved. We will call you, not just not show up.

We pre-wet and rinse all landscaping, use biodegradable surfactants, and keep solution off anything that should not have it. Keep pets in while we work and let surfaces dry before anyone walks on them. If you have a koi pond, a vegetable bed or anything else you are protective of, tell us in advance and we will work around it.

Yes — general liability and workers' compensation, and we will send a certificate of insurance naming you, your association or your management company before work starts. Ask any contractor for that before they touch your property. The ones who hesitate are telling you something.

We walk the property first and photograph anything already broken or failing — loose siding, failed window seals, spalling concrete — and show you before we start. If we damage something, we fix it. That is what the insurance is for and it is why we document the starting condition.

Soft washing uses sodium hypochlorite diluted to a low working strength, with surfactants — the same active ingredient used industry-wide because it is the only thing that reliably kills algae and mold at the root. The care is in the dilution, the dwell time, the plant protection and the rinse. Anyone claiming to remove organic growth permanently without it is either using something harsher or the growth is coming straight back.

One to two weeks in spring and early summer, which is our busiest stretch. Less in late summer, and fall is usually wide open with the best conditions of the year for staining. Shore rental properties should book April dates by March.

Monmouth, Ocean, Middlesex, Mercer, Somerset and Union counties. If you are just outside that and it is a larger job, ask anyway — we will tell you honestly whether it makes sense.

Tell us before we leave, or call within a week. We come back and make it right at no charge. Exterior cleaning is a repeat and referral business — a customer we argued with is worth less to us than the cost of doing the work twice.