Hello everyone!
How do you guys deal with washing just soffits and gutters? To me, it’s a PITA because you’re pretty much giving a free partial house wash, due to all the rinsing needed on the run-off.
This house has hardy board siding (medium gray) and medium blue aluminum roofs. I always rinse everything off first to get the loose stuff and prevent damage; however, I haven’t done hardy board nor metal roofs.
I’m I going to be okay and not cause damage with my process?
I DS 10% straight SH with Arm & Hammer with Oxi. Apply, let dwell and rinse off.
I’ve only done that once on a full brick house…they just wanted the soffit and gutters washed. I charged them about 1/2 of a house wash. But that’s brick. The problem with cement board is even if you wet it down really well your mix will still run down the side and could leave “clean” steaks. The soaping from bottom to top is especially important on painted hardi-plank. I personally wouldn’t wash only soffits and gutters on a hardi-plank sided home. Are they just being cheap?
Yes, they just want to do the bare minimum to put it on the market. House isn’t really bad, the gutters and soffits are and driveway, patio and pool deck, which is travertine. I’m charging them $1K. House is 8,800sqft and lots of pavered driveway. I explained that to her and she understands so asked me how much more for just the front of the house. That doesn’t change the risk on the rest of the house though.
I get at least one call a month from condos or apartment communities ask for an estimate to clean that only. If you decide to do it you will be giving them a building wash for free in the end . Endless the building was just painted then it is just as dirty as the eaves. Probably not as noticeable because eaves are usually white . Bid the whole building or non at lol is the only way to stay out of trouble.
Just did this 2 days ago for my neighbors. I knew ahead that I’d have to rinse everything and told them they might see some cleaner sections on the siding. I ended up cleaning 2 sides and the gable over the garage anyhow as they had some mildew that I had pointed out to them. I was using this a learning process as I am new to this business (testing out my xjet pail) and to see the effects on the tiger stripes on their gutters (which was pretty much no effect…maybe a hint lighter). I understand where people are coming from if they don’t think the whole house needs done but I think explaining the process will make it easier to sell the whole house. I won’t walk away from a job like this (at least not this early in the game) when I can just rinse the house a little while I’m waiting on the gutters and soffit to be rinsed and explaining (putting in writing) that they might end up with clean streaks running down their house. I will however price the gutter/soffit cleaning so close to a full house wash that it will be a no brainer to pay just a little extra to have it all cleaned. If you’re making good money on the rest of the cleaning, maybe throw it in as a freebie in hopes of cleaning their next home?
Another way to approach it would be to tell them you will do a pressure rinse without chemicals on the soffit but that to add chemicals they would either have to sign a waiver for clean streaks or agree to getting the entire house washed to prevent it… You tell them the proper way to apply chems is from the bottom up and here’s why. You are really looking out for their best interest.
I usually just give them a slightly higher estimate than I would to just wash the whole house. Then I just wash the house and make sure the gutters look a little extra shiny. Happens at least 5X a season.
I have a friend that asked to do the same thing, soffits and gutters. Mulled it over, had to decline as I’d be concerned the water would wet the internal insulation, plus they have a backyard koi pond. Probably wouldn’t get the black stains off anyway.
