Common questions, plain answers

Phone is fastest: 604-356-0819. Most quotes are usable from a single call, especially if you can text a few photos afterward. If we need a closer look, we book a free on-site visit within a few business days. There is no booking deposit and no obligation after the quote.

Soft-wash for siding and roofs, full-pressure for concrete and pavers, hand-cleared gutters with downspout flushing, pure-water window cleaning, and the same kit applied to townhouse strata, low-rise apartments, and storefronts. Roofs, siding, gutters, driveways, walkways, and windows is the short list. Inside cleaning, masonry restoration, painting, and pest treatment are not us.

Mid-rise and high-rise (anything that needs a boom truck or swing stage), heritage masonry restoration, biohazard or hoarder cleanup, interior cleaning, painting, and pest control. If a job is outside our skill set we say so on the phone and point you to a specialist; we would rather lose the work than mishandle it.

Yes, licensed in British Columbia and carrying commercial general liability for residential and light-commercial work. A certificate of insurance can be issued to strata corporations and property managers on request, usually within one business day of the booking.

A small Greater Vancouver crew, usually two technicians for residential and three for townhouse strata. The person you spoke with on the phone is one of them. We do not subcontract to a rotating roster, which is part of why the workmanship stays consistent from one season to the next.

Interac e-Transfer is what most homeowners use; we also take credit card and cheque. Stratas and commercial accounts can pay by EFT against a thirty-day invoice. There is no surcharge for any method, and we never ask for a deposit on residential work.

Soft wash runs the same equipment at very low pressure with a cleaning solution that actually lifts the algae, mould, and moss; the water is the rinse, not the scrub. Pressure wash uses full pressure with no chemistry, on surfaces tough enough to handle it (concrete, pavers, retaining-wall block). Picking the wrong one is how shingles lose granules and how paint comes off siding.

Asphalt shingles in good condition can be walked carefully with the right footwear; older or brittle shingles get cleaned from the ladder with extended low-pressure tips. Cedar shake we stay off entirely. No full-pressure spray ever goes on a roof, regardless of substrate; the granules and the cedar fibres are both too easy to damage.

Once a year minimum, ideally in late October or early November after the bulk of the leaf drop and before the heavy rains. Properties with overhanging cedar, fir, or maple need a second pass in late spring once seed pods and catkins finish dropping. We hand-pull the debris, flush the downspouts, and check the fascia line for sags.

Older oil stains lift partially; fresh stains lift mostly. The realistic outcome is that the stain becomes noticeably lighter and blends with the surrounding concrete after a full surface-cleaner pass plus hand-wand detail with a degreaser. Full removal sometimes needs a second visit or a poultice; we are honest about that on the quote rather than promising new-concrete results.

All four take soft-wash, but the chemistry and dwell time vary. Hardie 板 and vinyl tolerate a stronger solution; cedar wants a milder mix to avoid lifting the natural oils; stucco needs careful rinse coverage so streaking does not show in the texture once dry. We adjust per surface rather than running one recipe across the whole exterior.

Tap water has dissolved minerals that leave spots when it dries. A pure-water system passes water through a series of filters until it is mineral-free, then delivers it through a soft brush on a carbon-fibre pole. The water rinses the glass and dries spot-free with no squeegee, which is why it works for upper-storey windows where a ladder would be slow or unsafe.

The technical work is identical; the project management is different. Commercial and strata jobs include a written scope per building, certificate of insurance for the strata corporation, scheduled work windows around tenants and trading hours, and before-and-after photos for the council meeting. Same crew, same equipment, more paperwork.

The detergents we use are biodegradable and rinse clear, but we still treat plant beds carefully: a pre-rinse, a cover where the spray would otherwise land, and a thorough post-rinse on anything adjacent to the work zone. Dogs and cats can return to the yard the same afternoon once the surfaces have dried.

For a single-family detached home in Greater Vancouver, asphalt-shingle soft-wash usually lands in the mid-three-figure to low-four-figure range, depending on roof area, pitch, moss load, and access. Townhouse units are quoted per building. The honest answer is that we need the address (or the square footage and a photo) to give you a real number rather than a wide range.

Square footage and pitch on roofs, linear footage and storey count on gutters, surface area and stain difficulty on driveways. Access matters too: a townhouse block with tight gates and shared courtyards takes longer to set up than a detached lot with a wide driveway. We break the line items out on the written quote so there are no surprises.

Thirty days from the quote date. If you book inside that window the price holds; outside that window we may need to re-walk the property, especially if a winter storm season has changed the moss situation. Quotes for strata projects can be extended on request, since council meetings sometimes run on a longer cycle.

No, residential estimates are free, whether by phone or on-site. We do not charge a travel fee for the visit, and we do not hold a deposit to come out. The only time a fee enters the picture is for very large strata or commercial scopes where a formal site-condition report is requested up front; that is rare and always quoted before the work.

Not on residential. Payment is due once the work is done and you have walked the property with the crew. Large strata or commercial projects scheduled out more than thirty days may have a progress-payment schedule, but that is written into the contract before any work starts, not asked for at the door.

Spring (April through June) and early fall (September through October) are the busiest. In those windows expect a one- to three-week lead time. Mid-summer and the dead of winter usually have same-week openings. Urgent gutter or roof issues before a storm we try to slot in faster; call and tell us what is going on.

Soft-wash and gutter work continue in light rain without affecting the result; heavy rain or wind we postpone, since rinse coverage and ladder safety both suffer. Driveway and window jobs we always reschedule out of meaningful rain. You get a phone call the morning of, not a surprise no-show, and the rebook is the next workable day in the route.

Saturdays sometimes, by request, for residential jobs that genuinely cannot run on a weekday. We do not work Sundays. Strata and commercial work runs Monday through Friday so that we are not creating noise complaints from neighbours on a quiet morning.

Roofs and siding are best done in the dry shoulder seasons (April to early June, late August through October) when surfaces dry fully between treatment and rinse. Gutters want a late-October clean after the leaf drop. Driveways are happiest in summer when the concrete can cure-out evenly after the wash. Winter still works for emergencies; the result is just slower to set.

A single-family roof clean is usually a half to a full day. Add gutters and the house soft-wash and you are looking at a one- to two-day visit, depending on size and access. A driveway-only job is typically half a day. Townhouse strata are scoped per building and walked block by block; we share the schedule with the council in advance so residents know what to expect.

All ten Greater Vancouver cities: Vancouver, Richmond, Burnaby, Surrey, Coquitlam, North Vancouver, West Vancouver, White Rock, Delta, and Langley. We do not regularly travel beyond Metro Vancouver. If your property is in the Fraser Valley past Langley or up the Sunshine Coast, call anyway and we can refer a trusted crew in that area.

No travel fee inside Greater Vancouver. The quote is the quote, whether the job is on the Vancouver West Side or out in Walnut Grove. We run weekly routes through every city, so the drive time is built into how we schedule rather than billed back to you.

A small minimum applies for residential visits so that the setup, drive, and packing-up costs are covered. Most single-service residential jobs (a roof clean, a gutter clean, a driveway) sit well above that minimum on their own. Tiny one-off requests we usually suggest bundling with another service on the same visit to make the trip worthwhile for both sides.

Richmond, Burnaby, and the Vancouver West Side carry the most volume, so we are usually in those areas weekly. North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Surrey, Coquitlam, and Langley run on a regular but slightly longer rotation. White Rock and Delta we route around the South Surrey and Tsawwassen runs. None of this changes the price; it just affects how soon we can be there.

Yes, a certificate naming your strata corporation as additional interest is issued by our broker within one business day of the booking. We can email it to the property manager directly so it sits in the council records before work starts. The same applies to commercial property managers asking for COI on file.