Exterior Cleaning near you

The single most useful thing to understand about outdoor cleaning in Australia is that the stormwater system and the sewer are not the same thing. EPA Victoria describes stormwater as surface run-off from rain and storm events that travels through gutters and drains into our waterways. The kerb inlet outside your house is not a treatment plant inlet; in most Australian suburbs it is a pipe to a creek.

That is why EPA Victoria's list of what should be kept out of drains includes shampoos and washing detergents alongside oil, paint and heavy metals, and sediment such as dust and dirt or soil from building sites. Detergent in a waterway is not a trivial thing, and neither is a slug of sediment from a render wash.

The duty that attaches is broad. EPA Victoria states that the general environmental duty applies to activities that may impact stormwater and the stormwater drainage system, and that everyone must eliminate or reduce risk of harm and prevent waste from entering stormwater drains so far as reasonably practicable. In practice the reasonably practicable steps are modest: choose the mildest effective product, direct runoff onto garden or lawn where it can soak away rather than to a kerb inlet, block or bund a drain inlet during the work where it is safe to do so, and collect and dispose of anything concentrated. A contractor who can describe their runoff plan without being prompted is a contractor who has thought about it.

Agree before the work what is being cleaned, what pressure will be used, what happens to the runoff, and what will not come off. Oxidised paint, chalking render, permanent staining from bore water or rust, and weathering on a north-facing wall are not dirt. A quote that lists exclusions is a quote from somebody who has looked at the building.

Exterior work damages buildings in ways that only appear later: water driven in behind cladding, render lifted off a wall, mortar cut out of old brickwork, a coating stripped well past the point of touching up. The consumer guarantee on services is the lever when it happens — the job has to be done with acceptable care and skill, a minor failure has to be put right at no charge, and a major one lets you cancel for a refund or keep the work at a reduced price. Compensation for the damage is a separate claim, which is the argument for photographing every elevation before anyone starts.

LokalMatch only makes the introduction. You describe the building, its approximate age, the wall material, the number of storeys and what you want included, and businesses that cover your area contact you directly. Those businesses pay LokalMatch for the requests they receive. LokalMatch does no cleaning, quotes no prices and does not vet, rank or recommend any business, so asking how the runoff will be managed is still your step.