Reading A Quote: What Belongs In Writing

The standard advice is to get three quotes, and it is good advice that mostly does not work. Three numbers arrive, they are spread across a wide range, and there is no way to tell whether the cheapest one is efficient or is simply doing less.

That is not usually anybody being dishonest. Exterior work has no standard scope, so each contractor quotes what they assume the job is — and those assumptions are invisible in the total.

Ask for these explicitly and the spread between three quotes usually collapses to something rational:

• The areas included, named. Not the property — the elevations, the runs, the surfaces. A quote for a house is a quote for whichever parts of it the writer had in mind.
• The method, and for a roof, the pressure. This is the difference between a surface that is treated and a surface that is stripped, and it does not show up in a total.
• The access assumed. Ladder, pole, lift or rope. Access moves a price more than area does, and an unstated one is the cheapest one.
• What happens at the boundaries. Downspouts, guard removal, screens, tracks, the drain at the bottom of the run — the parts that sit between two obvious jobs are the parts that fall out of both.
• Debris. Bagged and removed, or left on site. This is a small line that generates a disproportionate number of complaints.
• The finish condition. What does done look like — is there a flow test, a walk-round, a rinse-down of what was worked over?
• Frequency, where the work recurs. One visit and a twice-yearly cycle are different products, and a quote silent on frequency has priced one visit.

First: what is not included that I might reasonably expect to be? A contractor who answers that one straightforwardly is telling you where their scope stops, which is the single most useful thing you can learn before signing anything.

Second: what would change this price on the day? The honest answers are specific — a blocked downspout that has to be augered, a guard system nobody mentioned, a surface that turns out to be sealed rather than bare. A quote that cannot change is either padded or about to become a conversation.

A written scope is usually presented as a protection for the customer, and it is. It is also the reason the crew on site knows what they are doing without phoning anyone, and the reason the invoice matches the quote.

For a strata or a commercial site it does a third thing, and this is the one that gets underrated: it produces a record. A dated scope with a record of each visit against it is evidence of a maintenance standard — which matters to an insurer, to a purchaser's lawyer, and in any dispute about whether a building was being looked after.

• A single line and a total, with no scope under it.
• A price given over the phone for work nobody has looked at, on a property with any height or access complexity.
• No mention of method on roof or siding work, where method is the whole question.
• Pressure offered on asphalt shingle, cedar or stucco — that is a red flag about the work rather than about the price.
• Payment in full up front for work not yet started.
• No written confirmation of licensing and insurance, on any job involving height.

How do I compare exterior cleaning quotes properly?

Normalise the scope before you compare the numbers. Ask each contractor for the areas included, the method, the access assumed, what happens to debris, and what done looks like. Quotes that match on those five are comparable; quotes that do not are not, whatever the totals say.

Is the cheapest quote usually doing less?

Frequently, and not always dishonestly — it may simply be a narrower assumption about the job. The way to find out is to ask what is excluded rather than to assume the difference is efficiency or greed.

Should I pay a deposit?

Deposits are normal on larger or materials-heavy work and terms vary by contractor, so the arrangement belongs in the written agreement. What is not normal is full payment up front for work that has not started.

What should I check about insurance?

That the contractor is licensed and carries liability insurance, and for anything at height, that their workers are covered. Ask for it in writing before work begins rather than after an incident, when it is too late for the answer to help.

Does a written scope really matter for a small job?

It matters most where the work is recurring or where anyone other than you will need to know what was agreed — a strata council, a property manager, a future owner. On a one-off residential job it mostly protects against a disagreement about what done meant.

Every service page here sets out its own scope and method — the full catalogue is here — and quotes are given in writing after looking at the property. If it is easier to talk it through, the contact page has the phone number on it.