This trade has almost no barrier to entry. A rented machine and a magnet on a truck door is a company. These are the questions that sort the real ones out in one phone call.
Anybody can rent a machine on a Saturday. There is no license to hang on a wall for this work in North Carolina, which means the range between the best and the worst company you can hire is enormous, and both of them can print the same flyer.
The good news is that one phone call sorts it out. Nine questions, and you will know.
General liability, and the certificate comes from the insurer, not as a photo of a card. This is the single most important question on the list. A ladder through a window, water in a crawl space, or a stripped roof is a five figure problem, and if the company has no coverage it becomes your claim.
Correct answers: siding gets a soft wash at low pressure, and a shingle roof gets no pressure at all, only a chemical wash. Anyone who answers a roof question with a PSI number should not be on your roof. See why that is if you want the detail.
You want to hear that beds and shrubs get saturated before, kept wet during, and rinsed after. Killed landscaping is the most common complaint in this trade and it comes almost entirely from skipping that step.
Most residential work runs off your outdoor spigot, which is normal and is a few dollars of water. What you want to know is that they asked, rather than discovering on the day that the spigot is broken or the pressure is low.
Every surface listed by name. This is where a cheap bid turns out to be a smaller job: the walkway, the apron, the back patio, and the porch are all commonly left off and added later.
An owner, a crew, or a subcontractor. All three can be fine. Not knowing until they pull up is not.
"We are insured" is half the answer. The other half is who you call, how fast someone comes back out, and whether they have ever actually done it. Hesitation here tells you a lot.
If it takes a paragraph of conditions, it is not a guarantee. Ours is one line: if it is not right, we come back and make it right.
Not a stock gallery. Actual before and after photos from properties nearby, and ideally reviews with town names on them.
A deposit on a large commercial job is normal. A deposit on a residential driveway from someone who has never seen the driveway is not.
They arrive in the window they gave you. They walk the property with you before anything starts and point out what they cannot fix, like an existing etch or a stain that will lighten but not disappear. They protect what needs protecting. They walk it with you at the end and they do not leave while you are still looking at something.
That is the whole standard, and it is not a high one. It is just uncommon enough to be worth checking for.
If you want to see how we answer all nine, call (919) 698-3669. We will also tell you when a job is not worth doing yet, which is the answer nobody ever expects.
“They brought the color back on our vinyl siding after another company left it chalky. Night and day.”
“Great communication and fair pricing on short notice. Gutters and driveway both done same visit.”
“Same-day service and the whole property looks better. Will use them every year.”
Nobody can price your driveway off a web page. Here is what a real quote is built from, why two bids on the same house can be a hundred dollars apart, and where the money actually goes.
Read the guide →CommercialWhat property managers and owners across Wake County should actually be budgeting for, how often each surface needs attention, and why the after-hours question decides the whole thing.
Read the guide →RoofsThe dark stripes running down North Carolina shingles are a living organism, not dirt. Here is what it is doing to the roof, and why the fix is a chemical one rather than a strong one.
Read the guide →We fly the roofline and show you the footage on the spot. You see your own gutters, joints, and downspouts on the screen instead of taking our word for it. It costs nothing and you are not committing to the cleaning.
Free for homes and businesses across the Triangle and Johnston County. No obligation to book any work afterwards.
Call (919) 698-3669 for a free quote. No obligation.
Get My Free Quote → 📞 (919) 698-3669