Pressure washing before selling a house · Middle Tennessee
Pre-listing exterior cleaning, done before photo day
Pre-listing exterior cleaning exists because the listing photos are the first showing, and every buyer sees them before they see the house. Green siding, a streaked roof and a stained driveway all photograph exactly as badly as they look. We get the whole exterior done in one visit, scheduled around your photo date.
What this usually costs
A full pre-listing exterior on a typical family home, house wash plus driveway and walks plus roof plus gutters, runs $1,070 to $1,750.
On a $450,000 listing that is under a third of one percent of the asking price, and it is the part of the house every single buyer looks at first.
Built from our published rates. Full breakdown further down, and you can price your own property in about a minute.
The first showing happens online
Why pre-listing exterior cleaning changes the photos
By the time anyone books a walkthrough they have already decided how they feel about your property, from a phone screen, in about eight seconds. Pressure washing before selling a house is not about making it perfect. It is about not losing people at the photo.
The camera is unkind to algae
Green streaking on siding and black streaks on a roof read as neglect in a photo far more than they do standing in the driveway. A wide shot of the front elevation is the listing's lead image, and it is the one buyers scroll past or stop on.
Buyers price what they can see
Someone looking at a stained driveway and a streaked roof is not thinking about cleaning. They are wondering what else was not kept up, and that question turns into a lower offer or a longer list of requests after the inspection.
Inspectors write down what they find
Organic growth on a roof, moss in the gutters and algae on a deck all end up in the inspection report. Anything in that report becomes a negotiating item, whether or not it is actually a defect.
It is a rounding error on the sale
A full exterior on a typical home is a four figure number against a six figure sale. On a $450,000 listing it is under a third of one percent, and it is spent on the part of the property that every buyer evaluates first.
It is the cheapest thing on the prep list
Against paint, landscaping, staging, flooring or a roof replacement, exterior cleaning is the lowest cost item that changes the photos. It is also the fastest, because it is a one day job rather than a project.
It works on the whole property
Siding, roof, driveway, walkways, porch, deck, fence and gutters. Buyers do not evaluate a house one surface at a time, so cleaning one surface and leaving the rest just moves where the eye lands.
Real Middle Tennessee jobs
Drag across and see the difference a photo would show
These are our own pre-listing exterior cleaning jobs, same camera position, no filter. Wipe the dirt off yourself and picture which version is on the listing.
BeforeAfter
BeforeAfter
More of our work is in the before and after gallery, where you can clean about twenty more of them yourself.
Sequencing
When to book pre-listing exterior cleaning
The most common mistake is booking pre-listing exterior cleaning after the photographer has already been. The second most common is doing it the same morning, when the surfaces are still wet and the driveway photographs dark.
Give us your photo date when you enquire and we will work backwards from it. If the date is tight we will tell you honestly whether we can make it rather than taking the booking and hoping.
Book the exterior clean
Early enough to get the date you want, and early enough that if we find something that needs attention there is time to deal with it before listing.
We clean the exterior
The sweet spot. Everything is dry and settled, concrete has returned to its natural colour, and there is a buffer if weather moves us by a day.
Landscaping and mulch
After the wash, not before. Rinse water and runoff will flatten fresh mulch and spot new plantings, so this order round saves redoing it.
Photographer shoots a dry, settled exterior
Surfaces are their true colour rather than wet and dark, and there is no equipment or hose on the property.
The morning of, or after photos
Wet concrete photographs several shades darker and dries patchy. Cleaning after the photos means the listing keeps the dirty images, which is where the money was actually going to be made.
Priced from our published rates
What pre-listing exterior cleaning actually costs
Pre-listing exterior cleaning is priced from the same rates on our service pages, with the bundled roof rate applied because a pre-listing job is multi-service by definition. Nothing here is a lead-in price that changes when we arrive.
Single story, smaller drive
- ✓House wash, foundation to gutter line
- ✓Driveway, walks and front entry
- ✓Roof soft wash, around 1,500 sq ft
- ✓Gutter cleaning, 120 to 180 linear ft
House $250 to $400, concrete $200 to $325, roof at the bundled rate, gutters at $1.00 to $1.50 per linear foot.
Typical family home
- ✓House wash, all elevations
- ✓Driveway, walks, porch and patio
- ✓Roof soft wash, around 2,200 sq ft
- ✓Gutter cleaning, 140 to 200 linear ft
The one most listings need. On a $450,000 asking price this is under a third of one percent.
Two story or larger lot
- ✓House wash, two story elevations
- ✓Extended drive, walks and patio
- ✓Roof soft wash, around 3,000 sq ft
- ✓Gutter cleaning, 160 to 240 linear ft
Decks, fencing and oxidation removal are quoted on top, since not every property needs them.
Where a property lands inside a range depends on condition, access and height. Every estimate is confirmed on site at no charge, and the price you approve is the price you pay. Full rates are on our service pages.
About a minute
Price your own pre-listing exterior cleaning
Pick the property size and what needs doing. Every pre-listing exterior cleaning quote here is built from our published rates. Add your photo date and we will work backwards from it.
Property size
Who is enquiring
What needs doing
Confirmed on site at no charge. Tell us the photo date and we will tell you honestly whether we can make it.
For listing agents
A vendor you can hand a listing to
If you list ten or more houses a year, pre-listing exterior cleaning is a problem you solve repeatedly with whoever answers the phone. We would rather be the one you stop having to think about.
Pre-listing exterior cleaning, agent side
- ✓You give us the photo date, we work backwards. Not the other way round. The whole schedule is built from when the photographer is coming.
- ✓One visit, whole exterior. House, roof, flatwork and gutters on the same trip, so you are not coordinating three vendors around one listing.
- ✓Before and after photos, sent to you. Useful for the seller who is paying, and occasionally useful in the listing itself.
- ✓We deal with the seller directly if you want. You make the introduction and step out. Or stay in the loop on everything, whichever you prefer.
- ✓Vacant properties are no problem. We do not need anyone there. Lockbox or gate code and you get photos when it is done.
- ✓Insured, with a COI on request. Sent to you or your brokerage without you having to chase it.
Why we want the relationship, plainly
An agent who lists fifteen houses a year is worth more to us than fifteen separate homeowners we never hear from again, and we will treat it that way. That means your listings get scheduling priority when spring gets busy, and it means we will tell you when a property does not need the full package rather than selling your client something they can skip.
It also means we will be straight with you when we cannot hit a date. A vendor who says yes to everything and then misses photo day costs you more than one who tells you on the phone that the week is full.
If you have a listing coming up, send it over. Use the form above, choose "I am the listing agent" and we will come back to you the same day where we can.
Before the inspector does
What pre-listing exterior cleaning takes off the inspection report
Pre-listing exterior cleaning does not fix defects and we will not pretend otherwise. What it does is remove the cosmetic items that get written up as findings, so the report is about the house rather than about housekeeping.
Roof organic growth
Algae and moss on shingles routinely appear in inspection reports, and a buyer reading "organic growth on roof" often hears "roof problem". Soft washing removes it at the root. What it will not do is fix a roof that has already lost its granules, and we will tell you which one you have.
Blocked or growing gutters
Debris and plant growth in gutters get flagged because they cause genuine water issues. Clearing them removes the finding and lets the inspector see the actual condition of the gutters and fascia underneath.
Algae on decks and walkways
Slippery surfaces are a safety note in a report and a real hazard during showings when it rains. This is one of the quickest things to resolve before listing.
Mildew on siding and soffits
Written up as maintenance, read by buyers as neglect. Removing it also lets you see what is actually underneath, which occasionally matters more than the cleaning.
What we will tell you instead
Sometimes we find the problem is not dirt. Failed paint, rotten trim, damaged siding, a roof past its life. We say so before you spend money on cleaning that will not change the outcome, because finding out after the photos is worse for everyone.
Already under contract?
If cleaning has come up as a repair request after inspection, we can usually work to a closing timeline. Tell us the date on the enquiry and we will tell you straight whether it is achievable.
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FAQ
Pre-listing exterior cleaning questions
For most properties yes, and the reasoning is simple rather than a sales pitch. The listing photos are the first showing and every buyer sees them, a full exterior clean on a typical home is a four figure cost against a six figure sale, and organic growth routinely ends up in the inspection report where it becomes a negotiating item. We will not promise you a specific increase in sale price, because nobody can honestly predict that for a specific house. What we can say is that it is one of the cheapest items on any prep list and one of the few that changes the photographs.
Three to seven days is the sweet spot. Everything is dry and settled, concrete has gone back to its natural colour, and there is a buffer if weather pushes us a day. Avoid the morning of the shoot, because wet concrete photographs several shades darker and dries patchy. Book two to three weeks ahead to get the date you want, and do landscaping and mulch after the wash rather than before, since runoff will flatten fresh mulch.
A modest single story home runs $795 to $1,370, a typical family home $1,070 to $1,750, and a larger or two story property $1,410 to $2,260. Those cover house washing, driveway and walks, roof soft washing and gutter cleaning on one visit. They are built from our published rates with the bundled roof rate applied, which a pre-listing job qualifies for because it is multi-service by definition. Decks, fencing and oxidation removal are quoted on top since not every property needs them.
House washing and the driveway change the photos most, because they are the largest surfaces in the front elevation shot. Roof cleaning matters most on a property where the roof is visible in the lead image or where streaking is heavy, and it is also the item most likely to show up in an inspection report. Gutters matter more than people expect, because plant growth in a gutter is visible from the street and reads as neglect. If your budget only stretches to part of it, tell us and we will tell you which parts to spend it on for your specific house.
Yes, and we would like to do more of it. If you list regularly, you give us the photo date and we schedule backwards from it, handle the whole exterior on one visit, and send before and after photos to you as well as to your seller. We can deal with the seller directly after the introduction or keep you in the loop on everything. Vacant properties are no problem since we do not need anyone on site. Your listings get scheduling priority when spring gets busy, and we will tell you when we cannot hit a date rather than saying yes and missing photo day.
Neither. We work from outside and only need water access and a way in through any gates. Vacant and staged properties are both fine. You do not need to be home, and we send photos when the work is finished so you can see it without making a trip.
Usually yes. Tell us the closing date on the enquiry and we will tell you honestly whether it is achievable rather than taking the booking and hoping. Repair request work is common for us and it is normally a smaller scope than a full pre-listing clean, since it is targeted at whatever the inspector wrote up.
We tell you before you spend anything. Cleaning fixes dirty, not damaged. Permanently discoloured vinyl, concrete etched by a previous high pressure cleaning, failed paint, rotten trim and shingles that have already lost their granules will not come back no matter what is sprayed on them. Saying so up front occasionally costs us a job and saves you money every time, and on a house you are about to list it saves you finding out after the photos.
Based in Middle Tennessee and working across Nashville, Franklin, Brentwood, Bellevue, Oak Hill, Mount Juliet, Hendersonville, Nolensville, Spring Hill, Columbia and Dickson, covering Williamson, Davidson, Dickson, Cheatham, Hickman, Maury, Montgomery, Humphreys and Houston counties. This sits alongside the rest of our exterior cleaning services.
Tell us your photo date
That one piece of information is what lets us schedule pre-listing exterior cleaning properly. Send it over with the address and we will work backwards from it, or call and we will talk it through.
Southern Solution LLC · Based in Middle Tennessee · office@southernsolutiontn.com · Insured, COI on request · Veteran owned since 2011