Yovan Gabric | REALTOR®Exterior & site
The least glamorous work with the most direct effect on a listing photograph. Clean windows, clear gutters and a washed driveway change how a house reads before anyone reaches the front door. The risk is pressure — the wrong setting strips paint, drives water behind siding and etches mortar, and that damage is not always visible on the day.
Also called: Window cleaning · Pressure washing · Soft washing · Eavestrough cleaning
Licensed work
There is no trade licence for exterior cleaning in Ontario. What matters is whether the crew carries liability insurance and WSIB coverage, and whether it is trained for the height it will be working at — gutter and upper-window work is a common source of ladder falls on residential property. Ask what is being sprayed as well: soft washing uses a cleaning solution rather than pressure, and that solution reaches your plantings and your neighbour’s.
Scope
Most disputes begin with an exclusion nobody read. Confirm both columns against any quote you receive before comparing prices.
What moves the price
These are the decisions and conditions that actually drive cost on this trade. Understand them and a wide spread between quotes usually explains itself.
Storeys, and whether upper windows are reachable from a ladder or need pole-fed equipment.
Number of panes rather than number of windows — a divided-light window is several panes.
Linear feet of gutter, and how much debris is actually in it.
Square footage of hard surface, and whether it has ever been sealed before.
Whether screens and tracks are included or priced separately, which is the most common gap between two quotes that look comparable.
Cost ranges
Rather than repeat a national average that means nothing in Halton, this table stays empty until the figures are ones I have priced myself. The cost drivers above are the part that matters most anyway—they explain why the numbers vary.
If you want a real number for your property, that is what the walkthrough is for.
Book a free walkthrough →Before you sign
If any of these is missing, ask for it in writing before you compare prices. A quote that cannot answer these questions is not a quote—it is an estimate wearing a suit.
Walk away
None of these are matters of taste. Each one has a specific consequence, and each is visible before you commit any money.
The bench
No names here, deliberately — a published list is an endorsement I cannot stand behind on any given day, and the contractors on it were told they would not appear on one. Tell me the project and I’ll introduce you to whichever of these fits it.
If you are selling
This is the cheapest work that changes a listing photograph, and it is usually the last thing booked. Clogged gutters and a stained driveway read as deferred maintenance, which is the impression that makes a buyer wonder what else was deferred.
Ready to hire
Everyone on the bench is someone whose finished work I have walked. Where I also hold their WSIB, insurance and licence documentation, the profile says so — and where it does not say so, I do not hold it. No referral fee is accepted from any of them.
A straightforward first conversation
Tell me where you are in the process. We’ll discuss the property, the market, and the questions that matter most to you.