How to Prepare Your Commercial Property for Pressure Washing

Scheduling a pressure washing service is the easy part. What happens in the 24 hours before the crew arrives determines whether the job goes smoothly or turns into a half-day of problem-solving.

We have cleaned commercial properties across Bergen County for over 40 years. The jobs that go best — the ones that finish on time, on budget, and without a single complaint from tenants — are almost always the ones where the property manager did a few things in advance. Here is exactly what those things are.

Send a written notice to every tenant, employee, and regular visitor. Include:

• Date and approximate hours of the cleaning
• Which areas will be inaccessible — entrances, parking sections, loading docks
• Instructions for vehicles — where to park, what time to move by
• A contact number for questions

Tenants who are surprised by a crew outside their window at 7 AM are tenants who call the property manager with complaints. A simple email the day before eliminates almost all of that friction.

Walk the perimeter and remove anything that should not get wet or that would slow the crew down:

• Portable signage — A-frames, sandwich boards, directional signs
• Outdoor furniture — chairs, tables, planters that can be moved
• Trash receptacles — move them away from walls and building corners
• Doormats — remove them from all entrances
• Electrical cords or extension cables running along exterior walls

Anything left in place becomes an obstacle. Obstacles slow the job and occasionally get damaged.

Walk the building exterior and identify every exterior outlet, junction box, and low-voltage lighting fixture. If any are not properly weatherproofed, flag them with tape or a cone so the crew knows to work around them. We take precautions with all electrical components, but your knowledge of the property's quirks is invaluable.

If the cleaning solution will be applied near ornamental plantings, hedges, or garden beds, pre-soak them with plain water. A well-hydrated plant absorbs less cleaning solution through its roots. For particularly sensitive plantings, cover them with plastic sheeting and let us know in advance so we can plan our rinse sequence accordingly.

Someone on your team should be reachable by phone for the duration of the job. Not to supervise — we handle that — but to answer questions that only a property manager can answer: "Is this door supposed to be locked?" or "There is a vehicle in Bay 3 that needs to move."

Walk the parking areas one more time. A single car parked in the wrong spot can force the crew to skip a section and come back, which costs time and sometimes an additional trip charge.

Confirm that the exterior hose bibs or water supply points we will be using are accessible and functional. If your building has a backflow preventer that requires a key or a code, have that information ready.

This sounds obvious, but it is the single most common oversight. Walk every accessible floor and confirm that windows are latched and exterior doors are fully closed. Even a slightly open window on the second floor can let water in during a high-reach cleaning.

A few things property managers sometimes worry about that are not actually your responsibility:

• Mixing or supplying cleaning solutions — we bring everything
• Providing a water truck — we connect to your building supply
• Staying on-site for the entire job — once we start, we work independently
• Inspecting the work in real time — we do a final walkthrough with you at the end

Plan for surfaces to be wet for one to two hours after completion, depending on temperature and sun exposure. If you have a high-traffic entrance, a few wet floor signs at the doors during that window prevents slip-and-fall incidents and the liability that comes with them.

Questions about scheduling or what to expect on the day of service? Call us at (201) 697-3695 or use the contact form on this site. We are happy to walk through the process with you before you book.