A guy is in our area touting for business. I've checked his business out on Moneyhouse.ch and verified that there is someone registered with that name at that address.
He did a demo clean of a small area, and the results look quite good. I'm not sure what he's using - it's not high pressure cleaning, he sprayed something on, and then five minutes later rinsed it off with water. And, as claimed, it does look nearly new. Certainly our house walls could do with a good clean!
He quoted me 1000CHF for the front of my house - which is about 30 square metres. I said no, I would talk with my wife and my neighbours (it's a semi-detached house). He insisted that it was an offer only for today, and that it would be more next week. I continued to decline and he reduced to 700CHF. Unfortunately for him, I don't part from my money very easily, and if someone continues like this, it makes me less likely to use them. In any case, if I want a service, then I'm going to ask around for recommendations and a quote. In the end he left without a sale.
I'm guessing he's using some kind of bleach solution.
Has anyone had their house facade cleaned, but no via high pressure cleaning? How much did it cost?
Maybe not super relevant but I'll share anyway in case it helps.
I left a bin bag on our balcony that I didn't realize was leaking. When we went to take it to the dumpster, our balcony floor looked like murder thanks to the blackberry juice.
Mr Wishes sprayed the area with Cillit Bang foam for the bathtub, waited a few minutes and rinsed with water. WOW it is like a new balcony where he put the product. I'm tempted to clean the whole balcony with it.
I wonder if your guy simply has a cheap mix containing something like this and wants to charge hundreds of Francs for it.
Maybe try on a patch of wall for yourself, cheap as chips!
Cleaning is one thing. Keeping it clean another. We clean the facade of our building every 10 years, but that's 66 apartments, with scaffolding and cost about CHF 400,000.
I don't have the details to hand, but they used a high pressure hose to get all the dirt off, then applied a special paint so that the rain does not make it dirty again. It was done 4 years ago and the building still looks pristine.
You could do it yourself if it's only 30m2 and buy a Karcher high pressure spray. It's very effective and up to you if you then want to apply a paint or not. talk to you neighbour if they also want it done and maybe they will go half and help you. In any case CHF 700 seems quite a good deal.
We do have a Kärcher that we use on our patio once a year. The facade is around 5m high, so I'd rather pay someone else than do it myself. Maybe I could get a safety harness and have one of my offspring (adult) do it as I've no head for heights.
The 700CHF was only with his cleaning solution. There was no painting to be done.
Our commune has warned us to avoid such propositions. Many are coming from France and using chemicals which (while perfectly legal there) are prohibited here.
Reminds me of very much back in the day, I was the purchasing manager for an engineering firm in the midlands. One day some such fellows arrive offering to paint proper parking spaces, saying they are using local council materials and just have some extra time. Can only do today, great price, cash in hand only. Strangely enough, it must have looked somewhat legit.
I hit the petty cash and proudly show the new parking spaces for the factory to the managing director. Two weeks later, the white paint had almost completely faded, except where it hadn't turned sickly green.
Sounds like you got scammed by travellers. When I lived in Essex they were always coming round offering stuff like this. OH's boss was mega rich but always looking to penny pinch, he let them tarmac his drive because the say a couple of hundred quid, next thing he was being threatened with a beating if he didn't stump up 5k.
I removed dirt and a sort of black mildew that forms on houses with styrofoam insulation for a couple of francs!
Using a ladder, a bucket and bleach/water at 50%. Wearing old clothes and eye protection. After applying liberally with any old brush - I used a broom - hose it down after about an hour.
I guess this is what your guy will do. He didn't also happen to have some tarmac left over from a job he was doing around the corner...
Well, first of all, I didn't give them the work, so I wasn't scammed.
The company has existed for a year (I really do recommend membership of moneyhouse.ch; it's free). I could see who the managers were and their addresses. Everything matched up. However, I still wouldn't use them because it feels a bit shifty.
Making something clean and shiny is the easy part, making it clean while not effecting the surface in a bad way so it only be looking more filthy or even loses it water resisting ability's is another.