What a Commercial Pressure Washing Contract Should Include
A commercial pressure washing contract should be specific enough that two vendors bidding the same property produce comparable numbers. Most are not. The common version is a page naming the property, a frequency and a total, which leaves everything that matters to interpretation and gives you nothing to enforce when the work falls short.
Here is what the document should actually contain, written from the property manager’s side rather than the contractor’s.
Scope stated surface by surface
Every surface gets its own line with its own frequency. Storefront sidewalks quarterly. Service entrance concrete monthly. Building elevations annually. Curbs, bollards, entry canopies and stairwells named individually rather than folded into common areas, because common areas means whatever the crew decides it means at two in the morning.
Include square footage or linear footage per line. If the contract does not carry measurements, you cannot verify you were charged for what was cleaned, and you cannot hold the next vendor to the same scope when you rebid.
State what is excluded as plainly as what is included. Roof surfaces, windows, interior areas and landscaping are common exclusions and each one has caused an argument somewhere.
Unit pricing, not a lump sum
Price per surface per visit, with the annual total derived from those numbers rather than stated on its own. This lets you add or drop a line without renegotiating the agreement, and it lets you compare bids honestly.
A single figure for exterior cleaning tells you nothing about whether the vendor intends to degrease the service entrance or rinse it. When two bids differ by forty percent, the itemization is usually where the difference lives.
The service window
Specify hours, not preferences. Work performed between ten at night and six in the morning is a different cost structure from work performed midday, and a contract that says minimal disruption will be interpreted generously by whoever is holding the wand.
Add notification requirements. The manager should know the date before the crew arrives and should have confirmation after the work is complete, particularly on overnight service where nobody witnessed it.
Insurance, stated as numbers
Name the limits. Commercial general liability at one million per occurrence and two million aggregate is the common floor for retail property, and larger institutional owners often require more. Specify workers compensation, commercial auto, and whether an umbrella policy is needed.
Require a certificate naming the property owner and the management company as additional insured, issued before the first visit rather than promised. Add primary and non-contributory wording and a waiver of subrogation if your owner’s risk requirements call for them.
Ask specifically whether the policy covers damage to the surface being worked on. Standard general liability sometimes excludes it, which is exactly the exposure that matters when a crew etches concrete or drives water behind stucco.
Wastewater responsibility, assigned in writing
This is the clause most agreements omit and the one that carries real consequences. Gwinnett County’s ordinance states that a person must not allow others under their control to discharge a pollutant into a storm drain, which means a vendor’s runoff can become the property’s problem.
The contract should require containment and recovery where the surface warrants it, require documentation of disposal, and place responsibility for any fine or enforcement action arising from the contractor’s discharge squarely on the contractor. Without that sentence, the default position is worse for you than most managers realize.
Documentation after every visit
Date, areas serviced, crew, and before and after photographs of representative surfaces. On a recurring contract this is the only practical way to confirm that a quarterly visit happened at all and that the scope was followed.
Photographs also settle disputes before they start. A manager who receives images after each service is not relying on memory when a tenant complains three weeks later.
Standard of work and the remedy
Define what finished means. Surfaces free of organic growth, grease treated at service entrances, gum removed from pedestrian areas, no overspray left on glass or storefront signage. Then state the remedy: the contractor returns and corrects the work at no charge within a set number of days.
A quality clause without a remedy is decoration. The remedy is what gives the standard force.
Term, escalation and exit
An initial term of one year with renewal options is normal, and an annual escalator tied to CPI keeps pricing predictable without a rebid every twelve months. State the escalator rather than leaving it open, or you will be negotiating it under time pressure.
Include a termination clause for convenience with reasonable notice, usually thirty days. A vendor confident in the work will not resist it.
Subcontracting
State whether subcontracting is permitted and, if so, that subcontractors carry the same insurance and meet the same standards. Crews change. A contract that assumes the same people forever will not hold.
What we bring to the table
Crown Pressure Washing writes agreements this way as a matter of course. Scope by surface with frequency attached, unit pricing you can adjust, certificate of insurance within twenty-four hours of signing, containment and documentation on every visit, and auto-renew with a CPI escalator so the relationship does not need rebuilding each year.
Send the property address and we will walk it and return a scope you can put out to bid, whether or not the winning bid is ours.
Request your commercial bid today
Get your commercial property looking its best with a trusted local partner. Request your quote now and see why businesses choose Crown Pressure Washing for expert, efficient commercial services.