Double Bay and Darling Point are dominated by apartments — 1960s and 70s walk-ups, later luxury blocks, and a smaller number of grand harbourfront houses on large blocks.
The technical side of cleaning here is not especially hard. The harbour is a milder environment than the ocean suburbs. What makes these jobs complicated is everything around the cleaning: who authorises it, where the equipment goes, and who is inconvenienced while it happens.
Strata is the first question, not the last
On a strata block, the exterior walls, roof, gutters, common driveways and usually the balcony structure are common property. An individual owner cannot commission work on them, and a contractor who cleans them on one owner’s instruction has created a problem for everyone.
The workable path is through the strata committee or building manager. That means a scope the committee can actually approve, insurance certificates they can file, and a schedule they can circulate to residents.
Balcony tiles and the inside face of a balcony balustrade are often lot property, so an owner can usually arrange those directly. The outside face of the same balustrade usually is not. It is worth being precise about that line before quoting.
Access decides the price
Streets around New South Head Road, Bay Street and the Darling Point ridge are narrow, heavily parked, and in places one-way. Getting a vehicle with a water tank close to a building is genuinely difficult, and on some addresses it requires a council permit or a booked loading zone.
Height is the second half of it. Anything above three storeys means an elevated work platform, a swing stage, or rope access. Each has a different cost and a different lead time, and the choice is usually forced by the building rather than chosen.
Basement car parks add a constraint people forget: the ramp height limits which vehicle can get in, and washing a basement means the water has to go somewhere that is not the stormwater system.
Harbour air is milder but constant
Salt loading here is well below Bondi or Dover Heights. Sheltered water, no surf, and buildings set back behind headlands.
But it never stops, and the marina traffic adds its own contribution — exhaust residue, diesel film and general grime that settles on north-facing glass and balustrades closest to the water.
The visible result on most blocks is a grey-brown film on windows and glass balustrades rather than aggressive corrosion. It responds well to regular washing and badly to being ignored for five years, at which point it has bonded and needs far more aggressive work.
Older blocks have specific weak points
The 60s and 70s walk-ups share a few consistent problems. Painted render that has been repainted repeatedly and now delaminates under any real pressure. Concrete balcony slabs with edge spalling where the reinforcement has started to move. Original single-glazed aluminium windows with degraded seals.
On these buildings, pressure is a liability. Water forced into a spalling slab edge or behind loose render does damage that is expensive and visible.
Low pressure and correct chemistry does the job. It also gives the person doing the work a chance to notice the spalling and tell the committee about it, which is worth more than the clean.
The houses
The freestanding houses on Darling Point and around Double Bay’s southern streets are a different job — sandstone terracing, mature figs and jacarandas, long driveways, pools close to the harbour.
Leaf litter and fig fruit are the dominant nuisance. Fig staining on sandstone and light-coloured paving is tannin-based and needs the right treatment rather than force; scrubbing it usually just drives it deeper.
What we’d prioritise
- Establish common property versus lot property before quoting anything on a strata block
- Confirm access method — platform, swing stage or rope — as part of the quote, not after
- Check parking and permit requirements for the specific street
- Low pressure on repainted render and any concrete showing edge spalling
- Regular light washing of harbour-facing glass and balustrades beats occasional heavy cleaning
- Report spalling, seal failure and drainage faults to the committee in writing
- Treat fig and jacaranda tannin staining chemically, not mechanically
Related: the Eastern Suburbs exterior cleaning guide, strata blocks and shared walls, why haze will not come off glass balustrades and exterior cleaning in Double Bay.
