A buyer forms a view of a property in the first few seconds of the listing photos and again in the first few steps up the driveway. Exterior cleaning is the cheapest way to change both. This is the checklist we run with vendors and agents across the Lower North Shore and the Eastern Suburbs, in the order that works.
What should be cleaned before a house goes on the market?
Clean the surfaces that appear in the photographs and the surfaces a buyer touches or walks on. In order of impact: the roof if visible from the street, the front facade, the driveway and entry path, external glass, the rear entertaining area and the pool surround. Gutters, fences and letterboxes are quick additions that photographers notice.
Here is the full checklist. Tick what applies, then read the sequencing section, because order matters.
Street elevation - Roof soft washed, or at minimum the street-facing planes if budget is tight - Gutters cleared and gutter faces washed - Facade soft washed, including eaves, downpipes and the garage door - Front fence, gate, letterbox and house number cleaned - Driveway and entry path pressure cleaned, edges detailed - Front steps and porch, including any sandstone or tile
Glass and frames - All external glass cleaned with pure water - Frames, sills and tracks rinsed and vacuumed - Fly screens brushed or removed for the shoot - Skylights cleaned if the photographer is shooting interiors on a bright day
Rear and outdoor living - Deck or patio cleaned and, if timber, oiled after drying - Pool surround and coping cleaned, slip check done - Outdoor kitchen and furniture washed - Rear paths and side passages, which inspectors always walk
Often forgotten - Solar panels, which appear in drone shots - Tennis court surface and fencing - Retaining walls and garden edging - Bin store area and the side of the garage
A Federation home in Killara we prepared in February ticked every box on this list over two days. The agent's photographer shot it on day nine. It sold at auction with 11 registered bidders, and the agent told us the drone shot of the clean terracotta roof was the image that drew the most enquiry.
In what order should pre-sale exterior cleaning happen?
Work from the top down and from dirtiest to cleanest: roof first, then gutters, then facade and glass, then hard surfaces last. Reversing that order means rinse water from the roof re-soils the driveway you cleaned the day before, and the job either gets done twice or looks half finished.
Our two-day sequence on a typical two-storey home:
| Day | Time | Task | Why this order |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7:00 to 11:00 | Roof soft wash, downpipes diverted | Everything below gets wet, so it goes first |
| 1 | 11:00 to 12:30 | Gutters cleared, gutter faces washed | Catches roof debris before the facade is touched |
| 1 | 12:30 to 16:00 | Facade soft wash, all elevations | Run-off lands on surfaces still to be cleaned |
| 2 | 7:00 to 10:00 | Deck, patio, pool surround | Mid-level surfaces before the ground |
| 2 | 10:00 to 13:00 | Driveway, paths, steps with hot-water surface cleaner | Last, so nothing re-soils it |
| 2 | 13:00 to 15:30 | Glass, frames and screens with pure water | Final pass once dust from the wash has settled |
| 2 | 15:30 to 16:00 | Walk-through with the vendor, photos | Anything missed is fixed on the spot |
Timber decks are the one exception. If the deck needs oiling, it is cleaned on day one so it has 48 hours to dry before the oil goes on, and the oil is applied after all other wet work is finished.
Water use and run-off are managed as on any job. Drains are covered, wash water is directed to gardens, and we work within the Sydney Water Water Wise Guidelines (accessed October 2026). Agents in Mosman and Woollahra know the councils enforce stormwater rules, and a vendor does not want a ranger on site the week before the campaign launches.
Need this done properly? Request a quote or call 0494 810 609. We service the Lower North Shore, Eastern Suburbs, Upper North Shore and Eastern Suburbs.
When should you book exterior cleaning before the photographer?
Book the clean so it finishes seven to ten days before the photography. Roofs treated with biocide take two to six weeks to fully brown off and rinse clean in rain, so a heavily grown roof should be done three to four weeks out. Concrete needs 24 to 48 hours to dry to its true even colour.
The seven to ten day window also gives time for what the clean reveals. Once mould comes off a rendered wall you can see hairline cracks and faded paint that were hidden under the growth. Once a driveway is clean, a sunken slab or a stained section stands out. Vendors often want a painter or a concreter in for a day after seeing the clean surface, and that only works if there is a gap.
For auction campaigns, which typically run four weeks from launch, we recommend the clean in the week before photography and a light refresh of glass and the entry path the day before the first open home. The refresh takes two hours and costs a fraction of the original job.
Which pre-sale cleaning mistakes do we see most often?
The four mistakes we see most are cleaning too close to the shoot, pressure washing render or sandstone, cleaning the front only, and skipping the roof because it seems expensive. Each one shows in the photographs, and the photographs are what the campaign runs on.
Too close to the shoot. A driveway cleaned the morning of the photos is still damp in patches and photographs blotchy. A roof treated two days earlier is still grey-green with dying lichen.
Pressure on soft surfaces. Wand stripes on render, stripped glaze on terracotta, and furred sandstone steps all photograph badly and all come up in a pre-purchase building inspection. We soft wash everything that is not concrete, pavers or metal.
Front only. Buyers walk the side passages and stand in the back garden looking at the rear elevation. A rear wall black with mould undercuts a clean street face. Inspectors photograph it.
Skipping the roof. On a two-storey home the roof is a large share of the street elevation and the whole of the drone shot. Agents in Cremorne and Bellevue Hill now routinely shoot from above, and a lichen-covered roof in a drone image reads as deferred maintenance to every buyer who sees it. SafeWork NSW (accessed October 2026) guidance on working at heights is also why this is a contractor's job rather than a weekend one.
Is pre-sale exterior cleaning worth the cost?
Yes, and the return is larger than for almost any other pre-sale spend.We price every job on request after measuring the surfaces, and the figure is fixed in writing before we start; call 0494 810 609 for a quote. Agents ask for it because it works.
The comparison vendors find useful is with styling. Interior styling for a campaign typically costs $4,000 to $10,000 on the Lower North Shore and is treated as essential. Exterior cleaning costs less, is permanent for the campaign rather than hired, and improves the exterior shots that lead the listing. Doing one without the other leaves money on the table.
What to do next
Stand at the kerb where the photographer will stand and look at the house as a stranger. Then walk the side passage and look at the rear elevation. Note anything green, black or streaked. Book the clean to finish seven to ten days before the shoot and send us the photography date.
- Read what our house washing covers on render, brick and cladding.
- See how we detail a driveway cleaning so the edges photograph as cleanly as the centre.
- For spot-free glass, see residential window cleaning.
- We prepare homes for sale across the Lower North Shore and the Eastern Suburbs.
Related services: House Washing, Driveway Cleaning, Residential Window Cleaning. Areas: Lower North Shore, Eastern Suburbs.
