Fixing another company's work?

Sonlight

New member
I received the following email today asking if could come out and fix the problems left behind by another company or individual (I don't know who they are referring to). However, I am reluctant as I only really do basic pressure washing jobs for my window cleaning customers and I'm not a full service pressure washing contractor. I am reluctant to mess with this situation but I was hoping someone here might be able to give me some insight into what is happening with this customer and what steps to take to fix it.

Here is the email:

"Hi Steve, I hired an unnamed pressure washer company to do the cleaning. The porches were cleaned fine (aside from the water that came in the front door although I had warned them I was in the process if getting new doors and the current ones weren’t real tight) but when they went to do my gables they called me stating there were orange streaks running down the gables leaving stains. I told them to stop, paid them a fee for what they had done and called it quits. They said they had never seen this before and none of their fifteen cleaners was getting it off. It looked worse than before they started. My neighbor got up on a ladder to try to clean a section with some CLR plus some purple stuff with a dish washing brush and it cleaned right off. The company later called back and had talked to another owner who said it was rust from the nails in the wooden siding behind the vinyl siding. Sorry for all this background. My question is do you think you can clean the gables and dormer on my house and get the dirt as well as any orange streaks that arise?
"

Any replies are appreciated.

Thanks,

Steve
 
If you are reluctant, then don't. Try to see if you can find some one that can complete it for them. Lot's of things it could be.
 
If its an old property chances are lead paint has been gone over with what ever covering. This will produce orange juice leaching out of cracks fromthe house wash. I did a roof cleaning on an historic property last year. All along the gutters it went orange. A little acid rinse did the trick. This interaction has happened many times on houses built prior to 1975.
 
You have nothing to lose by saying you need to see it in person to see if you can fix it. Snap some photos and bring em back here before you commit, maybe that will help us figure it out.
 
Just be careful. You dont know what damage was caused by the other company and will not show up after you are gone. You will be liable! These kind of projects we walk away if we dont know exactly what was used as a detergent. We have been approached to fix projects other companies failed at. 75% of the time we walk.
 
I agree with the guys, I would try to help them find someone to help them but I would not touch someone else's mistake as it could really backfire huge in many different ways.
 
Back
Top