I'm very new to the business and took on way more than I could chew yesterday. A 4 story apartment complex in San Francisco,Ca. The back of the home has difficult access 5' wide wood balconies and a fire escape hovering over a vertical 50' foot drop. The only access was through a hallway which lead to the fire escapes.
Bought a couple 24' extension poles, zep home washing soap, and brushes bringing the mind set I want to clean the off-white paint and make it look new.
Talk about difficult, used an 30' extension wand and the extension poles with my hot water machine running about 170' away.
Myself and newbie helper hand scrubbed the walls and followed with the hot water knocking down the dirt and freeway grimed urban apartment.
I learned alot in that 4 hours. Pressure washing is tough with the extension wand on tight terraces. My helper on his first wand pass, said, " This thing kicks like a shot gun!" (8gpm 24 horse honda with beckett burner)
I then moved to the front with easy street access. Hand brushed 4 garage doors and then again, because of the grime that just seemed to stay on the paint.
I did all this for $400 and would do it again. The customer couldn't believe the diffrence, stated "I dont have to paint for a few more years,thanks."
Was brushing worth it I dont know, but I know I cleaned the apartment the way I would want my house to look. I was soaking wet from all the soffits and eaves between floors and pleased with myself for completing the project.
I WILL hook-up a downstreaming piece for the next wash and cant wait!