Vista Fox soft-washes Adelaide homes — render, brick, cladding, eaves and paths — at low pressure rather than with a high-pressure blaster. Typical prices are $280–$450 for a small home, $400–$700 for a standard 3-bed single-storey and $700–$1,400 for large or double-storey homes. Get a price online, and add a window clean on the same visit.
If the render’s gone green up the south wall, the eaves are streaked black, and the front fence is wearing two summers of dust — that’s an exterior house wash. Vista Fox runs soft-wash house washing across Adelaide: low-pressure application of a biodegradable detergent, dwell time, and a controlled rinse. No 4,000 PSI blasting that lifts paint, drives water under flashings, or strips the texture off your render. The same service we do for windows, scaled to the rest of the building’s exterior.
Book online or bundle it with a window cleaning round.
Soft wash vs pressure wash — what we actually do
Many “pressure washing” jobs are exactly that: a high-PSI gun pointed at painted weatherboard, render, or rendered foam. It strips, gouges, and forces water past flashings and into wall cavities. The professional method on a residential building is soft washing — low-pressure (under 500 PSI at the surface), biodegradable cleaning solution that does the chemistry, then a controlled rinse.
What we soft-wash:
- Render and bagged brick — green algae and black mould lifted without damaging the surface
- Eaves and fascia — streaks, cobwebs, oxidation
- Painted weatherboard — paint stays where it’s meant to
- Cladding (Hardie, Linea, Stria) — manufacturer-approved low-pressure clean
- Stone and sandstone — Burnside, Walkerville, Norwood villa fronts; controlled clean that doesn’t pit the surface
- Driveways, paths, and patios — these can take higher pressure; we use it where it’s safe and the right tool for the job
What we do not do: high-pressure wash painted weatherboard, render, or any old surface that won’t survive the gun. If a job needs that approach we’ll tell you on the quote.
When the house is asking to be washed
- Spring clean before summer entertaining — the most common booking window
- Pre-sale exterior — your agent has flagged the kerb appeal; render staining is a buyer-question
- Post-construction or post-reno — builder’s grime, paint over-spray, plaster splatter on the exterior
- South or shaded walls have gone green — that’s algae and lichen, and it accelerates without intervention
- Bushfire-affected — ash and smoke residue on every external surface
- Annual maintenance — most Adelaide homes benefit from a soft-wash every 12-18 months; coastal and bushland-edge homes more often
- Render is starting to look “tired” — that’s biological growth, not the render itself, and it cleans off
Our process
- Book online or get a quote. Tell us property type and approximate house size. We come back with a price; for larger homes or unusual surfaces, we’ll come and walk it before quoting.
- Site prep. Plants and garden beds covered or pre-watered to dilute any solution that drifts. Outdoor furniture moved or covered. Pets indoors during the wash.
- Apply. Low-pressure application of biodegradable detergent across the affected surfaces. The chemistry does the work; we don’t blast it off — we rinse it off.
- Dwell. 5-15 minutes for the detergent to break down algae, mould, and surface grime.
- Rinse. Controlled rinse with deionised water on the upper levels, mains-pressure on hard surfaces. We work top-down so the rinse takes the residue with gravity.
- Walk-around and pay. Final pass with you. Anything streaked, missed, or short — we redo before the truck rolls.
What’s included
A standard exterior house wash covers:
- All exterior render, brick, weatherboard, or cladding (single-storey or up to two-storey)
- Eaves and fascia (visible from ground)
- Front entry / portico area
- Garage doors
- External windowsills
Add-ons (priced separately, often bundled):
- Driveway and paths — higher-pressure clean where suitable
- Roof soft-wash — separate scope on tile or Colorbond
- Window cleaning — bundle for inside-and-out glass
- Gutter cleaning — usually bundled because we’re already on the site
- Solar panel cleaning — same visit, deionised water already on the truck
Exterior house washing cost in Adelaide
Pricing tracks against the cleaning-side strategic band:
- Small home (single-storey, compact perimeter, render or brick): $280-$450
- Standard home (3-bed single-storey, typical block): $400-$700
- Large home (4-bed plus, double-storey, large footprint): $700-$1,400
- Full-perimeter exterior + driveway + paths: scoped on a walk-around
What pushes the price:
- Storey count — second-storey access takes longer and benefits from water-fed pole reach
- Surface area — larger footprint = more wash and rinse time
- Surface condition — heavy biological growth needs longer dwell or a second pass
- Driveways and paths included — separate scope but bundled on the same visit
- Roof included — separate scope, usually a separate visit
Bundle pricing applies if booked with window cleaning, gutter cleaning, or solar — recurring customers can run the lot on a 12-month cycle.
What makes Adelaide houses dirty — and what soft washing fixes
House washing in Adelaide isn’t just about dust. The marks on most homes come from a handful of local causes, and each needs a slightly different approach:
- Green and black growth on shaded walls. South- and east-facing walls, and walls behind hedges or under large trees, stay damp through Adelaide’s winter. Algae, mould and lichen take hold in the texture of render and the pores of brick. A soft-wash detergent kills the growth at the root so it comes off in the rinse instead of being blasted into the surface — and it takes longer to come back.
- Summer dust and red-brown staining. Hot northerly winds carry fine dust that clings to eaves, window frames and textured render, especially on north- and west-facing walls.
- Coastal salt film. Homes from Semaphore to Seacliff and down to Aldinga pick up a salty film that dulls paint and holds dirt. A regular wash slows the weathering that salt accelerates.
- Hills pollen, leaf tannin and bushland dust. In Stirling, Aldgate and Mount Barker, eaves and gutters drip tannin stains down walls, and pollen settles in every horizontal ledge.
- Spider webs and insect marks under eaves. Brushed down and rinsed as part of the wash, not left for you to deal with.
- Rust and irrigation stains. Orange marks from bore water or reticulation spray need a specific treatment; we’ll tell you on the quote whether they’re likely to shift fully.
Exterior house cleaning before a sale or a repaint
Two of the best-value times to book exterior house cleaning are before listing a property and before painting it.
Before a sale, a clean exterior lifts kerb appeal in photos and at open inspections more cheaply than almost anything else. Book the house wash a few days before the photographer, then the window cleaning last so the glass is spotless on the day — our real estate prep guide covers the timing.
Before a repaint, painters need a clean, dry, mould-free surface for the new coat to bond. A soft wash removes the biological growth and chalky residue that would otherwise sit under the paint. Leave a few dry days between the wash and the painters starting.
Service area
Exterior house washing runs across the same metro-and-Hills coverage as our window crews — see locations for the full suburb map. High-priority suburbs:
- Coastal (salt-load and west-facing exposure) — Glenelg, Henley Beach, Brighton, Seacliff, Aldinga Beach
- Hills (pollen and bushland-edge) — Stirling, Aldgate, Mount Barker, Hahndorf
- Inner east heritage — Burnside, Norwood, Walkerville (sandstone-specific care)
- Northern volume — Mawson Lakes, Salisbury, Modbury, Gawler
FAQs
Q: Do you offer soft washing in Adelaide? A: Yes — soft washing is our standard method for house washing across metro Adelaide and the Hills. It uses low pressure and a biodegradable detergent to lift algae, mould and grime from render, brick, cladding and eaves without stripping paint or forcing water behind flashings.
Q: How long does an exterior house wash take? A: Many single-storey homes can be washed in around half a day. Double-storey homes, heavy growth or added driveways and paths can take most of a day. We’ll give you a time window when you book.
Q: What’s the difference between soft washing and pressure washing? A: Pressure washing uses high-PSI water (often 3,000-4,000 PSI) and relies on force to remove dirt. Soft washing uses low pressure (under 500 PSI at the surface) and a biodegradable detergent — the chemistry breaks down algae, mould, and grime, then a gentle rinse takes it away. Soft washing is what we use on render, painted weatherboard, eaves, and any surface that won’t tolerate the gun. It’s the method that doesn’t strip paint, gouge render, or force water into your wall cavities.
Q: How much does exterior house washing cost in Adelaide? A: Standard single-storey homes run $400-$700, larger or double-storey homes $700-$1,400. Bundle pricing applies if combined with window cleaning, gutter cleaning, or solar. Send your details through the booking form and we’ll come back with a price.
Q: Will the chemicals hurt my plants? A: We use biodegradable, plant-safe detergents and pre-wet adjacent garden beds to dilute any drift. Heavy plantings get covered. If you’ve got a prized specimen, tell us at booking and we’ll plan around it.
Q: How often should I wash my house exterior? A: Most Adelaide homes benefit from a soft-wash every 12-18 months. Coastal homes (salt accumulation) and bushland-edge homes (pollen, dust, biological growth) tend toward annual; inland metro homes can go 18-24 months without obvious decline.
Q: Will it damage my paint? A: Soft-washing won’t. High-pressure washing can — and it’s a common cause of paint damage that gets blamed on the weather. If a contractor is leading with PSI numbers on residential paint, that’s the wrong tool for the job.
Q: Can you clean the roof too? A: Roofs are a separate scope — different access, different chemistry for tile vs Colorbond, and a different PPE setup. We can quote it on a site walk; not everything that needs an exterior wash needs a roof clean too.
Q: What about the driveway and paths? A: Hard surfaces like concrete driveway and paving can take higher pressure and clean up well — usually bundled into the house wash visit at an add-on price. Heavily oil-stained concrete may need a degreaser pre-treat that’s quoted separately.