Home/ Exterior Cleaning/ Frankfort, IL/ 7 Things to Check When Hiring a Pressure Washing Company
7 Things to Check When Hiring a Pressure Washing Company in Frankfort, IL
Quick Answer
Before you hire anyone in Frankfort, check seven things: current general liability insurance, whether they soft wash siding and roofs instead of blasting them, a verified Google Business Profile with recent reviews, local accountability such as Frankfort Chamber of Commerce membership, an itemized written quote, a stated plan to protect landscaping and windows, and a rework policy you can hold them to. A company that answers all seven without stalling is a company worth booking.
Anyone can buy a pressure washer at a big box store on Saturday and print business cards on Sunday. That is why homeowners around Prestwick, Frankfort Square, and the neighborhoods off LaGrange Road get such wildly different quotes for the same house, and why some of those quotes end with striped siding, dead shrubs, or a phone number that stops working.
Exterior cleaning is not licensed at the state level in Illinois, so nobody screens these companies for you. The screening is yours to do, and it takes about ten minutes if you know what to look at. Here are the seven checks we would run if we were the ones hiring.
The Checklist
7 Things to Check Before You Hire
Run these in order. Most companies fall out at the first or second one, which saves you the trouble of comparing prices you should never have collected.
Check 01
Current General Liability Insurance, In Writing
This is the one that protects your house. If a ladder goes through a window, a hose fitting blows against your storm door, or a cleaning solution kills a row of arborvitae, the contractor's general liability policy pays for it. Without that policy, you are the one filing on your own homeowners insurance for damage somebody else caused.
Saying "we are fully insured" on a website costs nothing. Ask for a certificate of insurance sent directly from the agent, and check that the business name on the certificate matches the name on the quote and the truck. If a crew is coming rather than a single owner, ask about workers compensation too, because an uninsured helper who gets hurt on your roof can become your problem.
Ask this: "Can your agent email me a certificate of insurance with my address listed?" A real company says yes in about an hour.
Check 02
They Soft Wash Siding and Roofs Instead of Blasting Them
The single most expensive mistake in this trade is putting high pressure on a surface that was never built for it. Vinyl siding takes water behind the courses and into the wall cavity. Cedar fuzzes up. Asphalt shingles lose granules. Stucco and dryvit crack out. Mortar joints on brick wash loose. None of that shows up the day of the job, which is exactly why cheap operators get away with it.
A company that knows the work will tell you it cleans siding and roofs with low pressure and a cleaning solution, and saves the pressure for flatwork like driveways, sidewalks, and patios. If somebody brags about PSI in the context of your house, they are telling you they clean with force instead of chemistry.
Ask this: "What pressure do you put on my vinyl siding?" The answer you want is that they do not pressure siding at all.
Check 03
A Verified Google Business Profile With Recent, Specific Reviews
Open the profile itself, not the star rating pasted on a website. Look for reviews spread across months rather than fifteen that all landed the same week. Look for photos posted by the business. Look for owner responses. Most of all, look for reviews that name a service and a town, because a review that mentions a driveway in Frankfort is a review from a real customer with a real job.
A profile with no address information, no photos, and no answered reviews usually belongs to a lead broker who sells your call to whoever is available, which is how you end up with a stranger at your house and nobody accountable when something goes wrong.
Our profile is public and open to inspection. Read every review on the Green Pro Services Google Business Profile.
Check 04
Local Accountability You Can Verify Off Their Website
Anything a company says about itself on its own website is marketing. What matters is whether the business exists anywhere you can check independently. A listing in the Frankfort Chamber of Commerce directory, a real street address, a matching business name on Illinois records, and a phone number that has been the same for years all point the same direction.
Chamber membership is not a quality guarantee and nobody should sell it as one. What it does mean is that the business paid dues, put its name in a public directory, and gave the community a place to complain. Companies that plan to disappear in November do not do that.
Ask this: "Where can I find your business listed somewhere other than your own site?"
Check 05
An Itemized Written Quote That Lists Exclusions
A number shouted over the phone is not a quote. A written quote names every surface included, states the cleaning method for each one, and says plainly what is not included. Exclusions matter more than most homeowners realize. Under deck wood, screens, second story gutter interiors, sealed pavers, and rust staining are all common carve outs, and finding out on the day of service turns a good job into an argument.
Watch for "starting at" pricing. That phrase exists so the number can move once the crew is standing in your driveway. Your quote should be a price, not a starting point.
Ask this: "Can you send that in writing with the surfaces and exclusions listed?"
Check 06
A Stated Plan for Protecting Your Landscaping, Windows, and Fixtures
Ask what happens to your plants and you will learn a lot in ten seconds. The right answer involves saturating beds before any solution goes up, covering sensitive plantings, and flushing everything again at the end. You should also hear something about closing windows, checking screens, and covering exterior outlets and light fixtures.
Well water is worth mentioning if you have it, since minerals in the rinse water can spot windows and dark siding as they dry. A crew that has thought this through will have an answer ready. A crew that has not will tell you it is fine.
Ask this: "Walk me through what you do to protect my beds along the front of the house."
Check 07
Who Actually Shows Up, and What Happens If You Are Not Happy
Find out whether the person quoting the job is connected to the people doing it. Trained employees in marked vehicles are a different arrangement than whoever answered a text that morning. Then ask about the guarantee in plain terms: if a section of siding still shows growth in a week, who comes back, how fast, and at what cost.
Also ask when payment is due. Deposits on a residential wash are unusual. Payment on completion after you have walked the property is the normal arrangement and it keeps everyone honest.
Ask this: "If I am not satisfied when you leave, what happens next?"
Verify Us Too
We Are a Frankfort Chamber of Commerce Member
Member Listing
Green Pro Services is listed in the Frankfort Chamber of Commerce business directory under pressure washing. The listing carries our address, phone number, website, and photos of Frankfort work, and it is maintained on the Chamber's site rather than ours. That is the point. You should be able to confirm a contractor exists somewhere they do not control the page.
Run the same check on anyone else you are considering. If a company cannot be found in the Chamber directory, on Google Maps with a real profile, or anywhere in county records, ask why before you let them on your roof.
Compare the Paperwork
What a Complete Quote Includes vs What a Cheap One Leaves Out
When two quotes are hundreds of dollars apart, the gap is almost never labor. It is everything in the right hand column.
| Line Item | Complete Quote | Lowball Quote |
|---|---|---|
| Surfaces | Each surface listed by name with square footage | "Wash house" with no detail |
| Method | Soft wash for siding and roof, pressure for flatwork | Not mentioned anywhere |
| Insurance | Certificate available on request from the agent | The word "insured" on a website |
| Landscaping | Pre saturation, covering, and final flush included | No plan, no mention |
| Exclusions | Stated up front in writing | Discovered on the day of service |
| Rework | Defined window to come back at no charge | Unanswered calls |
| Price format | A firm number | "Starting at" with room to climb |
Walk Away
Red Flags Worth Ending the Conversation Over
Any one of these on its own is a reason to slow down. Two of them together and you should keep calling.
- Refuses to put the quote in writing or send an insurance certificate
- Wants a large deposit before any work happens on a standard residential wash
- Cash only, no invoice, no business name on the paperwork
- Brags about how much pressure the machine puts out when the subject is your siding
- Price expires today unless you sign right now
- No verifiable address, no Chamber or directory listing, no Google profile with history
- A price so far under every other quote that the insurance could not possibly be paid for
Do This First
How to Vet Any Company in Ten Minutes
You do not need to become an expert in exterior cleaning. You need four steps and a phone.
Search the Name
Type the exact business name into Google. You want a website, a map listing, and a directory entry to all agree with each other.
Open the Map Profile
Read the newest reviews and the oldest ones. Check for owner responses and job photos from towns near yours.
Ask Three Questions
Insurance certificate, pressure used on siding, and what happens if you are not happy. Hesitation on any of the three is your answer.
Get It in Writing
Surfaces, method, price, exclusions, and rework policy on one page before you schedule anything.
From a Frankfort Homeowner
Question We Get Every Spring
Question
A company quoted me half of what everyone else did to wash my house. Should I take it?
Ask the low quote for three things: a certificate of insurance from their agent, the pressure they plan to use on your siding, and the same quote in writing with surfaces and exclusions listed. Sometimes you find a newer company that is genuinely lean and does good work, and the paperwork holds up. More often the quote covers less square footage than you assumed, skips landscape protection, or belongs to somebody with no coverage at all. Either way you will know in ten minutes, and half price on damage you have to repair yourself is not a savings.
Answered by Green Pro Services of Kankakee
Questions and Answers
Hiring Questions From Frankfort Homeowners
Run These Seven Checks On Us
Ask for the insurance certificate, ask what we put on your siding, and ask what happens if you are not happy. Then get a written itemized quote for your Frankfort home with no obligation.
