Exterior cleaning & maintenance
A booked season and rebooked regulars—without chasing quotes and reworking rain days from the top of a ladder.
Deptly helps window cleaning, gutter, pressure washing, and soft washing companies book out the season and bring last year's customers back — and carries the quote follow-up, the weather-reschedule communication, and the invoice chasing — while pricing, safety calls, and what's safe to wash stay with you and your crew.
What does Deptly do for exterior cleaning & maintenance?
Deptly is a managed service that runs the office side of exterior cleaning and maintenance. It answers new requests, gathers photos and measurements, quotes standard jobs within your approved pricing, follows every open quote to a yes or a no, reworks booked days when weather pushes them, sends completion photos with the invoice, chases payment, and gets annual reminders out on time — while pricing judgment, safety calls, and what's safe to wash stay with you.
Sound familiar?
Five moments from the way this work actually runs — not because anyone is careless, but because the loop depends on whoever is busiest.
A homeowner texts photos of green siding at 8:15 PM asking what a house wash would run — and by the time you price it on Saturday, two other companies have already quoted it.
Wind gusts kill Thursday's ladder work, and all six jobs on the sheet — two gutter cleans, a house wash, three window jobs — need calls, new dates, and a route that still makes sense.
It's the last week of October, leaves are down, the phone won't stop — and half of last year's gutter list still hasn't been told they're due.
The crew finishes a driveway at 2 PM, the homeowner's at work, the before-and-after photos are on the crew lead's phone, and the invoice goes out whenever you remember it exists.
You're forty feet up on Maple Street when a call comes in from two doors down — the exact add-on that makes a route day profitable — and it rings to voicemail.
Why this happens
Exterior work is comparison-shopped fast. A homeowner sends the same siding photos to three companies, and the job usually goes to whoever answers first and follows up second — not whoever would do the best work. Quotes are quick to produce from photos and measurements, so speed and persistence decide the season. But every hour spent on the phone during the season is an hour off a ladder, which means the office work and the production work compete for the same person: you.
Then there's the weather. In this branch the schedule is a living document — one forecast turns a booked Thursday into a chain of waiting states. Each moved job needs a call, a new date, and a slot that doesn't wreck the neighborhood batching that makes a route day profitable. None of that needs your judgment once you've made the call to stand down. It needs someone to act inside the same afternoon, while you're rerouting crews and returning ladders to the trailer.
Underneath it all is an annual cycle. The cheapest revenue in exterior cleaning is last year's customer — gutters are due every fall, house washes every year or two, windows every spring. But the due dates live in a spreadsheet or in your head, and the season starts whether or not the reminders go out. Stored isn't done. That gap between what's recorded and what's acted on is the work around the work — and it's the part Deptly takes.
What Deptly handles here
Three complete responsibilities — each with a trigger, the actions carried, the escalation point, and what done actually means.
Responsibility 1
Answer, quote, and book the season's requests
- Starts when
- A request comes in — call, text, or web form, often with photos attached — while you and every crew are out on jobs.
- What Deptly does
- Responds within minutes on your business line and gathers what pricing needs: photos, the address for measurements, surface and story count, and gate, pet, and spigot notes.
- Quotes standard jobs inside your approved pricing — per-pane windows, linear-foot gutters, square-foot driveways and house washes — or packages the details so you can price the odd ones in one look.
- Follows up on every open quote at set intervals until there's a yes, a no, or a clear reason.
- Books won jobs onto the day that keeps the route tight — batched by neighborhood, with access notes recorded before the crew rolls.
- Comes to you when
- Multi-story ladder or roof work, commercial bids, delicate surfaces, and any price outside your approved bands come to you with the details already gathered.
The job is on the calendar with access notes recorded, or the no is logged with a reason — nothing dies in a photo thread.
Responsibility 2
Rework weather days and keep every job informed
- Starts when
- The forecast turns — rain, wind, or freezing temps — and you call off a booked day.
- What Deptly does
- Maps every affected job and proposes a repaired schedule that keeps neighborhood batches intact instead of scattering jobs across the week.
- Notifies every customer with their new date once you approve the repair, and handles the replies and the inevitable can-you-come-sooner requests.
- Updates the calendar and the crew so everyone is looking at the same day.
- Sends day-before reminders with the prep that saves a wasted trip: cars out of the driveway, windows closed, gates unlocked, pets in.
- Flags jobs that have been moved more than once so they get priority on the next clear day.
- Comes to you when
- Customers with hard deadlines — a listing photo shoot, a graduation party, a closing — come to you before their job moves.
Every job on the washed-out day ends up done, moved to a confirmed new date, or flagged for your call — no customer left wondering if you're still coming.
Responsibility 3
Close out jobs and bring last year's customers back
- Starts when
- The crew marks a job complete — or a past customer's annual service comes due.
- What Deptly does
- Sends the completion note with before-and-after photos and the invoice the same day, even when nobody was home.
- Follows unpaid invoices at your cadence until they're settled.
- Asks happy customers for a review while the clean driveway is still drying.
- Logs each job's return cycle — gutters every fall, house washes every year or two — and sends the reminder when it's due, at your price.
- Offers past customers a neighborhood-day slot when a crew is already booked on their street, within terms you've approved.
- Comes to you when
- Damage claims — a cracked pane, a stripe on the deck, a torn screen — and disputed invoices go straight to you with the job history and photos attached.
The invoice is paid, the review is requested, and the next-service reminder is scheduled — the customer is in next season's book, not a spreadsheet row.
One job, before and with Deptly
The same signal, followed all the way to a verified outcome instead of waiting on whoever is busiest.
Today
- October arrives and gutter season hits — new callers fill the phone before you've touched last year's list.
- Last year's 180 gutter customers live in a spreadsheet you keep meaning to open.
- You send a batch of reminder texts one late night in November — after the first storm has already clogged half the gutters in town.
- A chunk of last year's customers, hearing nothing, book whoever dropped a flyer.
- You end the season running one-off jobs scattered across three towns instead of tight route days.
With Deptly
- In late September, Deptly starts working last year's gutter list — every customer hears they're due, at the price you set.
- Responders get booked straight onto route days batched by neighborhood.
- Non-responders get a second and third touch at your cadence; hard nos get logged with reasons.
- New callers get slotted into the gaps — quoted within your bands, access notes recorded.
- By mid-October you see one list: booked, declined, still deciding — and which streets have enough jobs for a full route day.
- Leaf season runs on full, batched days — and none of it depended on your late night with the spreadsheet.Closed loop
Start from the outcome you want
The same responsibilities, prioritized differently depending on what you are trying to change first.
Win the quotes and own the rebook
Exterior jobs go to whoever answers first and follows up — most quotes die from silence, not price. Deptly responds while you're still on the ladder, follows every photo quote until it's a yes or a no, and asks happy customers for the review that wins next spring's searches. When a crew is already booked on a street, nearby past customers get a neighborhood-day offer within your approved terms. And last year's list becomes this year's book — reminders go out when service is due, not when you find the spreadsheet.
Get the weather day off your phone
A booked week in this business is one forecast away from a phone marathon. You make the weather call; Deptly carries the rest — every affected customer notified, replies handled, the repaired schedule confirmed with batches intact. Day-before reminders cover the prep: cars out of the driveway, windows closed, gates unlocked, pets in. When the crew finishes, the completion note and invoice go out the same day, and unpaid balances get followed at your cadence — instead of living as notes in your phone.
Grow route density without growing the chaos
More jobs only help if they land on the right streets. Deptly books new work into neighborhood batches instead of wherever it fits, keeps weather pushes from scattering your routes, and follows the money so a busy season doesn't end as a stack of unpaid invoices. Each week you get a short brief — aging quotes, twice-moved jobs, unpaid balances, streets with enough demand for a full route day — so you steer the season on patterns instead of surprises.
What Deptly handles, asks about, and never decides
Every responsibility above runs inside this boundary. You set the rules; anything outside them waits for you.
Deptly handles
Routine work done within the rules you approve.
- Answering and qualifying new requests on your phone, text, and email — photos, measurements, and access notes gathered
- Quoting standard jobs within your approved pricing bands and following every quote to an answer
- Weather-push notifications, schedule repair, and day-before prep reminders once you've made the call
- Completion notes with photos, same-day invoicing, and payment follow-up
- Annual service reminders, review requests, and neighborhood-day offers within approved terms
Deptly asks first
Anything judgment-shaped waits for your okay.
- Pricing outside your approved bands, and all commercial bids
- Discounts or neighborhood offers beyond the terms you've set
- Refunding or comping a job
- Moving any job with a hard deadline attached
- Any message tied to a damage claim or an upset customer
Always human
The decisions that stay yours, always.
- The weather call itself — whether a day is safe to work stays with you
- Safety judgment: ladders, roofs, gusts, and what your crew will and won't climb
- What's safe to wash and how — soft wash versus pressure, chemical choices, delicate surfaces
- Damage claims and how to make them right
- Hiring, crew management, and quality standards
The full rulebook — approvals, escalation, and audit history — lives on trust and control.
Who this covers
Each one gets the same execution engine — these notes call out what actually changes.
Window cleaning
Often the only exterior service that needs the customer home — interior sides, screens, and tracks make scheduling a two-sided conversation — and storefront routes add a recurring commercial rhythm the rest of the branch doesn't have.
Gutter cleaning & guards
The most calendar-driven service in the branch: two short windows around leaf drop, demand that spikes after the first heavy rain, and next year's book that is essentially this year's list plus reminders sent on time.
Pressure washing
Driveways, patios, decks, and concrete — quoted from photos and square footage, batched by neighborhood for margin, and sensitive to surface: what the machine can safely hit is a judgment call that stays with your crew.
Soft washing & house washes
Chemical-based washes for siding and roofs where the mix, dwell time, and plant protection are the craft. Customers ask whether it will hurt the roses or the shingles — Deptly answers routine prep questions from your guidelines and leaves method questions to you.
Systems we commonly work in
- Phone & SMSConfirmed
- EmailConfirmed
- Google CalendarConfirmed
- JobberPossible
- Housecall ProPossible
- QuickBooks OnlinePossible
- The Customer FactorScoped in discovery
Confirmed means standard channels every business already has — phone, text, email, and calendar. Possible means the platform supports what the workflow needs. Anything marked scoped in discovery gets verified during discovery before we commit to it — Deptly works within the tools you already have, as described on how it works.
See the loop close
Every proof item on this site is labeled for exactly what it is.
A wind warning at 6:52 PM, and Thursday repaired by 7:15
Owner
Gusts over 30 tomorrow — I'm not putting anyone on ladders. Push Thursday's jobs.
6:52 PM
Deptly
Needs your OKThursday has five jobs: two gutter cleans on Birch Hill, a two-story house wash, two window jobs. Proposed repair: Birch Hill pair joins Friday's route two streets over, house wash to Saturday morning, window jobs to Monday. Approve?
6:57 PM
Deptly
Owner approved. All five customers notified with new dates. Birch Hill pair confirmed for Friday; the house wash asked for after 10 on Saturday — booked at 10:30.
7:09 PM
Deptly to customer
Hi Sarah — tomorrow's wind isn't safe for ladder work, so we've moved your gutter clean to Friday between 9 and 11. Reply here if that doesn't work and we'll find another slot.
7:11 PM
- Dinbox
Owner brief
Friday
One weather push this week: five jobs moved, all confirmed, batching intact — no orphan drives. The Hendersons' house wash has now moved twice; flagged for priority on the next clear day.
More demonstrations live on proof and examples.
Questions owners ask
Deptly does — on your business phone, text, and email. It gathers what pricing needs (photos, the address, surface and story count, access notes), answers routine questions, and either quotes inside your approved pricing or packages everything so you can price it in one look at the end of the day instead of a callback after dark.
Only within rules you approve. Most exterior companies price by unit — per pane, per linear foot of gutter, per square foot of driveway or siding. If you work that way, Deptly can quote standard jobs inside those bands from the photos and measurements it gathers. Multi-story work, delicate surfaces, commercial bids, and anything unusual come to you with the details already collected.
You make the call — the day is off. Deptly does the rest: maps the affected jobs, proposes a repaired schedule that keeps your neighborhood batches together, notifies every customer once you approve, handles the replies, and updates the calendar and crew. Jobs with hard deadlines — a listing shoot, a party, a closing — reach you before they move.
Yes — this is one of the most common starting workflows in this branch. Deptly logs each job's return cycle, starts working the list before the season opens, follows up with non-responders at your cadence, and books responders onto batched route days. You get one clean list before leaf season: booked, declined, still deciding.
Deptly works under your business's name and never pretends to be you personally. Most owners move routine traffic to the business line and keep their cell for conversations that should stay personal. Anything sensitive, unusual, or clearly meant for you gets forwarded rather than answered.
That's the norm in exterior work, and it's why invoices drift. When the crew marks a job complete, Deptly sends the completion note with before-and-after photos and the invoice the same day, then follows unpaid balances at the cadence you set until they're settled. Disputed invoices come to you — Deptly never argues with a customer about money.
Yes — batching is the margin in this business, so it's built into how Deptly books. New jobs land on the day a crew is already nearby, weather repairs keep batches together instead of scattering jobs across the week, and when a crew is booked on a street, past customers nearby can get a neighborhood-day offer within terms you've approved.
Straight to you, immediately, with the job history and photos attached. Deptly never negotiates a damage claim, never admits or denies fault, and never decides how to make it right. What it does do is make sure the customer hears a fast, calm acknowledgment that you're on it — so the claim doesn't escalate in the silence.
Phone, text, email, and calendar are confirmed channels. Jobber and Housecall Pro are the kind of software Deptly typically works inside — confirmed for your setup during discovery. The Customer Factor and other niche exterior-cleaning tools need a discovery pass first. Either way, you don't switch software to work with Deptly.
Pricing is scoped to the work, not a flat seat count, so scope can flex with your season. Worth noting: the off-season is when next year gets won — reminder lists get built, storefront route proposals go out, and early-bird booking offers land before competitors wake up. Many owners keep a smaller scope running through winter for exactly that.
Price depends on scope: how many workflows, how much activity, which channels and systems, and how much oversight you want. Most exterior companies start with a single workflow pilot — quote follow-up, weather-day communication, or annual reminders — and expand from what proves out. The pricing page explains the models, and a short call gets you a scoped recommendation.
No. Deptly works in the tools you already have — your existing number, your calendar, your field software where a connection is confirmed. The point is to take work off your plate, not to hand you a migration project.
No pitch, just a straight read
Talk through how this would work in your business
Walk through how the work actually moves in your business and hear exactly what Deptly would carry first — including an honest no if the fit is not there.
