Calgary building washing for brick, EIFS, glass curtain wall and fabric awnings
Up to six storeys from the pure-water-fed pole and ground-based rigs, rope-access partner for everything above. Each substrate gets the right method — soft-wash at <1,500 PSI for brick and EIFS, deionised rinse for glass curtain wall, soap-and-rinse for fabric. Tenants stay at their desks. Most Calgary building washes land between $800 and $8,000 depending on building height and substrate mix.
Brick, EIFS, glass curtain wall, fabric — four methods, one visit
Calgary commercial facades are rarely a single substrate. A typical six-storey downtown office is glass curtain wall on the upper floors, EIFS or brick on the lower podium, fabric awnings at the storefront and metal panels around the entry. Each one needs its own chemistry and pressure. EIFS is the most sensitive — a high-pressure tip dents the foam underlay through the thin acrylic skin. Brick is mortar-safe soft-wash. Glass curtain wall is pure water with no chemistry. Fabric needs detergent plus a low-pressure rinse so the colour does not run.
The sequence is planned at the site walk. Higher elevations first so the rinse runs down a still-dirty lower facade. Pure-water-fed pole for the glass before the chemistry goes on adjacent substrates so the surfactant cannot drift onto the panes. EIFS happens last because it dries fastest and shows water spots if it sits wet. Pair building washing with storefront cleaning for the ground-floor retail, with commercial window cleaning for routine route-card maintenance, or with awning cleaning for the fabric work.
Recent work
How a Calgary building wash runs
Four steps from site walk to clean facade
Site walk and contract bid
Walk the property with the property manager, identify substrates, mark sensitive landscaping and signage, confirm tenant access, scope the contract in writing with line-itemised pricing per facade element.
Prep, tarp, tenant brief
Lights and electrical tarped, signs tarped at the power feed, sensitive landscaping pre-wet, tenants notified of the schedule, water source and security access confirmed.
Substrate-matched wash
Brick first if mortar work is needed, EIFS in the middle, glass curtain wall with pure water last so no chemistry drifts onto the panes. Rope-access partner runs the upper elevations in parallel with our ground crew if the building is over six storeys.
Walkaround, sign-off, invoice
Walk the building with the property manager once the rinse is complete, confirm every line of the contract scope was hit, sign off the work order. Invoice matches the contract scope and any pre-approved change orders.
Calgary commercial facade realities
Prairie dust, chinook UV and the spring construction-dust window
Calgary commercial buildings face three specific challenges. Prairie dust from the surrounding foothills lands on every south and west elevation year-round, showing up worst on light-coloured EIFS and white concrete podiums. Chinook UV is direct and high-altitude — colour binders on fabric awnings break down two to three years faster than coastal cities. And the spring construction-dust window (April through June) drops a film on every building near an active downtown construction zone, making annual mid-summer washes near new builds a near-certainty.
Most Calgary commercial buildings benefit from a twice-yearly schedule — once in late June after the spring construction-dust settles, once in late September before the snow. Pair building washing with parking lot cleaning on the same visit when the lot is part of the property, or with HOA exterior cleaning for multi-unit residential buildings under strata management.
Written quotesPricing
Annual + as-neededCadence
Hartford building washingResult
Pair building washing with
Other commercial services on the same contract
Building washing is the anchor service for most commercial contracts. Pair it with the lot, signage and routine window work for a full-property scope.
Five questions that come up on most commercial facade bids.
Up to six storeys (about 22 metres) from a pure-water-fed pole reaching from the ground or a roof-mounted set-up. Past six storeys, we partner with a certified rope-access crew that comes to the site for the upper elevations while we handle the lower three to four floors from grade. The split allows the whole building to be done in one contracted visit rather than two.
EIFS (exterior insulation and finish system, the foam-and-stucco facade common on newer Calgary commercial buildings) needs the gentlest mix — high pressure dents the foam underlay. Brick is mortar-safe soft-wash at under 1,500 PSI. Glass curtain wall is pure-water-fed pole only, no chemistry beyond a deionised rinse so the glass dries spot-free. Most Calgary commercial buildings are a mix of two or three substrates and the wash sequence handles each one with its right method.
Yes, daytime work is normal on most commercial scopes. Window-pane work uses pure water with no spray pressure on the glass so tenants are not disturbed at the desk. Roof and upper-level work happens during business hours because the noise is above the occupied floors. The only scope that goes to overnight or weekend is heavy chemistry near entrance doors or dumpster work that affects tenant traffic.
Yes, illuminated signs, channel letters, monument signs and tenant directory boards are all part of the standard facade scope. Illuminated signs are tarped at the power feed before the wash; channel letters are cleaned with a low-pressure soap-and-rinse so the bulbs and the gaskets stay sealed. We do not do sign repair or relamping — separate trade.
Same plant-safe sodium hypochlorite plus surfactant mix we use on residential, applied at the lower concentration recommended for ornamental planting. Pre-wetting the beds and shrubs at the base of the building before the wash gives the chemistry time to dilute before it reaches the soil. We will note any particularly sensitive species on the site walk so the prep matches what is there.
Calgary building washing reviews
What property managers say after the facade wash
★★★★★4.9· 75 reviews on Google
★★★★★
Six-storey EIFS-and-brick office in the Beltline. Hartford ran the lower four floors from the ground while a rope-access partner did the upper two, all in one weekend. Tenants did not know we had been there until Monday morning.
Property Manager
Calgary · Beltline
★★★★★
Mixed-use building with retail at grade and apartments above. Glass curtain wall, brick podium and fabric awnings all in scope. The crew sequenced the substrates so nothing dried with chemistry on the wrong surface. Booked a recurring contract.
Asset Manager
Calgary · Kensington
★★★★★
Standalone retail building with prairie dust on the south face. We had been told it could not be cleaned without a repaint. Hartford did the soft-wash plus brightener pass and the colour came back to original. Saved us a five-figure paint job.
Building Owner
Calgary · 17th Avenue SW
★★★★★
Multi-tenant retail strip with channel-letter illuminated signs at every storefront. They tarped each sign at the power feed, washed the facade carefully around the gaskets, and not a single bulb went out from water damage. Bonded sign maintenance gets harder to find — these guys do it right.
Plaza Manager
Calgary · Sunridge
From the blog
Building washing notes and substrate guides
Free contract bid
Request your Calgary building washing contract bid in writing
Tell us the building height, the substrate mix (brick, EIFS, glass curtain wall, metal panel) and the contract cadence (one-off, twice-yearly, quarterly). A Hartford account manager follows up within one business day for a site walk and contract proposal.
