Field note 01
The order matters more than most people realize
Top-down is the only sequence that works: roof, then gutters, then walls, then flatwork, then glass — because every surface sheds onto the one below it.
Clean the driveway before the house and the wall rinse deposits dust and solution across fresh concrete. Clean the windows before the walls and you finish the day with spotted glass. Clean the gutters before the roof and the trough fills with dead algae the same afternoon.
This is why a single company doing the whole property on one visit outperforms three separate contractors, however good each one is individually. Nobody coordinates the sequence across three different appointment days.
It also compresses the disruption. One day of hoses across a compact Mountain House lot, one day of moving cars off the driveway, one walkthrough at the end instead of three.
Field note 02
What a full 95391 exterior scope actually includes
A complete Mountain House scope is tile roof soft wash, stucco and Hardie wash, gutter clear and flush, driveway plus walkways plus patio, exterior glass, and the solar array if there is one.
Some parts are annual and some are not, which is the main thing to plan around. Walls want washing roughly every eighteen months, flatwork annually, gutters every autumn, glass twice a year, panels twice a year, and the roof only every five to seven years.
The efficient pattern most Mountain House homeowners land on is a large spring visit that covers walls, flatwork, glass and solar, a short autumn visit for gutters and glass, and a roof soft wash folded into the spring visit once in the cycle.
Where that gets you is a property that never reaches the state where a single service costs more because the neglect has become a restoration job — deeply set rust, etched glass, or an algae colony that has been eating tile for six years.
Field note 03
Bundle pricing against the $297 minimum
Individually, several Mountain House services fall under the $297 standalone minimum, so bundling is how the real per-unit rates apply instead of a minimum charge.
A 600-square-foot driveway is $180 of work. A 160-foot gutter run is $216. A 400-square-foot patio is $120. Each on its own would be billed at $297, so buying them separately costs materially more than the work is worth.
Curb Appeal at $447 covers house wash and driveway, $50 under separate pricing. Refresh Plus at $597 adds windows. Solar Saver at $647 swaps in panel cleaning at the add-on rate. Total Exterior at $1,197 covers house, roof, driveway and gutters, which is $280 below buying those four alone.
Whole Home Premium at $1,597 is the full property with windows and gutters included, and it is the one that makes sense before a sale or after a phase of construction dust — the two situations where Mountain House homeowners most often want everything done at once.
Field note 04
Local conditions the schedule has to respect
Mountain House's wind season, dry summers, winter fog and irrigation water all push the ideal exterior cleaning visit into spring or early autumn.
February through May is the heaviest airborne load of the year, so a spring visit after the wind slows gives the longest-lasting result. Cleaning in February means re-dusted walls by April.
Summer is workable but demanding. Solution flashes dry on a south-facing stucco wall in July before it can dwell, so summer visits are worked in shade rotation and start early. Sealing and staining are effectively off the table in peak heat.
Winter is the constrained window. Fog keeps surfaces from drying, sealer will not cure, and standing water is a real factor. Gutters are the exception — late October gutter work is the single most time-sensitive service in 95391, because it has to land before the first storm.
