Facade Cleaning Scope of Work: What to Put in Writing

A facade cleaning scope of work is the part of the contract that says what gets cleaned, how, with what water and chemistry, under which safety and environmental rules, and how you will know the job was done. For a South Florida commercial building, a usable scope names every surface and elevation, the cleaning method for each, a stormwater and runoff plan, the vendor’s safety and airspace credentials, and proof-of-performance deliverables. This guide walks through each clause, with a template you can adapt.

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Plan Your Facade Cleaning Scope

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TL; DR

Define the scope by surface and elevation (glass, stucco, EIFS, metal, concrete, tile), not by one lump “clean the building” line.
Require a written runoff or containment plan. In South Florida, wash water that reaches a storm drain ends up in canals and Biscayne Bay.
Match safety clauses to the method: suspended platforms, rope access and drones carry different risks and different paperwork.
If drones are used, ask for FAA Part 107 credentials and airspace authorization for your building’s exact location.
Make dated, geotagged before and after photos a deliverable, and tie final payment to acceptance.

Why the scope matters more than the price
Start with a building inventory
The core clauses of a facade cleaning scope
A sample scope outline you can adapt
Perspective: what we see in South Florida scopes
Getting a scope priced
FAQ
Sources

Why the scope matters more than the price

Two bids for the same tower can differ by a third and still not be comparable. One includes the podium, the balconies and the parking garage fascia. The other quietly stops at the glass. One includes a water containment plan. The other assumes the runoff is your problem.

A tight scope makes bids comparable, protects you if something is damaged, and gives your board or owner a record that the work was done. It also decides who carries liability when a stained plume shows up in a storm drain or a window gets scratched.

Start with a building inventory

Before any clause, list what the contractor is bidding on. Walk the property with the vendor or send drawings, and record:

Height and stories of each tower, podium and outbuilding.
Elevations (north, south, east, west) and which ones face the water, where salt and humidity build up film fastest.
Square footage per surface type: glass, painted stucco, EIFS, metal panels, concrete, tile, louvers, awnings.
Obstacles: balconies, terraces, planters, rooftop equipment, signage, living walls.
Access constraints: pool decks, valet drives, retail frontage, loading docks, tenant hours.

Pricing follows this inventory. Our published ranges are per square foot of treated area: drone facade and building cleaning at $0.12 to $0.25 per sq ft, drone window cleaning at $0.12 to $0.25 per sq ft of glass, and parking garage cleaning at $0.06 to $0.08 per sq ft. Solar arrays are priced at $1 to $3 per panel. Your final number depends on area, soil level and surface type, which is why the inventory comes first.

The core clauses of a facade cleaning scope

1. Surfaces and method per surface

One method does not fit a whole building. The scope should pair each surface with a method and a chemistry, in a short table like this:

Surface	Typical method	What the scope should state
Glass curtain wall	Pure, de-ionized water rinse with soft brush agitation	Water quality, spot-free finish, frames and sills included or excluded
Painted stucco	Low-pressure soft wash	Pressure ceiling, cleaning solution or detergent type, dwell time, rinse
EIFS	Low-pressure soft wash, no high-pressure wand	Explicit ban on high pressure near joints and sealant lines
Metal panels, louvers	Mild detergent and rinse	Finish type (anodized, painted), compatible cleaners only
Concrete, garage decks	Surface cleaning or controlled rinse	Oil and rust staining treated or excluded
Tile, roof, solar	Soft wash or pure water	Walk-on restrictions, warranty considerations

Compatibility matters. A cleaner that is fine on concrete can dull anodized aluminum or streak coated glass. For background on matching technique to material and avoiding damage, this guide to exterior window cleaning and material care is a useful general reference, though local conditions in South Florida (salt air, mildew, hurricane-season grime) are heavier than most.

Our high-rise facade cleaning methods comparison goes deeper on how scaffold, lift, rope and drone methods differ by surface.

2. Included and excluded items

Write exclusions down. The usual disputes are:

Window frames, mullions and sills.
Balcony railings and the underside of overhangs.
Awnings, signage and light fixtures.
Rust, efflorescence, paint failure and sealant failure (cleaning does not repair these).
Post-construction residue such as cement film, stickers and adhesive. This is a different job with a different method. See our post-construction facade cleaning checklist for South Florida.

If your goal is more than a routine wash, such as lifting years of staining, say so. Restoration has its own scope, covered in our commercial facade restoration guide.

3. Frequency and schedule

State whether this is a one-time project or a recurring program, and name the windows of time work may happen. For hotels, avoid check-out and pool hours. For retail, avoid peak customer hours near entrances. For condo towers, give residents advance notice. Add a weather clause: wind and lightning in the afternoon storm season are common reasons for a day to slip, and the scope should say how rescheduling works and whether it costs you anything.

4. Water, runoff and environmental compliance

This is the clause most often missing, and in South Florida it carries real weight. Under the federal stormwater program, the EPA explains that stormwater flowing over a site picks up sediment, debris and chemicals and carries them into receiving waters. In Miami-Dade and Broward, storm drains are not a treatment plant: they lead to canals and the bay.

Your scope should require:

A written containment or runoff procedure before work starts (berms, drain covers, vacuum recovery, or filtration where water volume warrants it).
A statement of which products will be used, with safety data sheets on request.
A commitment that no soap, solvent or chemically treated water reaches a storm drain.
Protection of landscaping and pool areas.

The EPA’s guidance on good housekeeping for municipal facilities is a helpful model for the kind of prevention-minded language to ask for. Property owners, not only vendors, can be pulled into a runoff complaint, so the plan belongs in the contract.

Drone cleaning typically uses far less water than conventional pressure washing, and de-ionized pure water rinses leave no detergent residue on glass, which makes containment simpler. Soft-wash chemistry on stucco still needs a plan.

Older buildings add one more check. The EPA notes that pressure washing is subject to the same containment requirements as other work practices under the Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rule, which applies to certain pre-1978 housing and child-occupied facilities. Most commercial towers fall outside it, but a mixed-use or residential property with older painted surfaces should ask the question.

5. Safety and access method

This clause changes completely depending on how the vendor reaches the facade.

Traditional suspended methods. OSHA’s powered platforms standard, 29 CFR 1910.66, covers platforms permanently dedicated to building maintenance and states that it does not apply to suspended scaffolds (swing stages). General fall protection rules in 29 CFR 1910.28 require protection for employees on a surface with an unprotected edge four feet or more above a lower level. Your scope should ask for the vendor’s rigging inspection records, competent-person designation and fall-arrest plan. OSHA’s page on its alliance with the International Window Cleaning Association is a good starting point for industry safety resources.

Drone methods. The crew stays on the ground, so there is no rigging to test, no swing stage and no worker at the building edge. That removes the most hazardous phase of high-rise cleaning from your risk profile, but it adds aviation clauses (next section).

Either way, require a certificate of insurance naming your entity as additional insured, and confirm the limits fit your lease or HOA requirements. We carry $2M in liability coverage.

6. Drone-specific clauses: FAA and airspace

If the bid uses drones, your scope should say so, and require:

A current FAA remote pilot certificate under Part 107 for the pilot in command. The FAA’s page for certificated remote pilots and commercial operators lays out what Part 107 allows for work and business.
Aircraft registration.
Proof of airspace authorization for your building’s coordinates where required. Much of urban South Florida sits near controlled airspace around MIA, FLL and smaller airports, and the FAA describes how Part 107 airspace authorizations are requested.
A date by which the authorization must be delivered. A sensible clause is receipt of the authorization before mobilization, so a denied or delayed approval is caught while rescheduling is still cheap.

A generic pilot license does not prove a flight over your tower is legal. The site-specific authorization does. For a fuller vendor checklist, see how to vet a drone cleaning contractor and our note on FAA certification and risk management.

7. Documentation and proof of performance

“Cleaned” is not measurable. Photos are. Require:

Dated before and after images of every elevation, with location data.
A short completion report listing areas cleaned, any areas skipped and why, and any damage observed.
Delivery within a set number of days after completion.

Documentation protects you in two directions: it shows the vendor did the work, and it shows the building’s condition if a damage claim arrives later. Miami-Dade County’s own procurement files reflect this emphasis on records, for example in its invitation to bid for storm drain emergency response. Private owners can borrow the habit.

We deliver before and after 4K documentation with every project. Once the work is done, you also need somewhere to store the certificate of insurance, the airspace authorization and the reports. A digital logbook for recurring business checks can hold scheduled inspections, supporting documents and reminders by site, which helps a property manager show a clean paper trail at audit or renewal time.

8. Acceptance, warranty and payment

Close the scope with how the work is accepted:

Walk-through or photo review within a stated number of days.
A punch list for missed areas, corrected at no charge.
Payment tied to acceptance, with a fixed price tied to the measured inventory.
A definition of spot-free for glass, so the standard is shared.

A sample scope outline you can adapt

Use this skeleton and fill in your building’s details:

Property and contacts: address, stories, access contact, emergency contact.
Areas of work: elevations and square footage by surface.
Exclusions: frames, railings, repairs, post-construction residue.
Methods and products: by surface, with maximum pressure for soft-wash areas.
Water and runoff plan: containment, drain protection, landscaping protection.
Safety and access: method, competent person or ground-based operation, exclusion zones.
Aviation compliance (if drones): Part 107 certificate, registration, site authorization before mobilization.
Insurance: limits and additional insured wording.
Schedule: working hours, weather rescheduling, tenant or resident notice.
Deliverables: dated, geotagged photos and completion report.
Acceptance and payment: walk-through period, punch list, fixed price.

Perspective: what we see in South Florida scopes

We read a lot of scopes from property managers and boards, and the same three gaps show up. First, they are written around scaffold or lift logistics, with paragraphs on anchor points and street closures, and say nothing about water. Second, they treat the building as one surface. Third, they ask for “proof” without saying what proof means.

Our view is simple. Put the person at height out of the equation where you can. On our jobs the crew stays on the ground and flies tethered industrial drones to reach buildings up to 200 feet, so there are no swing stages, no boom lifts and no road closures to plan around. Most projects finish in one to three days. Then spend the attention you save on the clauses that actually decide quality: surface-matched chemistry, a runoff plan and site-specific airspace paperwork.

And write the deliverables before the work starts. A scope that says “4K before and after photos of every elevation within five business days” ends arguments that a vague one invites.

, Eliot

Getting a scope priced

If you have a building inventory, we can turn it into a fixed-price proposal. We offer free quotes within 24 hours, and a site review confirms square footage and surface types. Start with the page for drone facade cleaning, see how it applies in the market on our Miami facade cleaning page, or compare approaches in drone versus traditional window cleaning. Our services cover glass, stucco, concrete, EIFS, metal, tile and solar surfaces across Miami-Dade and Broward.

FAQ

What is included in a facade cleaning scope of work?

A complete scope lists the areas and surfaces to be cleaned, the method and products for each, exclusions, schedule, safety and access plan, runoff controls, insurance, deliverables and acceptance terms. If any of these is missing, bids will not be comparable.

Should the scope require a stormwater or runoff plan?

Yes. In South Florida, storm drains lead to canals and the bay, and the EPA’s stormwater guidance treats debris and chemicals washed off a site as pollutants. Ask for a written containment procedure and a statement that no soap or solvent reaches a drain.

What should I ask a drone cleaning vendor to provide?

Ask for the pilot’s Part 107 certificate, aircraft registration, site-specific airspace authorization where required, a certificate of insurance, and a sample of their before and after documentation. The FAA authorization should cover your building’s location, not just the city.

How long does a facade cleaning project take?

It depends on area and surface mix. With our drone method, most commercial projects finish in one to three days. Put your own timeline and weather rescheduling terms in the scope.