Google Ads · Exterior Cleaning Firms
Google Ads for exterior cleaning, where the surface sets the price
Exterior cleaning covers a gutter clear worth eighty pounds and a full render softwash worth two thousand. Grouping them under one campaign called cleaning means bidding the same amount for both, which quietly guarantees the cheap jobs get all the budget and the profitable ones get none.
In short
Google Ads for exterior cleaning firms in the UK needs a different build from a generic Google Ads account, and this is how PipelineOS structures it. One campaign per surface, and each carries its own daily budget and its own bid ceiling because the job values differ by a factor of twenty. Render and wall softwashing sits at the top: the biggest ticket, the most visible transformation, and a buyer who has been staring at green streaks on their house for two years. The first ad group to build is Render and wall softwashing: highest ticket in the account and worth its own bid ceiling. The most common way this goes wrong: one campaign for everything, where cheap gutter clicks absorb the budget and the render softwash enquiries that carry the margin never arrive.
How we build it
One campaign per surface, and each carries its own daily budget and its own bid ceiling because the job values differ by a factor of twenty. Render and wall softwashing sits at the top: the biggest ticket, the most visible transformation, and a buyer who has been staring at green streaks on their house for two years. Roof cleaning and moss removal is next, often combined with gutter work and frequently prompted by a neighbour having it done. Driveway and patio cleaning is high volume and mid-value, peaking in spring. Gutter clearing is small, fast and best treated as route-filling work that keeps a van busy between the larger jobs.
The seasonal shape is not the one people assume. Driveway and patio work peaks from March through June as gardens come back into use, and again briefly in late August. Gutter work peaks twice, in autumn as leaves fall and after the first sustained winter rain when somebody notices water pouring over the front door. Render and roof cleaning is less seasonal than either but sells best in spring, when the difference between a clean and a dirty elevation is most visible in daylight. Budgets should rotate between campaigns across the year rather than rising and falling together.
Exclusions matter more here than in most trades because the word cleaning attracts everything. Domestic cleaners, window cleaners looking for work, oven cleaning, carpet cleaning, jet wash hire, pressure washer purchases, DIY patio cleaner products and job seekers all arrive unless they are blocked at account level before launch. It is worth building that list deliberately, because a first month spent teaching the account that you do not sell pressure washers is an expensive way to learn.
Two structural points on how the work is sold. Bundling is the whole margin: a firm on a roof for a moss removal should quote the gutters, the fascias and the render at the same time, and the landing page should invite exactly that by pricing combinations. And avoid promising softwash results for surfaces that need something else entirely. Render, roof tiles, block paving and decking behave differently, and a page that explains which method suits which surface converts better than one selling pressure washing as a universal answer — not least because a great many homeowners have seen a driveway wrecked by too much pressure.
Ad groups
The account structure in practice. Ad groups stay tight so the ad can genuinely match the search, which lowers cost per click for the same position.
| Ad group | Example keywords | Bids and handling |
|---|---|---|
| Render and wall softwashing | render cleaning [town], softwash house wall, K rend cleaning cost, remove green algae from render | Highest ticket in the account and worth its own bid ceiling. Before and after imagery on the landing page does more here than any ad copy variation. |
| Roof cleaning and moss removal | roof moss removal [town], roof cleaning cost, moss on roof tiles, roof scrape and treat | Often prompted by a neighbour having it done, so run tight radius targeting around recent jobs. Always quote gutters alongside it. |
| Driveway and patio | driveway cleaning [town], patio jet washing, block paving cleaning and resanding, resin driveway cleaning | The volume group, peaking March to June. Mid-value, price-sensitive, and improved considerably by quoting sealing as an add-on rather than a separate visit. |
| Gutters, fascias and soffits | gutter cleaning [town], gutter clearing cost, fascia and soffit cleaning, blocked gutter overflowing | Small, fast, twice-yearly demand peaks. Best used to fill route gaps rather than as headline revenue, and the easiest upsell to attach to roof work. |
| Commercial and managed property | commercial exterior cleaning [city], school playground cleaning, car park pressure washing, cladding cleaning | Weekday hours, manual bids, and often repeating annually. Sell the schedule and the out-of-hours working, not the equipment. |
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Call 07443 392243WhatsAppBudget and the arithmetic
The spread is the point. A gutter clearance is commonly £80–£160, a driveway clean £220–£600 depending on area and whether resanding and sealing are included, a roof moss removal £500–£1,600, and a full render softwash on a detached house £700–£2,200. Chemicals and consumables are a modest share of cost, so contribution runs high — frequently 60–75% against labour and van time — provided the job was quoted for the right amount of time.
Break-even therefore differs enormously by campaign, which is the entire argument for separating them. On a £110 gutter job with £70 of contribution and a close rate near two thirds, an enquiry is worth about £45. On a £1,200 render softwash with £800 of contribution and a close rate nearer 35%, because the customer collects quotes, an enquiry is worth £280. Running one account-level target would treat those identically and starve the render campaign within a fortnight of launch.
The number that improves the whole account fastest is jobs per visit. A van that arrives to clean gutters and leaves having also done the fascias and booked the roof in three weeks has turned a £110 job into a £900 customer without any additional acquisition cost. Quoting adjacent surfaces while on site should be a standing instruction rather than a good habit, and the landing pages should price combinations so that the customer is already expecting the conversation.
Four ways this goes wrong
- One campaign for everything, where cheap gutter clicks absorb the budget and the render softwash enquiries that carry the margin never arrive.
- Launching without exclusions for domestic cleaners, oven cleaning, jet wash hire and pressure washer purchases, all of which flood in on the word cleaning.
- Selling pressure washing as the answer to every surface, when a large share of homeowners have already seen a block paved driveway ruined by exactly that.
- Leaving the van without quoting the adjacent surfaces, which throws away the cheapest revenue in the business.
- Running the same budget across the year, when driveways peak in spring, gutters peak in autumn and render sells best in bright spring daylight.
The two pages behind this one
This page is the intersection. For the wider picture:
Google Ads in general
Everything about marketing for exterior cleaning firms
Questions
Should each surface really have its own campaign?
Yes, because the job values differ by more than an order of magnitude and campaign is the only level at which Google reliably respects a budget. A shared budget always flows toward whatever converts cheapest and fastest, which is gutter work, and the render and roof enquiries that actually carry the margin quietly disappear from the account.
How do we win render cleaning jobs against cheaper quotes?
By showing the method and the outcome rather than the price. Softwashing render is a chemical process with a dwell time, not a pressure job, and a page that explains that with a before and after from a house in the same area answers the customer’s real question, which is whether it will come back green in six months. That is worth more than matching a lower figure.
Is gutter cleaning worth advertising at all?
As route filler and as a door opener, yes. On its own the margin per job is small once travel is counted. Its value is that it puts you at the property, where fascias, soffits, roof moss and render are all visible and quotable. Firms that treat gutter work as an introduction rather than a product get far more out of it.
When should budgets shift between campaigns?
Move toward driveways and patios from late February, hold render and roof through spring and summer, and shift decisively to gutters from September through the first heavy winter rain. Set the changes as calendar entries rather than reacting to a slow week, because by the time a campaign feels quiet the season has already moved.
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