How much does roof cleaning cost in Gloucestershire?

Typical roof cleaning costs in Gloucestershire

We won't quote a flat rate over the phone — every roof's different — but to be straight with you, for a standard house with reasonable access a full low-pressure clean or moss scrape, including moss removal and a biocide treatment, most roof cleans are £550–£950. A standard terrace or semi sits in that range; larger, steeper or more difficult roofs go up from there. Where you land comes down to four things: the size of the roof, its pitch, how we can safely reach it, and how much moss has built up.

Roof cleaning isn't priced like mowing a lawn — there's no flat rate per square metre that fairly covers every property, because access and condition vary so much. A bungalow you can reach off a single ladder is a very different job to a three-storey Victorian villa that needs scaffold. The honest way to price it is to look at the specific roof, which is exactly why we quote from photos or a quick visit rather than reading a number off a chart.

What's included in the price

When you compare roof cleaning quotes, the headline number only means something once you know what's in it. A bare wash and a complete, treated clean can look similar on paper and cost wildly different amounts — because they're not the same job. Here's everything that's part of our price, with nothing bolted on afterwards:

• The clean itself — a low-pressure clean or a hand moss scrape, matched to your tile so nothing gets damaged.
• Hand moss removal — heavy growth lifted off by hand before any treatment, not just blasted at.
• A biocide treatment — applied after the clean, it carries on killing moss, lichen and algae spores at the root for up to two years. This is the part that makes the result last, and it's the part cheap quotes leave out.
• A free gutter clear — while we're already up there, we pull the moss and debris out of the gutters at no extra cost. A roof full of moss almost always means gutters that need clearing too.
• A full clean-up — we clear the moss and mess off your drive, path and borders before we leave.

Because the biocide and gutter clear are included rather than added later, there are no surprise extras on the invoice. And because the biocide keeps working long after we've gone, the roof stays clear for up to two years — which is how we can offer a 2-year moss-free guarantee. A cheaper quote that skips the biocide will look clean for a season and then green up again, so you end up paying twice. Compare what's actually in the price, not just the number at the bottom.

Soft washing vs pressure washing — and why price isn't the whole story

If you've had a quote that seems suspiciously low, it's often because the job is a high-pressure jet wash rather than a proper gentle clean. They are not the same thing, and the cheap option can cost you far more later.

Pressure (jet) washing blasts moss off fast, which is why it's cheap and quick. But on most roofs it strips the protective surface off the tiles, can crack or dislodge them, and forces water up under the laps where it shouldn't go. The roof looks great for a few months — then the moss comes back faster than before because the tile surface is now porous.

How we clean instead. We use one of two gentle methods, both finished with a biocide that kills the moss, lichen and algae at the root. A low-pressure clean lifts the growth off at low pressure for an instant, same-day result. A moss scrape — hand-scraping the moss off and then treating it, the approach often called soft washing — clears the roof more gradually as the biocide works through what's left over the following weeks to months. Same clean result either way, and both are safe on fragile and listed roofs.

So when you compare quotes, check what method is being used. The right question isn't just "how much?" — it's "a low-pressure clean or moss scrape with biocide, or a cheap jet wash?" A fair price for a job that lasts beats a bargain jet wash you'll be paying for again next year.

Put plainly, a suspiciously cheap quote usually costs more over time, not less. Here's where the saving disappears:

• It comes back sooner. Without a biocide, the moss regrows within a season or two — so you're paying again, often within a year.
• It can damage the tiles. High-pressure water strips the surface off concrete tiles and can crack older slate and clay, leaving you with repair or replacement bills that dwarf the clean.
• It can cause leaks. Forcing water under the laps can track moisture into the roof space — damp, stained ceilings, sometimes worse.
• Hidden extras. Some cheap headline prices don't include the gutter clear, the biocide, or the clean-up — they get added once the work's started.

None of that means the most expensive quote is automatically the best one either. It means you should compare like for like: a proper treated clean from an insured team, against another proper treated clean — not against a one-off jet wash that looks cheap until next autumn.