Costs
What roof cleaning costs in Sydney
Published Sydney roof cleaning prices run from $350 for a small roof to $1,500 and over for a very large one. Roof area moves the number more than anything else, then material, then height. Those figures are what Sydney operators and cost guides had published as at 3 September 2026, and they are not ours.
Ours are these. A soft wash on a single storey metal or Colorbond roof starts at $899. A concrete or terracotta tile roof carries no headline figure at all: it is soft washed only, and the number comes after someone has been up a ladder and looked at it.
Why this page is hard to find anywhere else
Of 22 Sydney operators checked on 3 September 2026, 18 published no prices at all. There is nothing wrong with that as a way to run a business. It does mean the person trying to work out whether a roof clean is a two hundred dollar job or a two thousand dollar job has almost nowhere to look.
The market first, then a tool, then our own numbers. We would rather publish and be argued with.
What Sydney operators publish, by roof size
This is the clearest published structure in the market, from a Sydney operator cost guide. It prices the roof by its area, which is also how the calculator below works.
| Roof size | Published price | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Small roof, up to 120 m² | $350 to $600 | Sydney operator cost guide, 3 September 2026 |
| Medium roof, 120 to 200 m² | $600 to $1,000 | Sydney operator cost guide, 3 September 2026 |
| Large roof, 200 to 300 m² | $1,000 to $1,500 | Sydney operator cost guide, 3 September 2026 |
| Very large roof, over 300 m² | $1,500 to $1,800 and over | Sydney operator cost guide, 3 September 2026 |
The same question, answered by five other sources
One table is one operator. This is the spread, so you can see how wide the honest answer is before anyone has looked at your roof.
- High pressure roof cleaning$400 to $1,200Sydney operator cost guide
- Soft washing a roof$500 to $1,500Sydney operator cost guide
- Soft wash, single storey$500 to $1,200Sydney operator cost guide
- Soft wash, larger or two storey$1,000 to $2,500 and overSydney operator cost guide
- Roof cleaning on its own$300 to $800Sydney operator cost guide
- Roof soft wash across NSW$600 to $2,400Australian cost aggregator
Two things about these figures
Almost none of them says whether GST is in or out. That is normal in this trade and it is also the reason two quotes can look ten percent apart when they are not. Every figure we publish includes GST, stated once, as one number.
And a published band is not an offer. It tells you the shape of the market, which is worth knowing before you ring anyone, and nothing about your roof.
What it takes to get anyone to turn up is worth knowing too. Across Sydney the effective floor for a real attended job is $199 to $250, and three separate operators publish exactly $199 as an entry price.
A range for your own roof
Four inputs, an answer straight away, and the working shown underneath it. There is no email box and nothing is sent anywhere.
Work out a range for your roof
Four things move the number more than anything else. Set them here and the range updates as you go. Nothing is sent anywhere and you are not asked for an email.
The roof surface, not the floor area. If you do not know it, leave it where it is and we will measure it on the day.
Estimate
$899 to $1,280
Including GST. This is an estimate, not a quote, and it is not a price we have offered you.
Based on 150 m² of metal or Colorbond, single storey, standard pitch.
How this range is worked out
The starting band is $5.50 to $8.50 per square metre for a metal or Colorbond roof, which is what Sydney and Australian cost guides publish for soft wash work. Multiplied by 150 square metres that gives $825 to $1,275.
A single storey roof at standard pitch carries no height or pitch loading, so nothing is added.
The ends are then rounded outward to the nearest ten dollars, low down and high up, because a range accurate to the dollar is a range pretending to be a quote.
The low end came out under $899, which is our published starting price for a single storey metal roof, so it is lifted to that.
The per square metre bands and the height and pitch loadings are the weakest evidence in our pricing research. Sources disagree on the gap between tile and metal, and on how much a second storey adds. That is why this tool gives a range and why none of these numbers appears on our rate card.
Soft wash. Metal sheeting is cleaned with chemistry and low pressure, not by blasting the coating.
A real price comes after someone has looked at the roof: the condition, the access, the gutters, and whether any tiles are already broken.
One worked all the way through
Take a metal or Colorbond roof of 150 square metres, single storey, at standard pitch.
- The published soft wash band for that material is $5.50 to $8.50 per square metre, which over 150 square metres gives $825 to $1,275.
- Single storey at standard pitch carries no height or pitch loading, so nothing is added to either end.
- The ends are rounded outward to the nearest ten dollars, and the low end is then lifted to $899, which is our published starting price for a single storey metal roof. A tool that estimated under our own published starting price would be arguing with our rate card.
Estimate: $899 to $1,280
The published band for a roof that size is $600 to $1,000, so our range starts near the top of it and runs above it. We price above the Sydney entry level deliberately. And it is still an estimate, not a price.
What moves it
- Roof area
- The biggest single factor, and the only one the published tables are built on. It is the roof surface, not the floor area of the house.
- Material
- Every source that separates them prices tile above metal. Lichen roots into porous tile and needs chemistry and dwell time to lift; a metal sheet does not hold it the same way.
- Height
- More setup, more edge protection, slower movement. Our published loading for a second storey is plus 30%.
- Pitch
- A roof you can walk is a different job from a roof that needs rope access or staging.
- What is already growing on it
- Heavy lichen takes more passes and more dwell time than a light film of dirt. This is the one that most often moves a quote away from an estimate.
- What else happens on the visit
- Gutters, mostly. A roof wash puts whatever was on the roof into the gutter. Sydney cost guides put that add on at $150 to $350.
Our roof prices
Roof soft wash, metal or Colorbond, single storey
from $899
Soft wash. Metal sheeting is cleaned with chemistry and low pressure, not by blasting the coating.
Roof, concrete or terracotta tile
Quoted after inspection
Soft wash only. High pressure drives water through the gaps on a tile roof, so we do not use it. There is no headline figure here on purpose, and the calculator above is the only place we will put a number on a tile roof without seeing it.
Minimum attended job
$249
What it costs to have someone turn up, set up and work. Small jobs are better combined into one visit.
Every figure includes GST and is the figure that appears on the invoice. The full card, with the gutter and house wash packages and the surcharges, is on the prices page.
Why the estimate is not the price
An estimate is arithmetic on four numbers you typed in. A price is what happens after someone has looked at the roof, and the things that change it are the things you cannot see from the ground.
Whether the roof is sarked, because on an unsarked tile roof water driven under the tiles ends up in the ceiling. Whether tiles are already broken or slipped, which goes in the report with a photograph either way. Where the wash water goes, which is a separate rule set from what it costs. Whether anything on the building is fibro, which stops the job.
The written price lists each of those before there is a number attached to it, and the number on the sheet is the number on the invoice.
What people ask about roof cleaning prices
How much does roof cleaning cost in Sydney?
Published Sydney figures run from $350 for a small roof to $1,500 and over for a very large one, and roof area drives that more than anything else. Our own soft wash on a single storey metal or Colorbond roof starts at $899.
Is roof cleaning priced per square metre?
Not usefully. The Sydney market prices a roof by area band, storey count and material, and the per square metre figures that do exist disagree badly with each other. That is why the calculator on this page gives a range rather than a rate, and why no per square metre roof figure appears on our rate card.
Why is a tile roof quoted instead of priced?
Two reasons. A concrete or terracotta tile roof is soft washed only, because high pressure drives water through the gaps and into the ceiling. And tile roofs vary too much for a headline figure to mean anything: this is work that requires photographs or a site assessment before it can be priced accurately. We look at it, then we write a number down.
Does a two storey roof cost more?
Yes. Every source that separates them prices a two storey job higher, and we publish our own loading on the rate card at plus 30%. More setup, more edge protection, and a slower pass across the roof.
Do you clean and paint roofs?
We clean. We do not paint or restore roofs, and we do not seal a roof after washing it. If we find a broken or slipped tile it goes in the report with a photograph rather than being covered up.
What is the least you will come out for?
Our minimum attended job is $249. Across the Sydney market the effective floor for a real attended job sits at $199 to $250, and three separate Sydney operators publish exactly $199 as their entry price.
Can you do the gutters on the same visit?
Yes, and it is usually the sensible order, because a roof wash puts whatever was on the roof into the gutter. Sydney cost guides put a gutter clean added to a roof job at $150 to $350. Our gutter packages are on the rate card.