Spring Pollen Coats Your Roof Job, So Ask Who Cleans It Up

Spring brings tree pollen to St. Louis yards in heavy yellow loads, and a roof tear-off in that season leaves the bare deck, the gutters, the drive, the patio furniture and the cars exposed to it for the length of the job. The film does not come off with the shingles. It settles on the boards, works into the gutter run, and dries onto siding and window glass. Many bids talk about nails and debris and say nothing about this film, which means the cleanup you assumed may not be the cleanup you get. This page is for the homeowner who has two or three written bids and wants to know what each roofer means when the proposal says the site will be cleaned.

Roofer comparison

Start with timing, because pollen behaves differently by the hour. Dry pollen lifts in a breeze and settles again on whatever is nearest, so a crew that leaves the deck open overnight keeps adding to the film. Wet pollen does something worse. When a spring rain hits a fresh deck, the dust turns into a paste that can make the boards slick underfoot and carry a stain down the valleys and into the gutter. A roofer who plans to sweep at the end of each day is describing a different job from one who plans to sweep once after the last shingle is down.

Next, compare the surfaces each bid covers. The roof deck is the obvious one. The eave, soffit and fascia are where pollen collects under the drip edge, and a bid that names only the roof surface leaves those areas to the homeowner. Gutters, downspouts and the window sills below the eave form the second group. Cars, outdoor furniture, pool covers and the driveway make up the third, and a bid should say whether those sit inside the crew's cleanup or outside it. Keys Roofing can write its cleanup steps into the scope with the same care it gives the shingle list, and a homeowner can ask any contractor for the same paragraph in writing before comparing answers.

Then compare the method. Some crews sweep with push brooms and a shop vacuum, which handles dry film but does little for wet paste. Some use a leaf blower on the drive and the yard, which moves pollen onto the neighbor's lot as readily as it clears yours. Some rinse surfaces with a hose at the end of the day, a reasonable tool for a window and a poor one for a fresh deck that needs to dry before the underlayment goes on. None of these methods is wrong by itself. What matters is whether the bid names one, because a cleanup described only as "site cleaned" can mean any of them.

What it costs

Pollen cleanup is labor, and labor is priced somewhere in the bid. Some roofers fold it into the install price so the cleanup never appears as a separate line. Others list it as a site cleanup item, a daily sweep, or a final-day charge. Neither approach is automatically cheaper. A folded-in price hides the labor, so you cannot tell whether the crew is planning two hours or two minutes of sweeping. A separate line shows the labor, but it can grow if the homeowner asks for extra passes after the first sweep.

Ask each roofer to say whether the figure assumes one final sweep, a daily sweep, or both. A daily sweep takes more crew time than a final one and is more likely to catch pollen that lands in the gutter during the day. A final sweep costs less but leaves the yard film in place if the job runs into a windy week. Neither choice is wrong. The problem is a bid that does not say which one it priced.

Keep the price in the comparison even when cleanup looks small. A roof bid that comes in lower because it leaves out the eave, the gutters and the drive has not saved money. It has moved those tasks to a later date, and the later date usually means a second visit or a homeowner with a hose and a ladder. Ask each roofer what a return visit for leftover pollen would cost, and whether that visit is included or billed separately.

Finally, ask what happens when the weather turns between the crew's last visit and the next rain. A bid that does not address rain after cleanup leaves the homeowner paying for the wet paste that rain creates. Whether a roofer includes a rain check or a return sweep is a price question as much as a process question.

What to ask

Send the same questions to every roofer, and ask for the answers in the proposal rather than over the phone. A roofer who writes the answer down has to stand behind it.

1. Does the cleanup happen once at the end, each day, or both, and which days are named in the schedule?
2. Which surfaces are cleaned: the deck, the eave and soffit, the gutters and downspouts, the windows and sills below the eave, the drive, the cars and the patio?
3. What tools will the crew use on dry pollen, and what will they use if it rains after the deck is open?
4. Is cleanup a separate line in the bid, and if so, what does that line assume about crew hours?
5. Who pays for a return visit if pollen is still on the drive or the gutters after the crew leaves?
6. Will the crew keep leaf blowers off the lot line, and what is the plan for pollen blown toward a neighbor's yard?

Put the answers side by side on one sheet. Two bids that agree on the roof and disagree on the yard are not the same job, and the difference is usually the cleanup paragraph. If a roofer answers the list with a shrug, that answer belongs in the comparison too.

To get the cleanup paragraph from Keys Roofing, call (314) 220-2333 and ask for the written scope with the pollen steps included. The same request works for any roofer on your list, and asking every one of them the same question is a direct way to see which proposal has thought about the yard.