Finish an Exterior Cleanup Job: Photos, Punch Lists, and Waste Handover
An exterior cleanup job — a gutter clean, a yard clear-out, a wash-down, a small haul — is not finished when the crew pulls away. It is finished when you hold a small file that says what was agreed, what was done, where the debris went, and what is still open. This page is about building that file.
It is written for the owner of a house they live in. Two things change what the file must contain, and both are labelled where they appear: whether the debris left the property or stayed on it, and whether anything the job touched belongs to the street owner rather than to you. Which of the local authorities owns that ground — the City of Spokane, the City of Spokane Valley, or unincorporated Spokane County — does not follow from a Spokane mailing address, so settle it with the jurisdiction guide first. The exterior-service pillar carries the rules that come before the work; the work itself is not this page’s subject.
Quick route
| What the job was | What the file needs | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Any exterior job | The scope it was priced against, a punch list, and photographs taken from the ground | Your own file, plus the firm’s written scope |
| Debris left the property | The disposal record — the class the gate assigned the load | The self-haul facility that took the load |
| Debris stayed in your own cart or pile | What the cart accepts, and when it is emptied | The City’s cart service, or your hauler |
| Debris came out of a renovation or demolition | The air agency’s survey and notice, and the waste shipment record you must keep | Spokane Clean Air |
| Equipment, a container or a ladder stood in the street, sidewalk or alley | The street owner’s permit | City, Valley or county |
| The job dug | The locate ticket, and the date its marks expire | Washington 811 |
The acceptance record: one scope, one list, one set of photographs
Keep the scope the job was priced against. A completion check means nothing without the document it checks. The page to keep names the surfaces and runs, the access the price assumed, and what was included or excluded. It is what turns “the gutters were cleaned” into something you can confirm, and it is the page a later disagreement turns on. The fields worth demanding in writing are collected in the local cost guide.
Write the punch list with a name on every line. Walk the job and list each unfinished or disputed item together with the person who agreed to close it and when. An item with no owner is an item that stays open. Do it the same day, while the firm is still on site or still answering the phone, and keep the list with the scope.
Take the photographs from the ground. This publication’s rule for documenting a job is ground level: the before and after of each run or surface, each downspout outlet where water leaves, the corners and the street frontage, and anything the punch list names. Photographs taken from a roof, from a ladder or by leaning out of a window are not part of the record, and this page will not suggest that anyone climb for one; where a view is only obtainable that way, the item goes on the punch list instead.
A public record is not this file. A permit file — or the absence of one — shows what was authorised. It does not show whether the work was done well. The permit history guide sets out what a property’s record can and cannot confirm; your own file holds the half it cannot answer.
The disposal record: the one document the gate issues
Debris that leaves the property gets a document at the gate, and it is worth keeping for a single reason: the class a load is charged as is decided there, by the operator, on the load in front of them. Neither the household nor the firm sets it.
Spokane County’s regional system provides three self-haul sites — the county’s North and Valley transfer stations and the City of Spokane’s Waste to Energy facility — and the classes are priced far apart. The City’s own disposal page states the rule that makes the receipt matter: if material types are mixed in one load, they must be separated before disposal or the load is disposed of as garbage, and a load holding both yard waste and garbage has to go through the line twice to be charged both rates. Ask each facility for its receipt or statement and read the class on it; for an owner’s file that document is the only local record of where the debris went and how it was treated. The cleanup-and-disposal pillar carries the routing and the accepted-material rules, and the cost guide carries the gate rates.
Two things to check before a load leaves. The operators publish different hours for the same sites — the City’s page gives the North and Valley stations winter and summer hours, while the county’s own page states 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day — so read the operator’s current page rather than this one. And bring identification, which the City’s page asks for. Household chemicals, paint and other hazardous items do not travel with a general cleanup; they leave by their own drop-off route.
When the debris could be regulated: the record you must keep
If the debris came out of a renovation, a demolition, or any alteration of a structure, it is an air-agency question before it is a hauling question, and the closing file is where that shows.
Spokane Clean Air publishes a Waste Shipment Record: a four-part form carrying a waste-generator section, two transporter acknowledgements, and the receiving site’s certification. The agency’s own instructions say that the waste generator must retain a copy, and that the disposal site must keep a completed copy and send a second to the operator named on the form. Where a project needs an asbestos survey and a Notice of Intent, that record is the paper that shows where the material ended up.
None of this is abatement instruction. Identifying, removing, packaging or transporting asbestos-containing material belongs to a certified professional and to the agency that regulates it; the household’s part is to hold the paperwork afterwards. The asbestos planning guide sets out which projects need a survey and a notice, and the agency publishes the forms, the waiting periods and its own fee schedule.
What is still open, and whose call it is
Some jobs finish with an item nobody will close: a surface left scuffed, a container still in the street, a pile that was never hauled. The item goes on the punch list with a name against it, and the office that owns the ground or the code is the one that decides — not the firm, and not this page.
Spokane County publishes the routing itself, on its code-compliance page, and asks a complainant to verify first that the address is inside the county’s jurisdiction before filing. The City of Spokane’s code-enforcement office publishes its own topic list and an online complaint form, and takes general questions through 311. The county rows below are the county’s own assignments of authority and apply only inside unincorporated Spokane County.
| What is left open | Whose call it is |
|---|---|
| Anything at a property outside the three cities | Spokane County Code Compliance, which first confirms that the address is in its jurisdiction |
| A structure, sign, fence or other obstruction in the county right of way | Spokane County Public Works, 509.477.3600 |
| Dumping or accumulated garbage in the county | Spokane Regional Health District, 509.324.1560 ext. 3 |
| Dumping, right-of-way violations or solid-waste problems inside the City of Spokane | City code enforcement, or 311 |
| Air quality, asbestos, or outdoor burning | Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency, 509.477.4727 |
| Wash water, a spill, or a discharge toward a storm drain | The stormwater or pretreatment programme for that jurisdiction, as the wash-water guide sets out |
An item that is the firm’s to close is not a complaint; it is a punch-list line. Put it in writing, name the date, and keep it with the file.
Where this stops
- This page builds a file; it is not an inspection. Nothing here judges whether work is good, whether a surface is damaged, or whether a repair is safe.
- No method, tool or cleaning instruction appears here. The work is not this page’s subject.
- A photograph documents a job; it does not diagnose one. Nothing here reads a defect from an image.
- Where a rule, a class, a fee or an opening hour decides something, the operator’s current page decides it, not this one.
Next step
One action, before the crew leaves: walk the job from the ground, write the punch list with a name against every item, photograph each run, outlet and boundary, and ask in the same visit for the disposal record and any agency paperwork. What cannot be closed that day goes to the office named above that owns it.
Report an error or a change you have spotted: use our contact page.