IGM started in 2016 with Ray Spashett, a pressure washer, and a decision to do exterior cleaning properly rather than quickly. Ten years on, that hasn't changed. We're still based in Teesside, and Ray is still the one who comes out to quote your job and, more often than not, the one doing the work.
Meet Ray
Ray Spashett is the founder and owner of IGM, and the person who'll turn up to quote your job. He started the business in 2016 and a decade on he still prices every job himself, in writing, and is on the tools most days. He's a MEWP-qualified cherry picker operator, which is what lets us take on the high-access commercial work other local firms have to scaffold for. Ask him about a roof and you'll get a straight answer - including when the honest answer is that it doesn't need doing yet.
- Trading since 2016: a decade of exterior cleaning across Teesside
- MEWP-qualified cherry picker operator, with our own machine
- Established 2016: most of our work comes from repeat customers and word of mouth
- Free, no-obligation quotes: Ray comes out and has a proper look first
How it started
Ray built the business the old-fashioned way: word of mouth around Teesside, doing driveways and roofs, and not cutting corners on the jobs that are easy to rush. That reputation is what's carried IGM across the rest of Teesside since, from Stockton-on-Tees to Yarm, Norton to Hartlepool. We're proud that most of our work still comes from people who've used us before, or been told to call us by someone who has.
How we clean a roof
It's the thing we get asked about most. Yes, we pressure wash roofs, but properly: a rotary surface disc at governed low pressure, dialled down to the gentlest pressure that shifts the growth, and always angled down the pitch so water is never forced under a lap. For stubborn growth we run the water through our heat box and clean with hot water. If a roof is too old or fragile for that, we scrape the moss off by hand and treat it with biocide instead. Either way the roof is finished with biocide, and we guarantee no regrowth for 12 months.
Our cherry picker and MEWP qualification
A few years into the business we invested in our in-house cherry picker, and our operators trained up to become MEWP-qualified. It's changed what kind of work we can take on: high gable ends, multi-storey gutters, commercial fascias and signage, all reached safely without scaffolding and without the days of setup and takedown that come with it. It's also brought in more commercial work, cleaning offices and buildings for landlords, property managers and roofing contractors who need genuine high-access capability, not just a long ladder. One job we're particularly proud of was cleaning the historic 1689 building on Finkle Street in Stockton-on-Tees for Hartburn Roofing, using the cherry picker to reach parts of the building that would otherwise have needed a full scaffold.
Residential and commercial, side by side
Most weeks we're doing both: a driveway and patio for a family in Ingleby Barwick, and a commercial building clean or high-access job for a landlord or contractor elsewhere on Teesside. The standard doesn't change between the two. Every job gets a proper look before we quote it, and the price is always in writing.
Commercial work as well as homes
The fastest-growing side of the business is commercial and industrial work at height: building exteriors, cladding, gutters and roofs on offices, units and managed properties, where our in-house cherry picker and MEWP-qualified operators get the job done without the cost and delay of scaffolding.
Where to find us
We're a Teesside-based business covering the whole of the region. If you want to see what a decade of scraping moss off roofs looks like, we even had a bit of fun writing "IGM" in the moss on a job before we cleaned it off, one of the photos on this site. If you'd rather just get a quote, get in touch and Ray will come and have a look.