Something that counts against us
Houston's pressure washing permit is your liability, not just ours
We are not on the City's permitted list. Rather than let you find that out later, here is the whole thing — what the rule is, who it lands on, and exactly how we handle a pressure washing request.
The City's own words
You may only use a permitted pressure washing company that has a current and valid permit with the City of Houston Health Department, and who is equipped to collect all pressured wash water and prevent it from entering the storm drain.
City of Houston Health Department — FAQ for waste generators
Read who that sentence is addressed to. It is addressed to you. If a restaurant inside Houston city limits hires an unpermitted company for exterior washing, the regulatory exposure lands on the restaurant, not only on the contractor. Discharging wash water to the storm drain is separately prohibited under the Houston Code of Ordinances.
The part everyone gets wrong
There are two different activities here and they have different answers.
Interior kitchen exhaust cleaning
No City pressure washer permit involved. The wash water from cleaning your hood, filters and duct goes to the sanitary sewer through your own grease interceptor. That is your existing, already-permitted pathway. This is the work we do.
Exterior pressure washing
Permit required. Parking lots, dumpster pads, drive-thrus, sidewalks, building exteriors. This generates wash water that has to be recovered and kept out of the storm drain — and that is what the City permit covers.
Getting that distinction right is, honestly, a better test of whether a contractor knows this trade than any certificate on their wall.
So here is how we handle it
- Hood, filters, duct, rooftop fan and curb. We do this ourselves, contained, as part of the exhaust cleaning. Always available.
- Your pad, patio or drive-thru inside city limits. We either bring in a permitted company and give you their permit number before we start, or we pull a City 31-day temporary permit for your job and show you the number once the vehicle has passed inspection. We will not tell you we are permitted until a vehicle has actually passed.
- Outside city limits. Different jurisdiction, different rules. Tell us the address and we'll tell you which apply.
Check the list yourself
The City publishes its permitted Service Company list. It takes about thirty seconds. Look us up — we're not on it. Then look up whoever else you're considering while you're in there. The City's permitted Service Company list (PDF).
One more thing worth knowing
A standard commercial general liability policy excludes pollution. So a wash-water discharge into a storm drain is not covered by the contractor's policy at all — which means an unpermitted vendor's mistake is effectively uninsurable, and the restaurant is the one holding it.
That is the actual reason this page exists. It costs us work to say it.