Novato homes, up close
Scale is the thing to understand about working here. The city runs from Black Point in the east to the hills below Mount Burdell, and a crew day covers ground that would take in three or four southern-Marin towns. Most of what they clean is suburban and post-1965: single-story ranches around Loma Verde, two-story tracts in Indian Valley, and the newer construction at Pointe Marin. Wide driveways, attached garages, side yards. After the tight lanes further south, it is straightforward work.
Hamilton is the exception worth naming. The old army airfield was redeveloped into neighborhoods with officers' housing restored alongside new townhomes, and the older buildings there have details — hardwood, tall casements, plaster — that the tract stock does not. Bel Marin Keys is its own case again: lagoon frontage, boat docks, sliding doors facing water that collect a film you can see. We ask which part of the city you are in before quoting, because those three answers mean three different visits.
The building stock here
Detached houses on 5,000 to 9,000 square foot lots dominate, most built between 1960 and 1995, running 1,500 to 2,400 square feet with two or three bathrooms. Carpet in bedrooms, tile or laminate in wet rooms, occasional hardwood in the older Ignacio and Hamilton blocks. Inland heat means air conditioning, which means return-air vents and ceiling fans carry visible dust by August. Several newer developments carry homeowner associations with their own vendor rules.