About IGM
IGM is run by Ray Spashett, a family firm based in Ingleby Barwick and trading across Teesside since 2016. Roofs, drives, patios, gutters, gardens and commercial high-access work, done properly, priced honestly, with our own cherry picker for the jobs that need it.
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 family-run, still based in Ingleby Barwick, and Ray is still the one who comes out to quote your job and, more often than not, the one doing the work.
How it started
Ray built the business the old-fashioned way: word of mouth around Ingleby Barwick, 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 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.
Why we never pressure wash a roof
It's the thing we get asked about most, and it's non-negotiable: we scrape moss off by hand and treat the roof with biocide, we don't blast it with a jet washer. High pressure strips tile granules and can force water under laps, which shortens a roof's life rather than extending it. Doing it properly takes longer, but it's the only way we'll do it.
Our cherry picker and MEWP qualification
A few years into the business we invested in our own 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 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.
Gardens as well as buildings
Alongside the cleaning side, we do garden maintenance and landscaping too, lawns, turfing, borders, paving, decking and hedge work. It grew naturally out of exterior cleaning customers asking if we'd sort the garden while we were there, and now it's a core part of what we do.
Where to find us
We're based in Ingleby Barwick and cover the whole of Teesside. 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.