Pressure washing cost calculator

The surface is the production rate, not the square footage

Every other trade on this site bills time against interior area. Exterior work does not: the same wand in the same hands covers 1,200 sq ft an hour of flat concrete behind a surface cleaner and 180 sq ft an hour of roof, because one is a machine walking itself across a slab and the other is mixing, climbing, applying and rinsing while somebody's shrubs sit underneath. That is nearly a sevenfold spread, and it is the single reason a flat advertised rate per foot is a promise you cannot keep across a whole route.

Watch what that does to one number. At 2,000 sq ft the drive prices at $124, siding at $247, a deck at $388 and a roof at $549 — four prices spanning more than 4× for an identical measurement. Any operator quoting "$0.12 a square foot" down the phone has just agreed to wash a roof for the price of a wall, and will discover it on the ladder.

Rates like 400 for siding and 250 for softwood are planning defaults for careful residential work, not published standards — and the calculator takes an override for exactly that reason. Time three of your own jobs with a phone timer, including the setup, the plant wetting and the pack-down, and put your real number in. The one you measure will beat the one you borrowed every time.

Chemistry is a cost of goods, and it is where the margin goes

Sodium hypochlorite, surfactant and gas are money that leaves the bank before anybody is paid, which makes them cost of goods — not an inconvenience to absorb out of profit. This calculator feeds them into the engine as a supplies cost, so they come off the job before the margin is applied. The reference house wash carries $16 of product and $18 of fuel at $4 a machine hour, and the price on screen is the price that still holds its target afterwards.

Price the labour alone and you get a number that looks competitive and is not. The same wash quoted to a 25% target with chemistry ignored comes out at $202 — $45 lighter — and once the drums and the gas can are paid for, that job returned 8.44%. Do it fifty times a season and you have funded a competitor's growth out of your own working capital.

The damage is worst where you would least expect it. It tracks chemistry as a share of labour, not chemistry per square foot, so the cheapest mix on the list does the most harm: the driveway, with its $14 of product and fuel against barely an hour of work, returns 4.49% when consumables are left out. The roof, drowning in the most expensive chemistry you buy, still returns more, because there are hours in it to carry the load.

A driveway is a minimum-charge job and always was

A 2.5-hour minimum is not a policy for difficult customers. Hitching the trailer, driving, unrolling hose, mixing, wetting down plants, packing away wet gear and driving home cost the same whether the job took forty minutes or an afternoon. At the reference rate card an 800 sq ft drive is 40m at the gun, and it prices at $117 — the floor, not the footage — which works out at $0.15 a foot.

The floor reaches further up the size chart than most operators expect. Concrete stays on the minimum all the way to 2,000 sq ft, since even that is only 1h 40m behind a surface cleaner, and it takes 3,000 sq ft before the measured work finally overtakes the floor at $129. Everything below that line is one call-out fee wearing different clothes, which is precisely how it should be quoted.

Say the minimum out loud, early, in the same breath as the price. Every customer already accepts a call-out from a plumber or a locksmith, and they accept one from you when it arrives at the start of the conversation. What they will not forgive is discovering it at the bottom of an invoice for a strip of concrete they thought was being priced by the yard. The floor also moves on its own: raise your wage in the calculator and it rises with everything else, because it is the same rate card over the smallest billable block.

Soiling, reach and the mistakes that cost more than the job

Soiling is bought twice on an exterior wash, which nothing else on this site does. Heavier growth means a slower pass AND a stronger mix, so the reference wall goes from $247 at light soiling to $320 at moderate and $418 where the lichen is established — 3h 30m of extra time and $10 of extra product on one house. None of that is a surcharge you invented; it is a second application and a longer dwell that somebody has to stand there and do.

Reach is quieter and just as real. Working an upper elevation off an extension wand or resetting a ladder along a run adds about a fifth to the hours before a drop of product is applied, taking the same wall from $247 to $292. Price it as time rather than as a "height fee" and the conversation stays factual, because it is time — and if the reach means harnesses or a lift, that is a different bid entirely and it belongs in writing.

The judgement calls are what separate a business from a machine rental. Softwood and old mortar want low pressure and patience; painted surfaces and failing caulk want a test patch and a photo; a roof wants chemistry and never pressure, plus enough water on the landscaping before, during and after that nothing browns a week later. Estimate a roof at $549 and it will take you 11h 7m — the day is the product, and the mistake that turns it into a repaint costs more than the whole route did.

Pressure washing pricing questions owners ask

How much should I charge for pressure washing?

Work from your own hours and your own chemistry rather than a going rate. At the reference wage and a 25% margin, 2,000 sq ft of siding prices at $247, the same footage of concrete at $124 and a roof soft wash at $549.

What is the going rate per square foot for pressure washing?

There is no single one, which is the problem with the question. On these figures a roof works out at $0.27 a foot, siding at $0.12 and a large concrete slab at $0.043 — a spread of more than 6× on the same measurement.

How much should I charge to wash a driveway?

Almost always your minimum. An 800 sq ft drive is about 40m behind a surface cleaner, which lands under the 2.5-hour floor and prices at $117 here. Quote the call-out, then sell the walkway and the patio on the same visit while the trailer is already parked.

How do I price a roof soft wash?

By the hour it really takes, with the chemistry counted. At 180 sq ft per hour a 2,000 sq ft roof is 11h 7m and $549 at the reference card, carrying $36 of mix alone. Insurance, safety kit and the plant rinse push a real operator's number above that floor.

How much do chemicals cost per pressure washing job?

Enough to matter, and they scale with the surface. This calculator budgets $0.004 a square foot on concrete and $0.018 on a roof soft wash, plus $4 an hour of fuel — $34 on the reference house wash. Replace those with your own drum prices.

Should I charge more for a two-storey house?

Yes, and charge it as time. An extension wand and repeated ladder resets add roughly a fifth to the hours on the same wall area, which takes the reference wash from $247 to $292. Anything needing a harness or a lift is a separate bid with its own scope.

Should I quote pressure washing by the hour or by the square foot?

Quote whichever the customer expects, but cost the job by the hour with consumables subtracted underneath. A rate per foot is a summary of a job you have already priced; said first, it becomes the number you are held to when the surface turns out to be softwood, or three storeys, or a roof.