WorkbookBarn
What should I charge for pressure washing?
Published 2026 ranges: driveways $100–$250, house washes $213–$448, $50–$160/hr of production time.
Published 2026 ranges: $100–$250 for a driveway, $213–$448 for a typical house wash, and $50–$160 per hour of production time for an established operator. The spread is not noise — it is surface, height, chemicals and who is holding the wand.
The published ranges, job by job
- Driveway pressure washing — $100–$250
- House exterior wash (1-2 story home, normal range) — $213–$448
- Two-story house exterior wash (larger home) — $400–$1,400
- Roof soft wash (algae/moss treatment) — $450–$700
Per-job figures from HomeAdvisor’s 2026 guide; the production-hour range from a 2026 industry pricing guide (both retrieved 2026-08-26). Soft-wash and roof work price higher than flatwork because chemicals, risk and skill are higher.
Quote the job, price the hour underneath
Customers want one number for their driveway, so quote flat — but build the flat number from an internal model: estimated production hours × your target hourly rate, sanity-checked per square foot. Pricing posts are so constant in r/pressurewashing that the sub has a standing rule requiring measurements and photos before anyone will answer one; the lesson is that nobody can price your job but your model.
Know your floor
Your production hour carries the machine, fuel, insurance ($684–$3,540/yr for GL, per NEXT Insurance), travel and the quotes that never book. Run the free break-even calculator before you print a price list — the low end of the published range is frequently below a solo operator’s real floor, which is exactly how new operators lose a season for nothing.
Do it with the numbers in front of you
- Break-even calculator — your real hourly floor, free
- Free pressure-washing companion kit — Excel financial model + worksheets
- Pressure Washing Business Startup Plan — the full 13-chapter plan, $14.99
Questions
Should I price per square foot, per job, or per hour?
Residential customers buy jobs, not hours — quote flat per job, built from a per-square-foot or per-hour model underneath (typical published per-sqft pricing runs $0.10–$0.50 depending on surface). The hourly figure ($50–$160 of production time in 2026 guides) is your internal check, not the quote.
Why is the pro rate so much higher than minimum wage?
Because the rate carries everything: the machine, fuel, water handling, insurance (GL for pressure washing runs $684–$3,540/yr per NEXT Insurance), travel, quoting time and the jobs that don’t book. A production hour has to fund the hours that aren’t production.
Where do these numbers come from?
HomeAdvisor’s 2026 power-washing cost guide for per-job ranges, a 2026 industry pricing guide for the hourly production rate, and NEXT Insurance for GL costs — retrieved 2026-08-26. The Pressure Washing Business Startup Plan cites every figure the same way.
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Educational estimates only. These calculators and workbooks do the arithmetic on the figures you enter; they are general-purpose tools, not financial, investment, tax, legal, lending, insurance or construction advice, and no result is a quote, an offer, or a guarantee of any outcome. Results depend entirely on your inputs and assumptions.