Pressure washing price calculator

How to price a pressure washing job

Most pressure washing companies quote a flat price per job, but they build it from a rate per square foot (or per linear foot for fences and gutters). The trouble with copying someone else's "25 cents a square foot" is that it hides what actually drives your cost: how fast you clean each surface, what your machine and chemicals cost to run, and how far you drive. This calculator turns those into a price you can defend.

The formula

The default production rates assume a 4 GPM gas machine with a surface cleaner and a soft-wash setup: one tech covers about 500 sq ft of vinyl-sided home per hour (brick and stucco 350), 600 sq ft of driveway, 200 sq ft of wood deck and 50 linear feet of fence. Condition multiplies the time (Light 0.85×, Average 1.0×, Heavy 1.35×). Height only applies where you're working up a wall or roof: 2 stories add 30%, 3 stories add 60%.

Why setup, travel and overhead are shared

Every job carries the same fixed costs: about 40 tech-minutes to unload, connect water, wet plants, roll hoses and do a final walk-around, plus the drive and a slice of insurance, marketing and software. The calculator adds those up once and spreads them across the surfaces by their tech-hours, so a big house wash carries most of them and a small walkway carries little.

That's also why the same house wash can have two prices. In the kit's sample job (a 2,400 sq ft two-story home with a driveway, walkways, patio and gutter faces), the house wash line comes to $455 because it shares the setup and the trip with four other surfaces. Quote that house wash on its own and it carries all of the shared cost, so it rises to $495. Try it: clear every surface except the house wash and set the plan to One-time.

Break-even and your real hourly rate

Break-even is everything the job costs: labor for the surfaces, setup and add-ons at your wage plus labor burden, equipment and fuel for those hours, chemicals and materials, the drive and overhead. A price below it means you're paying to work. The effective hourly rate is what each tech-hour earns after equipment, chemicals, travel and overhead: (price − those costs) ÷ tech-hours. The calculator compares it with your wage plus burden, because that's what an hour of labor really costs you. Type a price into "Test your own price" to see where a number you were about to quote lands.

Minimum charge and maintenance plans

A 100 sq ft walkway still needs a trip, setup and pack-up, so a minimum job charge ($175 by default) tops up small jobs. Repeat customers are quicker to clean and cost nothing to win again, which is what the plan discounts pay for: 5% annual, 10% every 6 months, 12% quarterly and 15% monthly. The discount comes off last and never takes a job below your minimum.

Storm drains, chemicals and safety

Keep wash water out of storm drains: block, divert or recover it as your local rules require. Wastewater and runoff rules vary by state and city, and commercial pads and drive-thrus often have stricter recovery requirements. Follow each product's label and SDS for mixing and PPE, never mix bleach with acids or ammonia, and only take roof work if you're trained and insured for it. None of this is built into a price, so budget your time for it.

Make the numbers yours

• Time your next few jobs. If a 2,000 sq ft one-story house wash takes you 4 tech-hours, your house wash rate is 500 sq ft per tech-hour.
• Price your equipment per hour. Machine, pump, hoses, tips and surface cleaner wear out: (equipment cost ÷ hours of life) + fuel per hour gives a rough figure.
• Count the drive. The vehicle cost per mile defaults to the IRS 2026 business standard mileage rate (76¢ a mile from July 1, 2026; irs.gov). A truck towing a trailer rig can cost more.
• Charge for the hard stuff. Oil and rust stains, gum and sealing take real time and materials. Price them as add-ons rather than throwing them in.

This calculator is a pricing aid, not financial, legal or tax advice. The defaults aren't market research for your area, so check local rates and your own costs before you quote.