How to Price Pressure Washing Jobs in 5 Simple Steps

Appearance matters the most in reflecting an intent, behavior, or nature of something.

No one likes the accumulation of dirt, mildew, and mold on the walls of their property, causing severe health disorders. Rightly said, health is wealth. Hence, to get rid of them, pressure washing services are the ultimate savior.

As per the official reports, the Market size of pressure washing services is expected to grow at an annual growth rate of 3.4% to reach USD 2.4 billion by 2025. So, to be a part of this profitable industry, you need to be vigilant towards the pressure washing cost structure.

But there are numerous questions that blow into our minds while starting the pressure washing business and before fixing the pressure washing cost. For instance:

• How to price pressure washing jobs?
• What points to keep in mind while deciding pressure washing prices to beat our competitors?
• What pricing strategies are to be adopted?

Let’s dive in and know each matter relating to the power washing cost, precisely.

1. Calculate the Square Footage of the Property

In the realm of pressure washing, accurate pricing begins with a thorough understanding of the property’s square footage. Discover the methods and tools to effectively measure and compute square footage, ensuring your pricing reflects the true scope of the job.

Before quoting any pressure washing job, you need to calculate the total square footage of the areas that require cleaning. This includes the home’s siding, driveway, walkways, patio, deck, and other surfaces. Measuring is crucial as it determines how long the job will take and how much cleaning solution is needed. For siding, multiply the height by the length of each section. For flat surfaces like driveways, just measure the length and width. Having an accurate square footage measurement ensures your pricing is fair.

2. Choose Appropriate Pricing Strategy

Navigating the diverse landscape of pricing strategies is key to optimizing profitability in the pressure washing industry. Explore various approaches—from competitive pricing to value-based strategies—and unveil the one that aligns seamlessly with your business goals and market dynamics. 

There are two main pricing strategies:

1. Per square foot:

The per-square-foot pricing strategy is a popular choice in the pressure washing industry, particularly for larger projects where surface area is a primary determinant of workload. 

Per square foot is one of the most complicated methods to estimate power washing services, because of the multiple factors involved. Charges for a pressure washing job depend on several points like the size of the house and the surrounding areas, and the time and tools required to undergo the power washing are to be taken care of.

Usually, the price range to charge pressure washing jobs based on per square foot ranges between $0.08 to $0.35 per sq ft. Price in your areas can be different.

However, the only disadvantage of pricing the pressure washing job per square foot is you can not figure out the level of difficulties involved in every project.

2. Per hour:

The per-hour pricing strategy revolves around charging clients based on the amount of time spent on the pressure washing job. This method takes into account not only the surface area being cleaned but also factors such as complexity, accessibility, and the expertise of the pressure washing technician.

The pressure washing price per hour may range from $25 to $100 per hour depending on your location, the size of the job, and the equipment you’ll need to complete it.

3. Flat rate: 

Flat rate pricing provides clients with a fixed price for a specific pressure washing service, regardless of the size or complexity of the project. This straightforward approach offers predictability and convenience for both the business and the client, simplifying the pricing process and eliminating surprises.

Below is the flat rate pricing range of various pressure washing services.

Generally, pressure washing services range between the following pricing chart. However, the rates may defer depending upon the average regional rates of place.

Areas to clean	Approximate price range
House/Building Slides	$300 – $700
Driveway	$100-$400
Deck or Patio	$150-$450
Gutters	$55-$160
Fence	$150-$300
Roofing	$250-$700
Vehicles	$35-$80

3. Calculate Your Overhead and Materials Cost

The material and overhead costs involved in the project need to be estimated precisely. The material costs include additional costs for chemicals for jobs on roofs, fences, decks, and siding. Apart from this, whether you choose hot water or cold water, it also affects the pricing of washing jobs.

Overhead costs don’t affect the sales revenue; however, they do affect the overall cost budget. Hence, overhead is another factor that you should consider while determining the cost of a power washing job.

Here is the breakdown of monthly costs. It is divided over the number of hours for which you will be able to charge your customers, based on a 30-hour paid work week:

Type of Costs	Rate
Vehicle loan	$400 or $3.33 per hour
Car insurance	$125 or $1.04 per hour
Cleaning supplies	$400 or $3.33 per hour
Phone and internet	$150 or $1.25 per hour
Gasoline	$500 per month or $4.17 per hour
Advertising	$600 or $5.00 an hour
Equipment maintenance and fuel	$10 per hour
Office rent	$900 a month, $9 per hour (optional)

Use free pressure washing estimate template by InvoiceOwl and create professional-looking estimates in no time enabling you to stand out from the rest of your competitors and win more jobs.

4. Add Your Profit Markup

Of course, you’re in business to make money, not just break even. Calculate a fair profit margin to mark up your cost of doing each job. Service businesses commonly use markups of 100% over combined labor and overhead costs.

Let’s understand this with an example:

5. Calculate Total Cost

Once you have the square footage, your pricing rate structure, overhead and materials costs, and desired profit margin – you can calculate the total cost to quote the customer.

Types of Pressure Washing Jobs

In order to know how to price pressure washing jobs, there are several factors to focus on:

• types of pressure washing jobs, whether commercial or residential
• the equipment being used
• manpower required
• type of material required, depending on the project (house, gutters, deck, and driveways)
• cost of material and labor used
• no of working hours

Before you fix the power washing costs, you should have a clear idea of whether it will be billed as a commercial power washing job, or residential.

1. Residential

• When cleaning up the driveways, fences, roof, patio of your home, the undercarriage of your truck, garage floors, or any other household mess you have created, a residential pressure washer is used.
• Undergoing the timely power washing services for your residence can ultimately prevent the interiors and exterior of your house walls from any harmful events. Residential power washers require high-pressure water for cleaning the boats, sidewalks, and decks. However, you need to lower the pressure for the softer surface of your home.

2. Commercial

• For industrial jobs, commercial cleaning is done. For those areas which have the accumulation of tougher dirt and debris, a high-pressure washer is used to clean those surfaces.
• A commercial power washer can remove tough dirt, dust, oil, and debris, by spraying high-pressure water through the nozzle. Pumps are used to create water pressure. An engine or electric motor powers the pump, which lets water pass through the nozzle, and the surface gets cleaned.
• These commercial pressure washers provide the utmost power, reliability, and durability that pressure-washing businesses seek every day. A commercial power wash generates cleaning power two times more in comparison to a regular garden hose.

Commercial pressure washing prices are almost similar to residential prices when you are pricing as per the flat rate pricing method. However, pressure washing costs may vary if you add the below-mentioned factors:

• accessibility of the area
• size of area
• time invested in completing the job
• amount of dirt, mold, or grime built up
• complexities involved in cleaning the surface

Factors to Consider While Charging for Residential Pressure Washing Jobs

There are several points that differentiate residential pressure washing jobs from commercial cleaning. Those factors are listed below:

• Even a single individual can conduct residential cleaning instead of the whole team.
• The use of chemicals is less because the amount of dirt, debris, oil, or any other surface requiring cleaning is not as tough as the industrial surfaces are.
• The residential power washing business offers some form of relief, such as discount options if they find multiple job opportunities or huge package deals in the same areas.
• Operating expenses are also less because your client doesn’t need the pressure washing companies to sign the agreements, complete legal work, or have detailed contract processes.
• They also don’t need a detailed breakdown of the cost incurred. However, providing detailed cost structures with detailed descriptions of each item served enhances your trust in clients and creditworthiness in the market.

Renowned automation software like InvoiceOwl helps you here.

Factors to Consider While Charging for Commercial Pressure Washing Jobs

When it comes to commercial properties, pricing pressure washing jobs is quite complicated. You tend to price a bit higher than the usual cleaning jobs. This is because of the complexities involved, manpower required, time consumed, etc. There are several points to focus on while determining commercial pressure washing jobs. They are:

• Scale is the topmost factor when pricing for commercial pressure washing jobs.
• Pricing commercial pressure washing jobs are labor intensive as it requires huge manpower in comparison to residential power washing.
• It is time-consuming as the level of complications involved is a bit more.
• Operational costs will be higher as well because you are doing your business on the industrial level, and hence everything should be standardized.

Reference Pricing Chart

Project	Average Price Range
House Single story house Two story house	$90 – $275 flat rate for exterior $0.75 – $1.25 per linear foot $1.75 – $2.25 per linear foot
Single story gutters Two floors Three floors	$100 $135 $200
Fences, Decks, and Siding	$0.20 – $0.25 per square foot

Essential Pressure Washing Pricing Factors to Consider

• The type of property you are pricing is either residential or commercial.
• After the type, what matters next is the size of the property. Power washing pricing depends on how big or small the property is and how long it will take to complete the pressure washing task.
• In what condition is the property? Is there any accumulation of oil or grease stains or build-up of dirt or mold?
• The type of equipment to take on the job site may get different.
• Last but not least, you need to keep track of money going out and coming again into the business.
• Certain fixed costs regularly occur irrespective of utilities, rent, and insurance.
• Other than this, some emergency machine repairs, maintenance, transportation, and possibly your employees’ salaries.

A precise and accurate cost sheet is key to effectively managing costs and generating leads for your pressure-washing business.  Go through this, easy guide on, “how to get pressure washing leads” for more tips on how to grow your pressure washing jobs.

Conclusion

Now, you must be at a much better place after finding out the ultimate solution on how to price pressure washing jobs. The only thing that you need to focus on is creating an effective cost structure. Remember, the more detailed your cost plan is, the more, clients will be able to trust it.

The estimating and invoicing software like InvoiceOwl helps you create the invoices and estimates once you figure out how to fix the price, and what factors to take into consideration. You can take a free trial to get more insights.