Most pressure washing pricing advice starts with a number someone else charges. That is backwards. A price per square foot only means something once you know what an hour of your crew, a gallon of your mix and a mile of your drive cost. This guide builds the price from your costs up, then shows where published national figures land so you can see if you are leaving money on the table or pricing yourself out.
- Price from your own costs first: labor with burden, chemicals, drive time, equipment wear and overhead. Then check the result against the market.
- Published national ranges sit around $0.08 to $0.47 per square foot by property size (Thumbtack) and $0.30 to $0.40 per square foot for a driveway (Fixr), both checked October 8, 2026.
- Set a job minimum that covers the drive, the setup and the cleanup, so small jobs never lose money.
- Offer three options on every quote. The middle one is usually a bundle that costs you little extra to do on the same visit.
- Divide by one minus your margin to get the price. Multiplying by a markup gives you less than you think.
What goes into the cost of a pressure washing job
Every job, from a 400 square foot patio to a two-story house wash, carries the same six costs. Write each one down once, and you can price any job in a few minutes.
- Labor. Every hour on site, plus the time to load, drive, set up and pack up. Count your own hours at what you would pay someone else to do them, or the business looks profitable while paying you nothing.
- Labor burden. Payroll taxes, workers' comp and any paid time off on top of the wage. Your accountant or payroll provider can give you this as a percentage of wages for your state.
- Chemicals and supplies. Sodium hypochlorite, surfactant, degreaser, rust remover, and the wear parts you go through: tips, o-rings, hoses.
- Drive time and fuel. The miles there and back, and the hours behind the wheel.
- Equipment wear. The pump, the engine, the surface cleaner and the trailer will all need repair and replacing. Set aside a fixed amount per job so the bill is paid before it arrives.
- Overhead. Insurance, phone, software, advertising, the truck payment and anything else you pay whether or not you work this week. Work it out as a share of last year's sales: overhead divided by sales.
Then add the profit you want to keep. Profit is not the same as your wage. It is what the business keeps after everyone, including you, has been paid.
Setting your labor rate
Start with the wage. The closest wage group the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes is cleaners of vehicles and equipment, the people who wash trucks, machinery and equipment with hoses and cleaning agents. In its May 2025 wage survey, that group's national mean wage was $17.78 an hour and the median was $17.23 (BLS OEWS 53-7061, checked October 8, 2026). Your area will differ, and a skilled soft wash tech who can run a roof job without a callback is worth more than the median.
Add your burden on top. If burden in your state is 20% of wages, a $20 an hour tech costs you $24 an hour. That $24 is the number that goes into the job cost.
Published hourly rates that customers see are much higher than the wage because they carry overhead and profit. Thumbtack's 2026 price guide puts the national average hourly rate for pressure washing at $75 to $90 (Thumbtack, checked October 8, 2026). Fixr lists $50 to $150 an hour for driveway work (Fixr, checked October 8, 2026). If your fully loaded cost plus overhead plus profit lands far outside that band, look at your numbers again before you look at the market.
Per square foot benchmarks
These are national figures from consumer price guides, so they show what homeowners are told to expect. They are a check on your own math, not a replacement for it.
| Job | Published range | Source |
|---|---|---|
| By property size (Thumbtack) | ||
| 1,000 sq ft or less | $190 to $291 | Thumbtack |
| 1,000 to 2,000 sq ft | $273 to $408 | Thumbtack |
| 2,000 to 3,000 sq ft | $331 to $488 | Thumbtack |
| 3,000 to 4,000 sq ft | $414 to $599 | Thumbtack |
| By surface | ||
| House, 1 story | $218 to $363 | Thumbtack |
| House, 2 stories | $279 to $472 | Thumbtack |
| Roof | $419 to $686 | Thumbtack |
| Driveway, per sq ft | $0.30 to $0.40 | Fixr |
| 600 sq ft driveway | $180 to $240 | Fixr |
| Driveway plus sidewalk | $275 to $300 | Fixr |
Thumbtack's guide puts the national average job at $241 to $418, with a per square foot range of about $0.08 to $0.47 depending on size. Fixr's driveway page gives $0.30 to $0.40 per square foot for pressure washing and $0.40 to $0.55 for hot water power washing. Both were checked October 8, 2026. Notice the per square foot price falls as the job gets bigger. That is the setup, drive and cleanup being spread over more square feet, and your own prices should do the same.
Set a job minimum
A small job still needs the truck loaded, the drive, the setup, the rinse and the pack-up. If you price a 150 square foot stoop by the square foot alone, you lose money on it.
Work out your minimum the same way you price any job, using the smallest job you would take. As an example, with these assumptions: two people, one and a half hours each from loading to unloading, $24 an hour loaded labor, $10 of chemicals, a 30 mile round trip at 76 cents a mile, and $15 set aside for equipment wear.
- Labor: 2 people x 1.5 hours x $24 = $72
- Chemicals: $10
- Drive: 30 miles x $0.76 = $22.80
- Equipment wear: $15
- Direct cost: $72 + $10 + $22.80 + $15 = $119.80
To cover overhead and profit of 35% of the price, divide by 0.65: $119.80 / 0.65 = $184. That is the least the truck should roll for. For comparison, Thumbtack lists a low-end national average of $166 to $189. The 76 cents a mile used here is the IRS standard mileage rate for business use from July 1 to December 31, 2026 (72.5 cents from January to June 2026, 70 cents for 2025, per IRS standard mileage rates, checked October 8, 2026). Use your own cost per mile if you track it.
A worked example: a two-story house wash
Here is one job priced from the ground up. Every input is an assumption for the example. Swap in your own.
- House: two stories, about 2,000 square feet of living space, vinyl siding, soft washed.
- Crew: two people, three hours on site and half an hour each for loading and the drive, so 3.5 hours each.
- Loaded labor: $24 an hour.
- Chemicals: $25 of mix and surfactant.
- Drive: 30 miles round trip at $0.76.
- Equipment wear: $15.
- Overhead: 20% of the price. Profit you want to keep: 15% of the price.
The math:
- Labor: 2 x 3.5 hours x $24 = $168
- Chemicals: $25
- Drive: 30 x $0.76 = $22.80
- Equipment wear: $15
- Direct cost: $168 + $25 + $22.80 + $15 = $230.80
- Overhead plus profit: 20% + 15% = 35% of the price
- Price: $230.80 / (1 - 0.35) = $230.80 / 0.65 = $355
Check it: 35% of $355 is about $124, and $355 minus $124 is about $231, the direct cost. Thumbtack's range for a two-story house is $279 to $472, so $355 sits inside it. If your math had landed at $200, you would want to find out why before sending the quote. If it had landed at $600, you would want to know what is costing you so much, or be ready to explain what you do that others do not.
Present it as good, better, best
One price is a yes or a no. Three prices are a choice, and the customer is choosing between your options instead of between you and the next company. Our article on writing a good, better, best estimate covers the idea in full. For pressure washing it usually looks like this:
- Good: the job they asked for. The house wash at $355 from the example.
- Better: the house plus the driveway on the same visit. Using Fixr's $0.30 to $0.40 per square foot, a 600 square foot driveway at $0.35 is $210. You are already set up, so the extra cost to you is mostly time and chemical.
- Best: the house, the driveway and the walks, plus a return visit in a year at today's price.
Koira's estimates send up to three options from your own price list. The customer picks one, signs and pays the deposit on the same page, from their phone. If they go quiet, Koira follows up on day two and day four, then stops.
Give a price before they call anyone else
Driveways, patios and roofs are flat work with a size you can measure. That makes them easy to quote without a visit, which matters on a $200 job where driving out to look costs you most of the margin.
A Get a price button on your site answers from your own price list, day or night, and Koira measures roofs, lawns and driveways from above for the first number. Anything not on your list comes to you as one question: what do you charge for this? It never invents a price.
Turn one-off washes into repeat work
Storefronts, drive-throughs, dumpster pads and apartment complexes need the same wash on a schedule. A homeowner who liked the house wash will want it again next spring. Price recurring work a little below your one-off rate, because the setup is known and the drive is on a route, and bill it automatically.
On the Front Office plan, Koira sells maintenance plans on your site and on every invoice, bills them on the card on file and books the visits. For commercial work, commercial outreach writes to property managers near you with a short three-email sequence.
How to raise your prices
Your costs go up every year: fuel, chemicals, insurance, wages. If your prices do not, your margin shrinks without you deciding it should.
- Rerun the math once a year with this year's costs. If the price it gives is higher than what you charge, that gap is coming out of your pocket.
- Raise prices for new customers first. They have no old number to compare against.
- Tell repeat customers ahead of time, in writing, with the new price and the date it starts. A short, plain note works better than a long apology.
- Raise the minimum before anything else. Small jobs are where most underpricing hides.
Common pricing mistakes
- Leaving out the drive. A 40 minute drive each way on a two-hour job is a third of the day.
- Not counting your own hours. If the price only works when you work for free, it does not work.
- Quoting by eye. Measure, or use satellite measuring, so the 1,200 square foot driveway is not priced as 600.
- One price for every surface. A roof soft wash and a concrete pad do not take the same time or chemical.
- Pricing to beat the cheapest name on the list. Someone will always be cheaper. Price to your costs and show why your option is worth it.
Want to see how your business looks to people comparing you with other washers nearby? The free AI report checks your listing, reviews and site in about a minute. For more calculators, see the free tools.
Questions contractors ask
How much should I charge per square foot for pressure washing?
Work it out from your own costs first, then check it against the market. Thumbtack's 2026 guide puts the national range at about $0.08 to $0.47 per square foot depending on the size of the property, and Fixr lists $0.30 to $0.40 per square foot for a driveway (both checked October 8, 2026). Bigger jobs land at the low end per square foot because the setup and drive are spread over more area.
What is a good minimum charge for pressure washing?
Enough to cover the smallest job's labor, drive, chemicals and equipment wear, plus your overhead and profit. In the example on this page that came to $184. Thumbtack's low-end national average is $166 to $189, so a minimum in that area is common, but yours should come from your own costs.
Should I charge by the hour or by the square foot?
Customers prefer a fixed price, so quote a fixed price. Use your hourly cost and your timed production rate behind the scenes to build it. Hourly billing makes sense for jobs you cannot size in advance, like heavy rust or graffiti removal.
How do I price a house wash?
Estimate the hours on site plus the drive, multiply by your loaded labor rate, add chemicals, fuel and equipment wear, then divide by one minus your overhead and profit share. For a two-story house, Thumbtack's 2026 range is $279 to $472.
How much do pressure washers make per hour?
Wages and prices are different numbers. BLS's May 2025 survey puts the national mean wage for cleaners of vehicles and equipment, the closest group BLS publishes, at $17.78 an hour. The hourly rate a business charges is much higher because it carries overhead and profit: Thumbtack lists a national average of $75 to $90 an hour.
How often should I raise my pressure washing prices?
Rerun your cost math at least once a year. If your costs went up and your price did not, your margin went down. Raise prices for new customers first and give repeat customers notice in writing.
Can I quote pressure washing without a site visit?
For flat work and roofs, often yes. Satellite measuring gives a first number for driveways, patios and roofs. Koira measures from above and prices from your own list, and anything unusual comes to you to price.
