How to Estimate the Cost of Pressure Washing

Pressure washing differ from region to region and more so in the type of application performed. And there are also prime factors to bear in mind when estimating your works. The three most leading issues to consider are TIME, MATERIAL & PROFIT. But typically, when we talk about pressure washing, the most common thing comes to mind is the surface to clean; and when speak of surfaces, the size of the area would most likely be the basis if we are going to make estimates in the cost of pressure washing. So the two most common measurement of an area is either by Square Foot (sq.ft) or Square Meter (sq.m)

And not only is the size of the area to be considered here, the specific location and texture of the area is also accounted for, like a vertical or diagonal wall, window and even ceilings, concrete, wood or tiles. Will the application be done indoors or outdoors, will the work require detergents or certain special cleaning solutions or chemicals; or would it need special accessories such as surface cleaners,. So these things also go into estimating the cost of pressure washing.

Time – The quickest way to learn time is to actually do jobs. Along the course of time you do jobs, you will get the hang of how long it takes to do a typical house, driveway, boat, whatever. It doesn’t matter if you are doing the work yourself or if you have an employee doing it, time should always be counted in especially if you’re commercially doing Pressure Washing.

Materials – When we talk about materials costs for any job, there are only two types and that’s direct costs and indirect. The direct costs are pretty easy and should never be disregarded. If you will be losing money on your direct costs with jobs, your business is going to be a struggle. Listed under Direct Materials Costs are things like the chemicals used on the job, gas burned on the job, and anything and everything else purchased specifically for that job that won’t be used on other jobs. Indirect costs are other expenses incurred to perform the services in general, but not only in one specific contract. The cost of your pressure washer, accessories and other equipment such as safety tools, is listed as indirect cost. You need to be very aware of these costs, and learning to address them more from an overall point of view and less by specific jobs.

Profit – On top of your direct costs, is how much you add onto the top, the profit. Every customer expect you’ve added a great deal for profit and will somehow work you out to get you to give them a good bargain to your last dollar; but this area can dictate how reasonable and/or how competitive you are. Don’t cheat your customers, but don’t leave out yourself either. Always do a good and methodical job, be professional, and your customers won’t mind paying a respectable rate.

Mixing Them Together – Learn to maximize your time. Organize an efficient “system” to follow on all jobs so as not to waste a single minute. It will never be perfect and will take several jobs to develop, but streamlining is the key to any business – including yours. Don’t skimp on your cleaning chemicals to the point you’re already doing a lousy job, taking much time washing in the process that you lose opportunities to do numerous jobs in a day; but don’t be wasteful with resources just so you could skewer more jobs in a day either. Try to make the most of your buying power as much as possible with chemicals. Buying in bulk can greatly reduce your per job chemical costs. Remember, competence = income. Run a rigid ship and you can charge your clients very competitive rates and still keep a nice profit.

Explaining Your Pricing To Your Customers – When you are discussing your pricing with a client it is significant to let them know something semi-tangible from which you base pricing; like referring your running cost on pro existing rates in the region; or giving flexible rates to the customer like, it is much cheaper to do the whole pavement rather than have the half of it done. So having a customer friendly rate also does give a lot of sales pitch as well. Far too often we see service providers of all sorts say, “oh we’ll do it for X” almost as if his mood that day played a part in the price. I like to explain to our customers, “for the basic house wash we charge X per square foot” so a house your size is going to be X. You can always adjust your per square foot rate if needed.

Below are some general industry averages for several pressure washing services. (Just Samples)

RESIDENTIAL SERVICES

Houses

• $100 – $300 flat price

• $0.50 – $2.00 per linear foot.

• $0.08 – $.18 per Sq. Ft

Driveways & Sidewalks

• $75 – $200 flat price

• $.08 – $.15 per Sq.

Roofs

• Cedar Shake Roofs – $.60 – $.90 per Sq Ft.

• Composition Roofs – $.10 – $.30 per Sq Ft.

Mobile Homes

• Single Wide – $40 – $55

• Double Wide – $50 – $65

COMMERCIAL SERVICES

New Construction

• Remove Mortar Tags from New Brick – $.18 – $.30 per Sq. Ft.

• Surface cleanup (wand spray down) – $.02 -.03 Sq. Ft.

Parking Lots, Sidewalks & Drive-Thrus

• Banks / Restaurant Drive-Thurs – $8 – $30 per lane.

• Parking Lots, Garage Floors – $.03 – $.20 per Sq Ft.

• Parking Spaces – $8 – $20 each