How Much Does Pressure Washing Cost? Real Numbers
Short answer. Most residential jobs run between $100 and $500. A single driveway is typically one to two hours of work. We charge $99 for the first hour and $79 for each hour after, in every city, with no travel fee.
Why quotes vary so much
Ask three companies to quote a driveway and you can easily get $150, $300 and $450. The work is the same. The difference is how they price.
Per job pricing means the company estimates the time, adds a margin for being wrong, and gives you one number. If they finish early they keep the difference, so there is a quiet incentive to work fast rather than thoroughly. If they underestimate, there is pressure to cut the job short.
Per square metre or per square foot pricing sounds objective but ignores condition. A lightly dusty driveway and one with three years of algae and oil are the same area and nothing like the same job.
What things actually take
Rough guide, assuming reasonable access and typical soiling:
Single driveway: 1 to 2 hours.
Driveway plus front path: 2 hours.
Mid sized patio or terrace: 1.5 to 3 hours.
One elevation of house siding, soft washed: 2 hours.
Full house wash, all elevations: 4 to 6 hours.
Deck, cleaned properly along the grain: 2 to 4 hours.
Roof soft wash: 3 to 5 hours including dwell time.
Small retail frontage: 1 to 2 hours.
Add time for poor access, no water supply nearby, heavy oil staining, or anything needing two treatments.
What our pricing works out to
$99 for the first hour, $79 for each additional hour, the same in all 48 cities we operate in, with no call-out fee and no travel charge.
So: one hour is $99. Two hours is $178. Four hours is $336. Six hours is $494.
We publish it because the alternative, which is the normal experience in this trade, is filling in a form and waiting three days for a number you cannot sanity check.
What should never be on the bill
Travel or call-out fees. You are paying someone to drive to you, which is part of doing the job, not an extra.
Water. Unless you have specifically agreed the contractor is bringing bulk water to a site with no supply.
Cleaning solutions. These are consumables and part of the trade.
Weekend surcharges. Nothing about a Saturday makes the work harder.
Vague minimum charges that appear after the work is done.
Things that legitimately cost more
Being honest about the other side of this. Genuine reasons a price goes up: work above ground floor needing access equipment, very heavy oil or paint contamination requiring specialist treatment, sites with no water supply, jobs needing waste water containment and removal for environmental compliance, and anything requiring traffic management or permits.
Those should be identified and agreed before the work starts, not discovered on the invoice.
How to compare quotes properly
Ask what pressure they will use on each surface, and whether anything will be soft washed. A cheap quote from someone who intends to blast your roof is not cheap.
Ask when payment is due. Upfront payment before the work exists is a risk you do not need to take. We invoice after the work is done and you have seen it.
Ask what happens if you are not happy. Our answer is that we return at no cost within seven days, or refund the visit.
48 cities across North America and Europe. No call-out fee, no travel charge. You pay after the work is done.