Pricing Power washing jobs

When pricing my power washing curretly, I price around $75/hour and guess how long a job will take me. I then give the customer a price. I never tell them price/hour.
Recently, I learned someone is pricing per sq. ft.
I would like to know the best way to get power washing jobs. some big jobs the price is way too high and it scares the customer off. If there was a price per ft just give them that price and be done with it.

Please advise.
Thanks in advance for your help.

David

I actually do pressure washing by the hour too but charge $125 if they want quality and the job done right they will pay or else they can look for the cheapasses out there then complain about the crap work afterwards, god knows there is plenty of that here in america

1 Like

$75 = .75 a sq ft . We have a min of two hours.

Iā€™m intrested in this too. Our company is starting to add pressure washing as an add on and we need to come up with a good pricing strategy. I found this pricing guide online in a few different spots. Is this a fair guide or is this outdated?

I found this stuff from this website:

Pressure Washing Prices & Rates - How Much To Charge Your Clients

Residential Services
Houses
ā€¢ $100 - $300 flat price
ā€¢ $0.50 - $2.00 per linear foot.
ā€¢ $0.08 - $.18 per Sq. Ft.
Driveways & Sidewalks
ā€¢ $75 - $200 flat price
ā€¢ $.08 - $.15 per Sq.
Roofs
ā€¢ Cedar Shake Roofs - $.60 - $.90 per Sq Ft.
ā€¢ Composition Roofs - $.10 - $.30 per Sq Ft.
Mobile Homes
ā€¢ Single Wide - $40 - $55
ā€¢ Double Wide - $50 - $65
Commercial Services
New Construction
ā€¢ Remove Mortar Tags from New Brick - $.18 - $.30 per Sq. Ft.
ā€¢ Surface cleanup (wand spray down) - $.02 - .03 Sq. Ft.
Parking Lots, Sidewalks & Drive-Thrus
ā€¢ Banks / Restaurant Drive-Thurs - $8 - $30 per lane.
ā€¢ Parking Lots, Garage Floors - $.03 - $.20 per Sq Ft.
ā€¢ Parking Spaces - $8 - $20 each

2 Likes

We charge $200+an hour, but we have more overhead than what the normal outfit does as well.

I would not use that pricing sheet above. Some of those prices are low. For example a double wide. My friend lives in a 1800 sq ft double wide. You think Iā€™m going to do it for $65?

A question I have is this. Why are window cleaners and pressure washers soā€¦lack of a better termā€¦greedy? Why does window cleaners not team up with pressure washers and vice versa. Now I have a competitor that has just recently started washing. No harm, no foul, but he has forced me to get into window cleaning. Not something I really wanted to do, but if we want to play ball, I guess we will play ball.

I could have advertised window cleaning and gave him the leads and we could of split $ and vice versa.

1 Like

Don, I think I understand what youā€™re saying. Still, I donā€™t think itā€™s [I][U]always[/U][/I] a case of being greedy. There may be a need for a company to diversify due to a slow economy or something else.

2 Likes

I donā€™t disagree with you Dan. I do that with Holiday Lighting. Why, because we are slow and I want to keep my main guy going.

But I think there comes a time when you can do so much. There is another guy that does pressure washing and window cleaning. He also does roofing, basement remodels, etc. Just kind of gets weird to me when you start trying to offer everything under the sun.

1 Like

Agreed. (no pun intended!). Usually someone whoā€™s just trying to clean up ā€˜because it is thereā€™ will offer quality far below what a dedicated pro is doing or it will spread him too thin unless he really has the resources to do it justice.

1 Like

Greedy? Iā€™ve added services as my customers request them from me.

In my area, contractors are notorious for their tardiness, non-professional behavior, and leaving work incomplete.

Why would I team with anyone whose work I am unable to confirm is up to the standards I set for my customers.

3 Likes

How I price a pressure washing job is determined by my equipment, the job, and the persons doing the work. If you have a hot water pressure washer with significant GPM then you should be able to do the job much quicker than someone else with only a cold water unit bought at home depotā€¦ If you are using a surface cleaner you should be quicker than someone just using a wand. Over all the usual charge in my area is around $.10 per sqft which translate to $75 to $100 per hour depending on the person doing the work. If a job is really dirty that price per SqFt goes up to $.14.

The best way to determine for yourself the right price is calculate what are your cost, what is the going rate in your area and what type of service you provide in relation to your competition. Are you quicker because you have better equipment? If so you should be able to charge more per hour but still be competitive in your bids. With the rising prices of diesel and gas its costing more and more to keep the PW going every hour. Determine your cost, determine what profit you want per hour, do a great job and damn the low ballers. :slight_smile:

1 Like

I believe where most window cleaner go wrong is that they OVERPRICE house washing. How they overprice is that they are not using proper tools, soap, or Tech. therefore it takes 2x or 3x longer than it should. There is a guy in my area charging $300-$400 on a normal 2 story house (3000sq ft) to powerwash Vinyl Siding. Where My prices are $150-$200 depending on height, accessability, and how many soap applications if will take (normally one application does the trick). A normal 2 story home takes and hour to hour 1/2. Thats setup to tear down. If you wanna see my results check out SUPERIOR WINDOW CLEANING (816) 261-4100.

Does he land any jobs at $300-$400?

I mean this with much respect Kyle, but I think[U] most[/U] window cleaners leave money on the table when it comes to washing houses. That guyā€™s prices are not that far off from mine, and I donā€™ t know how he is washing houses. But I saw your website and saw pictures of you xjetting. In my opinion, 1. you are losing time with xjetting and carrying around a bucket and 2. you are proclaiming to soft wash and I donā€™t think xjetting is soft washing. I think it is too much pressure. One picture you have the xjet closed and that psi is more than what you think.

I guess the W.C. mentality is ā€œIā€™m getting the windows for 200-300 so I will throw the housewash in for beansā€. I can understand discounting because of multiple services, but sometimes I think itā€™s drastic.

Thatā€™s like if I would sell Sally Sue on a $400 housewash and tell her I would do her windows inside and out for $3. All you guys would think I was frickin nuts.

Like I said, I mean no disrespect to you or any other window cleaner.

1 Like

I donā€™t mind the criticism at all. I am always looking for ways to be more efficient and make more money. X-Jetting has been the solution for me at this point. I rarely have to be on a ladder, I donā€™t have to run my soap thru the pump of my expensive power washer, and it reduces the amount of pressure. Yes you can still damage a surface with an X-Jet, but if you know how to handle a power washer correctly, you donā€™t run into that problem. The #1 reason I love the x-jet is that I am able to shoot soap up to 40 feet in the air. I am able to reach high peaks, soffits, etc. 2 of us work on a house, one moving the hoses, bucket and brushing gutter, while the other guy is using the power washer.

What method or tools do you use and recommend?

Yes, I know he did over $17,000 is house washing in 2010ā€¦and his main business is staining decks. I have even thought about raising my prices because of his success.

I price between 15-35 cents per square foot , depending on what they want lifted from the surface and we charge a 125.00 minimum which gets the customer an hour of work. If the job is large the per square foot bid sounds the most professional and will allow you to get the most money per man hour. 15 cents is the bid for basic wash with water and 35 is gum removal, soap etc

A 2000 square foot house will take us an hour and a half and for exterior pw and windows

If you have a machine with twice the gpm of his then you can charge less, that simple

Most of the time I will charge hourly on residential surfaces such as sidewalks etc and per square foot between 15 cents and 35 cents, 10000 square feet can range between 1500 and 3500 bucks. Hours on the job with 3 pws will normally be about 4-6 being so you will get around 100 per man hour on a 12000 square foot job, if you pay 20 that is 80.00 per hour profit per employee which is no chump change

Charge 35 cents and you are getting more than 200.00 per man hour which is starting to sound a little crazy some companies use extra equipment such as a hotsy or surface cleaners to lower their prices, I think you should keep your prices the same and make more per hour at all times

1 Like

You clean concrete by hand? No surface cleaner?