Priced the way Pressure Washing work is billed
A driveway / concrete wash and a roof soft-wash don't get quoted the same way, so why would every trade? SideWRK prices Pressure Washing the way the work is really billed: per square foot — about $0.30 a square foot. Tap the work, put in the numbers, and the line prices itself — no napkin math, no undercharging a job because you rushed the quote.
What Pressure Washing jobs actually run
These are the starting numbers SideWRK loads for common Pressure Washing work — researched to be realistic, so you can send an estimate that isn't a guess. Adjust any of them to your market in a tap.
Typical starting prices in the app — your area, your materials, and your reputation move them. You set your own; these just keep you from undercharging on the first quote.
Roof soft-wash, priced out
Numbers only mean something on a real job, so here's how SideWRK builds the ticket on a common one:
That whole $450 is your labor — no parts to front and no markup games, just your time priced like it's worth something.
What moves a Pressure Washing price
Two Pressure Washing jobs that look the same on paper can be a hundred dollars apart once you're on site. Here's what actually changes the number — the things to size up before you quote:
- Surface — a driveway, a house soft-wash, and a roof are different pressures, chemicals, and prices per foot.
- Staining level — heavy oil, rust, or algae needs pre-treatment and dwell time before you pull the trigger.
- Water and access — no spigot or a tall two-story means more setup, and setup is time on the clock.
What a Pressure Washing job puts on the record
Every trade documents something different, and Pressure Washing is no exception. SideWRK captures the surfaces and the rest of what your work needs on the record — the details that protect you and make the invoice stand up:
- the surfaces
- the wash-water runoff path — contained, reclaimed, or storm drain
- a pre-1978 flag
- a stormwater illicit-discharge (Clean Water Act) note
Example note on a job: "Advised some oil and rust staining may not fully lift."
How to price a Pressure Washing job in SideWRK
- 1
Start the job and add your work
Open a Pressure Washing job and tap a suggestion like "Driveway / concrete wash" or "House soft-wash" — the common work is already loaded, so you tap instead of type.
- 2
Price it per square foot
Enter the numbers and the line prices itself, per square foot — about $0.30 a square foot. Put parts on at your cost so what you clear is real profit, not just the Pressure Washing ticket total.
- 3
Note the details
Add a plain-English note — for example, "Advised some oil and rust staining may not fully lift." — and a photo of the work.
- 4
Log what the job needs
Capture the Pressure Washing-specific records: the surfaces, and the wash-water runoff path — contained, reclaimed, or storm drain.
- 5
Send it and get paid
Send the Pressure Washing estimate for approval. Your customer approves from their phone, the invoice goes out, and you get paid — card or Apple Pay, on the spot.
Staying on the right side of the rules
SideWRK documents your Pressure Washing work — it doesn't make you licensed, and it says so plainly. What to know: a business license, and the big one — wash water generally can't enter a storm drain (Clean Water Act plus local rules); larger commercial jobs need a license in some states. The app flags the permit and license triggers so they never surprise you mid-job.
Pressure Washing pricing — common questions
How do I price a Pressure Washing job in SideWRK?
You bill per square foot — about $0.30 a square foot. Add the work — Driveway / concrete wash, House soft-wash, Deck / patio cleaning — enter the numbers, and each line prices itself. Parts go on at your cost, so you see real profit and not just the total.
What does a typical Pressure Washing job cost?
It depends on the work, but as a realistic starting point a common job like roof soft-wash runs about $450 in the app. Common Pressure Washing work ranges from about $180 to $450. Those are defaults you can change — you always set your own prices.
What does SideWRK document on a Pressure Washing job?
The records Pressure Washing work actually needs: the surfaces; the wash-water runoff path — contained, reclaimed, or storm drain; a pre-1978 flag. They stay on the job as you work, so the paper trail is built instead of reconstructed later, and the disclosures this trade needs print on the estimate and invoice themselves.
Do I need a license to do Pressure Washing work?
That depends on your state and the job, but here's the shape of it: a business license, and the big one — wash water generally can't enter a storm drain (Clean Water Act plus local rules); larger commercial jobs need a license in some states. SideWRK documents the work; it doesn't certify you, and it flags the permit and license triggers so nothing sneaks up on you.
Does SideWRK work for trades other than Pressure Washing?
Yes — it runs all 42 trades, each priced and documented its own way. If you run more than one, the Multi-Trade plan unlocks them all and switches between them in a tap.
Your first jobs
The starting numbers above answer what to charge. Finding the first driveways to charge for is a different job, and it belongs to the guide below. Here's what the app does once you're standing on one:
- Three streets beat thirty. How to Get Your First 10 Pressure Washing Customers runs the whole month-one plan: the gear floor and the insurance you need before job one, the week-by-week sequence, nine jobs worked to a real dollar total. It's this trade's getting-started deep-dive; read it before you spend a dime on ads.
- Send the number from the driveway. Walk the surface, put the footage in, and send a branded estimate the customer taps Approve on from their own phone — their typed name as the signature, the deposit due at yes if you set one, and any add-on lines they're free to keep or drop. That guide's sidewalk-quote section makes the case for sending it before you leave the property.
- You'll know the second they open it. When the customer pulls the estimate up, the app pushes a notice to your phone and your email — once per job in a six-hour window, so it stays a signal instead of a buzz. That's the minute to call.
Repeat business
Concrete gets dirty on a schedule, and that schedule is the whole repeat play. Which season pulls which surface back is the calendar section of the first-customers guide. Here's the half the app carries:
- The fleet account anchors the month. A recurring fleet or equipment wash runs $400 a visit in the app's starting numbers, and one contractor's yard or one property manager can put that on repeat. Set it up as a recurring plan — a template with a cadence and its own line items — and every cycle spawns the next visit as a pre-filled job, badged recurring in your job list, ready to do and get paid. The calendar fills before the phone rings.
- The review ask you didn't have to remember. A finished job can send the review request by itself: one email, then a single reminder about three days later, and nothing after that. It's yours to switch off if you'd rather ask in person, and it covers the driveways you pulled away from without asking. The on-site ask, and the words for it, are in that same guide.
How pressure washing bills
One meter: square feet times your rate. The work form on a pressure washing job asks exactly two numbers — Square feet and Rate ($/sq ft), preloaded at the researched $0.30 default — and the running "This work =" total reprices as you type. Not sure of the footage? Trace it off the satellite and it fills the box. What the meter makes of common flatwork:
Every row is the same arithmetic at the $0.30 default — and that sidewalk alone shouldn't leave the truck. Drive, setup, and teardown cost the same on 250 square feet as on 1,500, which is why Pressure Washing Prices: Charge the Job, Not the Hour puts a working floor at $150 before you load the machine. That guide is this trade's pricing deep-dive: it builds a solo rig's true cost per hour line by line, then checks the whole surface menu against it. Read that one before you take on a roof. A real corner lot — three surfaces billed on one ticket, in the week it usually shows up — is worked out line by line in the first-customers guide.
Two taps off the suggestion chips, each priced as its own line, so the customer sees what every dollar bought. The soft-wash line lands within a tap of the $350 starting number above — and soft-wash is chemistry and dwell time, not raw pressure, so if you rate it above flatwork, change the rate box and the line reprices. The deep-dive makes that case with numbers.
Multiplying jobs
A finished driveway is the rare ad the whole street can see from the sidewalk. The door-knock that turns one of them into a street is worked out job by job in the first-customers guide. What follows is what the app does after you knock:
- The gallery works the rest of town. Pair the before and after from the job's own photos into the work gallery on your public page. A homeowner deciding between two washers picks the one whose concrete they can see.
- Follow-ups you don't have to remember. A quiet estimate gets a nudge at 3 and 7 days. An unpaid invoice gets a reminder at 3, 7, and 14 days with a pay link. The review request above runs on the same wiring. All by email, and every one is a toggle you own.
See the gallery, the follow-ups, and a seeded washing business running in the live pressure washing demo — free, no signup.
Price it now
Footage in, surfaces picked, your own rate — the same free calculator the pressure washing page runs, right here (or open the full version):
The paper worth keeping
The records list above says what the app captures. This is why each answer earns its place on the job — and what it saves you from reconstructing later:
- The property, on the record. Label, service address, the surfaces, where the wash water goes, the pre-1978 flag — the job asks at the estimate and the answers ride the record. When the March customer calls next spring wanting "the same thing again," you read a record instead of squinting at memory.
- Where the wash water goes is the trade's big question. Wash water carrying detergents, oil, sediment, or paint chips generally may not enter a storm drain, a gutter, or a street that drains to one — under the Clean Water Act and most local stormwater ordinances, that's an illicit discharge. Contain it, reclaim it, or send it to a sanitary sewer with permission, and put the runoff path on the job so the answer is written down while you still remember it.
- The pre-1978 flag. Washing painted surfaces on an older house can disperse lead. If the work is prep for repainting or paint repair for hire, EPA Lead RRP rules may require firm certification, containment, and chip and wastewater capture — confirm before starting. The flag is one question at the estimate; the answer sits on the record.
- A license sized to the job. Most routine residential exterior cleaning needs only a local business license. Some states license larger or commercial jobs — California's C-61/D-38 is one — once a job passes the minor-work limit.
- April, already done. Numbered invoices, payments, fuel and chemical receipts — it all rolls into a year-end wrap-up: rows, category totals, CSVs, and a printable summary your preparer can actually use.
SideWRK is the notebook, not the license: it documents the work and never determines or guarantees compliance with any environmental, stormwater, lead-paint, or licensing rule. Meeting them stays yours.