How much should I charge per square foot for pressure washing?

Published ranges run roughly $0.10 to $0.50 per square foot depending on the surface. Concrete flatwork sits near the low end, soft-washed siding in the middle, and roofs at the top. Set your own rate by working backward from the hourly number you need, then check it against the chart.

What is a reasonable minimum charge for a pressure washing job?

Most published guidance puts the minimum between $100 and $250, and some operators go to $400. The minimum covers drive time, setup, and chemical mixing, which cost the same whether the driveway is 300 or 900 square feet.

Should I price pressure washing per square foot or flat rate?

Use square footage to build the number and present a flat price to the customer. Homeowners compare totals, not rates, and a flat quote avoids arguments about how you measured.

How much more should I charge for a two-story house?

Published ranges for a two-story wash are roughly double a one-story wash, because of ladder or extension-pole time and safety setup. Price stories as a separate line, not a vague surcharge.

How do I price rust or heavy oil stains?

Price the extra chemical and the extra pass. A gallon of a dedicated concrete rust remover costs about $54 at vendor pricing, so a rust-removal line item has to cover the product, dwell time, and a second rinse.

Pressure Washing Prices Per Square Foot: 2026 Pricing Chart by Surface

Pressure washing pricing chart: per-square-foot rates for driveways, house washes, roofs, decks, patios, fences and gutters, plus job minimums and upcharges.

By the AboveYard team · Updated October 16, 2026 · 7 min read

If you are new to pressure washing, the first thing you hear is "charge by the square foot." The second thing you hear is a dozen different rates. This guide pulls the published per-square-foot ranges into one chart, explains what each number is actually measuring, and shows how to turn a rate into a quote a homeowner will sign.

Pressure washing pricing chart by surface

Rates below are from consumer cost guides and contractor pricing guides. They are national ranges. Your market, your equipment, and the condition of the surface move you up or down inside them.

Surface	Per-square-foot range	Typical job total	Notes
Driveway (concrete)	$0.25–$0.35 HomeGuide; $0.30–$0.40 Fixr	$100–$250 HomeAdvisor	A 600 sq ft driveway runs $180–$240 Fixr
House wash / soft wash	$0.15–$0.25 HomeGuide; soft wash $0.25–$0.35 Fixr	$250–$800 for 1–2 stories Housecall Pro	Measured on living or footprint sq ft, not wall area
Roof (soft wash)	$0.30–$0.75 Fixr	$450–$700 Fixr	Steep pitch adds about $0.10/sq ft HomeGuide
Deck (wood)	$0.30–$0.40 Fixr	$150–$500 Housecall Pro	500 sq ft deck: $150–$200 Fixr
Patio (concrete)	$0.25–$0.35 HomeGuide	$100–$200 HomeAdvisor	Same rate logic as driveways
Fence (per linear foot)	$1.50–$3.00 per linear ft HomeGuide; $0.30–$0.40 per sq ft of fence face Fixr	$150–$400 Housecall Pro	A 6 ft fence has 6 sq ft of face per linear ft, per side
Gutters, cleaning (per linear foot)	$0.50–$1.50 one story, $0.75–$2.00 two story HomeGuide	$100–$180 one story, $150–$275 two story Housecall Pro	Exterior brightening is a separate $1–$3 per linear ft Housecall Pro

Two things stand out. First, the ranges overlap heavily. A $0.30 rate is a cheap roof and an expensive driveway. Second, flatwork has the tightest ranges because it is the most predictable work. Vertical surfaces and roofs swing more because stories, pitch, and growth change the labor.

What the number is actually measuring

Per-square-foot pricing only works if everyone measures the same thing.

Flatwork (driveways, patios, walks). Square footage of the slab. Measure it; do not estimate. AboveYard's free Driveway Square Footage Calculator traces the slab from satellite imagery, which is faster than pacing it off and accurate enough to quote from.

House washes. Most guides price on the home's living square footage or footprint, not the wall area you will actually spray. One contractor pricing tool describes its rate as $0.15–$0.30 "per sq ft of living space" Southeast Softwash. That is why a 2,000 sq ft two-story and a 2,000 sq ft ranch can carry the same per-foot rate but different totals once you add a story line.

Fences. Linear feet times height gives you face area. Decide whether you quote one side or both, and say so on the estimate. Our Fence Length Calculator measures the run from imagery.

Roofs. Roof area is larger than the footprint because of pitch. Measure the footprint and add a pitch factor, or measure plane-by-plane.

Job minimums

A minimum is not a rate. It is the floor that covers drive time, setup, mixing, and breakdown on a small job.

Published guidance for contractors suggests setting minimum service fees "between $100 and $250" Housecall Pro.
Another contractor guide puts minimum job charges at $150–$400 HomeGuide.
Roof work often carries its own floor, around a $150 minimum HomeGuide, because setup for a roof is heavier than for a walkway.

Set your minimum from your own cost to show up. If your truck, insurance, and your time are worth $100 an hour and a small job eats 90 minutes door to door, your minimum is at least $150.

Flat rate vs per square foot

Charge by the square foot internally. Quote flat to the customer.

Square-foot math keeps you consistent across jobs and lets a new hire price the same way you do. But homeowners do not compare rates; they compare totals, and a rate invites "my driveway is smaller than that." A flat price, built from your measurement, ends the conversation.

The exception is commercial flatwork, where property managers expect a rate. Published commercial flatwork ranges sit at $0.08–$0.40 per sq ft Housecall Pro, well below residential, because volume replaces setup time.

Upcharges that belong on the estimate

Price these as separate lines so the customer sees why the number moved.

Second story. One-story house washes are published at $150–$750 while two-story washes run $400–$1,400 HomeAdvisor. One guide frames siding at roughly $1 per linear foot for one story and double that for two HomeGuide. Gutters follow the same pattern: $0.50–$1.50 per linear foot for one story versus $0.75–$2.00 for two HomeGuide.

Heavy staining and hand work. Driveway rates climb to $0.40–$1.25 per sq ft if the surface "must be scrubbed by hand first" HomeGuide. That is a 2x to 4x multiplier on a normal driveway rate, which is why you ask for photos before quoting.

Rust and battery-acid stains. Rust does not come off with pressure or SH. It takes a dedicated acid product. One gallon of F9 BARC is listed at $53.99 Florida Pressure Washing Equipment. Your rust line item needs to cover product, dwell, and a second rinse, so price it per stain or per affected area rather than folding it into the slab rate.

Steep or multi-story roofs. Steep pitch adds about $0.10 per sq ft HomeGuide, and multi-story homes add roughly another $0.10 per sq ft on roof work Fixr. A moss treatment application is a separate $150–$250 Fixr.

Hot water. Power washing (heated) runs 20% to 40% above standard pressure washing rates HomeGuide. Charge for it when grease or gum demands it.

Rush scheduling. Emergency jobs justify a 1.5x to 2x labor multiplier Housecall Pro.

Build your rate from your hourly target

Charts tell you what the market tolerates. Your hourly target tells you what you need. Published hourly ranges run $50–$160 per hour HomeGuide, and experienced operators on the Pressure Washing Resource forum tell solo soft-washers to "shoot for $100-150/hr" Pressure Washing Resource.

Jobber's worked example shows the method. An 800 sq ft driveway at $0.20 per sq ft is $160 of service cost; add $8 of overhead and $25 of materials for $193 in cost, then divide by (1 – 0.30) for a 30% margin and the quote is $276 Jobber. Overhead per hour is your monthly overhead divided by billable hours in the month, from the same guide.

Run that math on your own numbers, then compare the result to the chart. If your rate lands above the published range, you need faster equipment or a tighter route, not a lower price.

A worked quote

Say a customer sends an address with a 700 sq ft concrete driveway, a 1,900 sq ft one-story vinyl house, and 160 linear feet of gutters.

Driveway: 700 × $0.30 = $210
House wash: 1,900 × $0.25 = $475
Gutter cleaning: 160 × $1.00 = $160
Subtotal: $845, before any stain or rust lines

Then check the totals against the chart. $210 sits inside the $100–$250 driveway range, $475 sits inside the $250–$800 house wash range, and $160 is inside the one-story gutter range above. Present the three lines and the total, not the rates.

If you want this done automatically, our Pressure Washing Price Calculator takes measured square footage and your own rate sheet and produces the line items.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

How much should I charge per square foot for pressure washing?: Published ranges run roughly $0.10 to $0.50 per square foot depending on the surface. Concrete flatwork sits near the low end, soft-washed siding in the middle, and roofs at the top. Set your own rate by working backward from the hourly number you need, then check it against the chart.
What is a reasonable minimum charge for a pressure washing job?: Most published guidance puts the minimum between $100 and $250, and some operators go to $400. The minimum covers drive time, setup, and chemical mixing, which cost the same whether the driveway is 300 or 900 square feet.
Should I price pressure washing per square foot or flat rate?: Use square footage to build the number and present a flat price to the customer. Homeowners compare totals, not rates, and a flat quote avoids arguments about how you measured.
How much more should I charge for a two-story house?: Published ranges for a two-story wash are roughly double a one-story wash, because of ladder or extension-pole time and safety setup. Price stories as a separate line, not a vague surcharge.
How do I price rust or heavy oil stains?: Price the extra chemical and the extra pass. A gallon of a dedicated concrete rust remover costs about $54 at vendor pricing, so a rust-removal line item has to cover the product, dwell time, and a second rinse.