Pressure washing price calculator
What to charge for one job, and how many jobs and regular customers it takes to earn what you want. Start from the example numbers, then put in your own.
Price for one job
£106
- Your time £99.17
- Materials £6
- Rounded up £0.83
Minutes spent doing one job
Getting there, parking, loading up
What an hour of your time must earn
For one job: products, resin, a share of fuel
To take home £2,000 a month
- Jobs a month
- 24
- 5.5 a week
- Paid hours
- 68
- 15.7 a week
- Customers
- 576
- on the round
£2,000 to take home + £485 running costs = £2,485 of takings a month.
About 15.7 hours a week of paid work, which leaves room for admin and for growing the round.
Each month, before tax
Per month: insurance, van, kit, phone
From one regular customer
The starting numbers are an example to show the method, not a market price. Time a few real jobs, work out what an hour of your time has to earn (the pricing guide shows how) and check the result against what customers near you will pay.
How the price is worked out
Your time at your hourly rate, plus what the job costs you, rounded up to a whole pound. Nothing is added for luck.
The pressure washing year
Busiest in spring, summer and early autumn. Quietest in late autumn and winter. Price for the whole year, not the best month, and check that the quiet months still cover your running costs.
What moves the price in pressure washing
- Area to clean, which is why many people price per square metre
- Surface: block paving, concrete, stone and decking all need different care
- How bad it is: weeds, moss and oil stains add time
- Extras: sealing, re-sanding, weed treatment and edging
- Water and power: whether you can use the customer's, or bring your own
Then set a minimum price per job, since transport and set-up are the same for a small patio as for a large driveway.
Questions people ask
- How much should a pressure washer charge per job?
- There's no single right figure. It depends on what an hour of your time has to earn, how long a job takes you and what it costs to do. In pressure washing, the things that move the price most are: area to clean, which is why many people price per square metre; surface: block paving, concrete, stone and decking all need different care; how bad it is: weeds, moss and oil stains add time. Put your own numbers in the calculator, then check the result against what customers near you will pay.
- How long does one job take?
- The calculator starts from 150 minutes on site plus 20 minutes getting there and setting up, 170 in all. That's an example to show the method. Time a few real jobs, including the driving, and use your own average.
- Should a pressure washer set a minimum charge?
- Yes. Set a minimum price per job, since transport and set-up are the same for a small patio as for a large driveway. If a customer won't pay it, they cost you more in time than they pay you, and the round is better without them.
- How many regular customers does a pressure washer need?
- Customers come back every one to three years, and most customers are one-off, about 0.5 visits a year, so each regular customer is worth that many jobs. The calculator turns the income you want into jobs a month and then into the number of customers it takes. Change the visits a year to match how often yours really come back.
- Do pressure washing prices change through the year?
- The work is busiest in spring, summer and early autumn and quietest in late autumn and winter. Customers want to see the result and surfaces need dry weather to seal, and frost makes washing unsafe and ineffective. Many traders keep the price steady and smooth the income instead, for example by agreeing a fixed monthly amount with regular customers.
WorkWise Rounds
Keep each customer's price on their card
In Rounds every customer has their own services, their own price and how often you go, and the round plans itself around them.
No contract. Cancel any time.