Contractor Calculator · Pressure Washing
Pressure Washing Estimate Calculator
Every honest pressure washing estimate is an hours problem in a square foot costume. Set the area, the path you cover and your pace.
Bidding the whole property? Estimate it from a photo in about 6 seconds.
Cover widths off maker spec sheets. No maker publishes a wand path, so measure your own wet band.
Cover widths from Whisper Wash, solution cost from the Zep yield, both read September 11, 2026. Your trip minimum is setting this price.
Why this calculator will not print a price a square foot
Search that phrase and you land on a marketplace average assembled from lead generation data. No manufacturer, trade association or federal series publishes a number anyone is bound by, so this page prints none.
The calculator sizes the job in hours instead, at your own rate.
SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns a photo of the property into an itemized estimate in about 6 seconds.
Square foot, hourly, or flat rate by service
| How you quote | What it fits | What it hides |
|---|---|---|
| By the square foot | Open flatwork you measure from the curb | Oil, rust, an unwalked slope |
| By the hour | Unknown condition, restoration, a first visit | Nothing, which is why homeowners resist it |
| Flat rate by service | Repeat washes on stock you know | A third story on one elevation |
Flatwork goes by the square foot because the area is knowable. House washing goes flat rate because the variable is access.
Production rate is path width times pace
One pass covers a band as wide as your tool. It runs as long as you walk. Multiply for square feet an hour.
| Surface cleaner | Cover | Rated flow | Rated pressure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ultra Clean | 16 in | 3 to 6 GPM | 2,000 to 4,000 PSI |
| Classic | 19 in | 4 to 10 GPM | 2,000 to 4,000 PSI |
| Big Guy | 28 in | 5 to 12 GPM | 2,000 to 4,000 PSI |
Watch what climbs as the cover gets wider. Rated pressure does not. Rated flow does, because a wider bar needs more water to feed it.
No maker publishes a path for a hand wand: the wet band depends on tip angle and standoff. Measure your own and type it in.
Same pace, wider band. A wand to a 19 in cover is the largest production change a one truck operation can buy.
Price the measured job
SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns a photo into an itemized estimate in about 6 seconds. Material and labor lines come with it. Pricing is $29.99/mo or $239.99/yr, about $20/mo on annual, with a 7-day free trial.
What the job burns while you run it
Zep states a yield for its house and siding concentrate: a gallon of concentrate covers up to 5,000 sq ft. At $55.90 a case of four on Zep’s own store, that is $0.0028 a square foot, and Zep is the only publisher of a coverage figure we found.
The driveway concentrate publishes a dilution, 6 oz to a gallon of water, but no coverage, so the calculator applies the siding figure to every surface. Water is flow times run time: 8 GPM for two hours is 960 gallons.
Fuel cannot be bounded either. Honda publishes output and tank capacity for the GX series but no gallons an hour. Multiply your own burn by the pump price, $4.157 a gallon in the week ending September 7, 2026.
Soft washing and high pressure are different machines
Pressure strips, flow rinses, and chemistry does the cleaning on anything organic. That is why siding, painted wood and roofs go to a soft wash rig instead of a 4,000 PSI wand. The Mi-T-M soft wash unit is built to that spec: 300 PSI at 11 GPM off a 196 cc engine.
Point high pressure at the wrong surface and you have quoted a repaint on your own dime.
The trip minimum is what protects a small job
A 300 sq ft porch is six minutes behind a 19 in cover at 30 ft a minute. The drive, the unload and the pack up do not shrink with it.
Set that minimum off your own day. A federal wage table is a floor, not a rate. Janitors and building cleaners, the closest published trade, averaged $18.64 an hour nationally in May 2025, and the 90th percentile $24.17. The survey skips the self employed, so that is what an employer pays, not what carries your truck.
Build a pressure washing estimate in four steps
-
Measure the area, not the house
Pace the flatwork and count siding wall by wall.
-
Set the path and pace
Cover width comes off your machine. Pace is your own walk with turns in it.
-
Turn hours into money
Apply your billed rate to the billable hours, then add the solution line.
-
Compare it to your minimum
Bill whichever is higher, and say the minimum out loud before you drive.
Keep reading
Sources
Equipment specs
- Whisper Wash surface cleaners (widths, flow, pressure; 2026-09-11).
- Mi-T-M CSW-0311-0MCH (300 PSI, 11 GPM; 2026-09-11).
- Honda GX200 specifications (196 cc, no burn rate; 2026-09-11).
Solution and fuel
- Zep house and siding concentrate, ZUVWS128 ($55.90 a case of four; 2026-09-11).
- Zep driveway concentrate, ZUBMC128 (dilution only; 2026-09-11).
- EIA weekly retail gasoline prices (regular, week ending 2026-09-07).
Wages
- BLS OEWS May 2025 national file (37-2011, OEUN000000000000037201103; 2026-09-11).
Product
- SimplyWise Cost Estimator, App Store (4.8; 2026-09-09).
Common questions about pressure washing estimates
Pricing the job
How do you estimate a pressure washing job?
Size it in hours, then price the hours. Path width times pace gives square feet an hour.
What is a fair price a square foot for pressure washing?
No manufacturer, trade association or federal series publishes one, so this page prints none.
Should I charge hourly or by the square foot?
Quote flatwork by the square foot, because you can measure it from the curb. Quote house washing flat rate, because the variable there is access.
Rates and minimums
How much area does a surface cleaner cover in an hour?
Path width times your pace. A 19 in cover at 30 ft a minute is 2,850 sq ft an hour before turns.
Why do pressure washing companies have a minimum charge?
The drive, the unload and the pack up do not shrink when the job does.
Can SimplyWise price a pressure washing job from a photo?
Yes. SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns a photo into an itemized estimate in about 6 seconds, with material and labor lines. Free to try, at $29.99/mo.
Turn the measured job into a signed one.
Snap a photo and get an itemized estimate in about 6 seconds. Free to try.