Pressure Washing Cost Calculator
Pressure Washing costs $155 to $235 for a typical 600 sq ft job in 2026, against a national benchmark of $190. Labor runs 1.5 crew hours at $26.02 an hour. Enter a ZIP code to apply that area's measured wages for this work and its regional price level.
Get in touch with a pressure washing contractor
Talk to a pressure washing contractor serving your area. Give them a call or request an estimate, and connect with a local firm that fits your project.
We are still adding pressure washing contractors. Call the number below to talk to a contractor about your project.
Call (800) 152-1235Listings are supplied by the contractors themselves. We check a license number where one is given, which is not an endorsement of the work. Always confirm the license and insurance directly before signing anything.
What makes up the price
Cost by size
National averages, before any local adjustment. Computed from the same model as the calculator above, so the two always agree.
| Area to clean | Sq ft | Typical | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 350 sq ft | 350 | $170 | $140 to $215 |
| 500 sq ft | 500 | $185 | $150 to $225 |
| 600 sq ft | 600 | $190 | $155 to $235 |
| 800 sq ft | 800 | $205 | $170 to $255 |
| 1,000 sq ft | 1,000 | $225 | $185 to $275 |
Washing a house is not pressure washing
This is the most useful thing on the page. Soft washing is the correct method for siding, and it is what any competent company will actually do: sodium hypochlorite and a surfactant, applied at roughly garden-hose pressure, left to dwell, then rinsed. The chemical does the cleaning. The water just carries it and takes it away.
High pressure on siding does three things, all bad:
- It drives water behind the panels, into the wall cavity, where nobody sees it and it does not dry.
- It strips the chalky surface layer off vinyl, which is what leaves a house looking permanently dull in patches.
- It does not actually kill the algae. It knocks the green off and the growth returns in months, because the organism is still there.
So if a quote for a house wash talks about pounds per square inch, ask what chemical they use and how long it dwells. The right answer involves hypochlorite and a few minutes. "We just blast it off" is the wrong answer.
The same logic, more severely, applies to a roof: never let anybody put pressure on asphalt shingles. It removes the granules, which are the shingle's entire weather protection, and takes years off the roof in an afternoon.
Three surfaces, three methods
| Method | Typical cost | |
|---|---|---|
| Concrete, pavers, brick | High pressure, surface cleaner | $0.32 a sq ft |
| House siding | Soft wash, low pressure | $0.16 a sq ft of wall |
| Wood deck or fence | Low pressure, with the grain | $0.53 a sq ft |
Siding is the cheapest per square foot and wood the most expensive, which surprises people. The reason is rate of work: a surface cleaner does 1,250 sq ft an hour on flat concrete and a soft wash about 1,000 sq ft of wall, but a deck is nearer 400 — every board has to be worked along its grain at a quarter of the pressure, holding the wand back.
An operator who owns one pressure setting and one tip is an operator who will damage something.
The minimum is most of a small job
Most companies quote a minimum of $150 to $350, and it is not padding. The rig has to arrive, hoses have to be run, water connected, plants wet down and anything delicate masked, then all of it packed up wet.
Which means:
- A 200 sq ft walkway on its own costs about $160. A 600 sq ft driveway costs about $190. You are paying almost the same either way.
- So do everything in one visit. Driveway, walkway, patio and front steps together cost far less than any two of them booked separately.
Walk the property before you call and make a list. It is the only real saving available on this page.
What is in the price
For a 600 sq ft driveway at $190:
| Getting the rig there and set up | around $70 |
| Labor, about 1.5 hours | around $55 |
| Chemicals, fuel and machine wear | around $18 |
| Overhead and margin | the balance |
There is almost no material in this job. It is a visit, a machine and some chemistry, which is exactly why the trip dominates and why the per-square-foot rate falls so steeply with size.
The things that go wrong
Lines in the concrete
Working too close, or stopping and starting with a zero-degree tip, leaves wand marks and a striped driveway. A surface cleaner exists to prevent this: it holds the jets at a fixed height and spins them, so the pass is even.
Water forced under siding or behind trim
Covered above, and the reason to care is that nobody finds out for years.
Fuzzed and furred wood
Pressure that cleans concrete tears the soft summer wood out from between the grain, leaving a surface that feels rough and then splinters. A cleaned deck should feel smoother than before, not hairier.
Dead plants
Sodium hypochlorite kills shrubs. A good operator wets everything down before and rinses everything after, and tarps what they cannot wet. If nobody touches your planting beds, that is a warning sign rather than efficiency.
Oil stains that do not come out
Oil in concrete is absorbed, not sitting on top. It needs an alkaline degreaser, dwell time, and ideally hot water — which many operators do not carry. A cold-water machine and plain detergent will lighten an oil stain and not remove it. Ask directly whether they have hot water before paying for a result nobody can deliver.
When to do it, and how often
Once a year is right for most houses, and twice for a damp or shaded site. A booked schedule is a little cheaper per visit, and more importantly a surface washed every year never becomes the heavy job — the difference between a wash and a restoration on a north-facing driveway is about three years of not doing it.
Spring is the usual time: the algae growth from a wet winter is at its worst and the surface has the summer to dry out properly. Avoid washing when a hard freeze is coming within a day or two, since water in a porous surface that then freezes is how spalling starts.
Pressure washing is also the step before painting, staining or sealing anything — and in that case it is not optional. A sealer or stain over a dirty surface fails from underneath.
Questions worth asking
- What pressure are you using on the siding, and what chemical?
- Do you have hot water? If there are oil stains, this decides the outcome.
- Is a surface cleaner being used on the flatwork, or a wand?
- What happens to my plants?
- Is this a soft wash or a pressure wash? It is a fair question and the answer tells you who you are dealing with.
- Are you insured? Water forced into a wall is a real claim, and so is a stripe cut into a neighbor's car.
- Is the water coming from my tap? Almost always yes, which is fine, but it is worth knowing before they go looking for an outside faucet.
Common questions
How much does pressure washing cost?
Around $190 for a 600 sq ft driveway, with most jobs that size falling between $155 and $235 — about $0.32 per square foot. A house wash on an average home runs around $345, and a 400 sq ft wood deck about $210. Most operators quote a minimum of $150 to $350, which means a small job and a medium one often cost much the same.
What is soft washing and do I need it?
Soft washing applies sodium hypochlorite and a surfactant at roughly garden-hose pressure, lets it dwell, and rinses. The chemical does the cleaning rather than the water. It is the correct method for siding, roofs, stucco and anything painted, and it is what any competent company will actually do when you ask them to pressure wash a house. High pressure on siding drives water into the wall, strips the surface off vinyl, and does not kill the algae anyway.
Can pressure washing damage my siding?
Yes, in three ways. It forces water behind the panels into a wall cavity that does not dry and that nobody inspects. It strips the chalky surface layer off vinyl, leaving patches that look permanently dull. And it only knocks the green off the algae rather than killing it, so the growth is back within months. If a quote for a house wash talks about PSI rather than chemical and dwell time, ask more questions.
Should I pressure wash my roof?
Never with pressure. Asphalt shingles are protected by the granules bonded to their surface, and pressure removes them — taking years off the roof in an afternoon, and voiding most manufacturer warranties. Roof cleaning is a soft wash job, applied and rinsed with almost no pressure at all. Any company that proposes pressure washing a shingle roof is telling you not to hire them.
Why does a small job cost nearly as much as a big one?
Because the trip is most of a small job. The rig has to arrive, hoses have to be run, water connected, plants wet down and delicate things masked, then packed up wet — and none of that gets shorter because the area is smaller. A 200 sq ft walkway is about $160 and a 600 sq ft driveway about $190. The useful consequence is to do everything in one visit: driveway, walkway, patio and steps together cost far less than any two booked separately.
Why is a deck more expensive per square foot than a driveway?
Because it is three times slower. A surface cleaner does about 1,250 sq ft an hour on flat concrete; a wood deck is nearer 400, because the pressure has to come down to a quarter and every board is worked along its grain with the wand held back. Done at concrete pressure a deck gets cleaned and ruined in the same pass — the soft wood tears out from between the grain and the surface furs up and then splinters.
Will pressure washing remove oil stains from concrete?
Only with the right setup. Oil is absorbed into the concrete rather than sitting on it, so it needs an alkaline degreaser, time to dwell, and ideally hot water — which many operators do not carry. A cold-water machine and ordinary detergent will lighten an oil stain and not remove it. Ask whether they have hot water before paying for a result nobody can deliver, and expect a stain that has been there for years to fade rather than vanish.
Will the chemicals kill my plants?
Sodium hypochlorite will kill shrubs if it is allowed to. A good operator wets down every planting bed before starting, rinses everything thoroughly afterwards, and tarps what cannot be wet. If nobody goes near your borders, that is a warning sign rather than a time saving. Mention anything you particularly care about before they start rather than afterwards.
How often should a house be pressure washed?
Once a year for most houses, twice for a damp or shaded site. The real argument for keeping to it is that a surface washed annually never becomes the heavy job: the difference between a routine wash and a restoration on a north-facing driveway is about three years of not doing it. A booked schedule is also a little cheaper per visit, because the operator can route it.
What is the best time of year to pressure wash?
Spring, in most of the country. The algae growth from a wet winter is at its worst, and the surface then has the summer to dry out properly. The one thing to avoid is washing with a hard freeze due within a day or two, because water sitting in a porous surface and then freezing is how spalling starts. Otherwise any dry, mild stretch works.
Do I need to pressure wash before painting?
Yes, and in that case it is not optional. Paint, stain and sealer all bond to the surface underneath, so anything applied over dirt, chalk or algae fails from below — usually within a year, and in a way that looks like bad paint rather than bad preparation. A wash before painting also needs drying time: a day or two for siding, and longer for wood, which has to be dry through rather than dry on top.
Can I just rent a pressure washer and do it myself?
For a driveway or a patio, reasonably — a rental is $60 to $100 a day and the work is straightforward, though a surface cleaner attachment is worth adding because a bare wand leaves stripes that are permanent. For siding, a deck or a roof, the honest answer is that the risk outweighs the saving: those surfaces need the pressure down and the right chemical, and the common DIY outcomes are water in the wall, furred decking and a stripped roof.
Where these numbers come from
Nothing here is copied from a contractor directory. Labor is priced from what the trades are actually paid, materials from published producer prices, and both are adjusted to your area using federal cost-of-living data.
- Services to buildings and dwellings, United States: $26.02/hour, August 2026 (BLS CES CES6056170003)
- Sodium hypochlorite, surfactant and degreaser: $14.00 per gallon of concentrate (price recorded October 2026, not index-adjusted)
- Machine wear, fuel and water: $0.02 per sq ft of surface (price recorded October 2026, not index-adjusted)