Free calculator
Pressure Washing Price Per Square Foot Calculator
Turn a job's area and the time it takes you into a price per square foot that pays your goal, your costs and self-employment tax. Check any per-sq-ft price against your floor before you quote it. Free, no sign-up.
- Your time on site$0
- Drive time$0
- Vehicle$0
- Supplies$0
- Price floor, zero profit$0
- At the per-sq-ft price you are checking$0
How it works
A square-foot price is a job price divided by the area. It only pays you if the job price behind it does, so this calculator builds the job price first and divides second.
It grosses your take-home up for self-employment tax (15.3% on 92.35% of profit) and your income tax estimate, adds a year of business costs, and spreads the total over the hours customers pay for. That is your break-even rate per paid hour. The job's floor is the crew's time on site and drive time at that rate, plus vehicle cost per mile and supplies; the quote adds your margin and rounds up to the next $5.
Divide the quote by the area and you have your price per square foot for a job like this one. Your speed sets it: sq ft per person-hour shows how fast you have to work for a lower per-sq-ft price to cover the floor.
A worked example
The Pressure Washing Pricing Calculator's example business wants $55,000 take-home with a 12% income tax estimate and $755 a month of costs, works 44 weeks of 45 hours and is paid for 65% of them: a break-even rate of $64.89 per paid hour. A 300 sq ft deck clean and brighten takes 3 hours for one person, $30 of supplies and a 20-mile round trip. Its floor is $283.13 and it quotes at $335: $1.12 per square foot, with a floor of $0.94. Charging $0.50 a square foot would bring in $150, $133.13 under the floor. A clean and stain of the same deck (7 hours, $150 of supplies, 40 miles) quotes at $850, or $2.83 per square foot.
Price every job at once
The Pressure Washing Pricing Calculator workbook uses this same maths for Excel and Google Sheets: 15 example jobs from driveways to drive-thru lanes, a quote builder, a printable price sheet and a job tracker. $2.99, instant download.
Questions
How much should I charge per square foot for pressure washing?
It depends on how fast you clean, your pay goal, costs and travel. With the example numbers a 300 sq ft deck clean and brighten needs $1.12 a square foot to pay its share. Enter your own numbers to see yours.
Why is my per-sq-ft price different on every job?
Drive time, the trip and supplies cost about the same on a small job as on a big one, so they add more per square foot to a small job. Slower surfaces such as decks and pavers also take more time per square foot than open concrete.
How do I find my sq ft per hour?
Time a few jobs you have measured: divide the area by the hours on site, times the people on the job. The example deck is 300 sq ft in 3 person-hours, or 100 sq ft per person-hour.
Can I use this for driveways and house washes?
Yes. Enter the area and the hours that job takes you. The two example jobs are the ones the workbook's price sheet sizes in square feet; the workbook prices the other 13 job types by time.
Is this tax advice?
No. It is a planning estimate. Ask your tax preparer for your real income tax rate.