How to Price House Washing Jobs

Floor area is a starting description of a house. To quote the wash, record the exterior faces, stories, siding and access. Two houses with the same floor area can require very different visits.

Check your proposed project price in the Job Profitability Calculator. Use the Quote Calculator to add separately scoped work and calculate the customer total.

Describe the exterior you are cleaning

Record the footprint, approximate wall heights, stories, extensions and sheltered areas. A long single-story building can have more perimeter than a compact two-story house. Gutters, soffits and fascia add corners and detail; specify whether exterior gutter faces are included and whether gutter interiors are excluded.

Inspect the siding type and condition. Note oxidation, failing finishes, loose panels and pre-existing damage. Oxidation removal is a separate restoration question from an ordinary organic-growth wash. Do not promise that routine washing will correct faded or chalky finishes. Where the surface or method is uncertain, establish suitability before offering the work.

Allow for access, protection and product use

Walk all sides where possible. Locked gates, narrow side yards, conservatories, decks and dense landscaping can change hose routing and reach. Price the time and materials needed to protect planting and sensitive surfaces. Confirm water availability and whether the supply suits your equipment; carrying or sourcing water can add cost.

Estimate setup, permitted treatment and dwell time, rinsing, checks and teardown. Heavy organic growth can change product use and time. Detached garages, sheds and fences need their own scope, even if the customer casually includes them in “the house.”

The SH Dilution Calculator helps calculate nominal batch quantities. The Downstream Injector Calculator and X-Jet / Proportioning Calculator estimate concentration from configurable ratios. Neither tool guarantees actual draw or selects a treatment for siding. Cost products using the planned consumption and your purchase cost, then compare that allowance with actual use after the job.

Choose a house-size rate or a project price

House-size categories can speed up estimates when your records contain genuinely comparable buildings. Define the category’s stories, exterior scope and access assumptions. Inspect exceptions before accepting the standard price.

A flat project price often makes the scope easier to explain. Build it from production time, direct costs, overhead and margin, and apply your service minimum. Extra height or a detached structure should have an identifiable allowance rather than an unexplained surcharge.

Worked estimate: house and detached garage

Illustrative USD budget only. These rates, costs and margins are assumptions for this example, not market recommendations. Tax is shown separately from job revenue; confirm the treatment that applies to your work.

This example is a two-story house with a 30 × 40 ft footprint (1,200 sq ft) and a separately scoped detached garage. The footprint describes the building; it is not the exterior wash area. After inspecting the siding and access, the operator budgets five person-hours for the house and one for the garage, including travel and the full visit.

The costed house price is $420, above an assumed $250 minimum. The garage adds $90. There is no discount. Subtotal is $510; an illustrative 5% tax on all work adds $25.50, for a final quote of $535.50.

Six person-hours at $30 cost $180. Materials add $35, fuel/travel $20 and equipment consumables $15. Direct cost totals $250. Revenue of $510 before tax leaves $260 gross profit, a 50.98% margin. After a separate $60 overhead allocation, $200 remains before other obligations.

The Quote Calculator has an area-based interface. To enter this flat project without inventing an area rate, use area 0, rate 0 and the $420 house price as the minimum-service field, then add 90, discount 0 and tax 5. Keep the actual $250 business minimum in your estimating notes; the $420 entry here represents the already-costed house charge.

Follow product labels, SDS and equipment instructions, including required PPE. A nominal SH calculation is not an application recommendation. Never mix SH with acids, ammonia or incompatible chemicals. Work only within safe equipment and access limits.

Return to the master pricing guide for the direct-cost, minimum-charge and margin framework.