How to Price Paver Cleaning, Sanding and Sealing Jobs

Quote paver restoration in stages. Cleaning, replacing joint material and applying sealer each need their own labour, materials and weather allowance. A price for washing the surface cannot cover all three.

Start the material budget with the Paver Sand Calculator and Sealer Quantity Calculator. Use the Quote Calculator for the selling price and the Job Profitability Calculator for the full multi-visit cost.

Define which service the customer is buying

• Cleaning only covers the specified surface cleaning and agreed stain treatment. State how disturbed or missing joint material will be handled; do not leave the customer assuming replacement is included.
• Cleaning and sanding adds joint preparation and installation of the selected jointing material, including required compaction or activation under its instructions.
• Cleaning, sanding and sealing adds product compatibility checks, required drying, masking, application and any scheduled return visit.

Measure the area, then inspect paver condition, drainage and joint width and depth. Weeds and moss can hide how much joint material is missing. Record previous sealer, efflorescence and stains. Existing coatings or persistent whitening may require diagnosis, a test or specialist restoration before a fixed quote is possible. Sealing does not repair an unsuitable substrate.

Budget materials from product requirements

Choose jointing material appropriate to the paver system and site. Polymeric sand is not interchangeable with every other sand. Joint dimensions, drainage and manufacturer requirements affect suitability and quantity. Use a coverage estimate appropriate to those joints; purchase whole bags and include the cost of leftovers unless they can be reliably used elsewhere.

For sealer, use the selected manufacturer’s coverage and coat requirements. The calculator applies one entered coverage rate to every coat. If coats have different expected coverage, calculate them separately and add the quantities. Price the containers you must buy, not only the theoretical liquid volume.

Allow for dry time, return trips and rework

Build the schedule around the product’s surface-moisture and weather requirements. Include cleaning, joint preparation, compaction where specified, cleanup, drying checks, masking and application. Drying may take no active labour, but a return trip still costs loading, travel and setup. Include equipment rental for the days you need it.

Account for nearby doors, siding, planting and drains. Masking and overspray protection take time. If conditions will not support proper application, postpone rather than trying to recover the schedule through a shortcut. Price a minimum that covers the planned visits, and set a separate reserve when your records justify callbacks or rework. That reserve does not replace correct preparation.

Worked estimate: clean, sand and seal 1,000 sq ft

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 assumes suitable bare pavers, no sealer stripping or specialist stain treatment, and two visits within a suitable weather window. The staged prices are cleaning $400, sanding $650 and sealing $950. The package subtotal is $2,000, above an assumed $750 multi-visit minimum. With no discount and illustrative 5% tax of $100, the customer total is $2,100.

Assumed sand coverage is 2 sq ft/lb, with 10% waste and 50 lb bags: 1,000 ÷ 2 × 1.10 = 550 lb, or 11 bags. At an invented $30 per bag, sand costs $330. Assumed sealer coverage is 200 sq ft per US gallon per coat, with two coats and 10% waste: 1,000 ÷ 200 × 2 × 1.10 = 11 gallons. Three 5-gallon containers at an invented $150 each cost $450. These coverage and price inputs describe the example only.

Ten person-hours across both visits at $30 cost $300. Sand, sealer and $45 of cleaning/masking supplies total $825. Add $50 fuel/travel, $100 equipment rental and $75 other expenses as a rework allowance. Entered cost totals $1,350. Pre-tax revenue of $2,000 leaves $650 estimated profit, or 32.50%, after that allowance but before overhead. A separate $100 overhead allocation leaves $550 before other obligations.

To assemble the package in the Quote Calculator, enter area 1,000, cleaning rate 0.40, minimum 0, add-ons 1,600, discount 0 and tax 5. The $750 package minimum was checked against the completed package; the calculator’s minimum field applies to the base service before add-ons, so it is left at zero for this staged example.

Follow paver, jointing-material and sealer instructions, SDS, required PPE and site runoff requirements. Establish compatibility before applying chemicals or coatings. Do not treat the example’s coverage, joint material or coat count as a product recommendation.

For the wider cost framework, return to the master pricing guide. For cleaning-only flatwork, see driveway and concrete pricing.