How Much Does Pressure Washing Usually Cost?

Does your driveway look like it hasn’t been cleaned since the Clinton administration? Your neighbors may be discussing your house siding, which has turned from white to a beautiful shade of algae green. Embarrassing. Right? You have finally reached the stage where you can no longer pretend that it does not exist, and you are considering calling someone to have it pressure washed.

And the next question you are going to ask is the obvious one: how much will that cost me?

Fair question. Unfortunately, not an easy one. Inquire of three separate contractors, and you may have three figures with absolutely nothing in common with one another. Others would even give you a quote so comprehensive that it would pass as a legal agreement, and you do not know whether that is reassuring or even terrifying.

The confusion is real, but it’s not random. Pressure washing pricing follows a logic once you understand what drives it. So let’s get into it. No fluff, no runaround. Just what you really need to know before you hand over a single dollar.

The Short Answer That Won’t Satisfy You

The national average for a pressure washing job lands somewhere around $310, with most homeowners paying somewhere in the $200–$450 range. However, saying “pressure washing costs $310” is like saying a car costs $30,000. Sure, on average. But are we talking about a Honda Civic or a lifted F-250? Since they are very different things.

The range here is genuinely wide. You might spend $100 getting a small deck cleaned. You might spend $1,800 getting a three-story house washed. The number you’re going to pay depends entirely on what you’re cleaning and where you live.

What Are You Getting Washed?

This is the biggest variable of them all. This is what most professionals charge, broken down by the job:

Driveways typically run $100–$260. It sounds like a lot for a driveway, but a concrete driveway is a big slab of surface area, and if you’ve got oil stains or years of baked-in tire grime, there’s real work involved.

House washing is where prices jump. The lowest cost of a complete exterior house wash is about $170 to the highest cost of $600 and above, which is determined by the size of the house. A simple one-story ranch does not qualify as an equal project to a 3000-square-foot two-story with stone accents. You can expect to pay between $150 and $750 per single story, $400 and $1400 per two stories, and $700 and $1800 per three stories.

Decks and patios generally come in at $100–$250. Wood decks need a lighter touch than concrete, so if your deck is older or has some delicate staining situation going on, that affects both the technique and the price.

Roofs are in a different league entirely. Typically $450–$700 or more. It’s dangerous work, it requires specific equipment, and most of the time it’s done as soft washing rather than high-pressure blasting. You’re not just paying for cleaning; you’re paying for the risk premium of someone going up on your roof with a pressure rig.

Fences run $150–$300, depending on material and length. Wood fences take more time and care than vinyl. Linear footage matters here.

Gutters land in the $50–$300 range, depending on how many stories your home has. Higher up means more equipment, more setup time, and more risk.

Per Square Foot: The Other Way It’s Priced

Many pros price by square footage, especially for larger or more complex jobs. The general range is about $0.35–$0.77 per square foot for most work, with dirtier or harder-to-reach surfaces pushing higher.

Here’s a rough breakdown by surface:

Concrete driveways and sidewalks: around $0.25–$0.40 per square foot. House siding: somewhere between $0.15 and $0.25 per square foot, provided that the surface is in reasonably good condition. Highly contaminated surfaces containing mold, algae, or calcium deposits have a higher price of between $0.40 and $0.80 per square foot since it takes more time, superior chemicals, and more passes.

A small job, say 200 square feet, will cost you more per square foot than a larger one. This is because the minimum charge exists regardless of how little there is to clean. Most companies have minimums in the $100–$350 range. Don’t expect a guy to show up with a full rig and do a 20-minute job for $40.

Where You Live Changes Everything

Pressure washing in rural Kansas and pressure washing in Manhattan are not the same conversation. High cost-of-living markets mean higher labor costs, higher insurance, higher gas, and higher everything. In New York City, basic pressure washing averages around $375. In smaller cities and suburbs, that same job might run $200–$250.

The flip side? In dense urban markets, you also have more competition, which can keep prices honest. In a small rural town, you might only have one or two operators, and they know it.

DIY vs. Hiring a Pro

Renting a pressure washer costs around $35–$175 per day. Buying one for home use runs $100–$1,000, depending on quality. So on paper, DIY looks appealing.

The real catch is that proper equipment costs real money. A $150 electric washer from a big box store is not what professionals are using. Their rigs cost $3,000–$20,000 and deliver actual PSI that cuts through years of grime efficiently. That $5,000 machine that a pro brings can knock out your driveway in 45 minutes. You might spend half a Saturday with your rental and still not match the results.

Beyond that, if you crank too much pressure on vinyl siding, wood, or certain roof materials, you can damage them. Genuinely. Forced water intrusion behind siding causes rot. Blown-out wood grain on a deck is permanent. Mistakes cost more than the job would have.

Why Two Quotes Can Be Wildly Different

You call two companies. One says $175. One says $450. What gives?

It’s not always that someone’s trying to rip you off. The cost of the higher quote could indicate complete insurance, professional equipment, and a crew that knows their business. The cheap quote may be from an uninsured individual operator whose washer is of residential quality and has no backup in case of breakdown.

That being said, all cheap quotes are not a scam, and not all high prices are worth it. It is not the question of who is the cheapest. It is, what is it about the difference? Interrogate both operators about the equipment they operate, their insurance status, and what is covered in the quote. The responses will say much about the origin of that gap.

The Bottom Line

Pressure washing costs what it costs because it’s not just a guy with a garden hose. It’s equipment, insurance, chemicals, labor, overhead, and expertise. Most homeowners pay somewhere in the $200–$500 range for a typical job, with outliers on both ends depending on what needs cleaning and where they live.

Get a couple of quotes. Make sure they’re specific. What surfaces, what method, and what’s included? And don’t chase the rock-bottom number. Your house doesn’t care how little you spent before something gets damaged.