Getting the prices right when you run a business is of the utmost importance, you don’t want to be a busy fool doing loads of work but not making any money. Any idiot can run a business and get loads of work by charging low prices, but that person’s time will be wasted because they haven’t worked out all the costs and time involved in doing a job. Their profit margin ends up shrinking to nothing.

Everyone gets the price on the occasional job wrong, but you want to try and get the majority of them right so all your hard work expended in actually doing the job is worth it. After all, the whole point of running a pressure washing business is to make money, we’re not doing this for fun, well I’m not anyway.    

The Tried and Tested

The usual way to price up work is to measure the area that you intend to clean and have a price per-square metre.

You measure the length of the area in metres, then you measure the width, then you multiply the two numbers together. Once you have the measurement of the area in square metres, you then want to multiply that number by whatever the price per-square metre it is that you intend to charge.

Let’s assume that you are charging £2.50 per-square metre of block paving with sanding afterwards.

This means that a block-paved driveway that is 10 metres in length and 5 metres in width will measure 50m², you then multiply this by 2.50 to give you a grand total of £125.00  

You will want to have different prices for work that is carried out on different surfaces. For example, cleaning concrete slabs should take you less time than cleaning block paving, because block paving gets moss in between the bricks that has to be washed out with your pressure washing lance, (very tedious) and block paving also has to be sanded with kiln-dried sand after you’ve finished pressure washing it.

Travelling

You will want to change the prices according to the distance you’ll be travelling to jobs, if you have to travel a long way you’ll have to charge more, especially if you are doing block paving which requires three trips, one to do the quote, one to do the pressure washing, and another one to do the sanding.

Extras

It goes without saying that if you’re going to be doing sealing and applying other things like weedkiller, you’ll need to charge for this in your quote.

Taking a Shortcut

Once you’ve become experienced in pressure washing, you may want to give quotes by taking a look at the size of the area and simply estimating how long it will take you as opposed to measuring it all out, because this will save you time when doing the quote.

This way of giving a quote though is risky because it’s more likely that you’ll get the quote wrong and give a price that is too low.

This approach can also look less professional than the guy who comes round and spends more time doing the quote by methodically measuring the whole lot out.

Large Areas

For a large area it’s advisable you charge a lower rate per square metre, because otherwise it will push your quote well out of the price range of most home and business owners. Your customer is buying in bulk so it’s only fair they get a cheaper rate.

It’s not just about Size
 
While the size of the area you intend to clean is the number 1 factor that will dictate how long the job will take, there are other things that can affect it.

Are there lots of objects that need moving: Garden furniture, plant pots, garden-gnomes, etc, all have to be moved before you begin the job of pressure washing. They will also have to be moved back before you leave.

Access: How close can you get your van to the area you’ll be cleaning? You’ll want to get it as close as possible because you’ll have to move a lot of equipment to and from your van. If you have to park your van far away this will add to the time needed to do the job.

How Dirty is the Area: Block paving that has been allowed to develop a really bad build of moss will take longer to clean than block paving that hasn’t. Your flat surface cleaner, (if you have one) whilst it will be able to remove the majority of the dirt, in most cases you will still have to go over really bad areas inch by inch with your lance to get the stubborn moss out.

Water Source: The speed water comes out of your customers tap can be an issue that hugely affects the time it will take you to do a job. Your pressure washer will use water at a very fast rate, and if the water source you are using to supply you can’t pump out the water fast enough, you will be continually stopping and starting your pressure washer, waiting for your water container/barrel/buffer tank to fill up again.