How much should I charge per square foot for commercial pressure washing?

In 2026 commercial flatwork such as parking lots and large pads runs about $0.08 to $0.20 per square foot. Walkways, breezeways and stairs at apartment complexes run higher, about $0.10 to $0.25, because edges and rinsing slow the surface cleaner down. Bid from your own cost floor first, then check it against the band.

How many square feet per hour does a surface cleaner clean?

A 18 to 20 inch surface cleaner on a 4 gpm machine cleans roughly 1,000 to 1,500 square feet per hour on walkways and 1,500 to 2,500 on open flatwork, including rinsing and moves. A 28 inch cleaner on an 8 gpm machine roughly doubles that. Time your own crew on one job and use that number.

How do I bid a 100,000 square foot commercial pressure washing job?

Divide the square footage by your production rate to get machine hours, multiply by crew size for man hours, price the labor at what you pay yourself, add chemicals, fuel, water, rentals and overhead, then divide by 0.65 for a 35 percent margin. Divide that total by the square footage to get your floor per square foot and compare it with the market band before you send a number.

Commercial pressure washing pricing per square foot

A 120,000 sq ft apartment complex is not a big driveway. Square footage in, machine hours, days, cost floor and price per square foot out, checked against the 2026 band for that surface.

Bid calculator

SurfaceSets the production rate and the market band. Change the rate below if you have timed your own crew. Total square feetMeasure it. Satellite maps for lots, pace the walkways, count the buildings. Production rate, sq ft per machine hourIncludes rinsing and moving hose. Time one job and replace this. Machines runningEach needs its own surface cleaner and operator. Crew size, peopleOperators plus anyone pre-treating, rinsing, moving hose. Labor cost per person hour, $What you pay, including yourself, plus payroll tax and comp. Not what you bill. Running cost per machine hour, $SH, surfactant, fuel, water. Concrete with pre and post treat runs $15 to $25. Hours per work day on siteProduction hours, not door to door. Travel and setup per day, hours per personDrive, unload, hook up water, pack down. Rentals and extras, $Second machine, lift, hot water unit, reclaim, containment. Goes on the invoice as its own line too. Overhead per day, $Insurance, truck, phone, software, licence, spread over the days you work. Target margin, %Net after all of the above. 30 to 40 is normal on commercial. Below 20 is a wage, not a business.

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2026 bands and production rates

Market bands are what property managers in most US metros are paying in 2026 for volume work. They are wider than residential bands because scope, water access and the state of the concrete swing the hours. Production rates are typical for a crew that has done a few of these, including rinsing and moving hose. Time yourself on one job and use your own number.

Surface	Low $/sq ft	High $/sq ft	Sq ft / machine hour	Notes

Production rates assume an 18 to 20 inch surface cleaner on a 4 gpm cold-water machine. A 28 inch cleaner on 8 gpm roughly doubles them; hot water on grease roughly halves them. Residential walkway rates in the rate guide are higher per square foot because the jobs are small and the minimum does the work.

The bid math

Machine hours = sq ft ÷ production rate
Days = machine hours ÷ (machines × hours per day)
Person hours = crew × days × (hours per day + travel)
Cost = person hours × labor + machine hours × running + rentals + days × overhead
Floor = cost ÷ (1 − margin)
Floor per sq ft = floor ÷ sq ft

Example: 120,000 sq ft of apartment walkways, one 4 gpm machine with an 18 inch cleaner, two people. 120,000 ÷ 1,200 = 100 machine hours, 12.5 days at 8 hours. Person hours: 2 × 12.5 × 9 = 225 at $25 = $5,625. Running: 100 × $20 = $2,000. Overhead: 12.5 × $60 = $750. Cost $8,375, ÷ 0.65 = $12,900 floor, $0.107 per sq ft. The band for walkways is $0.10 to $0.25, so a bid at $0.15 ($18,000) has room in it, and the operator who bids $0.05 ($6,000) is working two and a half weeks for less than his own wages. Let him.

If the floor lands above the top of the band, do not cut the price. Cut the scope: walkways only, no stairs or pool deck, phase it over two weekends, or bring a second machine so the days and the overhead drop.

What goes in the quote

Scope in square feet and surfaces, with a per-square-foot add rate for anything they tack on once you are there.
Water access confirmed in writing. A far spigot is an extra hose today and a water truck next time.
Runoff. Many complexes and cities have storm-drain rules. Reclaim or containment is a line item, not a favour.
Rentals as their own lines: lift, second machine, hot water, after-hours. The customer sees why the number moved.
Deposit of 30 to 50% before you mobilise, balance on completion, per phase if it is phased.
Exclusions: gum, paint, rust and oil stains are spot-treated at an hourly rate, not included in the flat rate.

Residential jobs

Houses, driveways, roofs and decks are priced by surface with a job minimum, not by volume. The calculator does the same cost-floor check for those in about a minute, and the Pricing Kit puts the whole thing in a spreadsheet you own.