Start Here - Starting a Pressure Washing Business With $0 - The Lean Startup
The pressure washing business is one of those rare businesses you can start with absolutely $0. No BS.
I got started by advertising in a local Facebook group offering driveway cleaning. I used a before and after picture I got from a pressure washing group (ask others for free use materials to get off the ground).
I landed a $1900 tennis court cleaning and I couldn’t believe it. I had ZERO equipment at all not even a pump sprayer. But since I took the initiative and started taking advantage of free marketing via local Facebook community groups as well as buy, sell, trade groups. I got it. There’s two different ways you can go about getting the equipment you need once you land a job. You can either rent or buy a 4 GPM (gallons per minute) Simpson pressure washer and a 20 in BE Surface Cleaner if it’s flatwork. You can also build or buy a cheap softwash setup if it’s a house or roof wash. You’ll also need at least 100ft of flexzilla water hose and 100ft of pressure hose. All in all I spent less than $1500 on my equipment after I landed the $1900 tennis court cleaning, profiting $400!
I loaded everything up in the back of my wife’s 2019 Toyota Rav4. No trailer, no truck. There are no excuses. I did not use any chemicals at all. I simply used pressure for the first job to get the maximum profit out of the first job. Once I completed the job, I took that money, used every cent of it to buy my own pressure washer and surface cleaner. All in all my business was started with nothing and bought its own equipment to start.
So how do you know what to charge when you get a lead from door to door knocking or Local Facebook groups? It’s very VERY important that you have a minimum for jobs. Me and most other guys on the internet will preach “Premium Pricing”. I’m also a follower of this notion because everything has gone up in price since 2020, so has your expenses. My personal minimum is $300 just to start up my truck. I don’t know about you, but I’m personally not doing pressure washing to stay busy and break-even. I’m building a business to 3x my income from any job around my area.
Current national average pricing as of 9/28/2023:
Concrete Cleaning: $0.25 per sqft.
Roof Cleaning: $0.40-$0.50 per sqft
House Cleaning: $0.30-$0.40 per sqft
Gutter Brightening: $1.75 per linear ft
Window Cleaning: $7-10 per window pane (exterior only). Double for interior.
Concrete Sealing: $1.00 per sqft
The best and quickest way to get the square footage of a house for either a house or roof wash is using Zillow. The next best way is to manually measure using Google Earth’s measuring tool. I have a quick 2 minute video showing you how to do this.
If you do in-person quoting, you’ll need either a measuring wheel or a laser measuring tool. I personally prefer the wheel over the laser.
So what do you do if you’re willing to spend $300 on marketing to get your first job or have made some money to be able to afford some advertising from doing the free marketing stuff? Go to the next page of “The Best Way To Get Leads”.
