Why a House Wash costs about $300
(and Why It’s Worth It)
This post will be a little different - more conversational, less technical - but I promise it will clarify why Surface Work isn’t the cheapest and why that’s a good thing for you.
Note: In a rush? Skip down to the TLDR at the bottom.
How Pressure Washing Has Evolved
In past posts, I have delved into the technical details of pressure washing, and to my readers, it should be clear that the pressure washing of today – is not the pressure washing of decades past. Before downstream injection, the answer was pressure (and lots of it) and the result was very often… less than stellar. Today, however, power washing has come far, and a careful balancing of mechanical work (pressure) and chemical work (cleaning solution) can deliver results that would be completely impossible using “old-school” methods. However, this enhanced effectiveness comes at a cost.
Professional Equipment Is Expensive (but still Cheaper than a Rental)
Most consumer pressure washers cost around $300 to $500 – and often fail after just a few uses. Our equipment, built for reliability, costs over $10,000 and is professionally maintained, so it’s always ready to perform – not reschedule. This is a precisely planned system. Your per-job share? Just $39 – less than the cost of a rental. In other words, you benefit from preventative maintenance that ensures that quality equipment shows up ready to work – not break down and cause a headache just before the cookout.
Insurance: Peace of Mind You Should Demand
Insurance costs keep climbing, even for companies like Surface Work that have never filed claims. Rates are determined by industry-wide practices, meaning responsible companies pay premiums influenced by riskier competitors, and pressure washing is chock full of them. Any business not carrying insurance gambles with your property, saving you only around $15 per job – a dubious trade-off. Surface Work is insured.
Customer Acquisition: The Hidden Cost of Visibility
Chances are, you found Surface Work online – and that visibility is not cheap. On average, attracting each customer costs roughly $80 in Google Ads. Why so high? Simply put, society has gradually regulated traditional marketing methods out of existence. Door-to-door solicitation is mostly prohibited, flyers are discouraged, and even yard signs are increasingly banned. This funnels nearly all marketing online, where tech companies (Google, Meta, Microsoft) charge premium prices to appear in search results. Getting your referrals from friends and family – instead of from Google searches – can make a difference here. This is why Surface Work is happy to offer a referral discount, because this referral pathway is always more economical for everyone involved.
Communication: Always Available
Being responsive and reachable (phone, text, email, online scheduling) costs roughly $9 per job. This ensures that Surface Work is always available when you need it, providing convenience and peace of mind.
Consumables: More than Water
It takes gallons of cleaning mixtures to properly wash a house. The equipment requires fuel as well, bumping the consumables budget per job to an average of $29.
Transportation: Getting to Your Doorstep
Getting the equipment to each job site is not free, and the federal mileage reimbursement rate ($0.67/mile) – modestly modified to account for towing a light trailer – averages $13 per job.
Pre-Labor Costs: The Essentials Add Up
Before factoring in labor, Surface Work spends approximately $185 per job on critical elements:
· Equipment maintenance: $39
· Insurances: $15
· Customer Acquisition: $80
· Communications: $9
· Consumables: $29
· Transportation: $13
Additional costs exist (licenses, taxes, fees) but this sums it up for most practical purposes. While it is true that increased business volume could reduce the per-job share of some of these costs, the truth is that this only helps with the most affordable expenses (insurance, communication) while the rest (consumables, transportation, and customer acquisition) scale proportionally with work volume.
Labor: Experience Backing Every Job
With hundreds of house washes completed, Surface Work already has the experience to get the job done right. We are not showing up to farm before-and-after photos for web content on YouTube/TikTok... Surface Work is a professional company charging a professional rate. That said, that rate is surprisingly affordable – at $50/hour – paying the operator for wash time (and marginal time) while allocating a small set-aside profit for the company to expand its offerings. As a service-connected disabled veteran owned small business, Surface Work thanks you for your support.
The Bottom Line: Value Over Price
When you see a $300 house wash price, it can feel arbitrary when you also see $500 pressure washers on the shelf at the store. But, as demonstrated here, Surface Work is backed by systems and operational advantages that simply cannot be reproduced by the large companies, and it is virtually impossible to find in the sea of inexperienced outfits competing for a season or two before closing shop. At Surface Work, you get big business principles delivered at small business efficiency – truly the best of both – a balance that few owner-operators can find; but, you have already found one… let’s get your service booked.
TLDR:
Surface Work isn’t the cheapest option – but it is the best value. Each job includes high-quality equipment, comprehensive insurance, responsive communication, professional-grade cleaning solutions, reliable transportation, and experienced labor. These essentials, which cost roughly $185 per job before labor, so you can tell that you are getting a responsible owner-operator for a truly bargain rate. If this overhead sounds too high, please, reach out to your neighbors and find a referral… it will save you some money, but really, you can’t go wrong at the prices listed.