- Startup cost
- Gas machine $500 to $1,200. Lean total under $2,000, fuller rigs $3,000 to $5,000.
- Time
- Saturdays. 2 to 3 jobs is a full day. Driveway 30 to 90 min, house wash 1.5 to 4 hrs.
- Unit of sale
- Per square foot, with a minimum call fee
The idea
A dirty driveway advertises itself. Every neighbor who drives past your finished job sees the before and the after in one glance, which is why this work markets itself on Nextdoor and Facebook better than almost any other Saturday hustle. But the money is made or lost in the quote. Hourly pricing punishes you for getting fast. Square-foot pricing with a minimum rewards you for it.
Learn the second skill too: soft washing. Siding and roofs get low pressure and the right chemicals, never a high-pressure blast. A roof you damage costs more than a season of driveways.
The numbers
| Job | Reported range |
|---|---|
| Driveway | $125 to $250, other guides $150 to $300 for a 2-car |
| House wash | $250 to $700 |
| A solid Saturday, operator blog | $600 to $1,500 gross |
| Claimed margin after equipment is paid off | 60 to 75%, unverified |
Saturday totals are gross, before fuel, soap, insurance, and drive time. A solo operator's real limit is route density: three jobs on one street beat five jobs across the county.
Your first three customers
- Shoot the before, wash half, shoot the contrast. That single photo is the ad.Your own driveway, photographed.
- Post the half-and-half photo with the square-foot price and the minimum stated. No vague "DM for price."Nextdoor and local Facebook groups.
- Door hangers on the street you just worked, while the clean driveway is still wet behind you.One street at a time.
The catch, stated plainly
Spring and fall are peaks and weather owns your calendar. Price insurance in from job one, learn which surfaces stain, etch, or strip under pressure, and never high-pressure a roof. Bundle smart: driveway plus gutter cleaning plus house wash on one visit is how a $200 Saturday becomes a $600 one.
Case study
Case study: Nick Accion, Patriot Pressure and Soft Washing
In our own words. Original story linked below.
- Who
- Nick Accion, founder of Patriot Pressure and Soft Washing in the Ormond Beach area. He came out of college with a business management degree and no pressure washing experience.
- Starting point
- Wanted his own business instead of an office job, searched for affordable business ideas online, and landed on pressure washing because it was outdoors, in the real world, meeting real people.
- First moves
- Ordered a four gallon per minute machine online before ever holding a pressure washer, then learned by trial and error.
- Filed the LLC in May 2022 and grew slowly, one setup at a time, ready to take on his first clients by August 2022.
- Put Google Ads at the center of marketing after door knocking and yard signs had limited success.
- What worked
- Slow growth plus professionalism. He priced fairly while he was still learning, kept customers informed at every step, and let Google Ads bring a steady stream of local leads.
- What to copy
- Start with one setup, grow gradually instead of taking on debt for a full rig, and test paid local ads early if door knocking stalls.
- Watch out
- He had never held a pressure washer before ordering his first machine, so expect a real learning curve on technique and surfaces. He also advises against charging top rates while you are still figuring the work out.
- Source
- Pressure Washing Tribe, From Graduate to Entrepreneur: Nick Accion's Journey in Starting a Pressure Washing Business