What do I estimate for pressure washing?
Answers:
If it was me personally, I'd charge $15.00 an hour Xs the hours you estimate it would take, plus rental of the pressure washer if you don't own one, plus 10 to 15% overhead if you are doing this as a business.
edit: To transparents v, you shouldn't overcharge for a service that the customer can hire basically any high school kid to do. Depending on where this guy lives, $15.00 an hour plus overhead should be more than reasonable. You rape somebody on a small job like this, and it's unlikely they'd ever call you again, for possibly bigger jobs.
Other answers:
Rates will vary slightly depending on the amount of surface to be cleaned plus the complexity of the jobs. In general a typical residential driveway is $.12 per Sq. Ft. of surface.
When it comes to pricing your pressure washing services it's very difficult to simply say, "our price is X" on all services. In most cases you will need to actually see the job to give a truly accurate estimate, but nonetheless it's important to have guidelines from which you base your pricing.
Time
Materials
Profit
National Pricing Averages
Time, Materials & Profit. Those are your primary factors when estimating your jobs. How long will it take, what costs will you incur to provide the service and how much profit above and beyond you wish to factor in.
Time
The easiest way to learn time is to do jobs. You will quickly get an idea of how long it takes to do a typical house, driveway, boat, whatever. No matter if you are doing the work or if you have an employee doing it, time should still be factored in.
Materials
When it comes to materials costs for a job, there's direct costs and indirect. The direct costs are pretty easy and should never be overlooked. If you are losing money on your direct costs with jobs your business is going to struggle. Direct materials costs are things like the chemicals used on the job, gas burned on the job, and anything else purchased specifically for that job that won't be used on other jobs.
Indirect costs are other expenses you incur to perform your services in general, but not due to one specific job. The cost of your pressure washer is a clear indirect cost. You need to be very aware of these costs, but addressing them more from an overall picture and less by specific jobs.
Profit
On top of your direct costs, how much do you add onto the top? Everyone expects you to add a little bit, unless you are just a non-profit organization, but this area can determine how fair and/or how competitive you are. Don't cheat your customers, but don't cheat yourself either. Do a good and thorough job, be professional, and your customers won't mind paying a respectable rate.
NOTE: Just about every pressure washing business how-to-book and video I have ever seen mentions somewhere about setting your prices based on the caliber of neighborhood you are working in. In other words, stick it to the bigger houses because they have the money. I personally find this way of thinking ludicrous, unethical and flat out dumb. Just because you perceive someone "to have the money" does not entitle you to it. Provide excellent service and charge all customers fairly. Period.
Rates will vary slightly depending on the amount of surface to be cleaned plus the complexity of the jobs. In general a typical residential driveway is $.12 per Sq. Ft. of surface.
When it comes to pricing your pressure washing services it's very difficult to simply say, "our price is X" on all services. In most cases you will need to actually see the job to give a truly accurate estimate, but nonetheless it's important to have guidelines from which you base your pricing.
Time
Materials
Profit
National Pricing Averages
Time, Materials & Profit. Those are your primary factors when estimating your jobs. How long will it take, what costs will you incur to provide the service and how much profit above and beyond you wish to factor in.
Time
The easiest way to learn time is to do jobs. You will quickly get an idea of how long it takes to do a typical house, driveway, boat, whatever. No matter if you are doing the work or if you have an employee doing it, time should still be factored in.
Materials
When it comes to materials costs for a job, there's direct costs and indirect. The direct costs are pretty easy and should never be overlooked. If you are losing money on your direct costs with jobs your business is going to struggle. Direct materials costs are things like the chemicals used on the job, gas burned on the job, and anything else purchased specifically for that job that won't be used on other jobs.
Indirect costs are other expenses you incur to perform your services in general, but not due to one specific job. The cost of your pressure washer is a clear indirect cost. You need to be very aware of these costs, but addressing them more from an overall picture and less by specific jobs.
Profit
On top of your direct costs, how much do you add onto the top? Everyone expects you to add a little bit, unless you are just a non-profit organization, but this area can determine how fair and/or how competitive you are. Don't cheat your customers, but don't cheat yourself either. Do a good and thorough job, be professional, and your customers won't mind paying a respectable rate.
NOTE: Just about every pressure washing business how-to-book and video I have ever seen mentions somewhere about setting your prices based on the caliber of neighborhood you are working in. In other words, stick it to the bigger houses because they have the money. I personally find this way of thinking ludicrous, unethical and flat out dumb. Just because you perceive someone "to have the money" does not entitle you to it. Provide excellent service and charge all customers fairly. Period.
If that works for you, BrownShirt...
But as you learn to manouveur with a powerwasher, you will inevitably get faster with it, which will eventually cause you to lose money in the long run.
If it takes 4 hours at $15 an hour to complete a job now, the same job may take you 2 hours by the end of the busy season... therefore, your experience has cost you $30