Commercial Pressure Washing Rates
Lower rates, bigger areas, recurring revenue — the commercial math, by property type.
Commercial pricing isn't residential pricing with a discount. It's a different model: volume rates checked against an hourly floor, sold as recurring programs. Here are the numbers.
Rates by Property Type
US ranges for one-time service. Recurring programs discount from these (ladder below). Every rate assumes measured square footage per zone — not a guess from the parking lot.
The Volume Curve — and the Floor Under It
Commercial rates fall as square footage rises — a 40,000 sq ft parking garage can't price like 40 driveways, because your production rate triples on open flatwork and your setup cost happens once.
The floor under the curve is your crew-hour target: $125–$175/hr on commercial work, higher than residential because it carries night windows, higher insurance limits, and Net 30 float. Divide every bid by realistic hours before it goes out — a big number that works out to $70/hr is a big mistake, not a big job.
The full bidding process — zone mapping, production rates, proposals — is in How to Quote Commercial Pressure Washing Jobs.
Rate drops 60% across the curve — effective hourly holds steady. That's the whole game.
The Contract Pricing Ladder
Every commercial proposal should show at least two rungs — the one-time price makes the program price look smart, and the program is the business you actually want.
One-time cleaning
Full priceThe audition — deliver visibly and photograph everything
Quarterly program
−10%The sweet spot: 4 visits/year, budget-friendly, surfaces never get bad
Monthly program
−15 – 20%Restaurants, gas stations, high-traffic retail
Annual prepaid
−15% + termsRare but gold — cash up front beats Net 30 every time
Commercial Rate Questions
Per-foot ranges, contract discounts, hourly floors, and water.
Commercial flatwork runs $0.05–$0.20 per square foot depending on property type, soil level, and volume. Open shopping-center sidewalk sits near $0.08–$0.14; gum-heavy storefront frontage and grease-prone restaurant exteriors run $0.12–$0.20; large open areas like parking lots and garages drop to $0.05–$0.10 because production rates are so much higher. Dumpster pads price flat at $75–$150 each rather than per foot.
A common ladder: quarterly service at 10% off the one-time price, monthly at 15–20% off. The discount is real for the buyer but cheap for you — recurring visits clean faster (surfaces never fully re-soil), require zero re-selling, and build route density. Never discount below your hourly floor; if the math breaks, adjust visit frequency instead of price.
Most operators need $125–$175 per crew-hour on commercial work — higher than the residential floor, because commercial carries costs residential doesn't: higher insurance limits, night and weekend service windows, Net 30 payment float, and vendor onboarding time. Every per-square-foot bid should be divided by realistic crew hours to confirm it clears this number.
Confirm it before you price. Many commercial sites have accessible spigots and expect you to use them (metered cost is trivial). But some properties — parking garages especially — have no water access, which means tank transport: real weight, real fill time, real cost. If you're hauling water, it belongs in the bid as setup cost, typically +$50–$150 per visit depending on volume.
Related Resources
Rates are step two. Measured zones are step one.
Measure Every Zone Before the Walkthrough
Sidewalks, pads, lanes, and lots — measured from satellite, zone by zone, before you ever visit the site. The rates on this page do the rest.