To start a pressure washing business, choose a few residential services to begin with, buy a reliable gas unit and surface cleaner, register your business and get liability insurance, learn your city’s wastewater rules, set prices from your real costs, and win your first customers on your own street with before-and-after photos and reviews.
This guide is written for Canada first, with notes for the US where the rules differ. It covers what most startup guides skip: what to do with the dirty water, how to work out a price that actually pays you, and how to fill the calendar again next spring.
The steps at a glance
Driveways, walkways, decks, fences and house washes. Skip roofs and commercial work until you have experience.
Business name with your province (or state), plus a business number with the tax agency.
Commercial general liability before your first paid job, and auto coverage that allows business use.
Machine, surface cleaner, hoses, nozzles, PPE and a way to haul it all.
Find your city’s storm sewer bylaw and plan how you’ll keep wash water out of storm drains.
Per square foot or per job, with a minimum charge.
Neighbours, door hangers, Google Business Profile, and a review after every job.
Pick your first services
Start with flat concrete and simple wood surfaces. They’re forgiving, quick to quote and easy to show off in photos. Add soft washing (low pressure with cleaning solution) for siding once you’ve practised on your own house and a friend’s.
| Service | Difficulty | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Driveways and walkways | Easy | A surface cleaner makes it fast and stripe-free. Your best photo job. |
| Patios and pool decks | Easy | Watch for loose pavers and polymeric sand. |
| Wood decks and fences | Medium | Too much pressure raises the grain or gouges soft wood. Often sold with staining. |
| House washing (soft wash) | Medium | Low pressure with cleaner. Protect plants, windows, lights and outlets. |
| Roofs | Hard | Height risk and easy to damage shingles. Leave until later, if ever. |
| Commercial and fleet | Hard | Bigger volumes, stricter water rules, often night work. A good year-two goal. |
What equipment you need
Flow (GPM) matters more than pressure (PSI) for speed. More water moves more dirt, so a higher-flow belt-drive machine finishes a driveway noticeably faster than a consumer unit at the same pressure. Buy one good machine rather than two cheap ones; downtime in peak season costs more than the difference.
| Item | Why you need it | Example budget (CAD) |
|---|---|---|
| Gas pressure washer, belt drive | The core machine. Belt drive lasts longer under daily use. | $1,800 |
| Surface cleaner (16 to 20 inch) | Flat work three to four times faster than a wand, without stripes. | $400 |
| Hoses, reel, quick connects, nozzles | 100 ft or more of pressure hose, plus spares. | $450 |
| Soft wash pump or downstream injector | For applying cleaning solution to siding. | $250 |
| PPE | Safety glasses, gloves, waterproof boots, hearing protection. | $200 |
| Water containment (mat or berm, vacuum) | Keeps wash water out of storm drains where required. | $400 |
| Ladder, buckets, brushes, chemicals | Detail work and pre-treatment. | $300 |
| Total | about $3,800 |
These are example figures to plan with, not quotes. Prices vary a lot by brand and region, and you may already own a truck or trailer. Renting a commercial unit for your first few jobs is a cheap way to find out what you actually need before you buy.
Water, runoff and chemicals
This is the part most new washers ignore, and it’s the part that can get you fined. Storm drains usually run straight to creeks and lakes without treatment, and many cities restrict what you can wash into them.
Calgary is a clear example. Its guidance for mobile power washers says it is prohibited to discharge wastewater into the stormwater system, requires filter screens to capture solids, and expects spills to be reported. Other cities have their own storm sewer bylaws, so look up yours before your first job. In the US, check with your city or county stormwater office.
- Find the drains first. Before you start, walk the property and note every storm drain and where water will run.
- Block and recover. Use drain covers or berms to stop water reaching the drain, and recover it with a vacuum where your city requires it.
- Pre-wet plants. Soak plants before and after applying any cleaning solution, and rinse thoroughly.
- Ask about water. Confirm the customer is fine with you using their outdoor tap, and that it can supply enough flow for your machine.
- Read every label. Follow the manufacturer’s mixing and safety instructions for every chemical you use.
Register, insure and set up taxes
General information, not legal or tax advice. Check with your province or state, your city, and the tax agency for your situation.
Register your business name
In most provinces, a sole proprietor using a name other than their own legal name registers it with the province. In Ontario, for example, a sole proprietorship name registration through the Ontario Business Registry costs $60 and lasts five years. Other provinces have their own registries and fees. In the US, register with your state and check whether your city needs a general business licence.
Get a business number and know the GST/HST threshold
The Canada Revenue Agency’s small supplier rule means you must register for GST/HST once your taxable sales pass $30,000 in a single calendar quarter or over the last four consecutive quarters. Many new businesses register voluntarily so they can claim back the tax on equipment. See our guide to HST and GST for contractors for how it works on your invoices.
Insurance
Commercial general liability is the one you can’t skip. Pressure can etch concrete, strip paint, break windows and force water behind siding, and one claim without coverage can end a new business. Tell your insurer exactly what you wash, including soft washing and any work at height. Make sure your vehicle insurance covers business use. Once you hire, register with your province’s workers’ compensation board (WSIB in Ontario, WorkSafeBC in British Columbia, and so on).
How to price pressure washing jobs
Most washers price flat work by the square foot and house washes by the size of the house, with a minimum charge so small jobs still cover the drive. Start from what an hour on site has to earn, then check your price list against it.
Say your annual costs (insurance, fuel, chemicals, equipment wear, phone, software) are $14,000 and you want to pay yourself $50,000 from 700 hours on site in a season. That’s $64,000 ÷ 700 = about $91 an hour on site. If you clean about 600 sq ft of concrete an hour including setup, your break-even is roughly $0.15 per sq ft before profit.
| Job | Size | Example rate | Example price (CAD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two-car driveway | 600 sq ft | $0.25/sq ft | $150, or your minimum if higher |
| Driveway plus walkway | 800 sq ft | $0.25/sq ft | $200 |
| Wood deck, wash and brighten | 300 sq ft | $0.55/sq ft | $165 |
| Patio pavers | 600 sq ft | $0.30/sq ft | $180 |
| House soft wash, two storey | per house | Flat by size | $400 to $500 |
| Minimum charge | any job | $175 |
Those rates are illustrations of the method. Your local market, travel times and how fast you actually work will move them. For a deeper look at overhead and profit, read how to price a contractor job. The same approach works in USD; only the numbers change.
Bundle services. A customer who books a driveway will often add the walkway, steps and back patio if you price them as add-ons on the same quote. Every add-on is extra revenue for very little extra setup.
How to get your first customers
Pressure washing sells itself visually. A clean strip next to a dirty one is the best ad you’ll ever have.
- Your own street first. Wash a neighbour’s driveway at a discount and take before-and-after photos. Then hang door hangers on the rest of the street that week.
- Google Business Profile. Set it up on day one with your service area and photos. When people search for a local service, the map results show up first.
- Reviews after every job. Ask while the driveway is still drying and they’re looking at it.
- Answer every call. In spring everyone wants a quote at once. The washer who answers and books first gets the job.
- Partner with neighbouring trades. Painters, deck builders, window cleaners and realtors all see customers who need washing.
More ideas, with scripts, are in how to get more contractor leads. Once the reviews start coming in, how to ask customers for Google reviews helps keep them coming.
Plan for the off-season
In most of Canada, outdoor washing stops when temperatures drop below freezing. That makes cash flow the real challenge in year one. Plan for it before you start.
- Rebook last year’s customers in late winter. A one-time wash becomes an annual booking if you contact them before the season starts.
- Sell maintenance plans. A yearly driveway and house wash, booked in advance, smooths out your spring rush.
- Add a winter service. Some washers add window cleaning, gutter cleaning in late fall, or holiday light installation.
- Save from the peak. Put aside a set share of every summer invoice to cover insurance and loan payments in the winter.
This is where software earns its keep. With Contruva’s scheduling you see the week on one calendar and group nearby jobs on the same day. Per-square-foot items sit in your price book, so quotes take seconds and customers sign and pay on their phone. The AI receptionist answers and books spring calls while you’re on a job, and Contruva reaches out to last year’s customers next season so a one-time wash turns into a repeat booking. See Contruva for pressure washing, or check one-plan pricing with a 7-day free trial.