For an 800 sq ft two-car driveway, our worked example comes to $156 at a 30% margin if you pay yourself $30 an hour, or $242 at $60 an hour. HomeAdvisor tells homeowners to expect $240-440 for that size (June 2026). Price from your costs, never go under your minimum ($150 in our example), and remember the customer has probably been told to expect more than many new owners charge.
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Every driveway price guide online answers the homeowner asking "what will I pay?" This page answers you. It shows what the driveway costs you and what to quote, then sets your number next to what the customer has already read.
Driveway Price by Size, Worked Out
The model below is one solo owner's costs applied to five driveway sizes. Every assumption is listed, so you can redo the table with your numbers or let the calculator further down do it.
| Input | What the model uses |
|---|---|
| Surface cleaning | 1,000 sq ft per hour |
| Setup and pack-up | 0.7 hr per job (about 40 minutes) for setup, pre-treat, edging, post-rinse and pack-up |
| Drive and labor | 0.5 hr round-trip drive, labor at $30/hr, one person |
| Chemicals | $1.25 per 100 sq ft |
| Fuel | $12 |
| Equipment wear | $5 per hour on site |
| Overhead | $20 per job |
| Margin and minimum | 30% margin, $150 minimum |
That 1,000 sq ft per hour is anecdotal. Owners on PressureWashingResource report about 1,050-1,200 sq ft/hr with a 3.5 GPM machine and a 15-inch surface cleaner (2022) and about 1,500 with 4 GPM and a 20-inch (2014), and we rounded down to leave room for gum, stains and edges. More in production rates.
Hours on site = 0.7 + sq ft ÷ 1,000. Break-even = $30 × (hours on site + 0.5) + chemicals + $12 + $5 × hours on site + $20. Price = break-even ÷ 0.70, or $150 if that's higher.
| Driveway | Hours on site | Your price at $30/hr | Per sq ft | At $60/hr | HomeAdvisor tells homeowners |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 400 sq ft | 1.1 | $150minimum (math: $129) | $0.38 | $198 | $120-220 |
| 600 sq ft | 1.3 | $150minimum (math: $143) | $0.25 | $220 | $175-320 (576 sq ft) |
| 800 sq ft | 1.5 | $156break-even $109.50 | $0.20 | $242 | $240-440 |
| 1,000 sq ft | 1.7 | $170break-even $119.00 | $0.17 | $264 | $300-550 |
| 1,200 sq ft | 1.9 | $184break-even $128.50 | $0.15 | $286 | not listed |
Our prices are an example built from the assumptions above (the $60/hr column changes only the labor rate). Homeowner ranges: HomeAdvisor driveway cost guide, updated Jun 20, 2026, which also gives an average of $210 and $0.30-0.55/sq ft.
Run It With Your Numbers
Open the calculator on the 800 sq ft example and change the size, your hours and your labor rate. The verdict line tells you when your minimum takes over.
Homeowners Are Told to Expect More Than You Charge
At a $30/hr wage, every driveway from 600 sq ft up comes in under the bottom of HomeAdvisor's range. The 800 sq ft driveway is $156 against a homeowner range that starts at $240, and even at $60 an hour the 1,000 sq ft driveway ($264) sits under HomeAdvisor's $300 floor. Per square foot the guide says $0.30-0.55, while our bigger driveways land at $0.15-0.20.
That comparison has limits. HomeAdvisor is an Angi-owned lead site writing for homeowners, not a survey of your town, and the $99 guys are real. One homeowner posted this on r/pressurewashing:
"one charged me 100 dollars for my entire driveway, and 3 others charged me 175."
r/pressurewashing post "Area is really competitive, need advice", undated snapshot via a public mirror
So the market runs from the $100 guy to the $440 cost guide, and Housecall Pro's 2026 pro guide puts typical driveways at $100-300. The lever that raises your price is the wage you pay yourself, since chemicals are only $10 of the 800 sq ft job. Going from $30 to $60 an hour adds $86. If you keep losing to $100 quotes, don't match them. Send a smaller option at your rate (see price shoppers).
Let the Minimum Do the Work on Small Driveways
Run the 400 and 600 sq ft rows and the math comes in under $150, so the minimum is the price. The reason is fixed cost. In this model the drive, fuel, overhead and 0.7 hr of setup and pack-up come to $71.50 before you clean a single square foot, which is $102 of price at a 30% margin. A $99 driveway loses money before the surface cleaner even starts. Housecall Pro lists $100-250 as typical minimums, and the minimum charge guide shows how to set yours.
Add-Ons to Offer as Options, Not Freebies
Once you're on site, the drive, setup and overhead are already paid. That's why 200 sq ft of walkway and steps added to the 800 sq ft driveway raises your break-even by only $9.50 ($119.00 vs $109.50), and why add-ons are where the margin is. List them as separate lines so the customer chooses:
| Add-on | How to price it |
|---|---|
| Walkway, front steps, patio | Add the sq ft to the same visit: one setup, one drive |
| Oil stain pre-treat | Time + degreaser per stain. HomeGuide's homeowner guide lists greasy concrete cleaned with hot water at $0.25-0.35/sq ft (Apr 2024) |
| Rust or hard-water stains | Separate line, results not guaranteed. One owner's quote wording: "hard water spots, if found, are additional and will be billed as time and materials to remove." (Seandz, PressureWashingResource forum, 2022) |
| Curbs | Per linear ft. HomeGuide lists $0.25-0.60/linear ft (Apr 2024) |
| Sealing | Its own line and its own visit once the slab is dry. Price materials + time in the calculator |
| House wash | Bundle it. See house wash pricing |
"We have a $400.00 minimum." … "Upsells are the norm, so our average ticket is a good bit higher than that."
Jason_Heath, PressureWashingResource forum, Mar 14, 2014
Measure the Driveway Before You Drive to It
A driveway is the easiest job to quote remotely, because it's a flat rectangle you can see from above. Measure it on a satellite map (20 × 40 ft = 800 sq ft) and trace L-shapes as two rectangles. Measure the apron and walkway on their own so they can be options. Then send the quote while the customer is still on the phone.
Driving out first is the costly way to do it, and a 2008 owner put a number on it:
"going out to an estimate and then going to do the job costs $50 in gas alone."
John Doherty, The Grime Scene forum, Jul 20, 2008
If the estimate trip and the job trip burn $50 of gas between them, a $156 driveway hands a third of its price to fuel. Satellite views do have limits. Trees, shade and new construction can hide the edges, so ask for a photo when you can't see the slab, and put the veteran's line on every remote quote:
"we always let them know that we will verify info to make sure the price is accurate when we arrive."
BrianHSauls, PressureWashingResource forum, Mar 18, 2013
Free tools do the job as well, and owners on PressureWashingResource name Google Earth and county records. The step-by-step is in how to quote without driving out.
Questions Owners Ask
How long does an 800 sq ft driveway take?
In our example it takes 1.5 hours on site, about 0.8 hr of surface cleaning plus 0.7 hr for setup, edging, rinse and pack-up. Your own rate depends on GPM and surface cleaner size, plus how dirty the slab is. Even the cost guides disagree, since Fixr's driveway page says about three hours for 600 sq ft in one place and about one hour in another.
Should I charge per square foot or a flat price for driveways?
Work it out per square foot from your costs, then quote one flat number with the square footage shown. Below a certain size, your minimum is the price. In our model that's anything under about 700 sq ft.
What's a fair minimum for a small driveway?
One that covers the drive and setup plus overhead, with your margin on top. In our example those fixed costs are $71.50, or $102 at a 30% margin, so a $150 minimum leaves room for the work itself. Housecall Pro lists $100-250 as typical.
Should oil stain removal be included in the driveway price?
No. Quote it as a separate option with a "results not guaranteed" note. Stains vary, and a separate line lets the customer choose without making your base price look high.
Sources
- HomeAdvisor, "How much does it cost to pressure wash a driveway?", updated Jun 20, 2026: homeowner ranges by size, $210 average, $0.30-0.55/sq ft.
- Housecall Pro, "How to price pressure washing jobs", Mar 9, 2026: driveway $100-300 and minimum $100-250 (software vendor).
- HomeGuide, "Pressure washing prices", written Apr 19, 2024: greasy concrete and curb rates (homeowner cost guide).
- Fixr, "Cost to pressure wash a driveway", Jan 31, 2025: the two conflicting time estimates.
- PressureWashingResource, "How efficient is your surface cleaning set up?", Sep 2022, and "Square feet per hour", 2014: owner-reported production rates (anecdotal).
- Forum threads quoted above: Minimum estimate (PWR, 2014), How do you write your quotes (PWR, 2022), Pricing by the sqft (PWR, 2013), Free estimates for jobs worth less than $500 (The Grime Scene, 2008), r/pressurewashing via mirror snapshot (undated).