Minimum = cost of (drive + setup + smallest job) ÷ (1 − margin)
Published guides put minimums at $100-250 (Housecall Pro), $150-400 (HomeGuide, for pros) and $100-350 (Fixr), and soft wash and roof minimums run higher. As an example, a solo owner 30 minutes out, whose smallest job takes 30 minutes, breaks even at $110 and needs a minimum of about $160 at a 30% margin.
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A $99 patio 30 minutes away costs you the same round trip and setup as a $400 house wash. The minimum is how you get paid for that part. Set it too low and every small job loses money. Set it from your own numbers and it becomes a way to sell bigger jobs.
Published Minimums
| Source | Minimum |
|---|---|
| Housecall Pro pricing guide (Mar 2026) | $100-250 |
| HomeGuide, guide for pros (Dec 2025) | $150-400 |
| Fixr house washing guide (Jan 2025) | $100-350 |
| QuoteIQ calculator (2026) | $100-150 ("most pros") |
| Softwash Technologies (undated, "2026") | $300-400 soft wash; about $550-600 roof |
| Hulo, commercial (Apr 2026, unsourced) | $350-500 per visit |
Housecall Pro, QuoteIQ and Hulo sell software; Softwash Technologies sells equipment and chemicals; HomeGuide and Fixr are cost-guide sites. All are reference points, not rules.
Working owners are all over the map as well. A 2014 PressureWashingResource thread started with this question, and the minimums posted in it ran from $125 to $495:
"Am I charging too little? My Min is $125.00."
HeroesPowerWashing, PressureWashingResource forum, Mar 2014
Work Out Your Own Minimum
Add up what one visit costs before you clean anything that earns more than the minimum. That means the round-trip drive, setup and teardown, and the time for the smallest job you'd take. Then divide by (1 − your margin). The table runs that sum for a solo owner at two distances and for a crew of two.
| Solo, 30 min away | Solo, 60 min away | Crew of 2, 30 min away | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paid hours (drive + 0.5 setup + 0.5 job) | 2.0 | 3.0 | 2.0 × 2 people |
| Labor at $30/hr | $60 | $90 | $120 |
| Truck fuel | $15 | $30 | $15 |
| Chemicals | $10 | $10 | $10 |
| Equipment wear (1 hr × $5) | $5 | $5 | $5 |
| Overhead share | $20 | $20 | $20 |
| Break-even | $110 | $155 | $170 |
| Minimum at 30% margin | $157 → $160 | $221 → $225 | $243 → $245 |
Example inputs; replace them with yours. Drive time is round trip: 1 hr for 30 minutes each way, 2 hr for 60.
Labor goes in at what you'd pay someone to do the work, even when you're the one on the truck. The half hour each for setup and the smallest job is a guess, so time your own on the next few visits and swap it in (how to time a job).
The same solo owner needs about $65 more once the job is 60 minutes out, so one number can't be right for every call. A home-zone minimum plus a higher one beyond it is fairer than a single figure that's wrong for half your calls, and in this example that means $160 inside 30 minutes and $225 inside an hour. Adding a helper raises the floor too. The crew column needs $245, so don't take $160 jobs with two people on the truck. The same margin math is explained in markup vs margin.
Check the result against the published ranges. Both $160 and $225 sit inside Housecall Pro's $100-250 and inside the HomeGuide and Fixr ranges, while QuoteIQ's calculator puts "most pros" at $100-150, which makes $160 a little higher. If your numbers land above the vendor ranges, trust your numbers, because the ranges don't know your drive.
Use the Minimum to Grow the Ticket
Long-time owners use the minimum to grow a small job rather than to bill high for it. One of them wrote this in that 2014 thread:
"I only use minimums to discourage and try to expand small jobs, not to bill high for small jobs."
John_Doherty, PressureWashingResource forum, Mar 2014
"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 2014
The owner with the $125 minimum described quoting $125 for a patio and driveway and selling a $250 job instead. When the job comes in under the minimum, fill the gap with work from the same property and skip the argument about price. Give the customer options, not a discount.
What to Say on the Phone
Our minimum for a visit is $___. That covers getting the truck and equipment out to you. The patio on its own comes in under that, so it's worth adding something while we're there. For $___ more I can do the front walk and the steps on the same trip. Want me to send you both options so you can pick?
Say the minimum before you drive anywhere. Better still, quote small jobs from a satellite view and a couple of photos (how), so the tire kickers cost you a phone call, not an hour. If they pass, let them. A job that doesn't cover the trip isn't a job.
Put your drive time and the hours for your smallest job into the calculator below to see where your minimum takes over.
Once it's set, put the minimum and your zone prices in your price book and on your price sheet, so the number you say on the phone is the same every time.
Questions Owners Ask
What is a good minimum charge for pressure washing?
Published guides range from $100-250 (Housecall Pro) to $150-400 (HomeGuide, for pros). Yours should cover the round-trip drive, setup and your smallest job at your margin. In our solo example that's about $160 within 30 minutes and $225 within an hour.
Should soft wash and roof jobs have a higher minimum?
Usually. There's more setup and more chemical. Softwash Technologies, an equipment seller, puts soft wash minimums at $300-400 and roof minimums at about $550-600.
Should I charge the minimum for a single sidewalk?
Charge the minimum or offer to add work until the visit is worth it. Don't drop below it. The drive and setup cost the same whether you clean 50 sq ft or 500.
Should my minimum be on my website?
Yes, or at least on the phone before you book. Stating it early filters out jobs that don't cover the trip before they cost you time.
Sources
- Housecall Pro, "Pressure Washing Pricing Guide: 2026 Rates", Mar 9, 2026: $100-250 minimum. Software vendor.
- HomeGuide, how much to charge for pressure washing (for pros), Dec 17, 2025: $150-400 minimum.
- Fixr, house pressure washing cost, Jan 31, 2025: $100-350 minimums.
- QuoteIQ, "Free Pressure Washing Cost Calculator", 2026: "most pros" $100-150. Software vendor.
- Softwash Technologies, how much to charge to soft wash a roof, undated ("2026"): soft wash and roof minimums. Equipment seller.
- Hulo, how to bid commercial pressure washing jobs, Apr 3, 2026: commercial per-visit minimum (unsourced). Software vendor.
- PressureWashingResource, "Minimum estimate", Mar 14, 2014: HeroesPowerWashing, John_Doherty and Jason_Heath quotes; thread minimums $125-495.