Don't match the low bid. Send three options (house only, house + driveway, house + driveway + gutters) on a detailed quote that shows your method, your insurance, what's included and excluded, and your reviews. Shrink the scope when someone asks for cheaper and leave the price alone. You will lose some, and veterans on trade forums are fine with that, since they'd rather close 50-60% at their prices than 80% at lower ones.
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What a Discount Costs You
A lost quote usually ends with someone else's number.
"I got back and said last time was $460, she went with the $400 guy"
dcbrock, PressureWashingResource forum, Sep 2023
Matching $400 feels like saving the job. As an example at a 30% margin, a $460 house wash leaves you $138 after $322 in costs. Drop to $400 and the work and the costs stay the same, so you keep $78. A 13% discount cuts your profit on that job by 43%, and on a repeat customer the cut comes back every year, because the lower price becomes the price.
PWinfo, in the same thread, had a customer offer $150 for a driveway and walkway when his chemicals alone ran about $100. His conclusion was "What I'm trying not to do is get into driving down pricing to get jobs because then I think it never ends." JAtkinson put it more bluntly in another thread.
"Whatever you do, DO NOT lower your prices! You'll never really be able to raise them later."
JAtkinson, PressureWashingResource forum, Nov 2021
The low end isn't going away. MrSparkleVA's competitor put up signs touting "$150 for 2 stories," which he called "mad dash to poverty." A South Florida newbie wrote "I lost the job because the customer thought 600 was too much to pay" and a reply noted the customer "got everything from $300 up to $1200 for this job." On The Grime Scene, one owner said "This man and his $300 Home Depot special just beat me out on two of my bid proposals".
You can't out-cheap a guy with no insurance and a borrowed machine. You don't need to.
How Many Quotes Should You Lose?
Dallsheep says "The way I see it is if people want to race to the bottom they can have it." He'd rather "have a 50-60 percent close rate at my prices vs a 80ish percent close rate with lower ones." marinegrunt sets the bar higher, "If you shoot for around a 70%-80% close rate you'll be good on prices."
They agree on the important part. If you win nearly every quote, you're too cheap, and if you fall well below your band, fix how you present the quote before you touch the price. In the same thread as Dallsheep's post, KewinLindholm wrote "$99 guys aren't your competition." The competition is the other insured, reviewed company, so show why you're worth it.
Send Options Instead of a Discount
Cutting the price gives away margin. An option adds scope on the same trip, so there's no second drive and no second round of overhead, and it usually makes you more money.
Here is an example quote built on the price calculator's logic and start values ($30/hr labor, 30-minute round trip, $12 fuel, $5/hr equipment wear, $20 overhead, 30% margin). These are example numbers, not market rates.
| Option | What's included | Hours on site | Break-even | Price | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | House wash, one story (about 1,800 sq ft living area) | 3.0 | $182.00 | $260 | $78 |
| Better | House + 800 sq ft driveway | 4.5 | $244.50 | $349 | $105 |
| Best | House + driveway + 180 linear ft gutter brightening | 6.5 | $329.50 | $529 | $200 |
Example only. Good and Better are priced at break-even ÷ (1 − 30%). Best adds the gutters at $1 per linear ft, the low end of the $1-3 brightening range in Housecall Pro's gutter pricing guide (Jan 2026). Housecall Pro's pricing guide (Mar 2026) lists one-story house washes at $250-500 and driveways at $100-300.
Take the Better row. Booked alone, that driveway would be about $156 at the same settings, because it carries its own drive, fuel and overhead. Inside the bundle it adds $89 to the price and $27 to your profit, so the customer gets a good deal on the driveway and your rate never moved. Read the last column too. A customer who picks Good still leaves you $78, and one who picks Best leaves you $200, so every answer is a yes you can live with.
Owners who sell add-ons see the same thing. squidskc says gutters "generally earn $120-150 for 15 minutes of work." BigJake prices the bundle this way, "A house, driveway and back patio usually runs about $850, give or take a $100." Keep it to three choices, because OhioFloMo warned that listing every service could cause "sticker shock". Three clear packages read as choice, and ten line items read as a bill.
QuoteIQ lists Good/Better/Best pricing tiers that let customers choose their service level, but doesn't say which plan includes them, so confirm on the plan you pick. Jobber and Housecall Pro also build itemized quotes. For gutters alone, see gutter brightening pricing.
What to Put on a Detailed Quote
mwpws put the whole case in one line, "It's helpful to be able to justify your price." A Grime Scene owner put it as an order, "Don't just give the cust. a bid, giv'em a DETAILED bid." A $99 flyer can't compete with a page that answers the customer's worries in advance.
| On the quote | What goes there |
|---|---|
| Method by surface | Low-pressure soft wash on siding and roofs; surface cleaner on concrete. Plain words. |
| Plant protection | How you pre-wet, rinse and cover beds. |
| Insurance | "Fully insured, certificate on request." The cheap bid often can't say it. |
| What's included | All sides, soffits, gutter faces, window frames rinsed. |
| What's excluded | For example "My housewash will clean your gutters, however, they will not remove the tiger striping" (Dirtyboy), and "hard water spots, if found, are additional" (Seandz). Exclusions read as honesty and head off disputes. More in damage claims. |
| Photos | Their own house, plus one or two of your before/afters on a similar home. |
| Reviews | Your rating, review count and a link. JAtkinson says "Push for reviews and referrals, it will definitely help you after a couple of years." |
| Two start dates | Give them a decision to make, not a price to think about. |
Our estimate template has all of these fields. Put the options at the top so the shopper meets the choice before the fine print.
What to Say When They Ask "Can You Do It Cheaper?"
Skip the defense of your number and steer the call to scope and to what they'd give up.
I get it, there's a big range out there. I'd rather not cut the price, because then I'd have to cut something I do on every house, like the soft wash on the siding or rinsing your plants.
What I can do is trim the job. If we do just the house this time and the driveway next spring, you're at {Good price}. Want me to put you down for {date}?That could be a fine price. I'd just ask them two things: are they insured, and will they use low pressure and soap on the siding or go at it with a wand? If you're happy with the answers, go with them.
If not, I've got {date} open, and the {Better} option covers the driveway too.Say nothing bad about the other guy and put a date on the table. If they come back after the cheap job goes wrong, your number hasn't moved. Keep following up with dates, not discounts.
When to Walk Away
Some callers aren't worth the drive. The one who won't give an address is shopping rates, and Sherm's rule for that call is "When a caller just wants a phone quote I don't cooperate b/c they are just shopping rates maybe for a competitor." A counteroffer below your costs is another, like PWinfo's $150 offer against about $100 in chemicals, and no option fixes that.
Then there's the customer who wants to haggle after you've agreed a price, and that customer will haggle over the invoice too. Anyone who asks you to skip a step that protects the house or you, such as the plant rinse, the signed terms or the photos, is asking you to carry the risk alone.
Walk away politely and keep them in your list. Some of them call back next season, after someone else's cheap job.
Questions Owners Ask
Should I lower my price to match a cheaper pressure washer?
No. Offer a smaller scope at your rate. Do the house now and the driveway later. A matched price becomes your price, and as JAtkinson put it, "You'll never really be able to raise them later."
What close rate should a pressure washing business aim for?
Veterans disagree. One prefers 50-60% at his prices; another says aim for 70-80%. Both agree that winning nearly every quote means you're too cheap. Track your own rate by job type and adjust slowly.
How do I explain why I cost more than the $99 guys?
Put it on the quote. Show your method by surface, your plant protection, your insurance, what's included and excluded, and your photos and reviews, then offer a smaller option and not a lower rate.
Is it ever OK to give a discount?
For scope or efficiency, never for haggling. Bundled add-ons or a neighbor booked the same day lower your cost, so you can share some of it. A discount for asking twice teaches customers to ask twice.
Do I need software to send good/better/best quotes?
No. A template with three priced packages works. Software saves time and lets the customer approve from their phone. QuoteIQ builds itemized quotes. So do Jobber and Housecall Pro, and our software guide compares all three.
Sources
- PressureWashingResource, "Pricing pressure", Sep 7-9, 2023: dcbrock, PWinfo (paraphrase on chemical cost), Dallsheep, KewinLindholm, mwpws.
- PressureWashingResource, "FB conversion rate 0%", Nov 24, 2021: JAtkinson on prices and reviews.
- PressureWashingResource, "Compared my quote to another local quote" (page 2), Dec 7, 2019: MrSparkleVA.
- PressureWashingResource, "South Florida newbie", Aug 5, 2019: Reapercrue; thepelican on the $300-$1,200 spread.
- The Grime Scene, "Another low baler" (page 2), undated: the Home Depot special; "DETAILED bid".
- PressureWashingResource, "Price guide help", Aug 19, 2021: marinegrunt on close rate.
- PressureWashingResource, "Add-on to pressure washing", Mar 5, 2019: squidskc on gutter add-ons.
- PressureWashingResource, "Pricing residential jobs", Apr 24, 2019: BigJake's bundle price.
- PressureWashingResource, "Built a CRM based around a different system of quoting/selling", Apr 12, 2025: OhioFloMo on sticker shock.
- PressureWashingResource, "How do you write your quotes", Jun 27, 2022: exclusion wording (Dirtyboy, Seandz).
- PressureWashingResource, "Best app to give estimates over the phone", Mar 10, 2020: Sherm on rate shoppers.
- Housecall Pro, "How to price pressure washing jobs", Mar 9, 2026 (software vendor): one-story house and driveway ranges, margin formula.
- Housecall Pro, "Gutter cleaning prices", Jan 30, 2026 (software vendor): brightening $1-3 per linear ft.
- QuoteIQ, "Pricing", read Oct 12, 2026: Essentials plan; Good/Better/Best options (plan not stated).