🎯 The business: driveways, siding, decks, fences and patios, washed clean in an afternoon. The before-and-after photo does the selling. Half of the skill is knowing when to turn the pressure down.
Homeowners about to sell or host, HOAs with shared sidewalks, and property managers with dumpster pads and parking decks. A driveway runs $150 to $300, a house wash $250 to $600, a deck $200 to $500 before sealing. Commercial accounts, such as a restaurant’s patio and walkways every month, are what make it a year-round business.
| LLC, license, liability insurance | $700 |
| Gas pressure washer, 4 gpm class, with surface cleaner | $1,500 to $2,500 |
| Hoses, wands, nozzles, soft-wash chemicals | $500 |
| Water tank or hookup gear, trailer if needed | $0 to $1,500 |
| All-in | ≈ $3,000 to $5,000 |
Wash your own driveway and three neighbors’ for the photos. Learn soft washing for siding; high pressure on vinyl and wood is how beginners wreck a house. Post the photo pairs on Nextdoor and the neighborhood Facebook group, and door-hang the street while the machine is still running. Quote a bundle: driveway plus walkway plus front steps.
A $250 driveway takes about ninety minutes with a surface cleaner, and your fuel and chemicals are maybe $20. Three jobs a day, five days a week in season is about $3,500 a week. The business gets good when you add sealing and commercial monthlies, and when you stop driving across town for one job.
No trade license in most states, but many cities regulate wastewater: what runs off a commercial lot cannot go into a storm drain untreated, and some require reclaim equipment. Ask the city before you bid commercial work. Chemicals near plants and ponds carry their own rules.
Etched concrete, stripped paint, water behind siding and a burned lawn from bleach runoff. Every one of those is a claim, which is why the insurance and the slow learning curve on soft washing matter. The machine breaks on the busiest Saturday; keep a repair fund and know a small-engine shop.