cleaning
Pressure washing and jet washing
£40 to £80 an hour, or £2.50 to £9 a square metre, covers most jet washing work. A 30 square metre patio comes in at £90 to £250 and a 60 square metre drive at £100 to £250. Published UK averages for a single visit sit near £300.
What this covers
What it costs. Area and surface type set the price, with most contractors quoting per square metre and a few by the hour. Full cost breakdown.
What the job covers
- Cleaning paving, patios and paths
- Driveways in block, concrete and tarmac
- Decking, steps and garden walls
- Removing algae, moss and ingrained dirt
- Re-sanding joints where the wash lifts them
What is involved
Square metre rates vary by surface because each takes a different nozzle, pressure and pass rate. Driveways price lowest at £2.50 to £8, patios sit at £3 to £9, paths at £5 to £10 and decking at £4 to £14. Exterior walls and render run £6 to £12, and a roof runs £8 to £15 pressure washed or £10 to £20 soft washed. Two published guides differ by roughly double on driveways, at £2.50 to £5.50 against £4 to £8, so confirm what the rate includes before comparing quotes.
Soft washing has replaced high pressure on several surfaces. Render, painted masonry, old lime mortar and some roof tiles are damaged by a direct lance, so contractors apply a biocide at low pressure and allow 15 to 60 minutes of contact time before rinsing. Render cleaning by that method runs £6 to £12 a square metre, putting a semi-detached house at £600 to £1,680, with scaffold towers at around £65 and full scaffold from £600 where height demands it.
Services on site shape the quote. Petrol machines need no electricity but every contractor needs water, drawn from an outside tap, an inside tap through a hose or a washing machine feed, and a standpipe hired from the water company where none exists. Minimum charges of £50 to £145 apply to standalone visits, though several firms waive them when the cleaning rides alongside other garden work. Machine hire is the alternative at £20 to £200 a day, which suits a small job and rarely suits a stained driveway.
Choosing someone for the job
Which surfaces get high pressure and which get a soft wash with biocide? What is the rate per square metre, and does it include pre-treatment for algae or black spot? Where does the water come from, and is a standpipe needed? What happens to the run off, and how are borders and drains protected? Is there a minimum charge, and does it drop if other garden work is booked on the same visit?
Common questions
Can pressure washing damage a surface?
Render, painted masonry, soft sandstone, older mortar joints and some roof tiles all suffer under a direct lance. Contractors switch to low pressure with a biocide for those, which costs a little more per square metre and removes the risk of stripping the surface.
Does a contractor bring their own water?
Most arrive with petrol powered machines and a hose, taking water from an outside tap. Where no supply exists, a bowser or a standpipe hired from the water company covers it, and that is worth confirming before the booking.