What belongs on the estimate
Use the same skeleton on every quote so the tenth one of the week looks as sharp as the first. The customer should be able to read it once and know exactly what will be cleaned, what will not, and what it costs.
Header with your business details, then the property address, then one priced line per surface. Separate lines beat one lump sum, because they let a customer add the driveway instead of talking you down on the house.
- Business name, phone, email, and license or insurance note.
- Customer name, service address, and date.
- One line per surface: house wash, driveway, walkways, patio, deck, roof.
- Square footage or unit count beside each line.
- Total, payment terms, validity window, and acceptance.
Square-foot pricing versus flat rate
Flatwork — driveways, sidewalks, patios — prices cleanly per square foot because the time scales with the area. House washing is closer to a flat rate by size and story count, because setup, masking, and detail work dominate the clock rather than raw area.
Whichever you use, price backwards from your loaded hourly cost. Time a few jobs honestly, including setup, water sourcing, and pack-down, then check that your per-square-foot number actually returns that hourly figure. Rates copied from a competitor's website are guesses wearing a suit.
- Measure flatwork and price per square foot with a job minimum.
- Price house washes by size, stories, and siding type.
- Add for heavy staining, rust, oil, or organic growth.
- Add for water sourcing, difficult access, or long hose runs.
Write surface notes that prevent disputes
Most pressure washing complaints are expectation problems, not cleaning problems. Old concrete does not return to new. Rust and tire marks often need a separate treatment. Wood may lift if it was already failing. Say so on the estimate, in one calm sentence per risk.
Also name the exclusions: window cleaning, gutter interiors, screen removal, sealing. If an add-on is common, price it as an optional line the customer can accept rather than leaving it out entirely.
Terms that protect the number
Three short lines do the work: how long the price is valid, when payment is due, and how changes are handled. For residential work, payment on completion is normal and a card on file removes the awkward conversation. For commercial accounts, state net terms and a late fee.
Add a weather clause. Rescheduling for rain is routine in this trade, and a sentence saying so is friendlier than a phone call explaining it.
Send same day, convert to invoice on completion
The quote that lands while the customer still remembers the conversation wins most often. Build it on-site from saved service lines instead of typing from scratch, and send it before you drive away.
When the job is done, the accepted estimate should become the invoice without retyping — same lines, same totals, plus the before-and-after photos you took anyway. That is the workflow SimpliPilot is built around, and it is also how you end up with a customer history worth re-marketing to next season.