Pressure washing is quoted per square foot, but the rate moves by a wide margin depending on soiling, water handling, permits, and access. This page explains every variable that appears in a Metro Vancouver commercial wash quote — including ours.
A defensible wash quote documents each of these. A flat per-foot number with no mention of water handling is an incomplete bid.
Two plazas of the same size can differ by more than double in price. The usual reasons are water and access, not labour. A courtyard with a hose bib, a sanitary connection, and daytime access is a straightforward hot-water pass. The same area over a parkade with no drain that may legally take wash water needs berming, vacuum recovery, and haul-away — a full second workflow running alongside the cleaning.
The second driver is surface type. Pressure suited to broom-finished concrete will strip joint sand from pavers, etch stamped and coloured concrete, and lift sealant. We drop pressure and change nozzles for those surfaces, which slows coverage and raises the rate per foot, but replacing a stripped paver field costs many multiples of the cleaning. Where the surface is cladding rather than flatwork, the correct scope is building envelope soft washing, not pressure washing.
Finally, deferral compounds here the same way it does with glass. Organic black staining and embedded gum that has been left for several seasons requires pre-treatment and a second pass; the same surface on a twice-yearly program is a single pass. Buildings that bundle washing with their window cleaning program consistently pay less per visit than those calling for reactive one-offs.
Two paths depending on where you are in the process.
Answer four short steps about your property and services and get an instant per-visit and annual range, with a branded PDF for budget approval.
Read more →Equipment, environmental controls, permitting, and the surfaces we treat across Metro Vancouver commercial properties.
Read more →Hot-water washing with oil-tolerant detergents, drain protection, and staged tenant notice for occupied parkades.
Read more →Most exterior flatwork is priced per square foot of surface, adjusted for soiling level and equipment required. Hot-water washing with a surface cleaner on lightly soiled concrete sits at the low end; heavily contaminated loading docks, gum-covered plazas, and parkade decks with oil staining sit well above it because they need degreaser dwell time and a second pass. Small sites carry a per-visit minimum that covers mobilisation, water, and containment setup.
Metro Vancouver municipalities restrict what may enter a storm drain. On sites without an oil/water separator, we berm the area, vacuum-recover the wash water, and haul it for disposal. Recovery equipment and disposal are real line items, and they are the main reason a parkade or fuel-island wash costs more per square foot than an open sidewalk.
A discharge permit is commonly required, and right-of-way work on public sidewalk may need its own permit or a traffic plan. We handle the applications as part of scoping, and any municipal fee is shown as a separate pass-through line rather than buried in the rate.
Per square foot it is often similar, but the two are not interchangeable. Painted stucco, EIFS, and most cladding must be soft washed at low pressure with a detergent dwell; pressure washing those surfaces risks driving water into the assembly, which is a far more expensive problem than the cleaning.
Downtown plazas and high-traffic entries usually need two to four washes a year to stay presentable. Loading docks and refuse areas are typically quarterly. Parkades are commonly annual, scheduled with tenant notice, and building perimeters are often bundled with the exterior window cleaning visit to share one mobilisation.
Yes, and it is the single easiest way to reduce cost. One mobilisation, one notice cycle, and one set of site logistics covering both scopes is materially cheaper than two separate visits, and it keeps runoff from a later wash off freshly cleaned glass.
The pages most closely connected to this one, plus the areas we service nearby.
Plazas, parkades, walkways, and cladding cleaned at the correct pressure for the substrate, with water containment.
Read more →The seven factors that set commercial glazing pricing here, and how to compare bids fairly.
Read more →Commercial gutter, scupper, and drain clearing scheduled around Metro Vancouver's rain cycle.
Read more →High-rise and commercial window cleaning, pressure washing, and gutter clearing across the City of Vancouver — curtain-wall towers, heritage masonry, retail podiums, and strata highrises.
Read more →Commercial and strata window cleaning, pressure washing, and gutter clearing across the City and District of North Vancouver — Lower Lonsdale, Shipyards, Lynn Valley, and business parks.
Read more →Commercial and strata window cleaning, soft washing, and gutter clearing in West Vancouver — Ambleside, Dundarave, Park Royal, and British Properties commercial buildings.
Read more →Use the estimator for an instant range with a downloadable PDF, or book a walkthrough for a fixed scoped price.