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Pressure washing job checklist

Almost every callback traces to something that was not checked before the water came on. This is the walkthrough that prevents them: three phases, twenty-six points, printable for the clipboard. Nothing on it is clever — that is rather the point.

Job checklist

Tick as you go. Print gives you a clean sheet for the clipboard.

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01Before the truck moves

02On site, before water

03During and after

Photograph-style blank sheet, a coiled hose and two cones on the clean half of a concrete drive, mossy concrete below the diagonal
Three phases
A coiled hose, two cones and a blank sheet on the front path — the walkthrough before the trigger.

PSI & nozzle quick reference

0 degRed
Spot jet. Etches most surfaces.4000 PSI
15 degYellow
Stripping bare concrete.4000 PSI
25 degGreen
General concrete and walkways.3500 PSI
40 degWhite
Siding, wood, vehicles.1500 PSI
~65 degBlack
Detergent draw, low pressure.500 PSI

The four that save the most money

  1. Photograph everything before you start. Two minutes of phone video ends the argument about whether that crack was there.
  2. Walk the area with the customer and name the defects out loud. A defect you pointed out is context; the same defect discovered afterwards is damage.
  3. Wet the planting, then wet it again mid-job. Dilution is the only real defence against chemical burn, and the second wetting is the one people skip.
  4. Test patch somewhere nobody looks. Behind the downspout, at the back corner of the garage. Thirty seconds against a repaint.

Windows, outlets and storm doors

Water finds the one window left ajar. It also finds exterior outlets, doorbell transformers and low-voltage lighting. Walk the elevation and close and cover before the machine starts, not after somebody's hall carpet is wet.

Where the runoff goes is part of the job

On a residential drive it is usually a non-issue. On anything commercial it is the first question you will be asked, and the answer has to be better than a shrug. EPA guidance is that untreated wash water carrying soaps, detergents, sediment or grease should not reach a storm drain, surface water or groundwater; the best-practice route is on-site recovery or the sanitary sewer. Local rules differ and are the ones you will be held to — check with your local water authority, once, and know your own answer.

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