pressure-washing

How Much Does Pressure Washing Cost in Georgia? 2026 Rates for Pollen, Red Clay, and Mildew

How much does pressure washing cost in Georgia? 2026 prices for house washing, red clay driveway stains, roof soft washing, decks, and hiring a contractor.

How Much Does Pressure Washing Cost in Georgia? 2026 Rates for Pollen, Red Clay, and Mildew

Every March, Georgia turns yellow. Pine pollen coats siding, screens, decks, and cars from Rome down to Valdosta, and by the time it clears in May most homes need a wash. That single seasonal fact drives more exterior cleaning volume in this state than anything else.

Budget $250 to $600 for a standard house wash in 2026, $150 to $350 for a driveway, and $700 to $1,300 for a whole-property package on a typical suburban home in Cobb, Gwinnett, or Chatham County. Savannah and the coastal counties run 10 to 20 percent higher because of salt exposure and the amount of hand work historic surfaces demand.

The bigger question for most Georgia homeowners is not the price of one wash. It is how often the house needs one, and that answer depends on tree cover, orientation, and which side of the fall line you live on.

Why Georgia Exteriors Get Dirty So Fast

Humidity is the engine. Summer dew points across the state sit in the low to mid 70s for months, and that keeps shaded siding damp around the clock. Algae, mildew, and lichen colonize north-facing walls and stay there until something kills them.

Pine pollen is the visible layer, but it is mostly a nuisance that rinses off. The problem is what it does when it mixes with dew and settles into the texture of stucco, brick mortar, and composite decking. Left through summer, that organic film becomes food for the growth that stains the surface.

Red clay is the third factor and the one out-of-state transplants underestimate. Georgia's Piedmont soil stains concrete a rust orange that a garden hose will not touch, and it splashes onto the bottom two feet of siding every time it rains hard. Removing it takes an oxalic or specialized rust remover, not just pressure.

Coastal properties get salt on top of all of it. In Savannah, Brunswick, and St. Simons, salt aerosol holds moisture against every exterior surface and shortens the interval between cleanings to about a year.

What Georgia Companies Charge, Job by Job

Contractors here quote either per square foot or by the structure, and the cheapest bid is often the one with the narrowest scope. Get the surfaces itemized before you compare anything.

A one-story ranch of 1,200 to 1,500 square feet usually costs $200 to $350 to soft wash. A two-story home of 2,500 to 3,200 square feet runs $400 to $650. Homes with three-story rear elevations, common on the sloped lots around Lake Lanier and in north Fulton, add $100 to $200 for the reach.

Concrete pricing is straightforward until stains enter the picture. Plain driveway cleaning runs $0.15 to $0.30 per square foot, so a 600 square foot pad lands at $90 to $180 as an add-on or $150 to $300 as a standalone visit. Red clay staining, oil, or battery acid marks add $75 to $250 in treatment.

Wood decks run $1.50 to $3.00 per square foot cleaned, and pressure-treated pine, which is most of what Georgia builders used through the 1990s and 2000s, needs low pressure and a brightener rather than a wide-open tip. Composite decking is cheaper to clean at $1.00 to $2.00 per square foot because it only needs a cleaner and a rinse.

Roof Soft Washing

Those black streaks running down Georgia roofs are algae, and they show up on almost every asphalt shingle roof in the state within eight to ten years. Soft washing a typical 2,000 square foot roof costs $450 to $950.

Never let anyone put high pressure on shingles. It removes the granules that carry the UV protection and the fire rating, and every major manufacturer's warranty language excludes damage from pressure cleaning. Low pressure and the right solution do the work chemically.

Fences, Retaining Walls, and Pool Decks

Wood privacy fencing runs $0.75 to $2.00 per linear foot per side. Homeowners often forget the neighbor-facing side exists, and cleaning one side of a shared fence looks odd from the street.

Concrete pool decks and cool-deck coatings need a lighter touch than a driveway. Expect $0.20 to $0.40 per square foot, and confirm the contractor knows how to keep runoff and cleaning solution out of the pool.

Soft Washing Versus High Pressure

Soft washing means low pressure, roughly 100 to 500 PSI, combined with a diluted sodium hypochlorite solution and a surfactant that lets it cling to vertical surfaces. It is the correct method for siding, stucco, painted brick, and roofs.

High pressure belongs on bare concrete, unpainted brick, and stone. Georgia has a lot of hardboard and fiber cement siding, and both are damaged by pressure at the seams. Older homes in Macon, Athens, and Savannah often have painted wood clapboard where high pressure will drive water into the substrate and lift paint in sheets.

Plant protection matters more here than in most states because Georgia landscaping runs dense right up against the foundation. Azaleas, hydrangeas, and boxwoods take chemical burn quickly. A competent crew pre-soaks the beds, tarps what it can, and rinses everything afterward.

Ask about water source before the crew arrives. Most companies pull from an exterior spigot, and if your home is on a well, mention it so they can bring a buffer tank instead of drawing your pump down.

Hiring a Contractor in Georgia

Georgia does not license pressure washing as a trade, which means the entry barrier is a truck and a machine. That puts the burden of vetting on you, and the two documents that matter are general liability insurance and workers' compensation.

Ask for a certificate of insurance sent directly from the agency, not a copy from the contractor's phone. A minimum of $1,000,000 in general liability is standard for anyone getting on a roof. If they are washing a two-story house from ladders without workers' comp, an injury on your property can become your claim.

Read the reviews for mentions of streaking, killed shrubs, and window spotting rather than for the star rating. Those three complaints tell you more about technique than anything a company writes about itself.

Pulling three quotes on identical scope is the fastest way to spot an outlier. Our listings of pressure washing companies serving Georgia towns are sorted by city, and our other Georgia home service cost guides break down roofing, gutters, and HVAC the same way.

Timing Your Wash Around the Georgia Calendar

Late May through June is the sweet spot for a single annual wash. Pollen has finished falling, the surface will stay clean through summer, and crews are past their spring backlog.

Booking in March feels satisfying because the yellow is at its worst, but it is usually wasted money. More pollen is coming, and you will be looking at the same film two weeks later.

Fall is the second good window, especially for concrete and decks before winter. Georgia winters are mild enough that soft washing runs most of the year in the southern half of the state, though contractors north of Atlanta stop when overnight temperatures drop into the 20s.

One caveat on drought years. Georgia's Environmental Protection Division has issued outdoor water use restrictions during past droughts, and commercial pressure washing has generally been treated as an exempt commercial activity rather than landscape watering. Ask your contractor whether any current local restrictions apply before you schedule.

Questions Georgia Homeowners Ask

How often does a Georgia house need pressure washing?

Once a year for coastal homes and for anything under heavy tree cover, and every 18 to 24 months for most inland properties. If green growth is visible on the shaded side, you are already past due.

Can I remove red clay stains from concrete myself?

A consumer machine will lighten them, but the iron oxide bonds into the pores and needs an oxalic acid based remover to come out fully. Most Georgia contractors charge $75 to $200 to treat a stained driveway as an add-on.

Is bleach going to kill my landscaping?

At the dilution used for soft washing it will damage plants that are not protected. That is why pre-wetting the beds and rinsing afterward is part of a correct job, and why you should ask about it during the estimate.

Does washing the roof extend its life?

It removes algae that holds moisture against the shingle surface, which slows deterioration on Georgia roofs. It does not add years to a roof already past 20, and any company promising that is overselling.

What is the difference between a $250 quote and a $550 quote for the same house?

Usually scope and chemistry. The cheaper bid often skips soffits, gutter faces, and the rear elevation, or uses a pressure-only rinse that looks fine for six weeks before the growth returns.