How much does house washing cost in Sydney?

House washing in Sydney is almost always quoted as a fixed price for the whole job, worked out from the size of the house, the number of storeys, how dirty the walls are and how hard they are to reach. According to What's The Damage's Sydney pressure washing guide (updated November 2026), a full exterior wash of a single-storey house runs $290 to $805, and a double-storey house $520 to $1,275. The Quote Yard's NSW pressure cleaning guide (August 2026) starts higher, at $400 to $700 for a single-storey Sydney house and $700 to $1,200 for two storeys. Airtasker's national pressure washing guide (May 2025) is broader and lower, putting most residential pressure washing jobs at $150 to $500, with an exterior house wash averaging about $350.

TPS Trade Connect does not set prices; the tradies you're matched with quote directly, and quotes vary with access, condition and size. Treat the figures in this guide as a way to sense-check a quote, not as a number to hold a tradie to.

Four things explain most of the gap between a modest wash and an expensive one.

Size and storeys

Wall area is the starting point. A second storey adds more than its share of the cost because it needs a water-fed pole, a ladder with a second person, or an elevated work platform. Harbourside homes in Mosman, Point Piper and Clontarf often have three or four levels on the water side and one at the street, so the quote depends on which face of the house you are looking at.

Access

Steep blocks in Castlecrag, Northbridge and Seaforth, narrow side passages between Paddington terraces, and rear walls that can only be reached through a neighbour's yard all add time. If an elevated work platform has to be hired, that cost usually sits as a separate line on the quote.

Condition

Salt haze on a Bronte or Freshwater house rinses off quickly. Black mould on a south-facing rendered wall, lichen on brick under the gums of Wahroonga and Turramurra, and green algae in permanently shaded courtyards all need a longer pre-treatment and a second pass.

Materials

Render, painted weatherboard, sandstone and older mortar are washed at low pressure using a cleaning solution, which is slower than blasting a concrete path. A house built before 1990 may hide asbestos cement sheeting in eaves, walls or garages, and that is never pressure washed; a careful tradie downs tools and says so if they suspect it.

Strata, water and wash water

Washing the outside of an apartment building or a townhouse row is work on common property, so the owners corporation has to approve it, usually through the strata manager. Most tradies run from your outside tap; some bring a tank where pressure is poor. Detergent, paint flakes and sediment cannot be allowed to run into the street gutter and down a stormwater drain in NSW, so the quote should allow time to capture the wash water or divert it to the garden. Our regulations page covers the detail.

The table lists the ranges we could verify in published guides and price pages. Each is a market estimate from that publisher, not a TPS Trade Connect price, and none of them is a quote for your house.

The sources do not agree, and it helps to know why. The Sydney-specific guides sit well above Airtasker's national figures, which pool cheap regional jobs with city ones. Guides that describe soft washing, where a diluted solution does the work and the rinse is gentle, come in above those that assume a quick high-pressure pass. And an hourly rate only tells part of the story: What's The Damage puts a Sydney pressure washing hour at $46 to $115, but a two-storey wash can take most of a day for two people once setup, pre-treatment and packing down are counted.

A standard house wash quote in Sydney generally covers:

• all external walls, eaves and soffits, from the ground to the roofline;
• a pre-treatment for mould and algae, followed by a low-pressure rinse;
• cobwebs and wasp nests under eaves and around downpipes;
• the outside face of gutters and fascias, so the roofline looks finished;
• a rinse of the exterior glass, without a detailed window clean;
• a hose-down of the paths and entries where the dirty water landed.

Items usually quoted separately, or left out unless you ask:

• roof cleaning and clearing leaf litter out of gutters (see our roof cleaning and gutter cleaning pages);
• driveway, pool surround and paving cleans, which are priced by area;
• a proper window clean inside and out, with frames and tracks;
• removing rust stains, chalky oxidised paint or efflorescence, which need specific chemicals;
• repairs to cracked render, loose mortar or rotten weatherboards that the wash reveals;
• hire of an elevated work platform or scaffold for high or awkward walls.

Three quotes for the same house can differ widely, and the lowest is not always the least work. Put them side by side on these points.

1. Method. Ask whether the walls will be soft washed or pressure washed, and at what pressure. Render, paint and sandstone should be done at low pressure; blasting them lifts paint and drives water behind cladding.
2. Scope in writing. The quote should name the surfaces and the faces of the house it covers, and say whether eaves, gutter faces, glass and paths are in.
3. Chemicals and plants. A professional wash uses a diluted bleach or alkaline solution. Ask how garden beds will be pre-wet and rinsed, and how pets, pool covers and outdoor furniture will be protected.
4. Wash water. Ask where it goes. The answer should be the lawn or garden, or the sewer with permission, never the street gutter.
5. Heights. For anything above a single storey, ask what equipment will be used and who holds it. Ladder work on a sloping driveway is where injuries happen.
6. Insurance. Ask for a current public liability certificate of currency. Every tradie in the TPS Trade Connect network has one on file as part of our vetting checks.
7. Weather and timing. A good quote says what happens if rain or wind pushes the day, and whether payment is on completion.

Plenty, at ground level. A garden hose, a soft broom and a bucket of warm water with a little sugar soap will shift most salt haze and dust from a single-storey wall, and a monthly rinse of the seaward walls and glass in Bondi, Coogee or Avalon Beach slows the build-up between professional washes. Clear cobwebs with a long-handled brush, and keep garden beds cut back from walls so they dry out and grow less mould.

Hired pressure washers are where DIY goes wrong. Even a small electric unit can etch render, strip paint, blow mortar out of old brick joints, flood weep holes and push water behind weatherboards and around window seals. Never use one on asbestos cement, from a ladder, or near power points and external lights. If a wall needs more than a hose and a brush, or anything above the ground floor needs attention, it is a job for someone with the right poles and fall controls.

House washing is not a licensed trade in NSW, and most washes sit well under the threshold where building licensing starts. House washing has no licence class of its own, so be wary of anyone advertising one. The lines that do matter:

• The Home Building Act threshold. The Home Building Act 1989 draws its line at $5,000 including GST. Past that figure, residential building work calls for a Building Commission NSW licence held by the contractor, a written contract and a deposit of 10 per cent at most. A wash on its own rarely gets there, but a package of render repair, repainting and washing can, and the trade doing the building work must hold the licence.
• Asbestos. If fibro is found, washing stops. Under SafeWork NSW rules, taking out more than 10 square metres of bonded sheeting calls for a licensed asbestos removalist, and asbestos cement is never water blasted at any size.
• Electrical and plumbing. Any work on external lights, power points or the outside tap itself, at any value, needs a licensed electrician or plumber.
• Heights. Work above a single storey is covered by NSW work health and safety law, which puts edge protection and platforms ahead of harnesses and ladders. The tradie's method should reflect that.

Tell us about the house through the quote form: suburb, storeys, wall materials, what is bothering you and any access quirks. We match the job with vetted, independent tradies who cover your suburb. Each of them gets in touch and quotes you directly; you compare, then choose who to hire, or nobody. Homeowners pay nothing for the matching, and there is no obligation.

No tradie in the network is sent a job until we have put their photo ID against a live ABN, checked a licence wherever the work demands one, filed their public liability certificate of currency, looked at recent jobs nearby and collected two references, and had them accept two conditions: quotes in writing, and the code of conduct we ask every tradie to keep. Homeowner feedback after each match keeps the network honest. Start on the house washing page, or look at exterior cleaning for the Eastern Suburbs, the North Shore or the Northern Beaches.

• What's The Damage, Pressure washing cost in Sydney (updated November 2026)
• The Quote Yard, Pressure cleaning prices NSW 2026 (published 24 August 2026)
• Airtasker, How much does pressure washing cost in Australia (updated 6 May 2025)
• Oneflare, How much does roof cleaning cost in Australia in 2025
• That Cleaning Crew (Bella Vista, NSW), Your guide to pressure cleaning costs
• MaidForYou, How much does pressure washing cost (updated 14 May 2026)
• SafeWork NSW, Asbestos
• SafeWork NSW, Working at heights
• NSW Government, Contracts for residential building work