The whole price list
Two firms out of roughly twenty around here publish a price. This is all of mine. You can work out what your job costs before you speak to me, which is the point.
Minimum job £150 Anything smaller than that costs the minimum. Most of a small job is setting up and packing down rather than cleaning, so it goes first rather than buried at the bottom.
Prices
What the usual jobs cost
Priced by the job rather than by the hour, so the number you see is the number you pay. Pick the shape closest to yours.
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Single driveway
One car, room to walk round it. Around 30m².
- Blast
- £200
- Blast and clean
- £250
- Blast, clean and re-sand
- £300
-
Double driveway
Two cars side by side, or one car and a decent turning area. Around 60m².
- Blast
- £400
- Blast and clean
- £500
- Blast, clean and re-sand
- £600
-
Small patio
Table, chairs and a bit of spare. Around 20m².
- Blast
- £150 minimum
- Blast and clean
- £170
-
Large patio or terrace
Full width of the house plus the side return. Around 45m².
- Blast
- £300
- Blast and clean
- £380
What the tiers mean Blast. Water and pressure. Nothing else. Blast and clean. Adds a cleaning product for the stubborn bits. Blast, clean and re-sand. Kiln-dried sand brushed back into every joint.
The three tiers
Blast, clean, re-sand. What the difference actually is.
Most jobs only need the first one. I would rather explain the difference than have you buy the dearest option because it sounded thorough.
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01
Blast
£6.67/m²
A rotary surface cleaner across the open area and a lance along the edges and awkward corners. No chemicals at all, so nothing to keep off your borders and nothing for pets to walk through. On most surfaces this takes off the top fraction of a millimetre and the paving comes up looking close to new.
-
02
Blast and clean
£8.33/m²
The same wash, plus a cleaning solution worked into whatever the water alone would not shift. Black spot lichen and deep organic staining are the usual reasons. It is genuinely not needed on most jobs and I will tell you when yours is one of them rather than adding it by default.
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03
Blast, clean and re-sand
£10/m²
Block paving only, because there is nothing to fill on a slab patio. The sand in the joints is what spreads load between blocks, and washing it out and leaving it out is how a drive starts to rock. Sand is included in this price rather than added at the end.
The rate is there so you can check my arithmetic on a job that is not a standard shape. A 60m² double driveway at the blast rate is £400, which is where that number on the cards above comes from.
What changes a price
The three things that move the number
Quoted before I start, never added at the end.
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Heavily overgrown
+£100Light weeds are part of the job and are not charged for. This is for a drive that has gone back to nature: thick growth through the joints, or saplings. Quoted before I start, never after.
-
Natural stone
+10%Indian sandstone, limestone and York take lower pressure and a wider fan, so the same area takes longer. Slower work, not a different job.
-
Extra kiln-dried sand
At costThe re-sand price includes the sand at normal coverage, which is three or four bags on a double drive. If your joints are unusually deep and take more, the extra bags go on at what I paid for them, with the receipt.
What is included
Every quote covers the clean itself, edge and detail work with a lance rather than just a surface cleaner over the middle, removal of the slurry to a drain or soakaway, and a final rinse with clean water.
On block paving, re-sanding with kiln-dried sand is the third tier rather than part of the wash. It is priced separately because it genuinely is separate work, and because a drive that has been washed and not re-sanded is worse off than it was.
Photographs when I finish, including anything I found that you ought to know about.
What is not
Sealing, at least for now. Done properly it is a second visit on a dry forecast with a product matched to the stone, and I would rather leave it off the list than sell it half-heartedly. If you want your paving sealed, have it cleaned first and then find someone who seals for a living.
Gutters, roofs and render, and decking. I clean driveways and patios. Anything above head height or made of timber is someone else's trade, and you are better off with someone who does it every day.
Weed treatment. Applying herbicide commercially needs PA1 and PA6 certificates that I do not hold yet, so it is not something I can offer. Light weeds come out with the clean and are not charged for; anything heavier is the surcharge above rather than a chemical.
Repairs. Lifting and re-laying sunken paving, replacing damaged blocks, or fixing failed pointing are separate jobs, and where a drive needs a groundworker rather than a jet washer I will tell you that instead of taking the money.
How I work the price out
Area times the rate for the surface. If that comes to less than £150, you pay £150. If the job needs something unusual, that is added as its own line with an explanation.
You get the rate, the area and the total, so you can check the arithmetic. A quote that is a single number with no working behind it is worth asking about, mine included.
Questions
About the pricing
Why do you publish prices when nobody else does?
Because I would want them published if I were buying. It also means I cannot quietly charge the house with the new car on the drive more than the one without, which is a real practice in this trade. Out of roughly twenty firms working this stretch of coast, two put a price anywhere on their website.
Is the price ever more than the rate says?
Occasionally, and I tell you before I start rather than after. Thick moss that needs scraping, a hose run over about 30 metres, or a surface that needs a slower method all add time. Anything like that is in the written quote, not discovered on the day.
Do you charge for travel?
No. The rate and the minimum are the same in every town on my areas list, from Seaford to Battle. Travel is my cost to manage, not a line on your quote. What distance does affect is scheduling, because I group jobs at the far end of the range.
When do I pay?
Afterwards, by bank transfer, against an invoice with my name and number on it. I do not take a deposit on domestic work and I do not ask for cash. There is nothing to pay if you are not happy with what I have done.
Get a price
Send me photos and a rough size
You already know the rate. This just turns it into a number for your job.
Sent
That is with me.
I read every one myself. If you sent photos I can usually come back with a fixed price the same day, or the next morning if it arrives late.