Chicago, IL
PRESSURE WASHING / WINDOW CLEANING ESTIMATING.

## Estimating Pressure Washing Work in Chicago Takes More Than a Square-Foot Number Chicago's architecture is not uniform. You are bidding limestone-clad greystones in Logan Square, brick two-flats in Pilsen, precast concrete parking decks in the Loop, and oxidized aluminum storefronts in Wicker Park — sometimes in the same week. Each surface has a different PSI ceiling, a different dwell-time for detergent, and a different liability exposure if you over-spray. Your estimate has to reflect that. Estimate.Pro gives pressure washing companies a scoped estimate in 8 minutes from a job-site walkthrough. You walk the building, log surfaces by material type, and the app assembles a line-item bid priced against your saved material cost workspace — including chemical costs, fuel surcharges, and equipment time. ### What Chicago Jobs Actually Cost Labor in the Chicago metro runs $28–$42 per hour for pressure washing technicians depending on whether you are operating in the city proper or in Cook County suburbs. Window cleaning on commercial high-rises shifts that range significantly — union environments on downtown Class A buildings routinely price at $55–$75 per labor hour all-in. Knowing your actual cost floor before you send a number is the difference between winning a job and losing money on it. Chicago winters do real damage. Salt-laden melt runoff stains limestone and concrete every spring, which means March through June is the highest-volume period for exterior cleaning bids. If you are not sending estimates fast in February, you are behind. The 8-minute median bid time in Estimate.Pro means you can turn around a proposal the same day you walk a property — before your competitor even returns a call. ### AR Measurement on Chicago Facades Facade square footage is the most common source of underbidding in pressure washing. Cornices, window surrounds, and recessed brick panels all add surface area that a tape measure misses. On supported devices, Estimate.Pro uses ONNX-assisted live AR measurement to capture building faces and irregular surfaces in the field. Camera and photo measurements are clearly flagged as estimates so your client always understands what they are signing. For ground-level decks, driveways, and parking surfaces, the same AR tooling captures slab boundaries without pacing off the lot. ### Chicago-Specific Scope Items You Cannot Skip **Efflorescence on masonry.** Chicago's freeze-thaw cycle — 35 or more freeze-thaw events per year in a typical winter — pulls mineral salts to the surface of brick and limestone. Effective treatment requires a specific pre-soak chemical stage that adds both material cost and time. Estimate.Pro lets you build that as a line item in your scope template so you never forget to charge for it. **Window cleaning on high-rises.** Buildings above 80 feet in Chicago fall under OSHA 29 CFR 1910.66 powered platform requirements. If you subcontract that work or carry rope descent certification, that cost needs to be in your estimate. You can store it as a conditionally triggered line item in your saved templates. **Parking deck restoration contracts.** The City of Chicago and private building owners run multi-phase deck cleaning contracts. Estimate.Pro handles multi-visit scopes — you structure phase one and phase two pricing in a single sendable document. ### Sending the Bid and Getting Paid Pro and Elite tiers include Stripe Connect invoicing. On Pro, the platform fee is 3%. On Elite at $79 per seat per month, the platform fee drops to 0%. If you are running a crew, the Crew plan at $399 per month flat covers your whole team at zero platform fee. For companies that work with property management firms or building associations, Elite also includes invoice export formats that drop cleanly into standard AP systems — no reformatting on your end. ### Start Without Committing Estimate.Pro has a free forever tier. No credit card required. You can build and send your first bid on a Chicago greystone today without signing anything. If the 8-minute turnaround holds up for your workflow, the paid tiers are there when you need the invoicing and cost reporting. Chicago has over 2.7 million people and a dense stock of aging masonry, commercial glass, and industrial surface — the work is there. The contractors who win it are the ones who send accurate numbers first.