This is not legal, tax, or insurance advice. Read the official pages linked here. Partner offers are optional and labeled.
Start with flatwork you can finish without forcing water into a wall: driveways, walks, and patios on a surface you understand. Add house washes when you can control the pressure and the runoff. Leave roof cleaning and paint removal off the page until the license reading and the insurance both say you do that work.
The state guides under this page cover all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Each one names the filing office and the licensing board we could verify, and it says so when we could not confirm a direct address. City guides cover the metros ServiceBase writes about for this trade, including Austin, TX, Houston, TX, Dallas–Fort Worth, TX, Las Vegas, NV.
High-demand trades with thin local websites are the ones to read first: chimney sweeps and standby generator installation in cold markets, snow removal, and Christmas light installation from November through January, then landscaping, electrical, cleaning, and roofing, in the cities linked below. The steps are the same shape for every trade. The license and the first job are not.
Some boxes are labeled Partner. ServiceBase has not joined those programs. The links go to each company's own homepage, not a tracking link. If a program later approves us, the address will change and we may earn a commission. You can file, insure, and bank anywhere. Official government links are not partner links. Nothing on this page is a discount code.
$500 in free advertising when you launch
Keep the checklist on your account
The guide stays public. An account saves your state, city, and trade, and lets you mark each filing as you go. The advertising credit is reserved when you register. It can be spent after the free website is live.
Use a plain name that says washing, so a homeowner can tell you from a painter or a roofer. Search the state filing office and the city. The name on the invoice, the trailer, and the voicemail should match. Keep it short enough to say over a driveway.
02Form an LLC or stay a sole proprietor
Many one-truck washing routes start as a sole proprietorship. An LLC is a reasonable filing once you are taking deposits, hiring, or putting the insurance in a company name. The filing does not decide the license and it does not decide where the water may go. Read the contractor board and the city separately. Ask an accountant if you are paying helpers and still thinking of them as a favor. This page is not legal advice.
Each state guide links the filing office. Where we could verify an LLC fee from an official page, that guide prints the fee and the source. Everywhere else, the fee stays on the state's site.
An employer identification number is the business tax ID. The IRS issues it online at no charge and says you never have to pay a company to get one. If you form an LLC, file with the state first. The IRS says an EIN application can stall when the state filing is not done. A sole proprietor can often start with a Social Security number and get an EIN when a bank or a hire requires it.
Apply on the IRS page if you want the number yourself. LegalZoom, the partner beside this step, can request it while they form the company. That service is optional. The IRS fee is still zero either way.
Washing a driveway or the siding is often outside the contractor classifications, and a job that adds paint, roof work, or repairs often is not. Read the state board and write down whether pressure washing, building washing, or a small-job threshold appears. If the list is silent, confirm that silence on the official page, then ask the city about a business license. Do not advertise roof washing or a coating until you have read the classification that would cover it. Wash water is a separate question from the license. EPA's lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting page says pressure washing is not prohibited when that rule applies, and that the firm has to isolate the work area so no dust or debris, including the wastewater, leaves it. The same page says to check the local water treatment authority before you dispose of the water. That rule is for renovations the lead rule covers, not for every driveway. Separately, EPA's 2022 Construction General Permit allows external building washdown and pavement wash water on covered construction sites only when soaps, solvents, and detergents are not used, and it sets other conditions in the permit. A house route that is not a construction site is not that permit. Ask the city stormwater or public-works office whether your wash water may enter a storm drain. Do not treat a blog as the rule.
Read the contractor board for a washing classification and any dollar threshold on that page. Confirm a city business license either way. If the work is a lead renovation, EPA's RRP page requires containment so wastewater stays in the work area, and it tells you to ask the local water authority about disposal. On a construction site covered by EPA's 2022 Construction General Permit, building washdown and pavement wash water have to meet that permit, including no soaps, solvents, or detergents for those discharges. A residential route that is not one of those jobs is still a city storm-drain question. Ask before you send water to the street.
General liability before the wand points at someone else's house. Tell the insurer you pressure-wash, and name the surfaces, so a claim is not denied for work you did not disclose. Water forced behind siding or into an open window is the ordinary loss. Ask whether the policy speaks to that. Commercial auto for the truck and trailer. Workers' compensation before a second person is handling the gun or driving the rig. A property manager will ask for the certificate before the first driveway.
Workers' compensation is a state program. Before anyone works with you, including a friend, ask an insurer and the state labor office whether you must carry it. This guide does not quote a headcount, because those rules differ and the state page is the source. The SBA page describes the common policies. It does not sell them. Buy the policy before you work in a house in the city you will serve.
Fuel, tips, and the replacement hose should come out of a business account, not a personal card you sort out in April. Deposits on a house wash and the small driveway tickets both go in the same account, with the address written down. Set tax money aside the day a larger job pays.
The bank will usually ask for your ID, the EIN or your Social Security number, and the formation papers if you filed an LLC. A checking account and a habit of setting tax money aside are enough at the start.
07Price the real visit
Write three prices before you need them: a driveway or flatwork visit, a house wash, and the surface you will not do. Wood, soft stone, and roofs are where a single 'per square foot' number goes wrong. Include the time to control the water. A quote that assumes the runoff can run to the street is incomplete until the city has said so.
Mildew, dust, and salt stain are different films and different times. A price copied from another climate will be wrong. Adjust the three numbers after ten real jobs, and do not promise the film will never come back.
08Get found, then create the free site
Google Business Profile with photos of driveways and siding you have actually washed in this climate, and a service area made of towns you drive. Reviews should name the neighborhood and the surface. The website splits flatwork from house washes, says which surfaces you refuse, and says you ask the city about wash water. The form asks for the surface and the size. ServiceBase publishes that page and keeps the requests. It does not make the discharge legal.
In your first city, the profile, the reviews, and the site should name the neighborhoods you actually drive. ServiceBase publishes the page and keeps quote requests in a list on your account. No card. It does not file the LLC, get the EIN, or buy the insurance.
Do I need an LLC to start a power washing business?
Many one-truck washing routes start as a sole proprietorship. An LLC is a reasonable filing once you are taking deposits, hiring, or putting the insurance in a company name. The filing does not decide the license and it does not decide where the water may go. Read the contractor board and the city separately. Ask an accountant if you are paying helpers and still thinking of them as a favor. This page is not legal advice. The SBA page linked in the steps explains the structures in general. A lawyer or an accountant can apply them to you. This guide cannot.
Does a power washer need a state license?
Washing a driveway or the siding is often outside the contractor classifications, and a job that adds paint, roof work, or repairs often is not. Read the state board and write down whether pressure washing, building washing, or a small-job threshold appears. If the list is silent, confirm that silence on the official page, then ask the city about a business license. Do not advertise roof washing or a coating until you have read the classification that would cover it. Wash water is a separate question from the license. EPA's lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting page says pressure washing is not prohibited when that rule applies, and that the firm has to isolate the work area so no dust or debris, including the wastewater, leaves it. The same page says to check the local water treatment authority before you dispose of the water. That rule is for renovations the lead rule covers, not for every driveway. Separately, EPA's 2022 Construction General Permit allows external building washdown and pavement wash water on covered construction sites only when soaps, solvents, and detergents are not used, and it sets other conditions in the permit. A house route that is not a construction site is not that permit. Ask the city stormwater or public-works office whether your wash water may enter a storm drain. Do not treat a blog as the rule.
Is an EIN free?
Yes. The IRS issues an employer identification number at no charge and says you never have to pay a fee for one. Use the IRS link in the steps if you want the number yourself. LegalZoom, the partner on that step, can request it while they form the company. That service is optional, and the IRS fee is still zero.
What does the free power washing site include?
A public page for your power washing business and city, and a list of the quote requests that come from that page. No card. It does not form the company, get the EIN, buy insurance, or replace a license. The website guide for this trade is separate: it is about what the page should say once the company is real.
