What driveway pressure cleaning costs in Sydney (2026)
Driveway pressure cleaning in Sydney starts at $180 with Schmick, and most driveways land between $180 and $420, priced by area. Surface type and oil pre-treatment move the number — a long exposed-aggregate run with engine stains costs more than a short concrete pad. Sealing is a set add-on that stretches the time between cleans. The instant quote turns your details into a firm, bookable price in about 60 seconds.
The number, before anyone visits
Schmick prices driveway and path pressure cleaning from $180, and most Sydney driveways come in between $180 and $420. The variable is area. A single-car strip off a Mosman garage is a quicker job than a thirty-metre run down to the water in Vaucluse, and the price tracks that — square metres, not vibes. There is no call-out fee tucked under the number and no revision once we arrive. The price you book is the price you pay, unless the driveway is materially different from what you told us.
That range buys the full job, not a rinse. Stains get pre-treated where they need it, the surface gets machine-cleaned evenly rather than striped with a wand, edges get detailed, and the slurry gets rinsed away instead of drying on your lawn. If your driveway is bigger than most, the price climbs past $420 — but it climbs on area, the same measure applied to everyone. Nothing about the number depends on how the operator feels on the day.
The surface under the grime sets the pace
Plain concrete is the baseline. It is hard, flat and forgiving, and it cleans fastest per metre. Exposed aggregate is slower — all that texture that looks handsome from the street also holds grime in a thousand small pockets, and getting it uniformly clean takes more passes. Pavers add joints, and joints hold sand, weeds and moss that need their own attention before the surface work even starts. Same area, different hours, different price.
Some surfaces should not meet high pressure at all. Old sandstone flagging, soft brick, anything already flaking — blasting those does not clean them, it erodes them. Part of what you are paying for is a company that knows the difference and adjusts the method to the material rather than pointing the same lance at everything. A clean driveway with the surface intact beats a slightly cleaner one that is now pitted.
Oil is the line item that moves
Water and pressure alone do not shift engine oil. It needs a degreaser dwelling on the stain before the machine touches it, and that pre-treatment is the main thing — beyond area — that moves a driveway from the bottom of the range toward the top. One fresh drip is a minor detour. A parking spot that has collected drips for a decade is a job within the job, and the price says so upfront rather than on the invoice.
Here is the honest part. Fresh oil lifts well. Oil that soaked into bare concrete years ago has dyed the slab, and no amount of pressure reverses that. Pre-treatment will fade it, often dramatically, but a faint shadow can remain. We will tell you that before you book, not after — a driveway that is 95 per cent better is still worth doing, but you should know which 95 per cent you are buying.
Sealing is the add-on that slows the clock
Sealing is a set add-on on top of the clean — one price, agreed when you book, applied while the surface is freshly stripped and ready to take it. That order matters. Sealer locked over grime just preserves the grime, so the clean is not optional preparation, it is the point. Done properly, the sealer sits in the surface rather than on top of the dirt.
What sealing buys you is time. A sealed surface sheds oil, tannin and grime instead of drinking them in, so stains wipe off instead of setting, and the driveway stays presentable for longer between visits. It stretches the interval — the next clean costs the same, it just arrives later. If your driveway sits under trees or hosts a car that marks its territory, it is the add-on that pays for itself quietest.
Get your exact number in about a minute
Everything above narrows the range. Your driveway has one number in it, and you do not need to host a stranger with a clipboard to find out what it is. Schmick's instant quote asks about your driveway — size, surface, what has been dripping on it — and returns a firm, bookable price in about 60 seconds. It holds unless the place is materially different from what you described.
One more lever worth knowing: bundling. If the driveway is getting done, adding windows, gutters or a house wash to the same visit saves 5 to 15 per cent across the lot, because one trip costs us less than three. Price the driveway on its own first if you like. Just know the number gets friendlier with company.