PressureWashingBossPro Blog — House Washing & Recurring Plans

Measuring Houses, Roofs and Driveways From the Satellite View

Driving out to measure every house before quoting it is the slowest part of residential washing sales. It is also often unnecessary. Most driveways, roofs and fence lines can be measured from above in a couple of minutes, and the customer gets a quote while they are still on the phone. The faster you quote, the more jobs you win, because the first company to send a real number often gets the yes.

Measure Once, Quote Every Year

Plan reports are covered in Tracking Yearly Plan Members in Reports. Good measurements feed those plans too, because a property measured once prices the same way every year it comes back.

The property map in PressureWashingBossPro can measure square feet and linear feet from the satellite view. Estimates can price off a property's measurements. So a driveway measured this spring is ready to quote next spring, and the yearly plan visit invoices from the same number.

Square Feet: Driveways, Patios and Roofs

Area measurements suit flatwork and roofs. Trace the outline on the satellite view and the map gives you square feet. Typical uses:

• Driveways, including the apron and any parking pad.
• Front walks and sidewalks, which are easy to forget and easy to add.
• Back patios and pool decks, where they are visible from above.
• Roofs, traced around the footprint.

Flatwork pricing is covered in Driveways and Flatwork: Tracking Surface Cleaner Jobs From Quote to Invoice.

Linear Feet: Fences and More

Fences are usually priced by length. Draw a line along the fence on the satellite view and the map gives you linear feet. The same works for long walls, curbing or gutter runs if you price those by the foot. Wood fence jobs are covered in the deck and fence guide.

What the Satellite Cannot See

Satellite measuring is fast, but it has limits worth knowing:

• Roof pitch. A trace shows the roof's footprint, not its true surface. Steep roofs have more area than they look from above. Many owners add an allowance for pitch based on their own experience.
• Siding area. The satellite shows the roof, not the walls. For house washes, most owners price from the home's size and number of stories rather than tracing walls.
• Trees and shadows. Driveways and decks under heavy tree cover may be hard to trace accurately.
• Old images. A new patio or an extended driveway may not show yet.

When something looks off, ask the customer or confirm on site. The satellite gets you most of the way; a quick question covers the rest.

It also helps to have the crew check measurements on the first visit. If the driveway turned out bigger than the trace, or the patio wraps around the side of the house, a note on the job lets the office correct the property's measurements. From then on, every quote and every yearly plan visit for that house starts from the right number, and nobody is surprised twice.

Putting Measurements on the Estimate

Once measured, the numbers go onto the estimate as job details, along with the surface and method: “Driveway · 1,100 sq ft · Concrete · Surface Cleaner.” Build the estimate from your service list, and price off the measurements. For a house and driveway package, the house details (square feet, stories, siding) sit next to the driveway's square feet. The customer approves online, and all of it carries onto the scheduled job.

That carry-over is covered in detail in the next guide, From Approved Estimate to Scheduled House Wash: The Details That Carry Over.

Faster Quotes, Same-Call Quotes

The real payoff of satellite measuring is speed. A homeowner calls, you pull up the address on the property map, trace the driveway and roof while they describe the green on the siding, and you send an estimate before they hang up. Imported addresses are placed on the map automatically, so even customers brought in by CSV import are ready to measure.

Many owners still like to visit for big or complicated jobs, such as a 3-story house on a slope or a roof with multiple levels. That is good judgment. Satellite measuring is for the many straightforward jobs that do not need a visit, so you save your driving for the ones that do.

Consistent Measurements, Consistent Prices

When every estimator measures the same way and prices from the same service list, two neighbors with similar driveways get similar prices. That consistency matters on a street where customers compare notes. To see satellite measuring with estimates, yearly plans and the rest of the residential tools, visit the PressureWashingBossPro house washing software page.