Do pressure washing companies need a license in Pennsylvania?

Updated November 10, 2026 · KeystoneProGuide editorial team

Is there a Pennsylvania license for pressure washing?

No state source lists one. The Department of Labor and Industry says the Commonwealth has no licensure or certification requirements for most construction contractors. The exceptions it names are manufactured housing installers, crane operators, asbestos and lead removal contractors, and home improvement contractors, who register with the Attorney General. Washing is not on the list.

That does not mean no rules apply. Four sets of rules can reach a washing job at your house: state registration, a federal rule on lead paint, state pesticide licensing, and the storm sewer rules your municipality enforces.

Does a pressure washing company have to register as a home improvement contractor?

The law does not say in words, and the state's own lookup tool suggests the state expects some to.

The Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act covers jobs at a private residence priced above $500, and it names a long run of verbs, from repair and remodeling through to rehabilitation and sandblasting. It then names things a contractor might build or improve, among them driveways, patios, fences, roofs and siding, and it names painting and waterproofing outright. The words clean, wash and pressure do not appear in the act or in the Attorney General's questions and answers about it.

The Attorney General's contractor search, though, offers "Pressure Washing" as one of its types of work, beside Painting and Staining, Siding, Roofing and Decks, patios porches. The page warns that the type-of-work field is new and that data is limited for most existing contractors.

What follows in practice:

• A company that paints, or that repairs, replaces or installs something on your deck, fence, roof or siding as part of the job, is doing work the definition names.
• A company that does less than $5,000 of home improvements a year is exempt from registering, as are retailers worth more than $50 million.
• If a company says washing does not need registration and you want a firm answer, the Attorney General's registration line is 1-888-520-6680.

How do you check a registration?

• The number should be on the paperwork. A registered firm has to show its number, the letters PA and then digits, on its ads, estimates, proposals and contracts.
• The search takes several keys. You can look a firm up by its number, name, town, ZIP code, county or work type.
• Registration proves little about skill. To register, a firm shows proof of $50,000 in personal injury cover and $50,000 in property damage cover, and it renews every two years. The Attorney General says registration is not an endorsement, recommendation or approval of a contractor's competency or skill.

What does the law say about contracts?

If washing is bundled with work the act names and the total passes $500, the agreement has to be a signed, written contract. It must spell out the work, rough start and end dates and the full price, and it must tell you that you may cancel. In May 2026 the Attorney General reported a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that you can cancel within three business days of signing by any means, including a phone call, as long as the contractor actually receives the notice.

Does a company need lead-safe certification?

For some houses, yes, and this is a federal rule that applies in Pennsylvania. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires anyone paid to perform work that disturbs painted surfaces in a home built before 1978 to be certified, with workers trained in lead-safe practices. It says this includes all firms, even sole proprietorships. Pennsylvania is not one of the states the EPA has authorized to run its own program, so the EPA runs it here.

On washing in particular, the EPA's archived answer says pressure washing is not a prohibited practice under the rule but is subject to the same containment requirements as other work. The firm must isolate the work area so that no dust or debris, including in the waste water, leaves it. The rule generally does not apply to homeowners working on their own house, but it does if you rent out all or part of it.

Does spraying a cleaning chemical need a license?

Possibly. Products that kill algae, and products that kill fungi including mildews and molds, are both kinds of pesticide in the EPA's own list. Pennsylvania's Department of Agriculture says a commercial applicator license is needed to use pesticides on the property of another, and that the applicator must work for a company with a pesticide business license.

The department's page does not say how this applies to products sprayed on siding or roofs. If a company proposes a product sold to kill mold, mildew, algae or moss, ask which license it holds and ask to see the label.

Where can the wash water go?

That is set by storm sewer rules. Penn State Extension explains that storm sewers carry water without treatment, into local streams and rivers, that Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection manages the program, and that each municipality in it must find and stop illicit discharges, meaning anything other than stormwater. Its examples include laundry wash water, paint and automobile oil. The EPA's archived lead answer tells firms to dispose of pressure washing waste water properly and to check with the local water authority. Your township or borough is the place to ask what is allowed on your street.

What is different in Philadelphia?

The city requires a Contractor License for construction and repair businesses, but a business that works only on existing one- or two-family homes, and is not a plumber, electrician, fire suppression or complete demolition contractor, must instead register with the state as a home improvement contractor.

The city also has a rule that touches washing directly. For a property on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, the Historical Commission's review is required for masonry cleaning, painting and pointing. More detail is in the Philadelphia guide.

Elsewhere, counties and towns have not been able to license home improvement contractors separately since July 1, 2009. Labor and Industry adds that some of the state's 2,562 municipalities have requirements of their own, which only the municipality can tell you about.

Where do you complain?

The Attorney General takes consumer complaints through online forms, and unregistered contractors can be reported on 1-888-520-6680; the office says they face civil penalties of $1,000 or more. Before it comes to that, how to choose a pressure washing company covers the checks to make first. Local businesses are on the pressure washing directory page.

Sources

1. Contractor Licensing, Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry
2. Frequently Asked Questions: Home Improvement Contractor Registration, Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
3. Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act (Act 132 of 2008), Pennsylvania General Assembly
4. Home Improvement Contractor Search, Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
5. Home Improvement Contractor Registration, Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
6. PA Supreme Court Upholds Consumer Right-to-Cancel Home Improvement Contracts Within Three Days Regardless of Medium, Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
7. Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Program, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
8. How do RRP requirements apply to pressure washing? What containment and other preparation are required?, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (January 2025 archived copy)
9. Types of Pesticide Ingredients, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
10. Pesticide Applicators, Registered Technicians, and Certification Exams, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
11. What is an MS4?, Penn State Extension
12. Find a licensed contractor and contractor information, City of Philadelphia
13. Get approval for work to a historic property, City of Philadelphia
14. Submit a Complaint, Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General