A large proposed increase is not an effective rule
On August 20, the U.S. Small Business Administration published a proposed rule that would replace nearly 1,000 individual size standards with 338 standards set mostly at broader four- or five-digit NAICS levels. SBA is accepting comments through September 21 under RIN 3245-AI67 and docket SBA-2026-0199.
The proposal's comparison table lists NAICS 561790, Other Services to Buildings and Dwellings, with its current $9 million annual-receipts standard and a proposed $58 million standard. The proposed number comes from grouping 561790 with the rest of NAICS 5617, which also includes pest control, janitorial, landscaping, and carpet and upholstery cleaning services.
SBA estimates that the 561790 row would move from 17,186 to 17,311 firms classified as small, an increase of 125. That estimate covers the whole industry code, not 125 identified pressure-washing companies. The proposal has no effective date, can change before final action, and does not authorize a business to use the $58 million threshold today.
Why pressure washing appears in NAICS 561790
The Census Bureau's 2022 NAICS search places power washing building exteriors and pressure washing of buildings, decks, and fences in 561790. Its corresponding index also includes washing driveways and parking lots. That creates a direct connection between the SBA proposal and many professional exterior-cleaning businesses.
The connection is not universal. NAICS classifies an establishment by its primary activity, and a federal contracting officer assigns the code that best describes the principal purpose of a particular procurement. Fleet washing, construction work, remediation, janitorial work, and a mixed-service company may present different classification questions. A keyword in a capability statement does not settle the code.
For an active bid, read the solicitation rather than substituting the code a company normally uses. If the assigned code appears inconsistent with the principal purpose, the SBA guidance explains that a NAICS-code appeal has its own short deadline and process; the size-standards proposal does not change that process.
The proposal could move both the eligibility line and the competitive field
SBA size standards determine whether a business is small for federal contracting and specified SBA or other federal programs. SBA says a receipts-based contracting calculation generally averages the latest five complete fiscal years and includes the receipts of affiliates. The headline threshold therefore is not the same as one year's sales, and company-level affiliation facts can change the result.
If the $58 million standard is finalized for 5617, a contractor that has outgrown the current 561790 ceiling could regain or retain size eligibility, subject to the program's other rules. At the same time, existing small firms could face a larger pool of eligible competitors for set-aside work. SBA itself identifies increased competition and potentially reduced profits as possible effects of broader eligibility, while also describing more room for firms to grow before leaving small-business programs.
Those are federal-program effects. The proposal does not change a Utah or local business license, tax classification, environmental permit, insurance policy, wage rule, or customer-facing claim that a company is a small local business.
Keep current bids and representations anchored to current rules
Do not update a SAM representation, certify a bid, or assume eligibility from the proposed table. For work in progress, identify the solicitation's assigned NAICS code, use the size standard currently in force, and apply the present receipts and affiliation rules. Preserve the calculation and source documents used for the representation.
A contractor below the current threshold may still want to model the proposal. Review whether larger firms between the current and proposed limits are likely to pursue the same set-asides, whether the business could remain eligible while growing, and whether a broader 5617 standard accurately reflects the market in which exterior-cleaning firms compete. Those are useful planning questions, not permission to recertify early.
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