Figuring out how to price cleaning jobs is the difference between a cleaning business and an exhausting hobby. The work is competitive, the margins live in the details, and the biggest pricing mistakes are invisible until the month ends. Here’s the full method — rates, formulas, and the adjustments that protect you from the jobs that look small and clean big.
Start With Your Real Hourly Cost
Before pricing any job, know what an hour of delivered cleaning actually costs you:
- Labor — wages plus payroll taxes and workers’ comp (add ~15–20% to the wage)
- Supplies and equipment — typically 4–6% of revenue
- Drive time and fuel — unbillable but unavoidable; jobs 40 minutes apart cost you a job a day
- Insurance, bonding, and overhead — the things that make you hireable
For most solo and small operations the delivered cost lands at $25–35/hour, which is why $40/hour pricing that “felt high” is barely floating, and why the market’s $50–80/hour residential rates exist.
The Three Pricing Models
| Model | Best For | Watch Out |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly rate | First-time and unpredictable jobs | Punishes you for being fast; clients watch the clock |
| Flat rate per job | Recurring residential — the standard | Only works if your hours estimate was right |
| Per square foot | Commercial and offices ($0.07–0.15/sq ft typical) | Condition and density matter more than area alone |
The mature pattern: estimate hours internally, quote a flat price externally. Clients buy a clean house, not your time — display the outcome, keep the math.
Pricing a Job Step by Step
- Estimate hours room by room. Kitchen 1–1.5h deep / 30–45m maintenance; bathrooms 45–60m deep / 20–30m maintenance; bedrooms and living areas 20–30m each. Whole-house guesses miss; room sums don’t.
- Apply condition multipliers. First clean: 1.5–2× the maintenance time. Pets: +10–15%. Clutter: +15–25%. Post-renovation dust: 2× and your own price sheet.
- Multiply by your rate, then check the floor. Every job carries travel and setup — a visit minimum ($100–150 residential) keeps small jobs from costing you money.
- Quote the recurring rate alongside. “Deep clean $480; bi-weekly service after that $165/visit.” The first clean prices the catch-up work; the recurring rate prices the relationship — and the relationship is the business.
Specialty Work Prices Differently
- Move-out cleans: deep clean plus oven, fridge, inside cabinets, windows — empty house, deadline pressure, 25–50% above deep-clean rates
- Post-construction: fine dust everywhere, multiple passes, protective gear — 2–3× standard rates and worth every line of the written estimate
- Commercial contracts: per-square-foot bids with frequency schedules — itemize by area and task so scope changes are repriceable
The Mistakes That Sink Cleaning Businesses
- Pricing the twentieth visit on day one. The first clean of a neglected house at maintenance rates is a donation.
- Matching the lowest local price. Uninsured competitors charging $25/hour aren’t your market — clients who check insurance are.
- Never raising rates. Grandfathered clients from three years ago quietly become your worst-paying work. Annual reviews, communicated kindly, are normal business.
- Quoting verbally. A written quote with scope and frequency turns “you missed the baseboards” from a dispute into a checklist conversation — the cleaning quote template exists for exactly this.
Put Your Pricing on Paper
Once the math is right, the document does the selling: itemized, insured, professional. Build estimates from the free estimate template or create your cleaning quotes and estimates in OfferKit — priced right and in the client’s inbox before the walkthrough wears off.
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