What Should I Charge For House Cleaning

How Much to Charge for House Cleaning: Pricing Guide with Rates and Examples

Woman cleaning a home's window

You've worked hard to start your ain cleaning business from scratch. You registered your business, decided which types of cleaning services to offer, and bought your own cleaning supplies and equipment.

Now you're hunting for new work, and potential clients are request about your house cleaning prices list. But then it hits you—you aren't quite certain how much to charge to clean a house.

For a standard cleaning task, you could charge $twoscore per hour, $25 per room, 10¢ per foursquare foot, or $100–170 equally a apartment fee. Only which option is best for your business and your clients?

That all depends on a range of factors, which nosotros'll dive into now. We'll as well explore the different kinds of pricing methods and prove examples of how to price cleaning services. Permit's go started!

How to quote for cleaning services: consider your pricing factors

Earlier you kickoff thinking about exact numbers, it's important to think near the nigh common factors that will influence your business firm cleaning costs:

Labor: How many workers do you have and what are they paid? Factor in your hourly rate for your team's labor, even if you're currently a team of i. Multiply your hourly rate past the number of workers for that job, and so add 18% payroll on top. That's your bare minimum amount, without even factoring in overhead costs and other factors.
Overhead and profit margin: What does your cleaning company need to survive and profit? This covers taxes, fuel, cleaning insurance, supplies, advertising, and all other business organization expenses. Once you know your hourly rate, add at to the lowest degree 50% to embrace overhead and turn a profit margins (which should be twenty–35% on its ain).
Home size: What size of homes will you be cleaning? This is usually determined by square footage or the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. The larger the dwelling, the more you should charge for your house cleaning service.
Domicile condition: How muddied is the domicile right now? Get photos or exercise a walkthrough to detect out. The worse the habitation's condition, the more than cleaning it'll need—and the more you lot'll desire to charge for your time and effort. You lot may want a higher rate if the customer has pets, as well, since this could mean yous have to come more than ofttimes or make clean more than carefully.
Home location: Where is the home? If yous have to travel a fair altitude, you lot'll need to charge more to cover travel time and fuel. You can likewise schedule clients in the aforementioned area on the same solar day, or use road optimization to cut downwards on drive time.
Local demand: What's the going rate in your region? Your rate should be unique to your business, but some areas exercise have a college or lower going charge per unit based on how much demand there is for cleaning services. Utilise the local charge per unit to make certain you aren't over or undercharging.
Platonic customer: What type of client do you lot want to work with? If you're working in a lower-income surface area, premium pricing won't get you far. On the other mitt, lower rates in a high-income expanse could mean you're leaving coin on the table. Brand sure to accuse right around the rate that your customer is willing to pay.
Type of cleaning: What services will the client demand? Basic tasks like vacuuming and dusting (especially if you're doing them every week) won't have as long every bit a more thorough one-fourth dimension deep cleaning. You'll desire to charge more for services that take more time, endeavor, or supplies—or specialty services that your competitors don't offer.
Cleaning frequency: How often volition you be cleaning? A one-fourth dimension deep clean needs plenty of time and elbow grease, particularly if it hasn't been done in a while. If you're cleaning regularly, though, y'all won't have every bit much work to exercise because you're in maintenance manner. The more time and attempt y'all invest, the more y'all should charge.
Experience level: How long accept you been professionally cleaning? If you've been in the industry for a long time, you lot can accuse a premium for your reputation and know-how. If you're less experienced, you may have to look to charge that higher rate until you lot have the experience to dorsum it upwardly.

PRO TIP: If at that place's a cleaning contract involved, try to do an initial cleaning before signing on the dotted line. This will show you how much work to expect each fourth dimension. Otherwise you could be locked in at a lower rate or longer cleaning fourth dimension than you planned for!

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How to charge for cleaning a house: cull a pricing method

There are v mutual methods to help you determine how much to charge for cleaning a house. All of them can be effective—information technology's merely a matter of finding the pricing strategy that works best for y'all.

⏰ i. Hourly rate for business firm cleaning

Charging a house cleaning hourly rate is a not bad idea when y'all're first starting out. You might not know how long information technology'll take to clean, so charging hourly gives you the time you lot need.

Here'southward how to price cleaning a house based on hourly rate. There are two dissimilar numbers in play—the amount each worker takes home, and the amount you lot actually accuse per hour:

How much should I charge for house cleaning at an hourly rate?

The average hourly pay for a maid, cleaner, or housekeeper in the U.s.a. is $12.61. This number tin can be a few dollars higher or lower depending on skill level, average pay in their state, and whether they work in homes or hotels, since homes pay slightly better. Average pay per country tin provide a starting point for pay, but make sure you and your employees are getting a fair wage based on work and experience.
Your firm cleaning hourly rate factors in labor, overhead, and profit margins. An advisable hourly rate is around $25–50 for less experienced cleaners or standard services, just a one-fourth dimension deep cleaning cost per hour could be up to $100.

Lower rates usually apply to repeat clients who accept you clean every calendar week or and so. If the home needs more piece of work or more than cleaners, y'all can charge a higher hourly rate for house cleaning.

You may also choose to offer a discount for repeat clients, service packages, or other upsells.

Should you accuse an hourly rate for house cleaning?

There are some situations where charging an hourly charge per unit for house cleaning might not benefit you lot:

If you're an established business, yous aren't rewarded for getting faster and better at your job unless you charge a higher hourly rate.
Some clients might not desire an hourly rate for house cleaning—they may call up you'll take longer on purpose so you can make more money.

Simply if you charge the right house cleaning rates and take fourth dimension to build trust with your customer, you tin can nevertheless make this pricing method work for yous.

PRO TIP: The outset visit takes the longest. You lot might want to charge a higher rate for the showtime visit, then reduce your rate for future visits. Make sure to do a pre-visit walkthrough the get-go time, too—that can help you lot make up one's mind what to charge for firm cleaning.

💰 two. Flat fee

With flat fee pricing, you don't demand to worry about fair pay and customer trust equally much equally you would with hourly rates. This is one of the most mutual pricing methods for house cleaners.

With the flat fee method, y'all're pricing your value, not your fourth dimension. Your services solve a problem—what'south the solution worth to the client?

For instance, perchance your client lives lone and works long hours. They don't have time to tidy up or practise laundry. Show them the value of solving their problem, and the flat fee volition exist a small price for the client to pay.

Here's how to charge for firm cleaning for a flat fee:

Flat fee house cleaning pricing guide

A weekly or bi-weekly clean can be $100–170 for a typical unmarried-family unit habitation. Y'all can enhance your flat fee if you'll be cleaning more than rooms or visiting less oft, or lower your rate if yous're cleaning an apartment or smaller home.
Ane-fourth dimension deep cleaning can be $200–400, especially if the home is on the larger side. If it's a move-in or move-out cleaning, aim for the college end of that range—the house will exist empty, so you'll be covering more than basis than normal.
For a construction cleanup, y'all can charge anywhere from your normal deep clean rates all the style up to $800 to clean a new build or contempo renovation.

To decide your apartment fee, consider pricing factors like fourth dimension, number of rooms, and number of workers. Build in healthy profit margins and a little extra padding in case of unexpected hiccups with the work.

READ MORE: Start using these quoting best practices

Should I charge a apartment fee for my cleaning services?

A flat fee is based on value, and it's the most beneficial for your client. Your budget is set up from the showtime, no affair how much cleaning product you utilise or how much time you spend on the chore.

While a flat fee tin be easier to sell to the customer, information technology tin can also toll you if your rate doesn't cover all the cleaning they need. Y'all should be making money with this pricing method, not losing information technology.

PRO TIP: Time yourself as you clean so you can see how long it takes, then think about means to make sure y'all can hit this time limit with every job. If you don't have any clients even so, make clean your ain habitation or a friend'southward.

🛏 iii. Room rate

Charging a flat rate tin can be tricky when you're cleaning houses of all shapes and sizes. That's why some cleaners set their home cleaning services toll listing based on a room rate.

The term "room charge per unit" near oft refers to the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, not the number of actual rooms in the home. That said, you can definitely summate a rate based on actual rooms if y'all'd like!

READ MORE: Apply our gratis house cleaning checklist

When yous're deciding how much to charge for firm cleaning per room, use these numbers as a starting point:

How much to charge for house cleaning per room

The average room charge per unit for a one-bedroom, i-bathroom domicile is $75–110, plus $25 for each additional chamber and $10 for each extra bath.

So if yous assume a starting rate of $95 and yous're cleaning a three-sleeping room, two-bathroom home, a reasonable charge per unit could be $160 for a weekly cleaning job.

If a home has more bedrooms, it may have a larger kitchen and living space, besides. Go on that in listen when y'all're calculating room rates for homes with four or more bedrooms.

Should I charge a room rate for my cleaning services?

This pricing method works better for repeat jobs where each room is in reasonably good condition. It won't work likewise for deep cleaning a house that hasn't been washed in a while.

The room rate also applies to every room, no matter how big or minor information technology is. So make sure you assign accurate prices to each blazon of room to keep your jobs as profitable equally y'all tin can.

READ More than: Learn to bundle and upsell cleaning services

🏠 four. Foursquare footage rate

If calculating a room rate feels like too much math, you can follow in the footsteps of other successful cleaners and set your residential cleaning prices based on square footage.

This type of pricing is easy to calculate on the spot when a customer is asking for a quote. But ask them for the square footage, then multiply that number by your square footage rate.

Your foursquare footage charge per unit should vary depending on the size of the dwelling house and the type of cleaning y'all're providing. Here's how to calculate cleaning cost per foursquare foot:

How much do I charge to clean a business firm per square pes?

For weekly or bi-weekly cleaning, yous tin accuse 5–xv¢ per foursquare human foot. As a general rule, the higher the square footage, the lower your charge per unit should be.
If you're doing a movement-out clean, you tin accuse up to 22¢ per foursquare foot since you're actually cleaning every single one of those square feet.
One-time deep cleaning can cost upward to 33¢ per square foot since it might non have been done for a while, and you're putting more endeavour into each foursquare foot.

So if you're deep cleaning a furnished 700 sq ft flat at a square footage charge per unit of thirty¢, yous would quote $210 for that one-fourth dimension chore.

Regularly cleaning a ii,000 sq ft home at a rate of 7¢, on the other paw, would earn you $140 each week. It'south less income per job, but it's recurring piece of work that you can always count on.

Should I charge a foursquare footage rate for my cleaning services?

Square foot pricing works especially well if you lot also make clean commercial spaces. Commercial clients prefer this pricing method, so you might detect it easier to price all your cleaning jobs the same way.

If you decide to quote by foursquare footage, run the numbers for a few different house sizes. Then make sure you're still coming out alee for labor, supplies, overhead, and profit margins.

READ More than: Effort out the best apps for cleaning services

✨ 5. Specialty cleaning services

Specialty services are an extra footstep to help your clients solve a problem. Many business firm cleaners don't have the ability to solve it, but you practice—and that sets you autonomously from your competitors.

Not sure how much to accuse for specialty services? Usually, these types of add together-ons use a mix of the other four pricing models, depending on what the service is.

READ MORE: Offering service packages with good, better, all-time pricing

This is how to charge for cleaning services that aren't as usually offered:

Specialty services business firm cleaning pricing guide

Floor cleaning services are virtually frequently based on square footage, simply you could also accuse hourly, flat fee, or room rate. Buffing is four–12¢, tile cleaning is 12–21¢, carpeting cleaning is sixteen–28¢, and stripping and waxing is xxx–50¢.
The average cost of apparatus cleaning depends on how large the appliance is and how much work is needed. Yous tin usually charge $10–35 per appliance, but y'all could quote up to $100 for a larger job like a refrigerator cleaning if it'south in actually bad shape.
If you offer window cleaning, information technology's mutual to charge $2–half-dozen per pane based on size, time, and effort.
Laundry services cost $5–20 per load. That usually but includes washing and drying—if you lot're willing to spend time folding and putting away as well, make sure to charge more.
Quoting article of furniture and curtain cleaning, like anything else, depends on how many pieces you're looking at, how large they are, and what kind of shape they're in. You can get-go at $100 per 60 minutes for this blazon of service and work your way upwards from in that location.

Keep in listen that this is just a starting point. You can set your ain prices based on what feels right for your state of affairs and your clients—and what they're willing to pay.

PRO TIP: You tin as well set up yourself apart from competitors by using eco-friendly cleaning products, either equally a value add together or at an optional extra toll. Only make sure your bottom line can handle more than expensive supplies!

How much to charge for deep cleaning a house

If you're doing a deep make clean, you can add an extra xxx–50% to your normal cleaning rates. Here's what that could look like using the diverse pricing methods:

Deep Cleaning Hourly Rate: $forty–100, based on team size and experience
Flat Fee: $200–400+, depending on the size of the domicile (and your squad)
Room Rate: $98–165 for 1 bed and 1 bathroom, plus $35/bedroom and $15/bath
Square Footage Rate: $0.11–0.33 per sq ft (at the lower stop for larger homes)

How to quote cleaning services: calculate your rate

And so you've considered all your pricing factors and called a pricing method. Now it's time to actually learn how much to charge for cleaning house, and how to present the toll quote to your client.

Here's an example of how to price a cleaning job. Allow's say a new client is asking for a quote. After asking them some questions, you notice out that:

The home is three,000 sq ft
They live next door to 1 of your other clients
They want y'all to clean every calendar week
They demand basic cleaning plus laundry services
They have three dogs that shed

Yous decide you'll demand a squad of 3 cleaners for four hours a week. The dog pilus will take time to deal with, merely you tin can be more efficient past scheduling this customer and their neighbor on the same day.

PRO TIP: If your new client was referred by their next-door neighbor (1 of your existing clients), think well-nigh offering referral incentives for both clients to thank them for their business.

💭 "How much should I charge to clean a house?"

Using an hourly pricing model, let's swoop into the math:

Calculate Labor Hours: Multiply the number of people on the job (three) past the number of hours the job will take (iv). This gives you a total of 12 labor hours per visit.
Summate Labor Cost: Multiply your labor hours (12) by your workers' total hourly wage (permit's say they make $12 per 60 minutes). That's a labor toll of $144. This step might be tricky if your workers make different wages, but in that example, average out their wages and use that number.
Add Payroll Expenses: Multiply your labor cost by your payroll per centum, which covers expenses like workers' bounty, social security, and wellness benefits. This number varies by land and should be padded a little. And then if your state's percentage is 17%, circular up to xx% to get a total employee expense of $172.80.
Add Other Fees: Let's say you're offering laundry on meridian of your regular cleaning services. Y'all charge $ten per load, and the customer needs three loads per visit, adding up to $30 each fourth dimension. Because the client also has dogs, you determine to add a pocket-size fee of $fifteen per visit to bargain with the added dust and pet hair. That's a total of $45 in added fees per visit for a total of $217.80.
Add Overhead: Your overhead costs volition depend on factors like how big your company is, how much marketing you're doing, and how far you lot have to travel for jobs. Still, information technology's good practise to add at to the lowest degree xx–25% to your job total. Bold you lot're at the lower end, that brings your quote up to $261.36.
Add Profit Markup: Everything yous've calculated so far will assistance you pay your workers and keep your business running, just you still need to summate profit margins for this chore and then your business organization can abound! Add a markup of at least 10% to bring your final number to $287.fifty, which ways yous're making $26.14 on this job.

Information technology might sound similar a lot of math, merely if yous utilize cleaning business software to create your costless estimates, yous can send out quotes on the spot and offset cleaning even faster.

PRO TIP: If you're planning to discount your services in any style, raise your markup percentage so you're still making money on each job. Remember, that discount can't come out of wages or overhead—it can only come up out of your profits.

"So how much should I charge for cleaning a house?"

Now y'all know the answer—it depends! There are lots of factors to consider and a range of pricing methods to help you set your house cleaning prices.

Your prices won't be exactly the same every bit anyone else's, and they shouldn't exist. Instead, they'll exist the prices that are just right for you and your clients.

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