How to price house cleaning jobs so you actually make money
A working method for quoting residential cleaning: estimate hours from the home, set a rate that covers real costs, and know the number you should never go below.
Most new cleaning businesses price by looking at what the company down the road charges and going five dollars lower. It works until the first month you do the math and discover that a job that paid $140 cost you $118 to deliver. This guide walks through a method that starts from hours and costs, so the quote is a number you can defend, not a number you hope is fine.
Step 1: estimate hours from the home, not from a feeling
The single biggest error in cleaning quotes is underestimating time. A repeatable estimate uses the features of the home that actually drive work. A practical formula for a standard clean:
| Driver | Hours | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Base per visit | 1.0 | Kitchen, setup, walk-through, supplies in and out |
| Per bedroom | 0.7 | Dusting, floors, surfaces, bed |
| Per bathroom | 0.9 | The slowest square footage in the house |
| Per 500 sq ft of other space | 0.55 | Living areas, halls, stairs |
A 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom, 1,600 sq ft home comes to 1 + 2.1 + 1.8 + 1.76 = 6.7 hours for a standard clean by one person. Then multiply by the service type: deep cleaning about 1.45x, move-out 1.6x, post-construction 1.9x, office space around 1.2x because there is less furniture but more floor. Round to the nearest quarter hour and set a minimum, usually 2 hours, so a studio apartment does not turn into a loss after travel.
Calibrate the coefficients after your first twenty jobs: log actual hours next to estimated hours, and adjust the numbers that are consistently off. That is the whole reason to keep a job log.
Step 2: know what an hour costs you
Your cost per hour is not the wage. A cleaner paid $18 an hour costs closer to $22-24 once you add payroll taxes, insurance and paid gaps between jobs. Supplies run 6-10% of labor for a well-run crew. Travel is real money: at 65-70 cents per mile, a job 8 miles away costs about $11 in the van before anyone lifts a cloth.
So the 6.7-hour job above, with one cleaner at $22, supplies at 8% and 16 miles of driving, costs roughly $147 + $12 + $11 = $170. That is your floor. Any quote under about $215 (cost plus 25%) leaves nothing for insurance, marketing, admin time and the quiet weeks of January.
Step 3: set the rate by service, then check the margin
Hourly rates for residential cleaning in most US markets in 2026 sit around $50-65 per labor hour for standard and deep cleaning, $65-80 for move-outs and post-construction where the work is heavier and the client is often a landlord or contractor. Quote the job as hours times rate, add extras as flat items, and only then look at the margin.
| Extra | Typical flat price |
|---|---|
| Inside fridge | $25-35 |
| Inside oven | $30-40 |
| Interior windows | $6-10 per window |
| Laundry | $15-20 per load |
| Inside cabinets | $20-30 |
Our example: 6.7 hours at $55 is $369, plus an oven at $30, quoted as $400. Cost was $170, so gross margin is 57%. That sounds high until you subtract overheads - insurance, software, marketing, your own unpaid hours - which typically eat 20-30 points. A healthy residential cleaning business lands at 15-25% net.
Step 4: price the relationship, not just the visit
Recurring clients are worth a discount because they remove your biggest cost: finding the next job. A common structure is full price for the first deep clean, then 10-15% less for weekly, 5-10% less for biweekly, and standard price for monthly. Put the discount on the schedule, never on the first visit - the first visit is always the dirtiest.
Step 5: quote in writing, every time
A quote that lists rooms, extras, hours and price does three things. It stops scope creep on the day, it makes the next quote faster, and it shows the client they are buying a system rather than a guess. Keep a copy of every quote and mark whether it was accepted. Your acceptance rate by price band is the most useful pricing data you will ever own.
Common mistakes
- Quoting per hour to the client. It invites clock-watching and punishes your efficiency. Quote per job, track hours internally.
- Forgetting travel. Two short jobs across town can cost more in driving than one long job nearby.
- No minimum. Small jobs still carry setup, travel and admin.
- Never revisiting prices. Review rates every six months and raise them for new clients first.
Try the numbers on the free cleaning quote calculator before you send your next quote.
Tools that go with this guide
- Cleaning Quote Calculator - the method below as a spreadsheet, with editable rates and a printable quote.
- Cleaning Business OS - quotes, clients, schedule, invoices and profit per job in one workbook.
- Cleaning Business Forms Pack - printable quote and intake forms for the visit itself.