How Much to Charge for House Cleaning (With a Free Calculator)
"What should I charge?" is the first question almost every new house cleaner asks, and the answers online are all over the place. That is because the right price depends on your costs and your local market, not on a national average.
This guide shows you how to build a price from the ground up, so you know your break-even price (the least you can charge without losing money) and a recommended price that includes profit. You can do it with a pen and a phone calculator. If you prefer a ready-made sheet, there is a free one at the end.
The short answer
Add up everything one visit costs you, then divide by (1 minus your target profit margin).
Price = cost per job ÷ (1 − target margin)
If a clean costs you 120 and you want a 25% margin, the price is 120 ÷ 0.75 = 160. Then compare that number with what other cleaners in your area charge. If your price is far higher, look for costs you can cut or clients who value what you offer. If it is far lower, you are probably leaving money on the table.
Three ways cleaners quote (and what sits underneath)
Most house cleaners quote in one of three ways:
- Hourly: simple and fair for unpredictable homes, but clients can't see the total in advance, and you earn less as you get faster.
- Flat rate per visit: clients like a fixed number, and you keep the benefit when you work efficiently. You need a good time estimate first.
- Per square foot or per room: handy for quoting over the phone, but homes of the same size can take very different amounts of time.
Whichever style you show the client, the math underneath is the same: time x pay + travel + supplies + overhead + profit. Once you know that number, you can present it however you like.
Step 1: Estimate the time
Time is the biggest driver of cost, so get it right. Count labor hours: the total hours worked by everyone on the job. Two cleaners on site for 2.5 hours is 5 labor hours.
No history yet? Time your next few jobs and write down the type of clean and the size of each home. After a few weeks you can build a simple table of your own labor hours, for example a standard clean of a 3-bedroom home or a deep clean of a 2-bedroom home. Use it to estimate new homes, then adjust for pets, clutter and condition after the first visit. Some cleaners prefer home size in sq ft instead of bedrooms; the idea is the same.
Step 2: Put a price on the labor
Multiply labor hours by the hourly pay for each cleaner. If you clean alone, use the hourly pay you want for yourself, not zero. A business that only works because the owner is unpaid isn't profitable yet.
If you employ people, remember that wages are not the whole cost. Depending on where you live, there may be payroll taxes, insurance or other employer costs on top. Either add them to the hourly figure or include them in overhead (Step 4).
Step 3: Add travel and supplies
For each visit, add:
- Travel: fuel or mileage, parking and any paid travel time. A cheap house across town can cost more than it looks.
- Supplies: products, cloths, bags, vacuum bags and wear on equipment. Divide what you spend in a month by the number of visits to get a per-visit figure.
Step 4: Add overhead
Overhead is everything you pay to run the business that isn't tied to one visit: insurance, phone, software, advertising, accounting, admin time and so on.
The easiest way to include it is as a percentage. Add up a typical month of overhead and divide it by a typical month of labor, travel and supplies. If overhead is 600 a month and direct costs are 4,000, your overhead rate is 600 ÷ 4,000 = 15%. Add that percentage on top of each job's direct costs.
Labor + travel + supplies + overhead = your cost per job. This is your minimum price. Quote below it and you lose money on the visit.
Step 5: Add profit (margin, not markup)
Profit pays for slow months, equipment, growth and the risk you take. Choose a target margin: the share of the price you keep after all costs.
Be careful not to mix up margin and markup. Markup is calculated on cost, margin on price, so the same percentage gives different results:
| Target margin | Divide cost by | Same as a markup of |
|---|---|---|
| 20% | 0.80 | 25% |
| 25% | 0.75 | 33.3% |
| 30% | 0.70 | 42.9% |
| 40% | 0.60 | 66.7% |
If you add 25% to your cost, you get a 20% margin, not 25%.
Worked example
Here is a biweekly clean with made-up numbers (illustrative, not an industry average):
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Crew | 2 cleaners, 2.5 hours on site = 5 labor hours |
| Labor (5 x 20 per hour) | 100.00 |
| Travel + supplies (8 + 6) | 14.00 |
| Overhead (15% of 114) | 17.10 |
| Cost per job = minimum price | 131.10 |
| Price at 25% margin (131.10 ÷ 0.75) | 174.80 |
| Rounded up to the next 5 | 175.00 |
| 5% recurring discount | −8.75 |
| Price per visit | 166.25 |
| Profit per visit | 35.15 (about 21.1% margin) |
| Visits per month (26 ÷ 12) | 2.17 |
| Monthly price | about 360.21 |
Notice what the discount did: the margin dropped from 25% to about 21.1%. That may be fine for a reliable regular client, but you should see it in numbers before you agree to it.
Recurring clients and discounts
Weekly and biweekly clients give you steady, predictable income, so many cleaners offer them a lower price per visit than a one-time clean. A home cleaned often may also take less time per visit, but check that with your own timings instead of assuming it.
To quote a monthly price, multiply the per-visit price by visits per month: 52 ÷ 12 for weekly (about 4.33), 26 ÷ 12 for biweekly (about 2.17), and 1 for monthly. Quoting by the month makes your income easier to plan, and clients find it easier to budget.
Deep cleans, move-in and move-out cleans usually take much longer than a regular visit. Estimate them separately from your time, and don't apply a recurring discount to them.
Check your price against your local market
Your cost-based price tells you the floor. Your market tells you the ceiling. Look at the published prices of a few local cleaners, and ask friends what they pay. Then decide where you want to sit:
- Below your minimum price? Don't go there. Cut costs (shorter routes, cheaper supplies) or find clients who will pay for quality.
- Between minimum and recommended? Workable while you build a client list, but plan to raise prices.
- Above recommended? Good. Make sure your service, reliability and communication justify it.
Common pricing mistakes
- Pricing from your own wage only, with no travel, supplies or overhead.
- Forgetting travel time between homes.
- Adding a markup and calling it a margin.
- Giving discounts that push the price below cost.
- Never raising prices, even when fuel, supplies or wages go up. Review your numbers at least once a year.
A free calculator that does the math
The free House Cleaning Price Calculator does the five steps above for you in Google Sheets. You set it up once: a 1. Settings tab for your pay per hour, travel, supplies, overhead, target margin and recurring discounts, and a 2. Services table with your own labor hours for each type of clean and home size, plus add-on prices.
After that, a quote on the 3. Quote tab is the client's name and three dropdowns: home size, service and visit frequency. The price to charge and your profit appear right below them. Add-ons are optional. An internal panel, for your eyes only, shows cost, minimum price, recommended price, profit per visit and per hour, and a Price check that warns you if a discount pushes the price below cost. Below it, a customer quote with your business name, line items and total is ready to print or save as a PDF, without your internal numbers.
FAQ
Should I charge by the hour or a flat rate?
Many cleaners quote hourly for a first visit or a deep clean, when they don't yet know the home, and switch to a flat rate per visit for regular clients. Either way, work out the hourly cost underneath so the flat rate still covers it.
How much should I charge per square foot?
Calculate your own rate instead of copying someone else's. Time a few jobs, work out your labor hours per 1,000 sq ft, multiply by your hourly cost (pay plus a share of overhead), add travel and supplies, then apply your margin. Homes of the same size vary a lot, so treat a per-sq-ft figure as a starting estimate and adjust after the first visit.
How often should I raise my prices?
Check your numbers at least once a year, and whenever a big cost changes. If your cost per job has gone up, your minimum price has too.