How To Price Cleaning Services For Homes Per Square Foot

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

Woman cleaning a home's window

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

Now yous're hunting for new work, and potential clients are asking about your business firm cleaning prices listing. Just then it hits you—you aren't quite sure how much to charge to clean a house.

For a standard cleaning job, you could accuse $twoscore per hour, $25 per room, ten¢ per square foot, or $100–170 as a flat fee. But which option is best for your business and your clients?

That all depends on a range of factors, which we'll dive into now. We'll also explore the different kinds of pricing methods and show examples of how to price cleaning services. Allow'due south go started!

How to quote for cleaning services: consider your pricing factors

Before you start thinking virtually exact numbers, it's of import to think about the nearly mutual factors that will influence your firm cleaning costs:

Labor: How many workers do y'all have and what is their cleaner bacon? Gene in your hourly charge per unit for your team's labor, even if y'all're currently a team of one. Multiply your hourly rate past the number of workers for that job, and so add xviii% payroll on superlative. 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 expenses. Once you lot know your hourly charge per unit, add at to the lowest degree 50% to cover overhead and profit margins (which should be 20–35% on its ain).
Home size: What size of homes will you lot be cleaning? This is usually adamant by square footage or the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. The larger the home, the more you should charge for your house cleaning service.
Habitation condition: How muddy is the domicile right now? Get photos or do a walkthrough to find out. The worse the home's condition, the more cleaning it'll need—and the more than you'll desire to charge for your time and effort. You may want a higher charge per unit if the customer has pets, besides, since this could mean you have to come more often or clean more than carefully.
Home location: Where is the home? If yous have to travel a off-white altitude, you'll need to accuse more to encompass travel time and fuel. You tin can as well schedule clients in the same area on the aforementioned twenty-four hour period, or utilise route optimization to cutting down on drive time.
Local demand: What's the going charge per unit in your region? Your rate should exist unique to your business, but some areas do take a college or lower going rate based on how much demand there is for cleaning services. Use the local charge per unit to make sure you lot aren't over or undercharging.
Ideal client: What blazon of client do y'all want to work with? If you lot're working in a lower-income area, premium pricing won't get you far. On the other hand, lower rates in a high-income surface area could hateful you're leaving money on the tabular array. Make sure to charge right around the rate that your client is willing to pay.
Type of cleaning: What services will the client demand? Bones tasks like vacuuming and dusting (especially if yous're doing them every week) won't accept every bit long as a more thorough i-time deep cleaning. You'll want to accuse more for services that take more time, effort, or supplies—or specialty services that your competitors don't offer.
Cleaning frequency: How frequently will you be cleaning? A onetime deep make clean needs plenty of time and elbow grease, specially if information technology hasn't been washed in a while. If you're cleaning regularly, though, yous won't have as much work to do because you're in maintenance mode. The more fourth dimension and effort you lot invest, the more you should charge.
Experience level: How long take you been professionally cleaning? If yous've been in the industry for a long time, you can accuse a premium for your reputation and know-how. If yous're less experienced, y'all may have to wait to charge that higher rate until you have the feel to back it up.

PRO TIP: If there's a cleaning contract involved, endeavour to practice an initial cleaning earlier signing on the dotted line. This will show you how much piece of work to expect each time. Otherwise you could be locked in at a lower rate or longer cleaning time than you planned for!

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How to charge for cleaning a firm: choose a pricing method

There are five common methods to help yous decide how much to accuse for cleaning a house. All of them tin can be effective—it's just a matter of finding the pricing strategy that works best for you.

⏰ 1. Hourly rate for firm cleaning

Charging a business firm cleaning hourly rate is a corking idea when you're first starting out. Y'all might not know how long it'll take to clean, so charging hourly gives you the fourth dimension you need.

Here'south how to price cleaning a firm based on hourly charge per unit. There are 2 unlike numbers in play—the amount each worker takes dwelling house, and the amount yous actually charge per hr:

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

The average hourly pay for a maid, cleaner, or housekeeper in the U.s. is $12.58. This number tin can be a few dollars higher or lower depending on skill level, average pay in their state, and whether they piece of work in homes or hotels, since homes pay slightly ameliorate. Average pay per state tin can provide a starting point for pay, merely brand sure you and your employees are getting a off-white wage based on work and experience.
Your house cleaning hourly rate factors in labor, overhead, and turn a profit margins. An advisable hourly charge per unit is around $25–fifty for less experienced cleaners or standard services, simply a one-fourth dimension deep cleaning cost per hour could be up to $100.

Lower rates ordinarily apply to repeat clients who have you lot clean every week or so. If the domicile needs more piece of work or more cleaners, yous can charge a higher hourly rate for business firm cleaning.

You may too cull to offering a discount for repeat clients, service packages, or other upsells.

Should you lot charge an hourly rate for firm cleaning?

There are some situations where charging an hourly rate for house cleaning might not benefit you:

If you lot're an established business, you aren't rewarded for getting faster and better at your job unless y'all accuse a higher hourly charge per unit.
Some clients might not want an hourly rate for house cleaning—they may recall yous'll accept longer on purpose so you tin can make more than money.

But if you lot charge the right house cleaning rates and have time to build trust with your client, you tin still make this pricing method work for you.

PRO TIP: The beginning visit takes the longest. You might want to charge a college rate for the first visit, and so reduce your charge per unit for future visits. Make sure to practice a pre-visit walkthrough the beginning time, too—that can help y'all decide what to charge for house cleaning.

? 2. Apartment fee

With apartment fee pricing, yous don't need to worry almost fair pay and customer trust as much as yous would with hourly rates. This is one of the most common pricing methods for house cleaners.

With the apartment fee method, yous're pricing your value, non your fourth dimension. Your services solve a problem—what'southward the solution worth to the client?

For example, possibly your client lives alone and works long hours. They don't have time to tidy upward or practise laundry. Show them the value of solving their problem, and the apartment fee will be a small price for the client to pay.

Here'southward how to charge for house cleaning for a apartment fee:

Flat fee house cleaning pricing guide

A weekly or bi-weekly clean can exist $100–170 for a typical single-family unit domicile. You can raise your flat fee if you'll be cleaning more than rooms or visiting less often, or lower your rate if you're cleaning an flat or smaller home.
1-fourth dimension deep cleaning can be $200–400, especially if the home is on the larger side. If it'southward a movement-in or move-out cleaning, aim for the higher finish of that range—the house will be empty, so you'll be covering more basis than normal.
For a construction cleanup, y'all can accuse anywhere from your normal deep clean rates all the way upward to $800 to clean a new build or recent renovation.

To decide your flat fee, consider pricing factors like time, number of rooms, and number of workers. Build in healthy profit margins and a little extra padding in example 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 information technology's the most benign for your client. Your budget is set from the beginning, no affair how much cleaning product yous use or how much fourth dimension yous spend on the job.

While a apartment fee tin be easier to sell to the client, it tin as well cost yous if your charge per unit doesn't cover all the cleaning they need. You should exist making money with this pricing method, not losing information technology.

PRO TIP: Time yourself as you lot clean so y'all tin can encounter how long it takes, then recollect about means to make sure you can striking this fourth dimension limit with every job. If you lot don't take any clients still, clean your ain abode or a friend's.

? three. Room charge per unit

Charging a flat rate can be tricky when you lot're cleaning houses of all shapes and sizes. That's why some cleaners set their home cleaning services price list based on a room charge per unit.

The term "room charge per unit" almost oftentimes refers to the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, not the number of actual rooms in the home. That said, you tin can definitely calculate a charge per unit based on actual rooms if you'd like!

READ MORE: Use our free house cleaning checklist

When you're deciding how much to charge for house cleaning per room, use these numbers every bit a starting betoken:

How much to charge for firm cleaning per room

The boilerplate room rate for a one-bedroom, ane-bath home is $75–110, plus $25 for each additional bedroom and $ten for each actress bathroom.

So if you presume a starting rate of $95 and you're cleaning a three-bedroom, ii-bath habitation, a reasonable rate could be $160 for a weekly cleaning job.

If a home has more bedrooms, information technology may take a larger kitchen and living space, too. Keep that in listen when you're calculating room rates for homes with iv or more bedrooms.

Should I accuse a room charge per unit for my cleaning services?

This pricing method works improve for echo jobs where each room is in reasonably good status. It won't piece of work as well 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 small it is. So make sure y'all assign authentic prices to each blazon of room to keep your jobs equally profitable as you lot can.

READ MORE: Learn to bundle and upsell cleaning services

? 4. Square footage rate

If computing a room rate feels like also much math, you can follow in the footsteps of other successful cleaners and gear up your residential cleaning prices based on foursquare 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 foursquare footage charge per unit.

Your foursquare footage rate should vary depending on the size of the dwelling house and the blazon of cleaning you're providing. Here's how to calculate cleaning cost per square foot:

How much do I charge to clean a house per square human foot?

For weekly or bi-weekly cleaning, you can charge five–fifteen¢ per square foot. As a general rule, the higher the square footage, the lower your rate should exist.
If you're doing a move-out clean, yous can charge upwards to 22¢ per square foot since you're actually cleaning every single one of those square anxiety.
Old deep cleaning can cost up to 33¢ per foursquare human foot since it might not accept been done for a while, and y'all're putting more than effort into each foursquare foot.

So if you're deep cleaning a furnished 700 sq ft apartment at a square footage rate of 30¢, y'all would quote $210 for that sometime job.

Regularly cleaning a 2,000 sq ft home at a rate of 7¢, on the other hand, would earn you $140 each calendar week. It's less income per task, but it's recurring work that you tin can e'er count on.

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

Square foot pricing works especially well if you also make clean commercial spaces. Commercial clients prefer this pricing method, then yous might notice it easier to price all your cleaning jobs the aforementioned way.

If you decide to quote by square footage, run the numbers for a few dissimilar house sizes. Then brand certain you're yet coming out ahead for labor, supplies, overhead, and turn a profit margins.

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

✨ 5. Specialty cleaning services

Specialty services are an extra stride to help your clients solve a trouble. Many house cleaners don't have the ability to solve information technology, just you do—and that sets you apart from your competitors.

Non sure how much to charge for specialty services? Ordinarily, these types of add together-ons use a mix of the other four pricing models, depending on what the service is.

READ More than: Offer service packages with skillful, better, best pricing

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

Specialty services house cleaning pricing guide

Floor cleaning services are most often based on square footage, but you could besides charge hourly, flat fee, or room rate. Buffing is four–12¢, tile cleaning is 12–21¢, rug cleaning is xvi–28¢, and stripping and waxing is thirty–l¢.
The average toll of appliance cleaning depends on how large the appliance is and how much work is needed. You can usually charge $10–35 per apparatus, but you could quote up to $100 for a larger task like a fridge cleaning if it'due south in really bad shape.
If you offer window cleaning, information technology'southward common to charge $2–6 per pane based on size, time, and effort.
Laundry services cost $five–20 per load. That normally only includes washing and drying—if you're willing to spend time folding and putting away as well, make sure to accuse more.
Quoting piece of furniture and drape 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. Yous tin start at $100 per 60 minutes for this type of service and piece of work your way upward from at that place.

Continue in mind that this is just a starting signal. You lot can set your ain prices based on what feels correct for your situation and your clients—and what they're willing to pay.

PRO TIP: You can also set yourself autonomously from competitors by using eco-friendly cleaning products, either equally a value add or at an optional extra cost. Just make sure your lesser line tin can handle more expensive supplies!

How much to charge for deep cleaning a firm

If you're doing a deep clean, you can add together an extra 30–fifty% to your normal cleaning rates. Hither'southward what that could look like using the various pricing methods:

Deep Cleaning Hourly Rate: $forty–100, based on squad size and feel
Flat Fee: $200–400+, depending on the size of the home (and your squad)
Room Charge per unit: $98–165 for 1 bed and i bath, plus $35/bedroom and $15/bathroom
Foursquare Footage Rate: $0.eleven–0.33 per sq ft (at the lower end for larger homes)

How to quote cleaning services: calculate your rate

So you've considered all your pricing factors and chosen a pricing method. At present information technology'due south time to really learn how much to accuse for cleaning house, and how to nowadays the price quote to your client.

Here'south an example of how to price a cleaning task. Let's say a new client is request for a quote. After asking them some questions, you find out that:

The home is 3,000 sq ft
They alive next door to 1 of your other clients
They want you lot to clean every week
They demand basic cleaning plus laundry services
They have three dogs that shed

You make up one's mind you'll need a team of three cleaners for four hours a calendar week. The dog pilus will have time to deal with, but you can be more efficient past scheduling this client and their neighbour on the same day.

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

? "How much should I charge to clean a firm?"

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

Calculate Labor Hours: Multiply the number of people on the job (iii) by the number of hours the job will have (four). This gives you a total of 12 labor hours per visit.
Calculate Labor Cost: Multiply your labor hours (12) by your workers' total hourly wage (let's say they brand $12 per hour). That's a labor cost of $144. This pace might exist tricky if your workers make different wages, simply 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' compensation, social security, and health benefits. This number varies by country and should be padded a little. And then if your land's percentage is 17%, round upward to 20% to go a full employee expense of $172.80.
Add Other Fees: Allow'south say you lot're offering laundry on tiptop of your regular cleaning services. You charge $ten per load, and the client needs 3 loads per visit, calculation upwardly to $thirty each fourth dimension. Because the client too has dogs, you decide to add a pocket-size fee of $15 per visit to deal 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 have to travel for jobs. Still, information technology's good exercise to add at least 20–25% to your task total. Assuming you're at the lower cease, that brings your quote upwardly to $261.36.
Add Turn a profit Markup: Everything you've calculated then far volition help y'all pay your workers and proceed your business organisation running, but you nonetheless need to calculate profit margins for this chore and so your business can grow! Add a markup of at least 10% to bring your last number to $287.50, which means you're making $26.14 on this chore.

Information technology might sound like a lot of math, but if you lot use cleaning business organization software to create your costless estimates, yous can send out quotes on the spot and kickoff cleaning even faster.

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

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

Now you know the answer—it depends! There are lots of factors to consider and a range of pricing methods to assistance you ready your business firm cleaning prices.

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

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Originally published July 2019. Last updated August 26, 2021.