House Cleaning Pricing: How to Work Out What to Charge

◆ Last updated September 23, 2026

For a homeowner comparing quotes, ask what each price includes: rooms and tasks, starting condition, visit frequency, extras and tax treatment. An hourly price also needs to say whether it covers one cleaner or the whole crew. A national average cannot settle those differences. This guide is for business owners building a price they can explain and check.

Download the house cleaning pricing worksheet

Free resource	What it does
Download the Excel worksheet	Start here instructions, a blank job calculator and three editable worked examples. No macros or signup.
Download the printable worksheet	Three pages: write in costs, calculate the price, and compare worked examples. This PDF is for printing, not a fillable calculator.

Use a copy of the XLSX. Fill the yellow cells marked Input; enter 0 for a real zero and leave unused worker rows completely empty. Enter percentages as 25%, not 25. The worksheet shows incomplete or invalid inputs and calculates a target price rounded up to the next cent. Changing the currency label does not convert amounts. Keep this internal worksheet separate from the client quote.

1. Define the visit before choosing the price

Write a scope that another cleaner could follow. Bedrooms and square footage help describe the property, but neither tells you how much work is included. Ask about the starting condition and look at uncertain areas before committing to a fixed price.

• List included rooms, surfaces and tasks, with limits such as accessible dusting only.
• Record visit frequency and whether this is a first clean, repeat clean or one-time project.
• Identify clutter, pet arrangements, parking, access, occupied rooms and client preparation.
• State exclusions and extras, including appliance interiors or tasks needing specialist equipment.
• Separate the cleaning method and safe working conditions from the time budget. Do not promise work your team is not equipped or trained to perform.

For example, the 1,800-square-foot home below has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Its repeat scope includes kitchen surfaces, bathroom fixtures, accessible dusting and floors. Oven interiors are excluded. If those boundaries change, the estimate needs another look. The cleaning service package guide helps turn defined tasks into a client-facing menu.

2. Count paid worker-hours, including travel

Worker-hours are the sum of each person’s paid time. Two cleaners working two hours on site use four worker-hours. That is different from the two hours the crew spends at the property. Include unloading, setup, the final check and packing if they are part of the paid job time.

In the repeat-home example, each cleaner also has 0.25 paid travel hours allocated to the visit. Total time is 4 on-site hours + 0.5 travel hours = 4.5 paid worker-hours. At an assumed $24 cost per worker-hour, labor costs $108. That $24 is a fictional total cost assumption, not a wage recommendation or legal payroll calculation.

Use a separate row for workers with different costs. Include your applicable employer costs in each hourly amount. If you clean the home yourself, enter your chosen owner-work allowance once in the Owner row. Do not enter the same hours under Worker 1 and Owner. The job-time estimating guide can help you improve the time input using completed-job records.

3. Add the remaining costs once

Cost for the repeat visit	Fictional calculation
Paid labor	$108: 4.5 worker-hours × $24
Vehicle and parking	$8, excluding the paid travel labor above
Supplies	$6 used on this visit
Allocated overhead	$18 share of business costs
Other job costs	$0 in this example
Base cost before payment fees	$140

Vehicle cost and paid travel time are different inputs. A trip shared between jobs needs an allocation so you do not assign the full trip to each one. Supplies are the amount used, not necessarily the full purchase price of every bottle in the kit.

Overhead includes business costs that are not already charged directly to this visit. For a simple fictional allocation, $900 of relevant monthly overhead spread across 50 comparable visits would be $18 per visit. If visits vary substantially, allocate by a consistent measure such as paid hours instead. Check the allocation against actual monthly bills and volume; do not add the same owner allowance, vehicle cost or supplies again.

The SBA’s business-planning guidance distinguishes fixed and variable costs in break-even planning. Here, the worksheet brings the costs you assign to one visit together. It is useful only when those inputs cover the work you actually promise.

4. Choose a margin and account for payment fees

With no payment fees, the price for a chosen margin is base cost ÷ (1 − target margin). At $140 cost and a 25% target: $140 ÷ 0.75 = $186.666… . Rounding up gives $186.67. You still choose the final offer price after reviewing the scope and your market; a calculated result is not proof that customers will accept it.

Suppose you choose $190. The amount left is $190 − $140 = $50. The margin is $50 ÷ $190 = 26.3%. Markup uses cost as the denominator: $50 ÷ $140 = 35.7%. Adding 25% to cost gives $175, which is a 20% margin before fees. Margin and markup are not interchangeable.

When fees apply to the selling price

Target price = (base cost + fixed transaction fee) ÷ (1 − target margin − percentage transaction fee). This assumes the percentage fee applies to that same selling price before sales tax, with one transaction. If the processor charges on tax or another amount, or the payment is split, adapt the calculation.

For illustration only, use a 3% fee and $0.30 fixed fee: ($140 + $0.30) ÷ (1 − 0.25 − 0.03) = $194.8611. The worksheet rounds up to $194.87 so the assumed margin remains at least 25%. These are fictional fee inputs, not a claim about a provider’s current pricing. A target margin plus percentage fee of 100% or more cannot produce a valid price with this formula.

Three worked house-cleaning prices

All three examples are fictional USD amounts before sales tax, with zero payment fees. They teach the calculation; they are not survey averages or prices to copy into a real quote.

Example 1: a small repeat visit

Assume 2 on-site worker-hours and 0.25 paid travel hours at $24: labor is $54. Add $6 vehicle cost, $4 supplies and $12 allocated overhead. Total cost is $76. At a chosen price of $105, $29 remains, or 27.6% of the price. The 25% target-price calculation would produce $101.34 rounded up.

Example 2: a repeat visit to a 1,800-square-foot home

Assume two cleaners each work 2 on-site hours and 0.25 allocated travel hours. Labor is $108. Add $8 vehicle cost, $6 supplies and $18 overhead for $140 total cost. A chosen $190 price leaves $50, a 26.3% margin after the listed costs. This is the three-bedroom, two-bathroom scope described above.

Example 3: the first clean of the same home

Suppose the inspected starting condition needs 6 on-site worker-hours, plus 0.5 travel hours. Labor is $156. Add $8 vehicle cost, $10 supplies and $24 overhead for $198 total cost. A chosen $265 first-clean price leaves $67, or 25.3%. The 25% target-price calculation is $264. The extra hours and supplies were estimated separately; they do not come from a universal first-clean multiplier.

Price first cleans, extras and recurring visits from their work

A first clean can need different preparation and detail work. Write those tasks down, estimate their time and cost, and show the initial price separately from the recurring charge. Apply the same process to deep cleans and move-outs. An empty home does not automatically mean a quick visit.

For an oven-interior extra, suppose the additional work uses 0.75 worker-hours at $24, $3 supplies and $3 allocated overhead: total cost is $24. With zero payment fees, $32 leaves $8, a 25% margin. This example assumes no separate journey. Add travel if the extra requires another visit, and confirm the task and surface are suitable for your team’s methods before offering it.

Recurring work may use less time on later visits, but do not apply an automatic discount. Check completed visits and the agreed frequency. If a longer gap, changed condition or added room changes the work, revise the scope and estimate with the client. A discount on an already unprofitable visit makes the problem larger.

Hourly, fixed-price and square-foot pricing

Method	Make the basis clear
Hourly	State whether the rate is per cleaner or per crew-hour, what time is billable, and how additional time is approved. Calculate the rate from the costs and billable hours you expect.
Fixed price	State the tasks, condition assumptions and exclusions. The business carries the cost of an inaccurate time estimate unless an agreed change process applies.
Per square foot	Use it as a quoting input only when supported by your records for comparable tasks and properties. Size alone does not account for bathrooms, condition or detailed work.

The $190 example divided by 4 on-site worker-hours is $47.50 per on-site worker-hour. Dividing it by 2 elapsed crew-hours gives $95 per crew-hour. Both describe the same sale; neither is the worker’s wage. The visit price also covers allocated travel and other costs. For the client-facing trade-offs, see flat-rate versus hourly pricing.

Check the quote, then compare the completed job

Before sending, confirm the price basis, included work, exclusions, first-clean treatment, tax/fee treatment and chosen terms. Use the cleaning service quote checklist for the final review and the quote-writing guide to assemble the client document. Do not send the private worksheet with staff costs and target margin.

After the visit, compare actual hours and supplies with the estimate. If the $190 repeat job takes 5 on-site worker-hours rather than 4, with 0.5 paid travel hours and $7 supplies, total cost becomes $165. The amount left falls to $25, a 13.2% margin. Review the cause—scope, condition, access, estimate or work method—before deciding what to change.

At that $165 cost, $220 would leave 25% before payment fees. That is a calculation, not an instruction to raise every client’s price after one slow visit. Use the cleaning business profit margins guide to evaluate actual job results and reconcile overhead.

House-cleaning pricing questions

How much should I charge for a three-bedroom house?

Define the rooms, tasks, condition and visit frequency, then calculate paid time and costs. The fictional three-bedroom, two-bathroom example here uses $140 cost and a $190 price. It is not a local market recommendation.

Should I charge twice my labor cost?

A fixed labor multiplier cannot establish whether all your costs and chosen margin are covered. Add travel, supplies, overhead and applicable fees, then check the result at your selling price.

Should I give every recurring client a discount?

Base any price difference on the work, costs and terms of that recurring service. Use completed-job records to check whether it takes less time. Do not assume a fixed percentage reduction fits every property.

How do I include my own cleaning time?

Choose a planning allowance for your work and enter your hours once in the Owner row. Keep that allowance separate from the amount left after costs; its treatment in formal accounts may differ.

Why does the worksheet show n.a.?

A required input may be missing or invalid, or a denominator may be zero. Complete all used worker rows, enter explicit zero costs where appropriate, and keep margin plus percentage fee below 100%. Zero-price margin and zero-cost markup are unavailable.

Does the worksheet work out sales tax?

No. Prices and example fees use the before-tax selling price. Determine the applicable tax treatment separately and adapt fee calculations if a provider charges on a tax-inclusive amount.

Keep the estimate with your quoting process

The free files work without a CleanerHQ account. If you want to compare software options after checking your method, explore CleanerHQ’s pricing calculator and the cleaning business software guide. Verify the current product workflow against your own pricing assumptions.