How Much to Charge for House Cleaning

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Published September 17, 2026 · Updated September 30, 2026

Learn how to price house cleaning from labor, supplies, travel, overhead, and margin, with worked examples and a free calculator for your plan.

Cleaning · Pricing · Profit Planning

A workable house-cleaning price starts with your cost per job, not a competitor’s menu. Add loaded labor, supplies, travel, payment fees, and a share of monthly overhead, then leave room for profit and the owner’s pay. The example below is for planning, not a market quote; your city, service level, crew speed, and customers will change the answer. Before publishing a rate, test it against a slower month because a full calendar can hide a price that fails when bookings soften.

Quick answer: For a standard recurring clean, calculate the job’s labor and other variable costs, add an allocation for monthly overhead, and divide by one minus your target margin. For example, $156 of total cost at a 30% target margin produces a price of about $223. Charge more when the home takes longer, carries extra risk, or requires add-on work.

The direct answer, expanded

There is no single correct house-cleaning rate. A useful starting price pays for the job’s hours and contributes toward costs that continue when no cleaner is at a property.

Use this calculation:

Price = (direct job costs + overhead allocated to the job) ÷ (1 − target operating margin)

Direct job costs include cleaner wages and payroll burden, products, mileage, disposal, and any card fee. Overhead includes insurance, software, phone service, storage, advertising, and your administrative time. If you clean personally, include the pay you need for those hours; otherwise, a low price can look profitable only because your labor is free.

Here is a full example for a recurring three-bedroom clean. Two cleaners spend two hours at the home, so the job uses four labor-hours. Assume the loaded labor cost is $24 per labor-hour, supplies cost $12, and travel costs $8.

• Labor: 4 hours × $24 = $96
• Supplies: $12
• Travel: $8
• Direct job cost: $96 + $12 + $8 = $116
• Monthly fixed overhead: $1,200
• Planned jobs this month: 30
• Overhead per job: $1,200 ÷ 30 = $40
• Total cost before profit: $116 + $40 = $156

If the target operating margin is 30%, divide $156 by 0.70. The result is $222.86, so a practical posted price is $223. At that price, the contribution after direct costs is $223 − $116 = $107. After the $40 overhead allocation, about $67 remains for operating profit or additional owner compensation.

That method is safer than copying a local rate. A competitor may have a faster crew, lower rent, different insurance, or a price that excludes supplies and travel. Their number does not tell you whether the job works for your business.

For hourly billing, estimate labor-hours, multiply by your loaded rate, and state what is included. For a flat rate, convert that estimate into a clear scope: rooms, bathrooms, appliances, pet hair, and home condition.

Turn a walkthrough into a flat quote

The base guide shows how a standard clean should cover costs. For a home you have not cleaned before, write the scope before you choose a flat fee: rooms, bathrooms, condition, floor types, access, pets, equipment you bring and requested extras. Then estimate paid cleaner-hours, not just the time on a wall clock. Two cleaners on-site for three hours each consume six paid hours. These example amounts are assumptions for one inspected recurring clean, not a rate for any US city.

Suppose payment fees are 3% of the final collected price and the business wants a 25% operating margin on that price after all the listed costs. Let the price be P. The equation is P − 0.03P − $268 = 0.25P, so 0.72P = $268 and P = $372.22. A $373 quote yields about $11.19 in fees and $93.81 after the stated costs, or a 25.15% margin. At $370, the result is $90.90 / $370 = 24.57%. This calculation shows why adding 25% to $268 would miss a 25% margin target.

Confirm the quoted scope and any change triggers in writing. If a home needs extra degreasing, heavy buildup removal or a second visit, price those as approved additions rather than silently stretching a standard clean. Compare the estimated six cleaner-hours with actual time after the first visit and update future quotes. For a one-off renovation cleanup with dust stages and punch-list returns, use the post-construction estimate guide; it answers a different scope question. The cleaning monthly-expenses guide helps verify the $60 allocation against a realistic booking count.

What changes the answer

Labor time and crew size move the price fastest. Two cleaners working for two hours consume four labor-hours, not two. Track actual time. If a “two-hour clean” routinely takes 2.75 hours, your original price is missing 37.5% more labor than planned.

The condition and scope of the home matter. A recurring clean after a customer has maintained the home is different from a first-time deep clean. Heavy buildup, oven work, blinds, pet hair, and move-out disposal add time or supplies. Put those items on an add-on list instead of quietly absorbing them.

Location changes travel cost and usable capacity. A distant job may add only $6 in fuel but consume an hour that could have been spent cleaning. Group nearby appointments, set a service radius, or charge a travel fee when the route makes the job uneconomic.

Team structure changes both cost and throughput. A two-person crew may finish a home sooner on the clock, but it still uses the combined labor-hours. Check whether the team can complete the jobs assumed in your overhead allocation.

Payment fees and taxes can reduce the money left over. Include processor fees before judging margin. Keep sales tax separate when collected for a government authority; it is not operating revenue.

Frequency and cancellation risk affect the price. Weekly or biweekly service may require less reset time than a one-off clean. A recurring customer can still cancel, so do not rely on every appointment repeating forever.

For related planning, use the post about cleaning business startup costs and post about cleaning business profit margins. Those topics help separate the cash needed to open from the monthly costs your pricing must cover.

2–3 realistic worked scenarios

These invented figures show the arithmetic; they are not claims about prevailing prices.

Scenario 1: Solo cleaner with recurring clients

You work alone and expect 20 jobs in a month. A recurring job takes three hours. Loaded labor is $26 per hour, supplies cost $10, and travel costs $7. Monthly fixed overhead is $900.

• Labor: 3 × $26 = $78
• Supplies and travel: $10 + $7 = $17
• Direct cost: $78 + $17 = $95
• Overhead allocation: $900 ÷ 20 = $45
• Total cost: $95 + $45 = $140

For a 25% target margin, calculate $140 ÷ 0.75 = $186.67. Quote $187 and review it after tracking real job time. At $187, the amount left after direct costs and allocated overhead is $187 − $95 − $45 = $47, which is close to 25% of the rounded price.

Scenario 2: Two-person team doing a deep clean

A two-person team spends 3.5 hours at a first-time home, or seven labor-hours. Loaded labor is $25 per hour, supplies are $20, travel is $15, and overhead allocation is $60. Assume card processing is 3% of the selling price and the target margin is 30%.

Before the percentage fee, cost is $175 labor + $20 supplies + $15 travel + $60 overhead = $270. Because the fee and target margin are both percentages of price, solve the price as $270 ÷ (1 − 0.03 − 0.30), or $270 ÷ 0.67 = $402.99. Quote $403. The card fee is $403 × 0.03 = $12.09; total cost is $270 + $12.09 = $282.09, leaving $403 − $282.09 = $120.91, or about 30% of the price.

Scenario 3: Move-out clean with disposal

Three cleaners spend four hours on a move-out job, using 12 labor-hours. Loaded labor is $25 per hour. Supplies cost $28, travel costs $18, disposal costs $12, and overhead allocation is $60. With a 3% card fee and a 28% target margin, the pre-fee cost is:

$300 labor + $28 supplies + $18 travel + $12 disposal + $60 overhead = $418.

The price is $418 ÷ (1 − 0.03 − 0.28) = $418 ÷ 0.69 = $605.80. Quote $606. The card fee is $606 × 0.03 = $18.18, so total cost is $418 + $18.18 = $436.18. The remaining $169.82 is approximately 28% of $606. If the property is unusually dirty, revise the labor estimate before accepting it.

How to run your own numbers

List one representative job, then enter labor-hours, loaded labor cost, supplies, travel, fees, monthly fixed costs, expected jobs, owner salary, and desired profit. Test your expected volume and a slower month; capacity matters if your price assumes more work than your team can deliver. MyBreakeven supports USD and other currencies and runs privately in your browser. Use the cleaning business break-even calculator to run your assumptions.

Your number is different because your route, crew, scope, and overhead are different. The calculator is a planning tool based on those inputs, not a prediction or a guarantee.

Common mistakes

1. Quoting from the clock instead of labor-hours. A two-person crew working two hours has four labor-hours. Multiplying only the elapsed time by one cleaner’s rate cuts the labor cost in half.

1. Using wage instead of loaded labor cost. Payroll taxes, workers’ compensation, paid training, and non-cleaning paid time can sit outside the wage number. If those costs are real, include them in the hourly cost used in the quote.

1. Treating the first clean as a recurring clean. Initial buildup often takes longer. Write a separate first-clean or deep-clean scope so the recurring price is not forced to subsidize it.

1. Forgetting payment fees before comparing prices. A $200 card sale at a 3% fee leaves $194 before other costs. Comparing that net amount with a competitor’s advertised cash price creates a false margin comparison.

1. Dividing overhead by an optimistic job count. If $1,200 of monthly overhead is divided by 30 jobs but you usually complete 20, the allocation is understated by $20 per job ($60 versus $40). Price from a realistic schedule, then test what happens if bookings fall.

1. Leaving owner work out of the model. Scheduling, quoting, supply runs, and cleaning are all time. Decide whether the price is meant to pay you for those hours, produce profit after your pay, or both, and label the result clearly.

FAQs

Should I charge by the hour or by the job?

Hourly pricing is easy to explain while you are learning how long different homes take. Flat pricing is often easier for customers to budget, but it requires a defined scope and reliable time estimates. You can use hourly calculations internally while presenting a flat quote externally.

How do I price a house I have never seen?

Ask about square footage, bedrooms, bathrooms, occupants, pets, flooring, last professional clean, and requested add-ons. Give a range or a provisional quote with assumptions, then confirm the price after a walkthrough or photos. Write down what would trigger a change.

Should supplies be included in the cleaning price?

Usually, yes, because supplies are part of the cost of delivering the service. Track them by job or use a reasonable per-job estimate that you update from receipts. Do not assume a small bottle-level cost is immaterial when multiplied across many appointments.

Do I need a separate price for recurring cleaning?

Often, yes. Recurring visits may have a narrower scope and more predictable labor time, while a first-time or one-off clean may require extra work. State the frequency, included tasks, and cancellation or rescheduling terms rather than offering a vague discount.

How much profit should I add?

Choose a target that reflects your overhead, risk, owner-pay plan, and reinvestment needs. The examples use 25% to 30% only to demonstrate the formula; they are not a universal benchmark. Run a lower-volume month as well as your expected month before settling on a price.

What if my calculated price is higher than local competitors?

First check whether you measured labor-hours, payroll burden, travel, fees, and scope consistently. If the arithmetic is sound, narrow the service area, reduce wasted route time, change the scope, or explain the value of the included work. Cutting the price without changing the cost simply removes the money available for overhead and profit.