How much to charge for house cleaning: price calculator
Enter what you pay your cleaners, your costs and the margin you want. The calculator times each home, then gives you a flat price for common home sizes and shows every step of the math.
- Free, no sign-up
- Runs in your browser
- Works on your phone
Recommended flat price per standard clean
Rounded up to the next $5. Select a row to see the math.
| Home | Size | Time | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 700 sq ft | 2 h 5 min | $90 | |
| 950 sq ft | 2 h 35 min | $110 | |
| 1,200 sq ft | 3 h 25 min | $140 | |
| 1,600 sq ft | 4 h 10 min | $170 | |
| 2,200 sq ft | 5 h 13 min | $205 | |
| 2,600 sq ft | 5 h 45 min | $225 | |
| 3,400 sq ft | 7 h 5 min | $275 |
Per-visit breakdown: 3 bed, 2 bath
$170
- Labor: 4 h 10 min × $22.00/h
- $91.67
- Supplies
- $8.00
- Direct cost
- $99.67
- Overhead (25% of price)
- $42.50
- Profit (target margin plus rounding)
- $27.83
The math
$99.67 ÷ (1 − 25% − 15%) = $166.11 → round up to $170
That works out to $40.80 per cleaner-hour billed to the client. Profit per visit: $27.83.
How to price cleaning jobs
There are three common ways to price residential cleaning. Whichever you choose, the price has to cover the same four things: the cleaner’s pay, supplies, overhead and profit.
- Flat rate by home size. A set price for a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home, for example. Clients like knowing the price up front, and your crew earns you more when they work efficiently. This is what the calculator above produces.
- Hourly. Simple and safe for unusual jobs, but clients cannot compare it easily and it caps what a fast crew can earn you.
- Per square foot. Easy to quote from a listing, but a 2,000 sq ft home with four bathrooms takes far longer than one with two. Use it together with room counts, not alone.
The formula behind the calculator
- Estimate the time. Base minutes, plus minutes per bedroom and bathroom, plus extra time for every 500 sq ft above 1,000.
- Direct cost. Hours times cleaner pay, plus supplies for the visit.
- Price.
direct cost ÷ (1 − overhead % − profit %). With 25% overhead and 15% profit, each dollar of direct cost needs $1.67 of price. - Round up to the next $5. The rounding goes to profit.
Why divide instead of adding a markup? Because overhead and profit are shares of the price. Adding 40% to your costs gives you a smaller margin than you think: $100 of cost plus 40% is $140, and $40 is only 29% of $140.
Time your own jobs
The minutes in the calculator are a starting point. For your next ten standard cleans, note how long each takes from arrival to departure. Replace the defaults with your real numbers and the prices will match your crew, not an average.
Deep cleans, move-outs and extras
Price special cleans as a multiple of your standard price, then check it against a timed job. Our default price list starts at 1.6 times for deep cleans and 1.9 times for move-in and move-out cleans. Price extras like inside the oven, inside the fridge and interior windows separately, based on the minutes they add.
Raise prices before you lose money
If your cleaners’ pay goes up, your prices should too. Re-run this calculator whenever wages, insurance or fuel change, and review your recurring clients’ prices at least once a year. Use the cleaning business profit calculator to see what a change does to your monthly profit.
FAQ
House cleaning pricing questions
How much should I charge for house cleaning?
Charge enough to cover your cleaner’s pay for the time the job takes, your supplies, your share of overhead and a profit. Divide labor plus supplies by one minus your overhead and profit percentages. With $22/hour pay, 25% overhead and 15% profit, a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home that takes about 4 hours comes to about $170.
Should I charge by the hour or a flat rate?
Most residential cleaning clients prefer a flat price they know in advance, and flat pricing rewards your team for working efficiently. Hourly pricing can make sense for first-time deep cleans or unusual jobs where you cannot estimate the time well.
How do I price a deep clean or move-out clean?
Time one, then price it the same way. Deep and move-out cleans usually take much longer than a standard clean, so many owners use a multiplier on the standard price. Our default price list uses 1.6 times for deep cleans and 1.9 times for move-outs as a starting point.
Should recurring clients get a discount?
Often yes, because a home cleaned every week or two takes less time per visit and fills your schedule predictably. Keep the discount smaller than the time you save so your margin holds.
What should I include in overhead?
Payroll taxes, workers’ compensation, liability insurance, software, phone, fuel and vehicle costs, marketing, and the unpaid time you spend on quotes, scheduling and admin.