How to Price Cleaning Jobs Without Guessing

Step 1: estimate labor hours

Start with the time the job should require and multiply it by the number of cleaners. Two cleaners working for three hours creates six labor hours, not three. Use your own production history whenever possible instead of relying only on a national average.

Condition matters. A maintained recurring home, first-time deep clean and move-out clean can require very different labor even at the same square footage.

Step 2: use loaded labor cost

The cleaner wage is not always the complete labor cost. Employer payroll costs, workers compensation and other labor-related expenses can increase the amount the business actually spends for each paid hour.

A simple planning approach is to apply a payroll-burden percentage to the base wage. Use your real accounting figures when available.

Step 3: add direct job expenses

Add supplies, consumables, parking, tolls and travel costs that belong to the job. Small expenses are easy to ignore, but repeated across many jobs they can materially reduce margin.

If an expense varies by job, treat it as a direct cost. If it supports the business as a whole, it may fit better under overhead.

Step 4: allocate overhead

Insurance, software, office expenses, marketing, administration and other overhead must eventually be paid by the jobs the business sells. One practical method is to estimate monthly overhead and divide it by the number of billable jobs you expect to complete.

The result is not perfect accounting, but it prevents the common mistake of pricing only from wages and supplies.

Step 5: calculate the price for your target margin

Profit margin is profit divided by selling price. If total job cost is C and the target margin is M, the selling price is C ÷ (1 − M).

Do not simply add 30% to cost when you want a 30% margin. Adding 30% is a markup calculation and produces a lower margin. The distinction becomes important as costs rise.

• Cost $120 with 30% markup = $156 selling price
• Cost $120 with 30% target margin = about $171.43 selling price
• Profit margin measures profit as a percentage of revenue
• Markup measures profit as a percentage of cost

Step 6: check scope and local reality

A formula gives you a cost-based floor and target. The final quote still needs to reflect the actual scope, access, condition, frequency, special requests and what your local market will support.

Document assumptions so the customer knows what is included. This reduces scope creep and gives you better data for the next quote.

Track estimated margin against actual results

After the job, compare estimated hours with actual hours and update your production assumptions. Pricing improves when every completed job becomes feedback for the next estimate.

For more detailed job-margin tracking, 2H Clean links to MaidMargin as a companion resource. The free calculators on this site are planning tools and do not replace bookkeeping or professional financial advice.

Use a minimum service charge when small jobs still create fixed work

A small clean can still require travel, communication, setup, payment processing and admin. If those fixed activities make very small jobs uneconomic, calculate the minimum revenue required for a service call instead of pricing only by square footage or estimated minutes.

A minimum is a business rule, not a universal market number. Build it from your own cost structure and service area, then explain the minimum clearly before the booking.

Commercial pricing needs a separate contract check

Commercial work adds frequency, scope documentation and contract risk to the pricing decision. Build the per-visit economics first, then convert the number to weekly or monthly frequency and keep periodic tasks explicit. For a worked commercial example, use the dedicated commercial contract pricing answer.