How to price cleaning services: What to charge in 2025

A cleaning price has to cover three things before it makes a profit: the direct cost of each job (supplies, equipment wear, gas and card fees, roughly $10 to $28 a home plus 2.5% to 3% of the payment), your monthly overhead ($500 to $1,300 for a solo residential cleaner), and your own time. Add them up first.

Direct costs per job

• Cleaning supplies: $3–$8 per home
• Equipment depreciation (vacuum, mop system): $2–$5 per home
• Gas/mileage to and from the job: $5–$15 per job
• Credit card processing: 2.5–3% of the payment

Monthly overhead

Typical monthly overhead for a solo residential cleaner:$500–$1,300

Your time value

As the owner, your time is your primary expense. To calculate your required hourly rate:

(Monthly overhead × 12 + desired annual income) / annual billable hours = hourly rate

Example

Required hourly rate:$46/hour

If you're cleaning a 3-bedroom home in 2.5 hours and charging $100, you're earning $40/hour minus costs. That might not be enough once you factor in everything.

Cleaning is priced three ways: a flat rate per home, which suits residential work and is what most clients prefer; an hourly rate ($25 to $50 solo, $50 to $85 for a two-person team) for scope that is unclear or varies; and a rate per square foot ($0.05 to $0.20), which suits commercial cleaning.

Flat rate per home (best for residential)

This is what most residential clients prefer. They want to know exactly what they'll pay.

How to calculate a flat rate

1. Estimate cleaning time based on home size and condition
2. Multiply by your hourly rate target
3. Add supply costs
4. Add drive time value
5. Round to a clean number

Standard residential cleaning rates (2025)

Notes

• Weekly clients get the lowest rate (most frequent = cleaner home = faster work)
• First-time or deep cleans run 1.5–2x the regular rate
• Homes with pets, lots of clutter, or heavy cooking residue take longer

Hourly rate (best for varying or unclear scope)

Hourly works when:

• You're cleaning a new client's home for the first time and aren't sure how long it'll take
• The scope varies from visit to visit
• You're doing commercial cleaning with a defined time window

Drawback: Clients worry about clock-watching, and you're penalized for being efficient.

Per square foot (best for commercial)

Rates: $0.05–$0.20 per square foot, depending on:

• Type of space (office, medical, retail, industrial)
• Cleaning frequency (daily, weekly, monthly)
• Scope of work (basic vs. detailed)
• Time of day (after-hours costs more)

Example: A 3,000 sq ft office cleaned twice weekly at $0.10/sq ft = $300/visit = $2,400/month.

Commercial contracts are typically higher volume and more predictable, but they often require more insurance coverage and may expect employee background checks.

Specialty services are priced on their own: a deep clean at 1.5 to 2 times the regular rate, move-in or move-out cleans at $200 to $500, post-construction cleanup at $0.15 to $0.50 a square foot, and add-ons like oven or refrigerator cleaning at $25 to $50 each. The full list:

Specialty services are where your margins can really improve. A $35 oven cleaning add-on takes 20 minutes and costs you almost nothing in supplies.

Quote your first 20 to 30 clients in person: tour the home, ask what matters most to them, note pets, stairs and other complications, estimate your time and give a price range you can adjust after the first visits. With experience, you can quote standard homes from bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage and photos.

The walk-through

For your first 20–30 clients, do in-person walk-throughs:

1. Tour the home and note size, number of rooms, flooring types, general cleanliness
2. Ask what they expect: What rooms matter most? Any areas to skip or focus on?
3. Note complications: Pets, stairs, heavy furniture, specific products they want used
4. Estimate your time: How long will this take you (or your team)?
5. Give a price range: "For a home like this, biweekly cleaning runs $175–$195. I'd recommend starting at $195 for the first two visits, and we can adjust once I know exactly how long it takes."

Virtual quotes

As you gain experience, you can quote many homes based on:

• Number of bedrooms and bathrooms
• Square footage
• Pet situation
• Photos the client sends you

This saves time and works well for standard homes. For large, unusual, or luxury homes, always do an in-person walk-through.

Raise your prices when your schedule is full and you're turning clients away, when you haven't raised them in over a year, when gas, supplies or insurance cost more, or when you consistently clean faster than you estimated. Give existing clients 30 days' written notice, and charge new clients the new rate right away.

Signs it's time

• Your schedule is full and you're turning down new clients
• You haven't raised rates in over a year
• Your costs have increased (gas, supplies, insurance)
• You're consistently cleaning faster than you estimated
• You're underpaid compared to the local market

How to raise prices

• Give clients 30 days written notice
• Explain briefly: "Due to increased operating costs, our rates will increase by $X starting [date]."
• Apply new rates to all new clients immediately

For example, a 10% price increase with a 5% client loss still means higher revenue and less work.

1. Pricing by the hour and cleaning slow: Hourly pricing creates bad incentives. Flat rate rewards speed and efficiency.
2. Not charging for deep/first cleans: The first visit always takes longer. Charge accordingly.
3. Matching the cheapest competitor: There will always be someone cheaper. Compete on reliability, quality, and professionalism instead.
4. Forgetting drive time: A $120 house that's 30 minutes away is less profitable than a $100 house that's 5 minutes away.
5. Free re-cleans with no limits: Offer a satisfaction guarantee, but if a client consistently asks for re-cleans, you have a scope or expectation problem that needs a conversation.
6. Not tracking time: If you don't know how long each home takes, you can't price accurately. Track it.

After every cleaning, know three numbers: how long the job took including drive time, the effective hourly rate it paid you, and whether the client is profitable. Tracked over a few weeks, they show you which clients to keep, which to re-price and which are costing you money. For each job, record:

• How long did it take (including drive time)?
• What was your effective hourly rate?
• Is this client profitable?

Use this data to identify your most and least profitable clients.

• Know your true costs before setting prices
• Flat-rate pricing is best for residential cleaning
• Price based on home size, frequency, and condition
• Charge more for first-time cleans, deep cleans, and add-on services
• Raise prices at least once a year
• Track your time on every job to identify what's actually profitable