About the Cleaning Service Pricing Calculator
Guessing at cleaning prices is the fastest way to work hard for nothing. This cleaning service pricing calculator builds a price from the ground up: it estimates labor hours from the square footage and your crew’s production rate (square feet cleaned per person per hour), costs that labor with wages and payroll burden, adds supplies, travel and overhead per visit, and then sets the price that delivers your target profit margin.
It works for residential maid services, solo house cleaners, janitorial companies bidding on offices and move-out or deep-clean specialists. Production rates vary enormously with the job: a maintenance clean of a tidy home might run 600–1,000 sq ft per cleaner-hour, a deep or move-out clean 300–500, and a routine office clean 2,000–4,000. Time a few of your own jobs and use your real number — that matters more than any rule of thumb.
Results include the time on site for your crew, the effective revenue per labor hour, the price per square foot and the monthly contract value for recurring service. Margin here is profit as a share of the price, after labor and job costs.
With the default inputs, the price per visit is $121.07. Change any value above to recalculate instantly.
How to use the cleaning service pricing calculator
- 1Enter the square footage and your crew’s production rate for this type of clean.
- 2Set the crew size and any extra labor hours for add-on tasks.
- 3Enter hourly pay and labor burden, then supplies, travel and overhead per visit.
- 4Choose your target profit margin and how often the client wants service.
- 5Quote the price per visit, and check revenue per labor hour against your goals.
Formula and method
Labor hours are the area divided by your production rate in square feet per cleaner-hour, plus any add-on tasks. Splitting those hours across the crew gives the time on site. Labor cost multiplies the hours by the hourly wage and adds the labor burden — employer payroll taxes, workers’ compensation insurance and benefits.
Supplies, travel and overhead per visit are added to labor to get the full cost of the job. Dividing cost by (1 − margin) sets a price where profit is the chosen percentage of the price, not of cost: a 30% margin on $84.75 of cost gives $121.07, of which $36.32 is profit. Monthly revenue multiplies the visit price by 52 ÷ 12 for weekly, 26 ÷ 12 for biweekly or 1 for monthly service.
- Rate
- Square feet cleaned per cleaner per hour
- Burden
- Payroll taxes, insurance and benefits as a share of wages
- Margin
- Profit as a share of the price
Worked examples
Biweekly clean of a 2,000 sq ft home
At 800 sq ft per cleaner-hour the home needs 2.5 labor hours — 1 hour 15 minutes for two cleaners. Labor at $18 plus 15% burden costs $51.75; adding $33 of supplies, travel and overhead gives $84.75. A 30% margin sets the price at $121.07, about $262 a month on a biweekly schedule.
Weekly office cleaning bid
A 10,000 sq ft office at 3,000 sq ft per hour takes 3.33 labor hours. Labor costs $62.93 and total job cost is $117.93, so a 25% margin gives $157.24 per visit — about $681 a month at 52 visits a year.
One-time deep clean with add-ons
A deep clean at 400 sq ft per hour plus 1.5 hours of add-ons is 7.75 labor hours, about 2.6 hours for a crew of three. Labor costs $178.25 and the job costs $211.25 in total; a 35% margin prices it at $325.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I charge to clean a house?+
Work out how long the job takes, multiply by your fully loaded labor cost, add supplies, travel and overhead, then divide by one minus your target margin. Flat per-square-foot rates ignore condition and clutter, so price from time wherever you can.
How many square feet can a cleaner clean per hour?+
It depends on the job. Routine maintenance cleans of homes often run 600–1,000 sq ft per cleaner-hour, deep or move-out cleans 300–500, and open-plan office cleaning 2,000–4,000. Time your own jobs to find your real rate.
What profit margin should a cleaning business have?+
Many residential and commercial cleaning companies aim for a 20–35% margin after labor and job costs. Below that, a few jobs that run long or a single damaged item can wipe out a month’s profit.
What is labor burden?+
Labor burden is the employer cost on top of wages: payroll taxes such as Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, and any benefits. For hourly cleaning staff it commonly adds 12–25% to wages.
Should recurring clients get a lower price?+
Often yes. A home cleaned weekly or biweekly stays cleaner, so each visit is quicker — raise your production rate for recurring jobs rather than applying an arbitrary discount, and charge the first visit as a deep clean.
Results are estimates for educational purposes and are not financial advice. Rates, fees and terms vary — confirm with your lender or a licensed advisor before making decisions.