Pricing is the question every new cleaner gets stuck on. Charge too much and nobody books. Charge too little and you end up working 50 hours a week for less than minimum wage once you count driving and supplies. This guide walks through how most cleaners price their work, what the typical ranges look like, and how to quote your first jobs with confidence.
Typical house cleaning prices
Most residential cleaners in the US charge somewhere between $100 and $250 for a standard recurring clean of an average home. Where you land depends on the size of the home, how dirty it is, and what people in your area are used to paying. Big cities and wealthy suburbs sit at the top of that range. Rural areas and small towns sit lower.
- 1 bed, 1 bath apartment: about $90 to $130
- 2 bed, 2 bath: about $120 to $170
- 3 bed, 2 bath: about $150 to $220
- 4 bed, 3 bath or larger: about $200 to $300 and up
Treat these as starting points, not rules. The fastest way to find your local rate is to request quotes from three or four cleaning services near you and see where they land.
Flat rate, hourly or by square foot?
Flat rate by home size is what most customers prefer, because they know the price before you arrive. You quote by bedrooms, bathrooms and rough square footage, then adjust for pets, clutter and extras.
Hourly pricing (often $30 to $60 per cleaner per hour) protects you on jobs that are hard to judge, like move-outs or homes you have never seen. The downside is that customers can feel like the clock is running against them.
Per square foot works well for larger homes and commercial spaces. Many cleaners use it behind the scenes to build their flat-rate price sheet, then show customers a simple number.
A good approach for beginners: time yourself on your first few jobs, work out what you earned per hour after supplies and driving, and adjust your flat rates until that number is where you want it.
Price the first clean differently
The first visit almost always takes longer. Baseboards, built-up soap scum and dust on top of everything add up. Most cleaners charge a deep clean or first clean rate that is 1.5 to 2 times the regular price, then drop to the recurring rate from the second visit on.
Recurring customers are the heart of a cleaning business, so reward them. A common structure is a small discount for weekly service, a smaller one for every two weeks, and full price for monthly or one-time cleans.
Add-ons that raise your average ticket
- Inside the oven or fridge
- Interior windows
- Laundry and changing bed linens
- Inside cabinets
- Move-in and move-out cleans
- Post-construction or post-party cleanups
Listing add-ons with clear prices on your quote form makes it easy for customers to say yes, and it keeps you from doing extra work for free.
Common pricing mistakes
- Forgetting drive time. Twenty minutes each way between jobs is unpaid time. Keep your service area tight or add a travel fee.
- Not counting supplies. Products, cloths, vacuum bags and wear on equipment are real costs. Many cleaners set aside 5% to 10% of each job.
- Leaving out taxes and insurance. As a self-employed cleaner you owe self-employment tax on top of income tax. Price as if a chunk of every job belongs to the IRS, because it does.
- Never raising prices. Plan a small yearly increase and tell existing clients a month ahead.
How to give quotes without visiting every home
Walk-throughs eat time you are not paid for. Many cleaners now use an online quote form that asks for bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, pets and frequency, then gives a price range on the spot. You confirm the final price after the first visit. This saves hours a week and lets customers book at 10pm when they are actually thinking about it.
Want the website and quotes done for you?
We are building a house cleaning starter kit with a website that gives instant quotes by home size, recurring booking, a supply checklist and a first-10-clients plan. It gets built once 25 people vote for it, and voters get 20% off at launch. Vote for the house cleaning kit, or read the full guide on how to start a house cleaning business.
Prices here are rough US ranges to help you plan. They vary a lot by area, so check what local services charge before you set yours.
Leave a Reply