Pricing guide
How to Price Cleaning Jobs: How Much to Charge for House and Commercial Cleaning
Knowing how to price cleaning jobs is the skill that decides whether your cleaning business pays you or slowly eats your weekends. Most new owners copy the cheapest competitor and hope volume fixes it, and volume alone rarely does. This guide gives you a four-step method for working out how much to charge, current cleaning rates for homes and offices, and a checklist you can run before every quote.
Updated September 8, 2026
Why accurate pricing of every cleaning job matters more than volume
Every cleaning job has a real cost: your labor, the supplies you burn through, the drive, insurance, taxes, and the hour you spent quoting it. If your cleaning price does not cover all of that plus a margin, you lose money on every visit, and more visits just means losing money faster. The good news is the math is simple once you know your numbers. You need two of them: your true hourly cost and your production rate.
Step 1: Find your true hourly rate
Start with what you want to take home per hour. Then add everything the client does not see. A solo cleaner who wants 25 dollars an hour in their pocket usually needs to bill 45 to 60 dollars an hour once you count supplies (about 2 to 4 dollars per job hour), drive time between jobs (often 20 percent of a working day), self-employment taxes, insurance, card fees, and the unpaid time spent quoting and scheduling. If you have employees, use their wage plus payroll taxes and workers comp, then add your overhead per labor hour on top.
| Cost line | Solo cleaner example | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Take-home pay target | 25 dollars per hour | What you want in your pocket |
| Self-employment and income taxes | 8 dollars per hour | Roughly 25 to 30 percent of pay; ask a tax professional |
| Supplies and consumables | 3 dollars per hour | Cloths, chemicals, liners, vacuum bags |
| Drive time and fuel | 6 dollars per hour | Unpaid travel spread across billable hours |
| Insurance, phone, software, cards | 4 dollars per hour | Annual overhead divided by billable hours |
| Profit margin (15 percent) | 7 dollars per hour | Money for repairs, slow weeks, growth |
| Hourly rate to bill | 53 dollars per hour | Round to 55 for quoting |
Step 2: Measure your production rate
Your production rate is how much you clean per hour. For homes, time yourself on a few real jobs and note the square footage, bedrooms, and bathrooms. A typical solo cleaner does a standard cleaning of 1,000 to 1,200 square feet per hour in a maintained home, and closer to 400 to 600 square feet per hour on a deep clean. For offices, production rates run 2,500 to 4,000 square feet per hour for general office space with light trash and vacuuming, and much slower for restrooms and kitchens. Track your actual numbers for a month. They are worth more than any industry chart.
Step 3: Choose a pricing model and pricing structure
Hourly pricing is easiest to start with and safest when you do not know a home yet, but clients dislike open-ended bills and you get penalized for getting faster. Flat rate per visit is what most established cleaning companies use for residential work. Per square foot is the standard for commercial cleaning jobs, usually converted to a monthly price. Per room pricing works for simple, uniform homes but breaks down when one bedroom is an office packed with clutter. Most owners land on a mix: hourly for first-time deep cleans, a fixed price for recurring visits, and square footage for offices.
Step 4: Calculate the cleaning price with a pricing calculator or by hand
The formula is the same for every job: estimated hours times your billable rate, plus any add-ons, plus a bump for difficulty. For a 2,000 square foot home at 1,100 square feet per hour, a standard clean is about 1.8 hours of work. At 55 dollars an hour that is roughly 100 dollars, so you would quote 110 to 130 dollars flat with a little cushion. A deep clean of the same house at 500 square feet per hour is 4 hours, or 220 dollars before add-ons like inside the oven or fridge.
How to Price Cleaning Jobs: How Much to Charge for House and Commercial Cleaning
Before you quote: your numbers
Do these once, then update every six months or whenever a cost changes.
- Ask a tax professional about your rate. Self-employment tax surprises a lot of first-year owners.
Before you quote: the job
- Monthly clients take almost as long as a first visit each time. Price them higher per visit than biweekly.
Residential pricing checklist
Commercial cleaning pricing checklist
Offices, clinics, retail, and small warehouses. Priced per month based on square footage, frequency, and production rates.
- Our janitorial bidding guide has a full worked example with these numbers.
Delivering the quote
Average house cleaning rates, average commercial cleaning rates, and how much to charge
People searching how much to charge for house cleaning want a number, so here is the honest version: average house cleaning rates in most US markets run from about $25 to $50 per cleaner per hour, and average commercial cleaning rates land between $0.05 and $0.25 a square foot per visit depending on cleaning frequency and building type. House cleaning prices for a regular clean of a three-bedroom home usually fall in a $120 to $250 price range, while a deep clean or a specialty service such as fridge cleaning, window cleaning, or green cleaning carries a higher price. Commercial cleaning prices vary with frequency of cleaning: a five-night-a-week office costs less per visit than a once-a-week one because the space stays cleaner.
The average price matters less than your own cost of cleaning. Learn how to price cleaning by working the formula above, then check your result against the average cleaning rate for your area so you know whether you are a budget or a premium professional cleaning service. Many cleaning businesses use cleaning packages (basic cleaning, standard, comprehensive cleaning) with additional cleaning add-ons priced per cleaner per hour, because packages let you price your cleaning services once and quote fast. Cleaning business software can track cleaning time per job and flag when a house cleaning job is drifting unprofitable. Whether you run a small cleaning business or one of the larger commercial companies, the way to price is the same: know your cost, know the market, and determine the right price for each of the different types of cleaning you offer. Offer a free cleaning estimate after a walkthrough, never over the phone.
Typical house cleaning prices and commercial cleaning prices in 2026
These are ranges from cleaning companies across mid-sized US markets. Big cities run higher, rural areas lower. Use them to sanity check your own math, not to replace it.
| Service | Common price range | Pricing structure |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly, solo cleaner | 40 to 65 dollars per hour | Hourly |
| Hourly, two-person team | 75 to 120 dollars per hour | Hourly |
| Standard cleaning, 2,000 sq ft home | 120 to 220 dollars | Flat rate |
| Deep clean, 2,000 sq ft home | 250 to 450 dollars | Per job |
| Move-out cleaning, 2,000 sq ft home | 300 to 550 dollars | Per job |
| Per room pricing | 25 to 50 dollars each | Per room |
| Office cleaning | 0.08 to 0.25 dollars per square foot per visit | Per square foot |
| Carpet cleaning | 0.25 to 0.50 dollars a square foot | By area |
| Window cleaning (interior) | 5 to 12 dollars per pane | Price per unit |
Add-on price list and cleaning packages example
| Add-on | Typical price | Extra time |
|---|---|---|
| Inside oven | 25 to 45 dollars | 30 to 45 minutes |
| Inside fridge | 25 to 40 dollars | 20 to 30 minutes |
| Interior windows | 5 to 12 dollars per window | 5 to 10 minutes each |
| Laundry (wash, dry, fold one load) | 20 to 30 dollars | Wait time varies |
| Baseboards, whole home | 40 to 80 dollars | 45 to 90 minutes |
| Inside cabinets (empty) | 50 to 100 dollars | 1 to 2 hours |
Pricing strategies and mistakes that sink cleaning business owners
- Copying the lowest price in town. You do not know their costs, and they may be losing money too.
- Forgetting drive time. Three jobs a day with 30 minutes between them is 1.5 unpaid hours.
- Quoting a deep clean at a standard cleaning cost because the client said 'it is not that bad.'
- Discounting recurring work before the client has actually committed to a schedule.
- Never raising prices. A 5 to 8 percent increase every year is normal and expected.
- Using a free online pricing calculator without plugging in your own labor cost and overhead.
How to price cleaning services for different types of cleaning jobs, from a house cleaning job to a commercial cleaning job
The four-step formula is the same for every type of cleaning, but the production rate and the add-ons change. Here is how the common cleaning jobs compare, with the pricing model most cleaning businesses use for each one.
| Type of cleaning job | Usual pricing model | Typical range | What changes the price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard home clean (recurring) | Flat rate per visit | 120 to 250 dollars per visit | Square footage, bathrooms, pets, frequency |
| Deep cleaning | Per job or hourly | 250 to 500 dollars | Level of buildup, inside appliances, blinds, baseboards |
| Move-in or move-out cleaning | Per job | 300 to 600 dollars | Empty home, inside cabinets, carpets |
| Airbnb and vacation rental turnover | Per turnover | 80 to 200 dollars | Laundry, restocking, same-day turnaround |
| Post-construction cleaning | By square footage or hourly | 0.15 to 0.50 dollars per square foot | Dust volume, debris removal, windows, multiple passes |
| Office and commercial | By square footage, converted to monthly | 0.08 to 0.25 dollars per square foot per visit | Restroom count, floor type, visits per week |
| Carpet cleaning | By square footage or per room | 0.25 to 0.50 dollars a square foot | Stains, pet odor, furniture moving |
| Window cleaning | Per pane or per window | 5 to 15 dollars per window | Height, exterior access, screens and tracks |
Market research matters after the math, not before it. Once you have your own number, look at what local competitors charge on their websites, on Thumbtack, Angi, or HomeAdvisor listings, and in national average reports, and decide where you sit: budget, mid-range, or premium. Location moves prices more than anything else, so a national average is only a rough guide. Package pricing (basic, standard, and deep cleaning bundles) makes quoting faster and makes the client feel in control. Discounts belong on recurring weekly or biweekly work only, never on a one-time job. Raise prices for existing customers by 5 to 8 percent once a year with 30 days' notice, and put every quote, estimate, and invoice in writing so the client knows the value they are paying for. Pricing calculators and software help, but only when the labor costs, overhead, and markup inside them are yours.
Common questions
How much should I charge per square foot for cleaning?
For residential cleaning, 0.08 to 0.15 dollars per square foot per visit for a standard clean and 0.15 to 0.30 for a deep clean is common. For office cleaning, 0.08 to 0.25 a square foot per visit depending on frequency and restroom count. Post-construction runs 0.15 to 0.50. Always check the square footage number against hours times your rate.
How much should I charge for an Airbnb or vacation rental cleaning?
Most turnover cleaners charge 80 to 200 dollars per turnover depending on size, laundry, and restocking, and many hosts pass that cleaning fee to guests. Price the laundry and the supplies separately from the cleaning time, add a surcharge for same-day turnarounds, and set a cancellation policy because bookings change.
Should I charge hourly or a flat rate for homes?
Use hourly for the first deep clean of a home you have never seen, then switch to a flat rate per visit for recurring work. Clients prefer a predictable price, and a fixed price rewards you for getting faster instead of penalizing you. Base it on your hourly rate times your measured time, plus a small cushion.
How much do cleaning businesses charge for residential versus commercial cleaning services?
Cleaning services cost more per hour on the residential side and less per square foot on the commercial side. Residential cleaning and a typical house cleaning service are priced per visit or per hour; the average cost of house cleaning for a standard three-bedroom home is roughly $150 to $250, so house cleaning cost per visit is what most homeowners compare. Commercial cleaning services charge for commercial cleaning by the square foot or by monthly contract, because pricing commercial cleaning jobs depends on frequency. Pricing strategies differ, but cleaning business owners across the cleaning industry price cleaning services the same basic way: labor, cleaning products, and overhead, plus margin. The cost to clean a house can vary widely by region, so a professional cleaning company should price its services to its own numbers, not a national average, and any commercial cleaning business should charge for cleaning services the same way.
How do I price cleaning jobs?
Work out your billable hourly rate (pay plus taxes, supplies, drive time, overhead, and margin), estimate hours for each cleaning task using your production rate, then multiply and add any add-ons. Quote residential work per visit and commercial work as a monthly price based on square footage.
Is 20 dollars an hour good for cleaning?
As an employee wage in many markets, 20 dollars an hour is reasonable. As a billing rate for your own cleaning business, it is too low. After taxes, supplies, driving, and insurance, 20 dollars an hour leaves you with roughly 10 to 12 dollars, and no room for a slow week or a broken vacuum.
What is a reasonable price for a cleaner?
For a solo, insured house cleaner supplying their own products, 40 to 65 dollars an hour is the common range in the US, which works out to 120 to 220 dollars for a standard clean of an average home. Prices run higher in large metros and for deep cleans, move-outs, and homes with pets.
How much should I charge for a 2,000 square foot house?
For a standard recurring cleaning, most cleaning companies charge 120 to 220 dollars. A deep clean of the same house runs 250 to 450 dollars, and a move-out clean 300 to 550 dollars. Adjust for pets, clutter, bathrooms (more than two adds time), and how long since the last professional clean.
How do I calculate labor costs for cleaning jobs?
Take the hourly wage, add payroll taxes and workers comp (often 10 to 15 percent combined, but ask a licensed professional for your state), then divide your monthly overhead by total monthly labor hours and add that per-hour figure. That gives you a loaded labor cost per hour, which is the number you multiply by estimated hours.
What are the common pricing models for cleaning services?
Hourly, flat rate per visit, per square foot, and per room. Hourly is safest for unknown jobs, a fixed per-visit price is what clients prefer for recurring residential work, square footage is the standard for commercial work, and room-based pricing works for simple uniform homes. Most owners use two or three depending on the job.
How do I set a profit margin for my cleaning business?
Add 10 to 20 percent on top of your fully loaded costs. That margin is not your paycheck; your pay is already in the labor line. Margin is what covers equipment replacement, slow months, and growth. Commercial contracts often run 15 to 25 percent because of the longer commitment.
What factors affect cleaning service pricing?
Square footage, number of bathrooms, floor types, frequency, pets, clutter, level of soil, add-ons, travel distance, and whether the work is after hours. Location matters too. The same job in a major city can cost 30 to 50 percent more than in a small town.