Estimating House Cleaning Costs: 7 Steps to Set Your Rates

How Much To Charge For House Cleaning?

The average rate of house cleaning service is $25 to $90, which is an hourly cost for a single cleaner. You can check the standard rate for a house cleaning business. Then set your hourly charges accordingly.

Your work experience helps you estimate the profit in your business. If you are new in the house cleaning business, you need to observe the established ones set up your markup in this business.

Many factors may affect the cleaning process and cleaning costs accordingly.

 Charges may vary depending upon the number of factors:

  • Size of  a house
  • Type of cleaning (deep cleaning or basic cleaning)
  • Condition of a house 
  • Location of a house
  • Demand for work
  • Frequency of cleaning (weekly service, monthly service, yearly service)
  • Experience
  • Cost of supplies
  • All overhead costs

This article covers:

Seven easy steps to estimate the house cleaning job:

These steps will help you to estimate the charges for a house cleaning job.

1.Visit the house:

If you plan to estimate the charges for house cleaning, you must visit the house first. 

It will help you see the:

  •  condition of a house
  • area per square footage
  • work required
  • deep house cleaning or basic house cleaning
  • overhead costs

These factors are essential to view before estimating the charges and markup for a house cleaning business.

2.Estimating time:

After visiting a house, you can easily estimate the time. Time depends on the area and condition of a home. 

Let’s say 1000 square feet of an area requires 1.5 hours for cleaning.

Then 4000 square feet of an area takes 4.5 hours to 6 hours for cleaning.

Besides, a house’s condition also plays a vital role in estimating cleaning time and charges. Dirtier places and difficult locations may take extra time to access and work. That is why charges for such factors may vary from an average hourly rate.

3.Labor cost calculation:

Labor cost is directly proportional to hourly rates. Once you set the hourly rates, then you can easily calculate labor costs.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, $11.24 per hour is an average for cleaners who service buildings and dwellings.

This number will change for higher states like New York, between $14.16 and $18.41.

For example,

 A 4000 square foot house that takes four hours to clean, which is a basic service estimate. You’re in New York, so you’re paying one cleaner the average price per hour, that is $14.16.  

  • $14.16 x 4 = $56.64

4.Tax factors:

If you have a staff, then payroll taxes are applicable, which you can estimate by using the above example:

Taking the example above, your labor cost is $56.64  

  • $56.64 x 0.18 = $10.19 payroll cost
  • $56.64 + $10.19 = $66.83 total hourly rate so far

5.Supplies factor:

Expenses of cleaning supplies make up 6 percent of the factor. It can be estimated as:

  • $66.83 x 0.06 = $4.01  
  • $66.83 + $4.01 = $70.84 total hourly rate so far

6.Overhead factor:

Overhead is not directly linking with the job, but it should be considered an influential factor. It may include marketing and rental charges etc.

Must add 50% to cover up the costs of marketing and office rent etc.

$66.83 x 0.50 = $33.42

$66.83 + $33.42 = $100.25 total hourly rate so far

7.Set your Markup:

If you are looking up for a profit, then you need to set a markup. It can be between 25 to 35%. You can change this amount depending on the situation. 

If you are new and want to establish good terms with your clients, you can lower the markup. But if you are good enough in your field, then you must set a high markup.

Do not lower your price too much than a market value.

 $100.25 x 0.33 = $33.08

$100.25 + $33.08 = $133.33 final hourly rate

Sales tax must be added in the estimate at the top.

In the case of a service-based business, tax is not applicable.

People also ask:

The Current Rates for House Cleaning:

An average cleaning services charge $25 to $90 per hour for a single cleaner.

You can check the federal charges for a house cleaning business. Then set your hourly charges accordingly.

Many factors may affect the cleaning process and charge accordingly. Additional services help you earn extra income like window cleaning, laundry cleaning, dusting, etc. You can charge for extra services you provide to your customers.

 Charges may vary depending upon the number of factors:

Size of a house, Type of cleaning (deep or primary), Condition of a home, location of a place, Demand for work, additional costs for extra services and experience.

If you are looking for more helpful resources and guidance, then check out our resource hub.

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