An Easy Guide to Know How to Estimate House Cleaning Job

Are you confused about how much to charge for residential cleaning services? Though this business earns a healthy profit, it also offers tough competition. There are myriads of contractors that offer similar services and attract potential customers. Hence it is essential to have a proper estimate with clear terms and conditions. Estimating for a house cleaning job is a tedious task and needs to be done accurately to gain customer trust and satisfaction.

House cleaning offers a new life to home and it is not easy to set up such a commercial business. Customers shop around for a suitable estimate before deciding on one. Hence, you need to be precise and appropriate while estimating to cut down your time in calculation. Therefore, we have provided you with a simple guide to give you a clear idea about how to estimate house cleaning jobs.

Check out this article to know more!

Take a quick look to know what all is covered in this article:

• Pay a visit to your job site
• Figure out your time consumed
• Type of cleaning
• Calculate labor cost
• Factors that get included in the cost of cleaning
• Various ways to price House cleaning services
• Guide for pricing house cleaning jobs
• House cleaning estimate template

Take a look at the section below to learn the strategies to estimate the house cleaning services prices.

How much to charge for house cleaning

Estimating a house cleaning job isn’t an easy task. To survive in the competitive market with a decent living wage you must be exact with your estimates. Keep the job layout ready, which should have a precise worklist with individual work rates. Before you start your own business it is important to know what are the factors that can give you a decent revenue or help you with your job estimate.

1. Pay a visit to your job site

It’s best to avoid giving estimates over the phone without visiting the job site. Doing so may mislead your customer and create unnecessary misunderstandings. When you visit the cleaning site, be sure to analyze the factors mentioned in the section below. 

Size

It is quite obvious the larger the cleaning space of the house the more time you will take to cleanse it. Hence, the size of the house is a significant factor that should be considered while estimating a house cleaning job. The estimate will include the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, open areas, kitchens, and other spaces that require cleaning. So keep in mind to charge according to the size for which you need to visit your client’s home or commercial exterior.

Condition of the house

The state of the house is an accountable feature while making an estimate. In this case, your clients may mislead you to get a lower bid. The dirtier the house the more you must charge, simple! Do remember to visit the place to avoid running into losses.

Location

The more distance you cover the more you should charge. As this would reduce your overhead costs. You can even try out optimizing the route for better efficiency. Try scheduling the services for your local clients on the same day to minimize your travel costs.

Now you know why it is so important to visit the site otherwise you end up earning less than what you deserve.

2. Figure out your time consumed

To learn how to estimate house cleaning jobs, you need to keep track of the working hours. This depends upon the size of the home and the type of cleaning. The more time the more will be the cost. Implement proper bookkeeping methodology to understand how much time is involved in different types of cleaning. Also, do visit the client’s location to pair up accurate prices with the time.

3. Type of cleaning

Your estimate will also include the type of cleansing techniques you implement. Deep cleansing would involve more time and equipment, hence you must charge more. Similarly, charge regular rates for simple cleaning.

Average house cleaning cost for different types of cleaning in the U.S.

• Commercial Cleaning: $75 – $ 115 per hour
• House cleaning: $25 – $45 per hour
• Office Cleaning: $35 – $45 per hour for a small-sized office. For larger workspaces, the rate starts from $.50 per square foot.
• Deep Cleaning: It is generally much higher and ranges between $250 – $370.

4. Calculate Labor Cost

Labor cost rate varies with place, hour, and size of the room. So while making an estimate be thorough about the per-hour labor cost in your region and charge accordingly. As per the US standards house cleaners who service buildings and dwellings earn around $11.24 per hour. The statistics show that the rates vary between $18 to $15 per hour and these rates are on the higher side in some states like New York, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Nevada, and D.C.

Calculating your labor cost is simple mathematics. Let’s show you how!

Supposedly, you complete the cleaning of a 2000-square-foot house in New York in two hours. New York is one of the top-paying states the labor rate per hour goes up to around $18.

So, how much do you pay one cleaner after the work is done? $18 × 2 = $36

So while making an estimate be thorough about the per-hour labor cost in your region and charge accordingly.

5. Factors that get included in the cost of cleaning

Payroll taxes, expenses in supplies, and overhead costs are the additional factors that should come within your estimate.

Taxes

Payroll taxes referred to as FICA is a good amount that gets added to your estimated cost. Make good homework on the ongoing rates to avoid loss in your return. This is approximately 18% of your labor cost.

Let’s see how much it is as per the above calculations:

$36 × 0.18 = $6.48
$36 + $6.48 = $42.48
$42.48 becomes your total hourly rate as of now.

Supplies

House cleaning jobs involve the usage of various equipment and necessary supplies. House cleaning job estimates must include the expenses made on arranging these supplies. Precisely, this amount is 6% of your total hourly rate.

$42.48 × 0.06 = $2.55
$42.48 +$2.55 = $45.03, this becomes your total hourly rate so far.

Overhead

This is something which is not involved with the job but obviously, this is a part of business expenditure. This includes office rent, marketing expenses, and other stuff which accounts for 50% of your total cost.

$45.03 × 0.50 = $22.51
$45.03 + $22.51 = $67.54, this becomes your hourly rate inclusive of your overhead cost.

Markup

When you are done with all your business expenditures involved in a house cleaning service, do not compromise on your profit. Though it is essential to survive the competitive market and hold your customers, it is not wise to undersell yourself. Besides learning how to estimate house cleaning jobs, you must also know how much to add to your markup. 33% markup on top of your estimated price is a fair charge to gain a decent profit amount.

Let’s see what the amount comes up to:

$67.54 × 0.33 = $22.28
$67.54 + $22.28 = $89.82, this is the hourly rate that you can charge your clients.
But still, there is one factor remaining. As per our example, you will have to pay a certain amount of sales tax in New York and it is around 8.875%. So. let’s check what will be your final amount:
$89.82 × 0.08875 = $7.97
$89.82 + $7.97 = $97.79
Here you are with the final hourly rate.

What are the various ways to price House Cleaning Services?

There are various methods of pricing a house cleaning service. Here in this article, we have listed some techniques that would help you estimate house cleaning prices.

Hourly Rate

Professional house cleaning companies or business holders set aside hourly rates for accurate pricing. Do not compromise with your efforts when you can finish the task within an hour with utmost perfection. Go ahead and charge accordingly! Keep a target of completing the task within your estimated time for good customer relations. As per the annual report stated by the National Conference of State Legislature, the minimum hourly rate in New York is $12.50.

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Related article – How to invoice hourly work

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Square Foot Rate

Charge as per the dimension of the cleaning space. Keep track of the average square foot rate as per the market trend and set your prices accordingly before you make your estimate. Less than 1000 square feet is charged $90. Whereas, $250 is charged for houses that have a of capacity 3000 square feet or more.

Note: Commercial cleaning including offices, janitorial services, etc is charged by the square foot. Residential cleaning is charged on an hourly basis. An additional cost can be charged for services like microwave or fridge cleaning and carpet cleaning.

Room Rate

You can even try out this method. Some professionals charge an average per-room rate. Figure out the cost per room draw an average and charge accordingly.

Flat Fee

This is a unique pricing technique for your services. Several professionals estimate their prices based on the services they provide and not on hourly rates or room rates. This helps you to get a fair price without any possible disagreements.

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Wanna know how flat rates are different from hourly rates? Check out our article on flat rate vs hourly rate to learn more on this!

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“How much to clean a house?”- give your clients an accurate estimate by following the below guidelines.

Step-by-step guide for pricing house cleaning jobs

Research on any topic is vital but in this case, don’t depend on internet data blindly. Those can only guide us to have a better understanding. In this article, we will provide you with a step-by-step pricing guide for your cleaning services.

1. Start with the total labor hours you need to complete a job.
2. Calculate your hourly labor cost and multiply it by total labor hours to get the total hourly labor cost.
3. Add the percentages of payroll taxes, supply costs, and overheads.
4. Last but not least, do not miss out on adding your markup.

Before you process your estimates do thorough research and check out the ongoing rates for house cleaning. Currently, US-based house cleaning companies charge around $120-$150 for a single-family house. You can add up the extra expenses made on extended travel to the job site. Do not hesitate to add the extra cost for additional services provided, as nothing comes in free!

Factor to consider for quoting a house cleaning job:

Clarity and transparency are crucial when providing quotes to clients. This helps the client understand and build trust in the services they are paying for. Offer various packages, services, or add-ons to provide flexibility and cater to different client preferences.

When handling house cleaning jobs, it’s important to take a methodical approach to ensure accuracy and fairness for both you and your client. Conduct a detailed, in-person, or virtual assessment of the property to understand the size of the home, the extent of cleaning required, and any unique or special requests from the client. Once you have a clear understanding of the work and its requirements, you can determine the price.

Some cleaners charge an hourly rate, calculating the time each task will take and multiplying it by their hourly rate. Others prefer a flat rate, taking into account factors such as the size of the home, complexity, cleaning products used, and the frequency of service required.

When calculating costs, ensure that you include expenses such as labor costs (including the number of cleaners needed and their rates), supply costs (cleaning products and equipment), and overhead costs (transportation, insurance, and other administrative expenses).

Maintain professionalism throughout the quoting process and communicate with your client about your terms and conditions, such as payment terms, cancellation policies, guarantees or warranties, and any current offers.

Through professionalism, accurate pricing, and clear communication with clients, you can effectively provide house cleaning quotes.

Wondering what is the going rate for house cleaning? Take a look!

Though the prices for hiring cleaning services vary from place to place, the average national hourly rate is $30- $85. To clean a house for a single family the price would be approximately $120-$150. Moreover, the prices widely fluctuate on the following factors:

• Home size
• Frequency of cleaning
• Extended traveling to reach the destination
• Extra services, like cleaning the oven, ceiling, carpet, fireplace, etc.

House cleaning estimate template

Build up a professional house cleaning business with smart business tools. Learning how to estimate house cleaning jobs includes creating a readable and flawless estimate template. The customized templates of Billbooks will make your task way more easy and simple. Get Billbooks, your financial assistant!

Present your services smartly and generate your quotes instantly. Build a solid impression among your customers with accurate and well-defined quotes. Your accuracy would be your strength!

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