House cleaning prices: price a clean from your labor cost and your real pace
Price a standard clean, a deep clean, a move-out or a post-construction job from what your cleaners actually cost per hour, how many square feet they clean in that hour, supplies, drive time and the margin you need — then see where you sit against typical house cleaning prices.
Every other house cleaning pricing calculator gives you a national average and calls it a price. This one works from your numbers: what your labor actually costs you per hour, how fast you really work, your drive time, your materials and the margin you need. The typical range is shown for context, not as the answer.
What it prices
- Standard clean — priced per sq ft; typical customer price $0.08–$0.15 per sq ft
- Deep clean — priced per sq ft; typical customer price $0.15–$0.30 per sq ft
- Move-in / move-out — priced per sq ft; typical customer price $0.20–$0.35 per sq ft
- Post-construction clean — priced per sq ft; typical customer price $0.25–$0.45 per sq ft
How to use it
1. Pick the job type and enter the quantity. Square feet, linear feet, panes, loads — whatever that job is sold by.
2. Put in your loaded labor cost. This is what one person costs you per hour including payroll taxes, workers' comp and any benefits — or what you need to pay yourself. It is not the rate you charge. If you have never worked this out, start with the wage and add 25%.
3. Check the production rate. The default is a typical figure per person per hour. Your real number, from your last few jobs, is better.
4. Drive time, setup and minimum charge. Small jobs die on the trip. The calculator pays every crew member for drive time and setup, and applies your minimum if the job comes in under it.
5. Materials, overhead and margin. Materials at cost plus your markup; overhead per billable hour (monthly overhead ÷ hours you actually bill); the net margin you want on the job.
House cleaning pricing: what actually moves the number
Square footage is a proxy, not a price. Two 2,000 sq ft homes can take two hours or five depending on bathrooms, pets, clutter and the last time it was cleaned. Use the square-foot rate to quote the first visit, then adjust the production rate from what actually happened — recurring clients are priced on time.
Team size changes the clock, not the cost. Two cleaners finish in half the time but you pay both, and both get paid for the drive. The calculator handles that; what it cannot know is that a two-person team is often more than twice as fast because they don't get in each other's way.
Recurring discounts are real money. Weekly clients are typically priced 15–25% below a one-off because the house never gets bad and there is no re-selling. Price the one-off first, then discount — never the other way round.
Supplies are small; loaded labor is not. Supplies run $5–$15 per job. Payroll taxes, workers' comp and paid drive time add 20–30% to the wage, and that is the number that goes in the labor field.
Worked example
A 2,000 sq ft standard clean at 550 sq ft per person-hour is 3.6 person-hours. With a $22 loaded labor cost, a 30-minute round trip, 30 minutes of setup, $15 of supplies, $15 per billable hour of overhead and a 20% margin, the calculator prices it at about $210, or $0.11 per sq ft — inside the typical range. Send two cleaners and the customer gets it done in under two hours at the same price.
How the math works
- Hours = quantity ÷ production rate, plus setup and drive time for every person on the crew.
- Labor = person-hours × your loaded cost. Overhead = clock hours the job occupies × your overhead per billable hour.
- Price = (labor + materials + fees + overhead) ÷ (1 − margin), plus the material markup. Dividing by (1 − margin) gives a true margin on the sale; multiplying by (1 + margin) does not, and it is the most common pricing mistake in the trades.
- If the result is under your minimum charge, the minimum applies.
Turn it into an estimate
Hit Turn this into an estimate and the price lands in the estimate generator as line items, ready to send. When the customer says yes, the same numbers become the invoice in BIG INVOICE, which works offline with no account. Send it on the cleaning estimate template, and see what cleaners earn by state.
FAQ
How much should I charge for house cleaning?
Standard cleans typically run $0.08 to $0.15 per square foot, or $120 to $250 for an average home, with deep cleans at roughly double. Per hour, most cleaning businesses charge $40 to $65 per cleaner. Your number depends on your loaded labor cost and how many square feet your team actually cleans in an hour.
How much do house cleaners charge per hour?
Independent cleaners charge $25 to $45 per hour; companies with insurance and payroll charge $40 to $65 per cleaner-hour. The gap is the loaded cost of legitimate employment, which is exactly what the labor field in the calculator asks for.
How much to charge for a deep clean?
$0.15 to $0.30 per square foot, or $250 to $500 for a typical home. A deep clean runs at about half the production rate of a standard clean because of baseboards, inside appliances, blinds and grout.
How much to charge for a move-out clean?
$0.20 to $0.35 per square foot, $300 to $600 on an average house. Price it as a deep clean plus the inside of every cabinet and appliance, and quote it firm — move-out customers are not coming back.
Does this pricing calculator use my numbers or averages?
Yours. The typical range is shown as context, but the price comes entirely from the labor cost, production rate, materials, overhead and margin you enter. Change any of them and the price changes.
Is this calculator free?
Yes, completely. No account, no email, no download. It runs in your browser and we never see your numbers.