Cleaning businesses grow on recurring clients — the weekly and every-other-week homes that fill your calendar. This guide covers how to price one-time and recurring cleans so you're competitive and still profitable.
1. Know your cost per cleaner-hour
Add up what one hour of a cleaner costs you: wage, payroll costs (in Canada for example CPP and EI; in the US Social Security, Medicare and unemployment taxes), insurance, supplies, travel time between homes and your admin time. Then add your profit. Price every job in cleaner-hours: two cleaners for three hours is six cleaner-hours.
2. Three kinds of clean, three prices
- Standard / maintenance clean — kitchens, bathrooms, dusting, floors. Fastest, best for recurring clients.
- Deep clean — everything in a standard clean plus baseboards, doors, light switches, inside the microwave, build-up in bathrooms. Usually 1.5–2× the time of a standard clean. Often required before starting recurring service.
- Move-in / move-out — empty home, inside cabinets, appliances and closets. Often the longest clean.
| Item | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deep clean — 2 cleaners | 9 cleaner-hr | $48.00 | $432.00 |
| Inside oven | 1 each | $45.00 | $45.00 |
| Inside fridge | 1 each | $35.00 | $35.00 |
| Interior windows (up to 15) | 1 job | $60.00 | $60.00 |
| Supplies & equipment | 1 job | $20.00 | $20.00 |
| Subtotal | $592.00 | ||
| Tax (13% — use your own local rate) | $76.96 | ||
| Total | $668.96 | ||
4.5 hours on site × 2 cleaners = 9 cleaner-hours.
Example numbers only — prices vary a lot by area, season and job. Use your own costs.
3. Recurring pricing
A home that's cleaned every week takes less time each visit than one cleaned monthly, and recurring clients cost you nothing to find again. Offer a lower per-visit price for weekly or every-other-week service — for example 10% off a $160.00 standard clean is $144.00 per visit — and keep monthly or one-time cleans at full price.
4. Add-ons and clear rules
List add-ons with prices — inside oven, inside fridge, interior windows, laundry, balcony — so customers can build their own clean. Write down your rules: what you need from the client (access, parking, pets secured), cancellation notice, and what you don't do (for example biohazards, heavy lifting, or exterior windows above the ground floor).
5. Getting more local cleaning clients
- Convert one-time cleans. After every deep or move-out clean, offer a recurring slot — the client already knows your quality.
- Be consistent. Same cleaner, same day, same checklist. Consistency is what clients pay for.
- Short-term rental hosts and property managers. Turnover cleans are frequent and predictable.
- Reviews and referrals. Ask happy recurring clients for a review and a referral.
- Genie. Take on-demand cleaning jobs in your area with the price agreed before you arrive.
6. Cleaning quote checklist
- ✅ Home size, bedrooms, bathrooms and condition noted
- ✅ Type of clean chosen (standard, deep, move-out)
- ✅ Time estimated in cleaner-hours
- ✅ Add-ons priced and listed
- ✅ Recurring discount stated (if any)
- ✅ Supplies: yours or the client’s
- ✅ Access, pets and parking agreed
- ✅ Cancellation policy written down