Most owners make their first price list by looking at what other cleaners charge. That gives you a list that looks normal, but it tells you nothing about whether your own crew makes money on it. Your wages, your drive times and your supplies are not the same as anyone else's.
This guide gives you a complete cleaning business price list template for a residential company: standard cleans by visit frequency, deep cleans, move-out cleans, add-ons and a minimum charge. Then it shows exactly how each line was built, so you can rebuild the whole list with your own numbers.
What a cleaning business price list should include
A price list has two jobs. It helps your office quote fast and the same way every time. And it helps a customer understand what they are paying for. A useful list has these parts:
- Home size lines. Price by bedrooms and bathrooms, not just square feet. Bathrooms and kitchens are the slow rooms.
- Visit frequency. Weekly, every two weeks and every four weeks. Dirt builds up between visits, so less frequent visits take longer.
- Type of clean. Standard, deep (a top-to-bottom clean with detail tasks like baseboards and inside appliances) and move-out (an empty home at the end of a lease or sale).
- Add-ons. Extra tasks with their own price, such as inside the oven or fridge.
- A minimum visit charge. So a tiny job still pays for the drive and setup.
- What is included. A short checklist for each type of clean, and what is not included.
- Terms. How you handle homes in much worse shape than described, cancellations and payment.
An example cleaning business price list (illustrative)
Here is a full residential price list. Every price in it is illustrative. It shows the method, not what you should charge. Your wages, your area and your service list will change every number.
| Home size | Weekly | Every 2 weeks | Every 4 weeks | Deep or first clean | Move-out (empty home) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 bed, 1 bath | $175 | $200 | $220 | $260 | $300 |
| 2 bed, 1 bath | $200 | $215 | $235 | $300 | $325 |
| 3 bed, 2 bath | $265 | $290 | $325 | $390 | $435 |
| 4 bed, 3 bath | $305 | $340 | $380 | $465 | $525 |
Illustrative numbers only. Prices are per visit, rounded up to the nearest $5. Homes larger than the list, or in poor shape, are quoted after photos or a walkthrough.
Add-ons go on the same list, so the office never has to make up a price on the phone:
| Add-on (done during a booked visit) | Extra cleaner-minutes | Illustrative price |
|---|---|---|
| Inside the oven | 30 | $25 |
| Inside the fridge | 20 | $20 |
| Inside kitchen cabinets (empty) | 30 | $25 |
| Baseboards, whole home | 30 | $25 |
| Blinds and window sills | 20 | $20 |
| Inside windows, per 10 windows | 40 | $35 |
| One load of laundry, washed, dried and folded | 20 | $20 |
| Heavy pet hair | 30 | $25 |
| Minimum visit charge | 2 hours on site | $160 |
How each line was built
Every line in the list comes from the same four inputs. Change the inputs and the whole list moves with them.
- Cleaning time from minutes per room. This list uses: kitchen 45 minutes, full bathroom 30, bedroom 20, living room 25, dining room 10, and halls, stairs and entry 10. These are starting guesses for a home that is kept up. Time your own team on a few homes and use your numbers.
- A time factor for the type of visit. Weekly is 1.0. Every two weeks is 1.15. Every four weeks is 1.35. Deep or first clean is 1.75. Move-out is 2.0. Each time is rounded to the nearest quarter hour.
- The full cost of one cleaner-hour. This list uses $26. That is the wage plus payroll taxes, insurance and workers' comp, not the wage alone. Find your own number with the labor burden calculator.
- A margin. This list uses 45%. Margin is the share of the price left after job costs. Your office, ads, software and your own pay come out of it.
Each visit also carries half an hour of paid drive time per cleaner, $15 for the vehicle and fuel, and supplies of $8, $10, $12 or $16 going from the smallest home to the largest ($3 more for deep and move-out cleans). Homes up to 2 bed, 1 bath get one cleaner. Bigger homes get a team of two.
The add-ons use the same cost per hour and margin, but no extra drive or vehicle cost, because the cleaner is already there. For example, 30 minutes inside an oven costs $13 in labor. $13 divided by 0.55 is $23.64, which rounds up to $25. The minimum visit is one cleaner for 2 hours on site plus half an hour of drive, $8 of supplies and $15 for the vehicle: $88 in job costs, divided by 0.55, is $160.
Here is the room count for the 3 bed, 2 bath home:
| Room | Minutes each | Count | Minutes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kitchen | 45 | 1 | 45 |
| Full bathroom | 30 | 2 | 60 |
| Bedroom | 20 | 3 | 60 |
| Living room | 25 | 1 | 25 |
| Dining room | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Halls, stairs and entry | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Weekly cleaning time | 210 (3.5 hours) |
A worked example: the 3 bed, 2 bath home every two weeks
Every two weeks uses a factor of 1.15, so 3.5 hours becomes 4 cleaner-hours on site. A team of two adds 1 hour of paid drive time between them. These are illustrative numbers.
| Item | How it is worked out | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Labor | (4 hours on site + 1 hour drive) × $26 per hour | $130 |
| Supplies | Products, cloths and equipment wear for the visit | $12 |
| Vehicle and fuel | Vehicle time and fuel for this visit | $15 |
| Job costs | $130 + $12 + $15 | $157 |
| Price at a 45% margin | $157 ÷ 0.55 | $285.45 |
| Left after job costs | $285.45 − $157 | $128.45 |
Where the price goes in this example
Every dollar of the price, split into the costs it covers and what is left over.
- Labor $130 (46%)
- Supplies $12 (4%)
- Vehicle and fuel $15 (5%)
- Left after job costs $128 (45%)
The whole bar is the price the customer pays: $285. Illustrative numbers, built from the table above.
On the printed list, $285.45 is rounded up to $290. Notice that the price is job costs divided by 0.55, not job costs plus 45%. Adding 45% to $157 gives $228, which is only a 31% margin. Our guide to profit margin vs markup explains why.
Rebuild the list with your own numbers
Timing real homes takes a few weeks of normal work. Once you have your times, you can rebuild every line of the template in an afternoon. Here is the order to do it in.
- Time real homes. Clock three or four homes of each size from the moment the crew walks in to the moment they leave. Use those times to set your own minutes for each type of room.
- Find your full hourly cost. Add payroll taxes, insurance and workers' comp to the wage.
- Measure the drive. Look at a normal week. How much paid time is spent driving between homes? Put that per-visit share into every line.
- Pick your margin. It has to cover your office, ads, software and your own pay, with something left over.
- Price each cell. Job costs divided by one minus the margin. The job price calculator does this for one line at a time.
- Round up, never down. Rounding to the nearest $5 keeps the list clean. Rounding down gives away margin on every visit.
- Cross-check against the market. If a line is far above what customers in your area pay, look at your times and costs first. If it is far below, you may be leaving money behind.
For more detail on timing rooms and pricing first visits, read how to price house cleaning jobs.
Good, better, best packages
Some customers want to choose. A good-better-best layout gives them three clear options instead of a long menu. It works best when each package has a fixed scope written in plain words.
| Package | What it covers | How to price it |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | Kitchen, bathrooms, dusting, floors, beds made | The standard line for that home size and frequency |
| Standard plus | Standard, plus two add-ons such as inside the fridge and oven | Standard price plus the add-on prices |
| Deep | Standard, plus baseboards, inside appliances, blinds, vents and detail work | The deep clean line for that home size |
Keep the price gaps honest. Each step up should cost what the extra time costs, at the same margin. If the top package is cheaper per hour than the bottom one, the list is rewarding the wrong choice.
Commercial and office lines
Offices, shops and common areas do not fit a home-size table. The rooms are different, the visits are often at night, and the scope changes from one building to the next. Keep commercial work off the residential list. Instead, list it as "priced per visit after a walkthrough".
The math is the same. Walk the space, estimate cleaner-hours per visit, add drive, supplies and vehicle, and divide by one minus your margin. Then multiply by the visits per month for a monthly contract price. Our guide on how much to charge for office cleaning covers it in more depth.
How to show the price list to customers
- Use "from" prices online. Show the standard line as a starting price, and say the final price is confirmed after a few questions or photos.
- Ask the same questions every time. Bedrooms, bathrooms, pets, when it was last cleaned and the type of floors. These move the time most.
- Show what each clean includes. A short checklist stops arguments about whether the oven was part of the deal.
- Price the first visit as a deep clean. Then move to the recurring line from visit two. Tell the customer why.
- Put the terms in writing. Say what happens if the home is in much worse shape than described, and how cancellations work.
Empty homes at the end of a lease have their own checklist and deadlines. See how much to charge for move-out cleaning.
When to update your price list
A price list is not a one-time job. Review it at least once a year, and sooner if any of these happen:
- Wages, payroll costs or insurance go up.
- Your real times for a home size are longer than the list assumes.
- Fuel or supply costs rise for more than a month or two.
- Your route spreads out and drive time grows.
- You are booked solid and turning work away.
CrewBrain tracks crew hours by job, so you can compare the real time on each home with the time your list assumed, and see which lines are earning their price.
Keep reading
- How to price house cleaning jobs: price tables by home size, first visits and deep cleans.
- How much to charge for move-out cleaning: pricing empty homes with a deadline.
- How much to charge for office cleaning: pricing commercial contracts per visit and per month.
- Labor burden calculator: find the full cost of one cleaner-hour.
- Job price calculator: test any line of your list.
Questions owners ask
How do I make a price list for my cleaning business?
Time real homes to get minutes per room, find the full cost of one cleaner-hour, and add drive time, supplies and vehicle costs. Then divide the job costs for each home size and type of clean by one minus your target margin.
What should a cleaning business price list include?
Prices by home size and visit frequency, separate lines for deep and move-out cleans, a short list of add-ons, a minimum visit charge, and a checklist of what each clean includes.
Should I put my cleaning prices on my website?
A good middle path is to show starting prices online and confirm the final price after a few questions or photos. That gives customers a fair idea of cost without locking you into a price for a home you have not seen.
How much should I charge for add-ons like inside the oven?
Time the task, multiply the minutes by your full cost per cleaner-hour, and divide by one minus your margin. You do not need to add drive time, because the cleaner is already at the home.
Should recurring cleans be cheaper than a one-time clean?
Usually yes, because a home that is cleaned often takes less time per visit. Price it from the real time, and charge more for every-four-weeks visits than weekly ones because dirt builds up between visits.
How often should I update my cleaning price list?
At least once a year, and sooner when wages, insurance, fuel or supply costs go up, or when your real times run longer than the list assumes.