The total price of a house cleaning depends on the size of the house and the type of cleaning. A house with three rooms, and 180 square meters costs on average between $ $90 to $150 while a one-bedroom home starts at $30 up to $55. Doing a deep clean, laundry, window cleaning, and move-in/out or an event will add up. Need editable and professional estimate templates? Billed‘s beautiful estimate templates help you generate and send online estimates quickly and easily. Moreover, you can easily convert them into invoices when needed.
This article will cover:
- Steps to charge for your house cleaning
- Costs you should not forget
- Special services for apartment cleaning cost extra
- Types of house cleaning
- What affects the price of house cleaning?
- What Is the Going Rate for House Cleaning?
- How Much Should a Housekeeper Get Paid Hourly?
Steps to charge for house cleaning
Discover the steps that you must take into account pricing in this sector and increase the chances of your profits.
Hourly Jobs vs. Project Jobs
The first step to deal with is knowing if you want to charge the work per hour or per project.
Hourly rates:
Determine the amount you need to earn per hour. This will also affect your rates. For example, if you plan to work 40 hours a week and need to make $ 600 a week to pay your bills and expenses, then generally, you will have to charge at least $15 an hour to meet your monetary goals. Don’t forget to keep in mind that you are paid in pre-tax dollars in most cases, which means you need to keep track of your income and send the appropriate amount of money to the IRS for taxes. You should take this into account while fixing your hourly rates.
Charge per project:
The flat rate allows you to know the monthly benefit and the cost that it will suppose for the client. We do not recommend it because usually if the work is carried out in less time than expected, the client may think that you are cheating.
Determine the cleaning needs of customers.
Customers may need deep cleaning, such as scrubbing mortar and skirting boards or only removing and vacuum lightly.
Calculate the number of rooms to be cleaned.
Distinguish between room sizes, such as a living room or bedroom.
Measure the actual cleaning level required.
The customer may only hire you to remove the dust, but the dust level may require additional attention to details. Finally, some spaces are dirtier than others and require more time to clean. Estimate the number of hours and employees required to clean an entire office or house.
Calculate a price in your Cleaning Offer
Calculate the cost per hour that it will take you to complete your work and add the necessary concepts to complete the estimate.
Remember that to complete the offer; you must value:
Cleaning estimate calculation: [Cost of living + competition + Expenses + (service x working hours) + meters + special circumstances]
Service Materials and Labor
Estimate how much your time is worth or do a little market research to establish an attractive hourly rate for each worker and set up your own home cleaning service company.
Don’t forget to take into account the materials and equipment you will use in cleaning! The cost of chlorine, detergent, and other substances that you use must be present in your cost structure and the payment of the machinery and equipment you will use in the process.
Only then can you replace your vacuum cleaners and polishers with others or pay for a maintenance service.
Make a list of overhead costs
It takes into account all the expenses that involve the supply of the service. This will help you avoid any loss. The general expenses correspond to aspects such as the payment of the telephone service, the transport of the personnel, the cleaning implements, etc. Everything is essential for the company to carry out efficient work.
Once you are familiar with all the expenses you incur month by month, it is time for you to divide them into variable costs and fixed costs to calculate the total cost of providing your services.
The fixed costs do not vary over time as paying the rent of the premises where you have the head office. The variable costs, however, will depend on your workload.
Add the fixed costs and the variable costs of a month, which will give you the total cost. So you can easily calculate your earnings and prices.
Calculate gross profit and profit margin
The mission of any business is to make a profit. Once you have set up your fixed and variable charges, use the collected information to calculate profit and profit margin.
Let’s see it in an example:
You have a house cleaning company, and you would like to know the profits and profit margin of each of the services that you offer in the catalog. Suppose you start with the cleaning of an office of 100 square meters. The variable cost -manpower, materials, transfers- that implies providing this service is $ 30, and you charge $ 45 to your clients.
To calculate gross profit, subtract the sale price from variable costs, like so:
Gross profit = $ 45 – $ 30 = $ 15
The $ 15 represents your profit, profit, or gross profit. Once you know this amount, you can calculate the gross profit margin by dividing the profit by the variable costs and multiplying the quotient by 100:
Gross profit margin = (15/30) x 100 = 50%
Your gross profit or profit percentage, according to the example, is 50%. When the month or year is over, you can calculate your net profit by allocating the fixed costs to the equation. Take into consideration that a healthy net profit margin for this business is 20%.
Don’t forget about the taxes!
As a professional you want to know what taxes you must pay, you must determine if you are a self-employed or domestic employee. To do this, the IRS recommends that you ask yourself the following question: Who maintains control of the employment relationship?
If your clientele is the one who decides when you go to their house to clean, the cleaning areas included and, in addition, you use their materials, then you are an employee of the home. Conversely, you are in charge of carrying your own work items and clean as established in a previous agreement, you are self-employed.
If you are an employee of the home, the contracting family has to pay taxes and take care of social security or Medicare if you earn more than $ 2,100 a year. If you fall into the self-employed profile, you must fill out Form 1099 and take on additional taxes.
Price Comparison
Compare your hourly wage with that of the market. For example, if you decide that it would take you two hours to clean 3,000 square meters of home and that you need to earn $ 20 an hour, then you would come to a rate of $ 40 to clean a house of that size. Find out how much other cleaning services charge for similar work by calling local cleaning services or looking at ads for local cleaning products. If the price looks to be too high, you will have to adjust it. If the price seems too low, increase it to be more in line with what others are charging.
Costs you should not forget
Factors to consider when estimating the cleaning job that should not be forgotten:
- Type of cleaning service
- Space and structure
- Substitutions for staff due to holidays and illness
- High in social security
- Staff uniforms
- Materials and machinery to use
They are also important…
- Liability insurance
- Occupational risks and quality supervision
- Certifications and guarantees
Special services for apartment cleaning cost extra.
If a carpet is to be cleaned thoroughly, $3 to $4 per square meter can be expected. A seating group with six seaters costs $ 150 to $ 200. The cleaning of mattresses costs between 50 and 100 euros depending on the size.
The removal of stubborn stains caused by color, blood, tar, or red wine usually costs extra. The calculation is made as a flat rate or according to the size of the stain.
Types of house cleaning
- Standard cleaning: includes sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, and cleaning dust, etc.
- Deep Cleaning: Deeply cleans dirt from bedrooms, bathrooms, living rooms, and kitchens. Can also include refrigerators, lamps, windows, and other hard-to-reach areas
- Event cleaning: complete cleaning after an event or party: cleaning dirty dishes, cleaning the living room, and taking out the trash is usually included.
What affects the price of house cleaning?
Professionals charge depending on the size of the house, per room, or are priced per hour. Since each job is unique, some professionals will only offer a final fee after knowing all the details. For example, a company offers average prices for three types of cleaning services based on the level of cleaning that the client requires:
Small house cleaning prices:
| Cleaning type Bedrooms | Bathrooms | Average Price |
| Standard cleaning | One | $ 40 |
| Deep cleaning | One | $ 50 |
| Event cleaning | One | $ 60 |
Medium house cleaning prices:
| Cleaning type | Bedrooms | Bathrooms | Average Price |
| Standard cleaning | Three | Two | $ 60 |
| Deep cleaning | Two | Two | $70 |
| Event cleaning | Three | Two | $ 70 |
Price per room
The number of rooms influences cleaning prices, the number of rooms can usually indicate how many people live in the home, and how dirty or clean it could be. Clients usually want sheets to be changed and beds made, which requires more time and work, so the more rooms there are, the higher the price.
If you have separate rooms not used regularly, you can negotiate with cleaners to vacuum and dust those rooms less often, saving you money. Here are some pricing examples for standard cleaning services:
| Bedrooms | Bathrooms | Starting Price |
| One | one | $ 40 |
| Two | One | $ 50 |
| Three | One | $ 60 |
Number of bathrooms
Some companies estimate their prices depending on the number of bathrooms:
| Bedrooms | Bathrooms | Starting Price |
| One | One | $ 40 |
| One | Two | $ 48 |
| Two | One | $ 44 |
| Two | Two | $ 52 |
| Two | Three | $ 60 |
A standard bathroom cleaning service will include sweeping, cleaning the sink and polishing the tap, cleaning the shelves, cleaning the mirror, cleaning the shower or bathtub, and disinfecting the toilet. This is why having more bathrooms in the home will usually increase the total price of cleaning. Some professionals charge more for additional bathrooms than for additional rooms.
How much does a cleaner charge per hour?
Some professionals charge by the hour, depending on the number of workers they need:
| Number of workers | Price per hour |
| One | $8 to $12 |
| Two | $10 to $20 |
Price per Square Foot
The cleaning companies mostly charge hourly or by the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, but some charge by the square foot.
You may charge different rates per square foot depending on the type of cleaning service you are providing.
A cleaning company in New York charges 10 cents per square foot for standard cleaning and 15 cents per square foot for deep cleaning. A 3,000-square-foot apartment would cost $150 where a deep cleaning would cost $300.
The House Cleaning Company Cost Per Square Foot
| Home Square Feet | Standard Cleaning Cost | Deep Cleaning Cost |
| 1000 | $ 80 | $ 125 |
| 2000 | $100 | $200 |
| 3000 | $ 150 | $300 |
Three or more prices vary
Certain cleaning businesses charge an hourly rate, which means that the price they charge for each visit may vary depending on how dirty your house is that week. Typically, those who charge hourly will see the house in full before hiring. This allows them to know the size, design, and general cleaning of the house to help them estimate what that cleaning will cost, whether weekly, biweekly, or monthly.
The price per hour usually stays the same at each visit if you provide continuous services, but the first cleaning will cost more because it will take longer. Cleaning prices will often be consistent from week to week or month to month unless the client has a particularly messy party or another unusual situation.
What Is the Going Rate for House Cleaning?
According to Home Advisor, the average cost of house cleaning is $25 to $50 per cleaner hourly. The total amount counts on the area of the home, type of cleaning services, and the locality where you live. A 2,000-square-foot apartment with three bedrooms costs $150 to $250 on average, while a one-bedroom apartment costs $80 to $110 approximately. Move-out cleaning costs $160 to $250 on average for a 2-bedroom apartment. The cost will be higher if the cleaners have to spend extra time removing carpet, dirty spots, or wall marks, etc.
Deep cleaning, window cleaning, or event cleanup will add to the cost.
How Much Should a Housekeeper Get Paid Hourly?
The average hourly salary for a housekeeper in the US is $13 as of June 28, 2020, but the range generally falls between $11 and $14. Many factors affect the hourly rate including education, additional skills, and experience, etc.
According to Indeed, the hotel housekeepers can make $10.68 per hour on average and the housekeepers who work at home receive $11.24 per hour on average, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Contrary, the minimum wage in the United States can vary according to the states – these being independent -, as long as they respect the determination by law established at the US $7.25 per hour. However, this is not a problem, since approximately 30 US states practice minimums above this range. In California, most housekeepers make $13.88 per hour on average.
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