How Much to Charge for House Cleaning: The Cost-First Formula

Most new owners set prices by looking at what others charge. That tells you what clients pay. It does not tell you whether you make money at that price. Your wage, your drive, your supplies and your overhead are different from the company down the street.

This guide shows the method we build into our templates: start from your own costs, add your margin, and only then compare with the market.

Step 1: Estimate the time on site

Time is the biggest cost in house cleaning, so estimate it first. A simple time model uses the size of the home:

For a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom, 1,800 sq ft home with one pet, that is about 4.1 cleaner-hours on site. With a team of two, each cleaner works about 2 hours.

These are example values, not industry data. The fastest way to get your own is to time your next three standard cleans and adjust the numbers until the estimate matches reality.

Step 2: Turn hours into labor cost

Your labor cost is more than the wage. If your cleaners are employees, you also pay payroll taxes and usually workers' compensation insurance. The IRS sets the employer share of Social Security at 6.2% and Medicare at 1.45%. Federal and state unemployment taxes and insurance come on top, and they vary by state.

A simple way to handle this is a labor burden: a percentage you add on top of the wage.

Loaded hourly cost = Wage × (1 + labor burden)

With an example wage of $18 per hour and a 15% burden, one cleaner-hour costs you $20.70. Ask your accountant for your real burden. If you work with 1099 subcontractors and pay a flat amount per job, use that amount as your labor cost instead.

Step 3: Add drive time and the vehicle

Drive time is the cost owners forget most often. If you pay your team for driving, add it to labor:

• 35 minutes round trip × 2 cleaners = 1.17 paid hours × $20.70 = $24.15

Then add the vehicle. The IRS publishes a standard business mileage rate every year. Our templates use the 2026 rate of 72.5 cents per mile as a default. Check irs.gov for the current rate.

• 18 miles round trip × $0.725 = $13.05

Step 4: Add supplies and overhead per visit

Supplies: take one month of supply spending and divide it by the number of jobs you did that month. Our example uses $6 per standard visit.

Overhead: this is everything you pay even when nobody is cleaning: insurance, phone, software, advertising, bank fees, your own office time. Take your monthly overhead and divide it by your jobs per month. Our example uses $12 per visit.

Step 5: Add up the cost and apply your margin

Here is the full example:

The profit on this job is about $60, which is 30% of the price.

Why divide instead of multiply?

Many owners add 30% on top of cost: $139.86 × 1.30 = $181.82. That looks like 30% profit, but it is not. The profit is $41.96, which is only 23% of the price. Dividing by (1 − margin) gives you the margin you actually asked for. We explain the difference in our profit margin guide.

Step 6: Set a minimum price

Small jobs can lose money even with the formula, because drive time and overhead stay the same. A minimum job price protects you. Our templates use $120 as an example minimum. Pick yours from your real costs: what is the smallest job that still covers a round trip and your overhead?

Step 7: Compare with your local market

Now look at what clients pay. On Thumbtack's price guide (updated October 20, 2026), the national range for a 3-bedroom home is $166 to $250. Our example price of about $200 sits inside that range.

What the comparison tells you:

• Your price is inside the range: good. You know your profit, and clients will not be surprised.
• Your price is above the range: check your time estimate first. Then check drive time. If both are right, you may need a higher-value service mix, a smaller service area, or a minimum price, not a lower margin.
• Your price is below the range: you may be leaving money on the table. Raise it toward the local level and keep the extra margin.

National ranges are averages. Your city can be very different, so ask a few local clients or look at local listings too.

Recurring clients and frequency discounts

Recurring visits are usually faster once the home is caught up. Our example sets a recurring visit at 85% of the first-visit time. The same home then costs about $127 to clean and prices at about $182 at a 30% margin, before any frequency discount.

If you give a discount for weekly or every-two-weeks service, apply it to that recurring price and check that the margin is still where you want it. A discount that feels small can take a big bite out of a 30% margin.

Put it on a quote the client understands

Clients do not need to see your costs. They need one clear price, what is included, and what costs extra. A one-page quote with your business name, the price for the first visit, the recurring price and your add-ons is enough.

Frequently asked questions

Example numbers in this guide are for illustration. Use your own costs. This is not legal, tax or accounting advice.