How to price a cleaning job without underbidding

Start with your true cost per hour

Before you quote anything, know what an hour of cleaning actually costs you. That’s not just the cleaner’s wage — add payroll taxes, workers’ comp, supplies and equipment, travel time between sites, and a slice of your overhead (insurance, software, admin). Most owners are surprised how much higher this is than the hourly wage.

This number is your floor. Any price that doesn’t clear it loses money, no matter how busy it keeps the crew.

Pick a pricing model

There are three common ways to price: by the hour, by the square foot, or a flat rate per job. Hourly is simplest but penalizes your fastest cleaners. Per-square-foot scales cleanly for commercial spaces. Flat-rate is what most clients prefer — they want to know the number up front — but it only works once you can estimate hours accurately.

Most growing companies land on flat-rate quotes backed by an internal hourly cost estimate: you calculate the hours, apply your cost and margin, then present a single clean price.

Estimate the hours honestly

The most common bidding mistake is optimism. Walk the property (or ask for photos), and estimate how long a thorough clean really takes — then remember the first clean almost always takes longer than the recurring visits. Build that difference into your quote instead of eating it.

Add margin — don’t just cover cost

Covering your costs keeps the lights on; margin is what lets you hire, replace equipment, and survive a slow month. Decide on a target margin and add it on top of your fully-loaded cost — don’t back into a price by guessing what the client will accept.

Price recurring and one-time jobs differently

A one-time deep clean should carry a premium — it’s more labor and you may never see that client again. Recurring contracts can run at a slightly lower rate because they’re predictable revenue, but lock the scope so “just one more thing” each week doesn’t quietly erode your margin.

Put the number in a clear proposal

However you arrive at the price, present it as a clean, itemized proposal the client can accept in one click — not a number texted back hours later. A clear scope protects your margin and makes the yes easier.