Start a Cleaning Business

Price List Builder

Companion to the lesson "Building your price list."

1. Base fee schedule (flat rate by structure)

Structure: base plus bedrooms plus bathrooms beyond the first. Survey band for a standard clean: $125-225 ($25-50 per cleaner-hour). The model constants below are adapted from one operator's fee schedule, tunable to your market.

ServiceFormulaYour base $Your per-bed $Your per-bath (after 1st) $
Standard cleanbase + per bed + per bath after the first1202025
Deep cleanstandard + premium   
Move-out cleandeep clean + premium   
Worked examples (model constants)3 bed / 2 bath
Standard clean ($120 + $60 + $25)$205
Deep clean (standard + $100-180)~$335
Move-out (deep + $80-150)~$420

2. Recurring discount ladder

Typical published discounts run 10-15%, with some operators at 20-25% on weekly plans. One operator's ladder: 10% monthly / 15% biweekly / 20% weekly. Do not offer every-three-weeks service: the cycle never lands on the same weekday and the calendar rots.

FrequencyDiscount3 bed / 2 bath exampleYour rate
Monthly-10%$185
Biweekly-15%$175
Weekly-20%$164

3. First-clean note (print on the list)

First visits run longer than recurring visits, every time: the home is at its worst and you are learning it. Quote the first clean at the one-off rate with the discount applying from the second visit onward. Say so on the list; it is cleaner than apologizing later.

4. Add-on rate lines

Starting grid from one published operator price list, not a market survey; tune to your area. Add-ons are margin on a drive you already paid for.

Add-onStarting bandYour price
Inside oven$35-50
Inside refrigerator$35-50
Interior windows (per window)$8-12
Baseboard detail$50-75
Pet surcharge (per home)$15-25

5. Rate-increase reminder

Annual increases, announced, capped ~8%. Scheduled and framed on service and cost: "From March 1, my rate for your home moves from $150 to $165. You have been on the schedule for a year and I want to keep it that way." Expect to lose one or two per raise; the route replaces them at the new rate. Never raising is a pay cut taken out of your take-home in silence. Say every number like a fact, one sentence, then silence.