How to price cleaning services comes down to five numbers the company has to own: the production rate, the loaded hourly rate, the supplies per visit, the overhead percentage and the markup. Whether the question is how to price a cleaning job for one house, how to price house cleaning jobs on a recurring schedule, how to charge for cleaning services to a landlord or how to price janitorial services for an office building, the arithmetic is the same and only the hours change. The estimate template on this site works it: supplies as the material line, hours at the loaded rate, overhead and markup, printed as the lines the quote carries.
Measure the production rate on your own jobs
The production rate is the square feet or rooms a cleaner completes in an hour at the standard the company sells, and it is different for a first clean, a maintained house and a commercial floor. Time ten jobs of each kind and the rate is a fact rather than a forum figure. Every price after that is the job's size divided by the rate, adjusted for condition, and the adjustment is where experience earns its money.
Load the rate and count the supplies
The hourly rate on the estimate carries the wage plus payroll taxes, insurance, travel, supervision and the minutes lost at each door; a rate that is only the wage under-prices every job. Supplies and consumables are a material line per visit, small on a house and real on an office building with restrooms. Equipment that outlives the job is amortised across the visits it serves.
Recover the overhead, then add the markup
Overhead is the office, the vehicle, the phone and the owner's unpaid selling time, divided by last year's direct cost to give a percentage every job must recover. The markup goes on top and is the profit; it is not the margin, and the template prints both so the quote is read the right way round. Pro keeps each estimate against the customer and the property, so the price that won a house is the starting point for the house next door.
Questions people ask about how to price cleaning services
Should cleaning be priced per hour or per job?
Build the price from hours internally and quote the customer a job or monthly price; quoting hours invites the customer to argue about the hours instead of the result.
How do I price janitorial services for a commercial building?
From the areas, tasks and frequency: minutes per area from production rates, hours per visit, visits per month, at a loaded rate, plus supplies, overhead and markup, as a monthly price with the scope attached.
What markup do cleaning companies use?
The one that covers their own overhead percentage and leaves the profit the owner wants, calculated from the books rather than copied; the template applies whatever percentage you enter.