House Cleaning Calculator
Square feet, bedrooms and bathrooms in. Hours by task, crew time, loaded labor, overhead and margin out, with a price per clean and per month you can send.
The home finished living space
Why this number
Finished square feet you'll actually clean. Skip the garage and the unfinished basement.
Why this number
20 minutes each: bed made, surfaces, floor, trash. Assumption, editable under Your numbers.
Why this number
30 minutes each: toilet, shower or tub, sink, mirror, floor. Assumption, editable under Your numbers.
The job
Why this number
Hours are person-hours. Time on site is person-hours divided by crew. Each person gets paid drive and setup time.
Your numbers minutes, rates, margin
Minutes, standard clean
Why this number
Dusting, floors and surfaces everywhere. 1,500 sq ft is about 67.5 minutes. Time your crew and replace it.
Why this number
One kitchen per home. Counters, stovetop, sink, appliance fronts, floor.
Labor, supplies, overhead
Why this number
What the hour costs you, not what you charge: wage plus payroll tax, workers' comp and paid drive. Check the BLS wage table for Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in your state and confirm.
Why this number
Paid time that isn't cleaning time. Every crew member gets it.
Why this number
Solution, cloths, bags, vacuum wear.
Why this number
The drive costs the same on a studio. The price never drops below this.
Why this number
Insurance, phone, software, marketing, the car. Last year's overhead divided by last year's labor and supplies.
Why this number
Share of the one-time price you keep. Price = cost ÷ (1 − margin). It is not 30% markup, and the recurring discount comes out of it.
Recurring discount off the one-time price
Price per clean
$150every 2 weeks, 10% off
Based on your inputs. Default prices and work speeds are examples, not local market averages. Sales tax is not included.
| General cleaning (all rooms)1,500 sq ft, 67.5 min | $45 |
| Bedrooms (3)60 min | $40 |
| Bathrooms (2)60 min | $40 |
| Kitchen40 min | $25 |
| Total per clean | $150 |
Your side (not on the estimate)
- Labor
- 4.67 hr paid × $20 = $93
- Supplies
- $8
- Overhead
- $15
- Cost
- $117
- Profit per clean
- $33
- Actual margin
- 22% (29% markup)
- You earn per person-hour
- $38
227.5 minutes of cleaning, rounded up to 4 hr of person time. A crew of 2 is on site 2 hr, plus 20 minutes each to drive and set up. One-time $165, monthly $160, every 2 weeks $150, weekly $135.
How to price house cleaning jobs with this calculator
A house cleaning price is minutes by task, person-hours, paid drive time, loaded labor, supplies, overhead and margin, in that order, then a recurring discount and a minimum. This house cleaning cost calculator runs that chain and shows every step, so the number you send is one you can defend when the customer asks why it isn't $80.
- Describe the home. Finished square feet, bedrooms, bathrooms, condition, and whether there are pets. Square feet drive the general surfaces line; rooms add their own minutes on top.
- Pick the job. Standard, deep or move-out, how often, any add-ons (oven, fridge, interior windows, laundry, baseboards), and how many people you're sending.
- Check your numbers. Open "Your numbers" and replace the minutes, loaded labor cost, drive time, supplies, overhead, margin, discounts and minimum with your own. Every default is labeled an assumption.
- Read the price. The headline is the price per clean at the frequency you picked. Below it: time on site, person-hours, the monthly total, a customer-facing line list, and a "your side" panel with cost, profit and what you earn per person-hour.
- Copy the lines. Paste them into your estimate, or turn them into a WinPal estimate with your logo and terms.
Price per clean = (labor + supplies + overhead) ÷ (1 − margin), then × (1 − recurring discount), then never below your minimum.
Divide, don't multiply. At 30% margin on $116.53 of cost, dividing by 0.70 gives $166.48. Multiplying by 1.30 gives $151.49, which is a 23% margin wearing a 30% name tag.
How much to charge to clean a 1,500 sq ft house
With the defaults, a 1,500 sq ft, 3 bed, 2 bath home in average condition, standard clean every two weeks with a crew of 2, prices at $150 per clean, about $326 a month. One-time, the same home is $165. Hypothetical job, real math, every input editable.
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| General surfaces | 1,500 ÷ 100 × 4.5 min | 67.5 min |
| Bedrooms | 3 × 20 min | 60 min |
| Bathrooms | 2 × 30 min | 60 min |
| Kitchen | one kitchen | 40 min |
| Total minutes | × 1.0 standard × 1.0 average, no pets | 227.5 min |
| Person-hours | 227.5 ÷ 60 = 3.79, rounded up to the quarter hour | 4.0 hr (2.0 hr on site with a crew of 2) |
| Paid hours | 4.0 + 2 people × 20 min drive and setup | 4.67 hr |
| Labor | 4.67 × $20 loaded | $93.33 |
| Supplies | per clean | $8 |
| Overhead | 15% of $101.33 | $15.20 |
| Cost | $93.33 + $8 + $15.20 | $116.53 |
| One-time price | $116.53 ÷ 0.70 | $166.48, sent as $165 |
| Every 2 weeks | $166.48 × 0.90, rounded to $5 | $150 per clean |
| Per month | $150 × 2.17 visits | $326 |
The customer sees four lines that add to $150: general cleaning $45, bedrooms $40, bathrooms $40, kitchen $25. Drive, supplies, overhead and profit are spread inside them by minutes. Your side: $33.47 profit per clean, $37.50 earned per person-hour, $0.10 per sq ft.
How many hours does it take to clean a house?
About 4 person-hours for a 1,500 sq ft home at the defaults, and the number grows slower than the square footage because bedrooms, bathrooms and the kitchen are fixed minutes. The table holds 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms constant and changes only the size, standard clean, average condition, every two weeks, crew of 2.
| Home size | Minutes | Person-hours | On site, crew of 2 | Price every 2 weeks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 sq ft | 205 | 3.5 hr | 1.75 hr | $135 |
| 1,500 sq ft | 227.5 | 4.0 hr | 2.0 hr | $150 |
| 2,000 sq ft | 250 | 4.25 hr | 2.13 hr | $155 |
| 3,000 sq ft | 295 | 5.0 hr | 2.5 hr | $180 |
If a 3,000 sq ft house has 5 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms, say so in the steppers; that is where the real time hides. The 4.5 minutes per 100 sq ft is our starting point for dusting, floors and surfaces. Time three cleans with a stopwatch and put your own number in.
Per clean or recurring: how the discounts work
The one-time price is the base, and recurring cleans take a percentage off it: 20% weekly, 10% every two weeks, 5% monthly. Those are our assumptions, editable in "Your numbers", and the one-time price is what a cleaning quote calculator should anchor on because it carries the full margin.
Why discount at all? A home you cleaned last week is faster than one you're seeing for the first time, and a full calendar of recurring stops beats chasing one-offs with an empty Tuesday. The discount comes out of your margin, though. At the defaults the 1,500 sq ft home is $165 one-time, $160 monthly, $150 every two weeks and $135 weekly, and the actual margin on the weekly clean is about 14% against the 30% you targeted.
Monthly revenue is the per-clean price times visits per month: 4.33 for weekly, 2.17 for every two weeks, 1 for monthly. Weekly at $135 is $585 a month from one house. Every two weeks at $150 is $326. Quote both numbers; customers who balk at the per-clean price often say yes to the monthly one.
Deep cleaning and move-out cleaning cost calculator
The same 1,500 sq ft home is $240 as a one-time deep clean and $290 as a move-out clean at the defaults. The calculator multiplies the base minutes by 1.6 for deep and 2.0 for move-out, both assumptions, then runs the same labor, overhead and margin chain. Add-ons stay fixed minutes on top.
| Cleaning type | Multiplier | Minutes | Person-hours | One-time price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | 1.0 | 227.5 | 4.0 hr | $165 |
| Deep | 1.6 | 364 | 6.25 hr | $240 |
| Move-out | 2.0 | 455 | 7.75 hr | $290 |
Deep means inside cabinets, behind appliances, grout, blinds, the tops of things. Move-out assumes an empty home. Oven and fridge interiors are excluded unless their add-ons are selected; agree the checklist with the customer. If the home is also heavy (1.3) with pets (1.1), the move-out multiplier stacks to 2.86 and the price follows. That's the point: a walkthrough that finds a heavy home changes the number before you send it, not after.
Common questions about house cleaning pricing
How much is a cleaning service for a 2,000 sq ft house?
With this calculator's defaults (3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, average condition, standard clean, crew of 2, $20 loaded labor, 30% margin), a 2,000 sq ft house prices at $175 for a one-time clean or $155 every two weeks, about $336 a month. That is 4.25 person-hours of cleaning. All of those defaults are assumptions you can change.
How many hours to clean a 1,500 sq ft house?
About 4 person-hours for a standard clean of a 1,500 sq ft, 3 bed, 2 bath home in average condition, using the calculator's default minutes (4.5 per 100 sq ft, 20 per bedroom, 30 per bathroom, 40 for the kitchen). A crew of 2 is on site 2 hours. A deep clean is 6.25 person-hours, a move-out 7.75.
How to calculate the price to clean a house?
Add up the minutes by task, convert to person-hours, add paid drive time, multiply by your loaded labor cost, add supplies and overhead. That is your cost. Divide it by one minus your target margin for the one-time price, take off the recurring discount, and never go below your minimum. The calculator above runs that chain and shows each step.
Is $20 an hour good for house cleaning?
$20 an hour is what the calculator assumes the hour costs you, wage plus payroll tax, workers' comp and paid drive time. It is not what you charge. At the defaults, the 1,500 sq ft home pays $150 every two weeks for 4 person-hours, which is $37.50 per person-hour of cleaning. Confirm the wage for your state before you set the number.
How much should I charge per hour for house cleaning?
Price the job, not the hour, then check what the hour comes out to. The calculator's default 1,500 sq ft home earns $37.50 per person-hour every two weeks and $41.25 one-time, after the drive, supplies and overhead are in the price. If the customer wants an hourly rate, quote that effective figure with a minimum, and keep the per-job price for yourself.
What is a good profit margin for a cleaning business?
The calculator targets 30% margin on the one-time price, and that is our assumption, not an industry statistic. It is editable. Remember the recurring discount comes out of that margin: at the defaults, a 10% biweekly discount drops the actual margin on the $150 clean to about 22%. Price the discount knowing what it costs you.
Is this a commercial cleaning estimate calculator?
No, it is residential only. Offices, medical and post-construction cleaning are priced per square foot with different minutes, supplies and insurance, so this tool would understate them. Use it for houses, condos and apartments, and treat move-out and deep cleans as the top of what it covers.
Turn this into an estimate your customer can sign.
Paste the line items into WinPal, add your logo and terms, and send it from your phone before you leave the driveway. Estimates, invoices and payments live in the same app.