How to price a house cleaning job
The cleaners who burn out are almost always the ones who guessed a number, or matched the person down the street, and never checked whether it covered their costs. The fix is to price from the bottom up, from what the job actually costs you to deliver. Here is the logic this calculator runs:
- Your time. The hours on site times the hourly pay you actually want. This is the part most people forget to pay themselves properly.
- Overhead, spread per job. Insurance, marketing, software, your phone. Add up the month and divide by how many jobs you do, so every job carries its share. Gas to the job goes in the travel field below, not here.
- Supplies and travel. The products you burn on that job and the cost of getting there.
- Profit margin. A buffer above your pay for slow weeks, new equipment and growth. Price equals your true cost divided by one minus your margin.
Why cleaners undercharge
Two mistakes do most of the damage. The first is pricing only for your time and ignoring overhead, so the business quietly loses money on every job. The second is forgetting that you owe 15.3% self-employment tax on 92.35% of your net profit, because you are a 1099 contractor, not an employee. A price that ignores those is not a price, it is a slow loss.
Track it for the whole year, not one quote
This calculator prices one job. The 1099 Sheets Cleaning Business spreadsheet prices every job, tracks your clients, supplies, mileage and taxes, and shows your real take-home all year. One payment of $29.