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How to Price Your House Cleaning Services?

Starting a housekeeping company is one of the easiest businesses you can start. With little or no money at all you can build your cleaning route very quickly and begin earning a salary of between $15 and $35 per hour.

For most people entering this industry, finding clients and knowing how to clean a home is the easy part; however, when it comes to offering a potential client a flat rate price for services, many new cleaners are at a loss. Bidding and estimating a weekly or biweekly service rate is a mystery for those who may be just getting started in the residential cleaning industry.

Hopefully, this article will take the magic out of estimating a price for your clients. Once you have gone out and performed a few estimates using the following information, you will wonder why bidding was ever a source of anxiety for you in the first place: now bidding and estimating will be the easiest part of operating your new company.

First, you will need to establish what the hourly rate will be for you in your particular part of the United States. You will not be charging your clients by the hour; however, you will be using an hourly rate to determine what flat rate to charge your customers. Don’t worry about how much money your competitors are charging-it doesn’t matter! You set your rates, and don’t allow your local market to set them for you. To establish your hourly rate, go to http://www.bls.gov/bls/blswage.htm (this is the United States Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics website) and scroll down to “Metropolitan Area Wage Data”. Look for the link that says “For 375 Metropolitan Statistical areas (MSAs)” and click on it. Now find your state and click on your area. Scroll down to Occupational Code No. 37-0000, “Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance Occupations” and click on it. Scroll down to Occupational Code No. 37-2012 “Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners” and look for the box to the right under Mean Hourly. Take the Mean Hourly Wage for your area and multiply that by 2. This will be your base hourly rate.

Now that you have your base hourly rate it is time to determine how many hours it will take you to clean any particular home you may be bidding on. This bidding method is easy to implement and accurate for 95% of all homes in the United States. You will need to assign a time value for each cleaning task as follows:

Vacuuming

Room: 10-15 minutes

Entry, Hall, Stairwell: 5-10 minutes

Furniture: 5 minutes per piece

Dusting

Room: 5-10 minutes

Bathroom

Full Bath: 15-20 minutes

½ Bath: (no shower or tub): 10 minutes

Shower tile: 10-30 minutes

Jacuzzi & relaxation style tubs: add 10 minutes

Kitchen

Kitchen: 20 minutes

Stove-top: 15-20 minutes

Oven-hood: 20-60 minutes

Hard Floors

Room: (sweep) 5-10 minutes (mop) 5-10 minutes

Bathrooms: (sweep) 5 minutes (mop) 5 minutes

Kitchens: (sweep) 10-20 minutes (mop) 10-15 minutes

Entries: (sweep) 5-10 minutes (mop) 5 minutes

Halls: (sweep) 5-10 minutes (mop) 5-10 minutes

Stairs: (sweep) 5-10 minutes (mop) 5-10 minutes

Bed making: 15 minutes each

Interior Oven: 120 minutes each

Fireplace: 60 minutes

Interior Refrigerator: 120 minutes each

Furniture Polishing: 15-20 minutes each

Semi-commercial Stove-top: add 5 minutes

During the estimate ask your client to take you on a walk-through of all the areas in her home that she would like serviced. When you enter an area quickly write down what kind of room it is (living room, bathroom, bedroom etc.) and note the type of flooring that is in the room (hard or carpeted). Ask the client what she would like done as you go from room to room. When you have completed the tour, return to your car and begin assigning a time value based on the information you collected from the potential client. Note: do not add any dusting times for Entries, Hallways or Stairwells. Also, wiping down items in the clients home is included in the dusting time value.

You should have all the areas and specifications written down in an organized fashion.

Example:

Living Room (wood floor)

Dining Area (wood floor)

Bathroom (vinyl floor, tub/shower)

Hallway (carpeted)

Bedroom (carpeted)

Kitchen (tile floor)

Now go back through the list and ask yourself what needs to be done in each area. The living room with hard wood floors should be dusted, wiped, swept and mopped. You will assign a 5 for the dusting/wiping and a 10 (5 for sweeping and 5 for mopping) for the floors, totaling 15 for the area. If an area is unusually large, then you may want to consider assigning the higher-range time value to it. The dining area will be calculated in the same way as the living room. The bathroom is a full bath with a value of 15 plus the shower (if applicable) with a value of 10 and the floor (vinyl) with a value of 10 also (5 for the sweeping and 5 for the mopping), totaling 35. Hallways, entries and stairwells are assigned time values for the floor surfaces only. In the case of our example, it is carpeted, with a time value of 5. The bedroom is 5 for the dusting and 10 for the vacuuming. The Kitchen is 20 plus 15 for the stove-top and 20 for the floors (again, 10 for the sweeping and 10 for the mopping). The grand total for our sample house is 140.

Take your total and divide it by 60; this gives us the decimal 2.33. Multiply this number by your base hourly rate, we will use $19.66 as an example. The amount comes to $45.8078. You will always round up to the nearest part of $5, even if it is only one penny over (example: $45.01). So your total for this client’s home would be $50 per service visit. You should always multiply your client’s rate by 1.5 for the first cleaning (1.5 X $50 = $75). It will always take you longer to clean the customer’s home the first time. This will be your price for weekly and biweekly clients. You could offer a discount for weekly clients; however, I would personally not. If you have a client who requests a one-time-per-month cleaning, a rate of 1.5 times the biweekly rate should be assessed.

This method of bidding works for any home, large or small. You may be shocked with the rates you will come up with, but don’t ever think your price is too high. Look your potential client in the eyes and confidently assert your rate every time. You will likely close 1 out of every 2 estimates you perform.

Once you have built your cleaning route into a fulltime business you may want to start raising your base hourly rate for any new clients you acquire. You can raise your current client’s rates or replace them with your new, higher paying clients (one at a time). Continue this client recycling method until you begin to notice that you are no longer able to acquire any new clients. Now you will know what the absolute top cleaning rate is for your area. At this level you should be earning between $25 and $35 per hour depending on your area.

In Support of the Tomgirl

We are born unique. We are born with innate knowledge of ourselves. We are born with limitless potential.

We are born into a world that has expectations of us. Those expectations vary from culture to culture. One facet of those expectations is being a boy or being a girl. Look like it. Act like it. Pick one. Be one.

Enforcing gender conformity in behavior does nothing to serve the children. What it does is make those around them who buy into the cultural construction of gendered behaviors more comfortable. The decision between making others (read: the adults) more comfortable or cultivating an authentic, fulfilled and happy child should be a no-brainer for all of us.

For many children, the process of being themselves is incidental to all of the other development. Choices are comfortable, easy, seamless and culturally sanctioned. No judgment. It just is. They are diverse and complex in many ways, but not in ways that create dissonance with the culture around gender.

For other children, the process of being themselves takes a more significant place in their development, because their uniqueness is manifesting just as it should although not according to cultural expectations. They are diverse and complex as well, including in ways that require them to challenge culture norms, not because they wish to be activists, simply because they wish to be themselves.

Enter one group of people born girls who love the rough and tumble, trucks, dirt, climbing trees and playing flag football on the playground. Their behaviors are unrelated to who they may ultimately choose as a partner or what body feels right for them, because those are deeper considerations then what they like to do for fun on the playground. These girls are the tomboys. They are encouraged to embrace their toughness wearing t-shirts that say “kick like a girl,” “throw like a girl” and “girl power.”

It is important to remember, it wasn’t always the case that these tomboys were supported. Only a generation or two ago, tomboys were chastised with “unladylike” behavior viewed as a barrier to finding a partner or achieving professional success.

Let’s consider what changed. It wasn’t the behaviors. It was the evolution of our culture into accepting and valuing those so-called boyish behaviors in girls. Although we still occasionally observe the discouragement of these behaviors in girls, the culture has evolved to a point that we admire women like Mia Hamm, Serena and Venus Williams and Lindsay Vonn. (Although, as a culture, we still demonstrate our confliction with strong girls and women by juxtaposing their accomplishments with an image sexualized not on their terms, often seeing media coverage of the “hottest female athletes.”)

Even though their behavior can occasionally make waves, we have grown as a culture to ascribe value to it and to entangle the boy-like behaviors with confidence and success because those behaviors reflect the dominant power structure. We hear sentiments like “that competitive fire will serve her well,” or “her confidence comes through loud and clear.” The evolution into accepting and embracing these behaviors in girls demonstrates that, regardless of the fact that they aren’t traditionally accepted, those behaviors will be useful to them. Therefore, those behaviors are allowed to become part of the evolving conception of what it means to be a girl.

Now enter one group of boys, some who have described themselves or been described as tomgirls. Boys whose innate uniqueness includes sensitivity, creativity, perhaps a soft spot for sequined clothing and playing house. These boys, as part of their innate knowledge of themselves, are engaging in behaviors that are fun for them, bring them happiness and allow them to exist in the world in just a way that feels right. The behaviors they enjoy are separate from whom they may want to date or how they relate to their own bodily boyness despite the mainstream view that these behaviors are indicators of sexuality.

That these behaviors are viewed in our culture as girlish behaviors is irrelevant to them. They are being themselves in the truest sense the best they know how. It is actually the cultural construct of appropriately gendered behaviors that is posing the challenge, not the boys’ behavior. Even though children tend to gravitate toward certain behaviors according to gender, it is important to recognize that that is not always the case.

It is especially significant to examine the fact that our culture has evolved to accept and embrace the tomboys, but heartily resists and discourages the tomgirls. Perhaps when our culture evolves to the point of valuing the traditionally-defined feminine attributes of sensitivity, emotional compassion and creativity, we will find ourselves accepting and embracing the tomgirls. Reveling in their relationships skills, emotional sensitivity and enjoyment of beauty can only come when we, as a culture, recognize these so-called feminine attributes as valuable and useful in the world.

We know that being exactly who we feel we are is an important component to life fulfillment which is why we also take time out of our busy schedule and visit Chicago life coaches. If you have ever struggled with the challenge of trying to be someone you are not to please others or to fit in, you’ve experienced the discomfort that comes with repressing an authentic and innate part of yourself. It is like trying to divert the waters of a river, it requires a vast amount of energy and inevitably results in negative consequences. Ultimately, we observe people spending a significant amount of energy as adults seeking that uniqueness that was chased away when they were children.

As responsible, caring and supportive adults, when considering those brave tomgirls, our focus must be on the wellbeing and happiness of the children, not on the comfort of the culture-reinforcing adults. We need to lead the way in accepting and embracing the authentic manifestations of the tomgirls. We also must challenge the hidden homophobia as misplaced as it is. Our job is to let the tomgirls know we value them and what they bring to this world. We need to actively support them and encourage the cultural evolution toward allowing people to be exactly who they are from the time they are born, instead of chasing their beautiful uniqueness away for the comfort of others. Just as the praise of the tomboy is integrated in our culture, the time is overdue for supporting the tomgirl and all he teaches us.

ANTE NATAL YOGA FOR MUMS TO BE

Are you wanting to stay toned during your pregnancy, learn techniques to help with the breathing during labour or simply allocate precious time for yourself and your baby? Then our restoring fertility Yoga Ante Natal 6 week course is just what you are looking for!! Our classes aim to boost your mind and support your body, helping to make your pregnancy a comfortable and pleasurable experience enabling you with birth and the post-delivery stages.

Yoga is the perfect preparation for labour and the joys that lie ahead. It is hugely beneficial during pregnancy as both a physical and emotional support to help you integrate the different changes that this time brings. The course offers a unique opportunity to connect with your baby and a time for you to tune in to your own personal needs.

”In my own experience,” says Amanda, founder of Go-Yoga and mother of two “yoga plays a very important role in pregnancy, allowing mothers-to-be to remain strong & supple in their bodies and prepared for birth and the duties of motherhood that lie ahead; physically, mentally & spiritually. Practising Ante Natal yoga will create a more flexible body, which will enable you to adapt to various positions in labour practising during this time will also help you to return to your natural shape much quicker and easier after the birth!”

During the 6 week course (please see timetable and rates page for forthcoming course dates & costs) you will be taught a series of specifically designed postures suitable at this time to open the body and increase flexibility, how to relieve aches and pains, to boost circulation and also help with fluid retention. Your posture will improve as you adjust to the changing shape of your body and through increased body and breath awareness you will ease back issues, which are common in pregnancy. The class also aims to eliminate any tension or stress that you may be experiencing and promote a deep sense of relaxation and greater wellbeing. Each Mum-to-be on your course will be at a different fitness level, perhaps a different stage of her pregnancy and you will ALL have varying needs and expectations from your Ante Natal yoga. Your Ante Natal Yoga qualified teacher takes this is all taken into account and each and every one of you is treated as an individual. Please feel free to share with her what it is you are wanting to achieve, listen to your body, practice appropriately and rest whenever you need to.

What to bring?

You don’t need to bring anything with you for the practice. Bring some water to drink after class and if required, a very light snack to keep at bay those hollow hunger pangs so prevalent during this time. Do wear comfortable clothing that you can easily move in and bring some sort of sweater or sweatshirt for your relaxation poses (although blankets are provided). If you have any health concerns or injuries please us know in advance of starting the course. We will also be asking you your due date when you book so that we can keep a track of your pregnancy. In our warm and comfortable studio, Go Yoga Ante-natal classes provide a secure, positive and nurturing environment for all mums-to-be where you can stretch, relax, share and have fun with others experiencing similar body & life changes. Suitable for every level/ability, we encourage you to join us after your first trimester for an experience you will treasure! We look forward to enhancing this wonderful experience for you and offering you the supportive guidance you so deserve at this very special time.

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