Cleaning Service Pricing Strategy: Residential, Commercial, Airbnb Turnover Rates
Setting prices for your cleaning services isn't about selling physical products. It's about valuing your time, labor, and expertise. Your hourly rate, supply costs, and client acquisition methods all affect your profit. This guide will help you set profitable rates for residential, commercial, and Airbnb cleaning.
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The quick answer
Getting clients directly gives you the highest profit per job, but you have to spend money and time finding them. Working through partners like real estate agents or lead services brings you clients more easily but means giving up a cut of your earnings. Build your pricing so it works well for both ways of getting clients.
Side-by-side breakdown
Direct Client Pricing: When you get clients yourself (e.g., from your website, flyers, local ads), you charge your full rate. For a standard house cleaning, if you charge $150, you keep it all. But remember, you pay for your cleaning supplies (e.g., a gallon of all-purpose cleaner might be $15), labor, gas, and any ads to get that client (e.g., $20 spent on Facebook ads for one booking). Your true profit is what's left after these costs.
Partner Pricing: If a property manager sends you an Airbnb turnover job, you might agree to a set rate (e.g., $75 for a small unit) but they expect a 10% cut, leaving you with $67.50. Or a lead generation service charges you a fee per booking (e.g., $50 for a deep clean lead). You take less per job, but these partners handle finding the clients for you. This reduces your direct marketing costs but also your per-job income.
When to prioritize direct clients
Focus on getting direct clients when you already have loyal customers, a strong social media following, or a good local reputation. This is also key if you offer special services like green cleaning or use specific equipment (e.g., HEPA vacuums for allergy sufferers) that need explaining. The higher profits from direct clients allow you to invest in better equipment, like a professional carpet cleaner or an advanced steam cleaner, and improve your brand.
When to prioritize partner work
Work with partners when you need to fill your schedule quickly, or if finding new clients yourself is hard. Real estate agents, property managers, or Airbnb hosts can provide a steady stream of jobs, like move-out cleanings or Airbnb turnovers. This is also smart if you have extra staff and need to keep them busy. Getting consistent work, even at a lower price per job, helps keep your team working and can make your routes more efficient, saving on gas and time.
The verdict
From the start, set your prices so that even after paying for labor, supplies, insurance, and travel, you make a good profit. If your direct hourly rate (e.g., $45-$60 per person per hour for residential) isn't strong enough to cover these and still give you profit, you won't make money when you partner up and give a discount. Begin by getting direct clients to see what people will pay and to truly understand all your costs. This data makes you smarter when talking to real estate agents or property managers about their cut.
How to get started
Figure out your true cost per hour or per job. This includes your cleaners' wages, payroll taxes, workers' comp, and the cost of cleaning supplies (like your professional floor cleaner or microfiber towels) for each job. Add in your share of insurance, software fees, gas, and vehicle wear. Once you have this total cost, add your desired profit margin (aim for 25-35% net profit). This gives you your ideal rate. Then, check what other local cleaning services charge. If your ideal rate is too high or too low, adjust it. If your costs are too high to meet competitive market prices and still profit, you need to find ways to reduce those costs, like buying supplies in bulk or making your travel routes more efficient.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Do I need different pricing for Amazon vs my own website?
You typically cannot price lower on Amazon than on your own site per most retailer agreements, but you can price the same. Factor in Amazon's 15% referral fee and FBA fulfillment costs when calculating your effective margin on that channel.
What is minimum advertised price (MAP) and do I need it?
MAP is the lowest price retailers are allowed to advertise your product. It protects your brand value and prevents price wars between your retail accounts. Set a MAP policy before you have multiple retail accounts — it is much harder to enforce retroactively.
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