A cleaning quote is a bet on how long the work takes. Price it on a wage rate and you will lose money quietly for years; price it on the true cost of an hour, plus the time the job really needs, and every contract you sign adds margin rather than removing it.
What does an hour actually cost you?
Start with the wage, then add what sits on top of it: employer contributions, holiday pay, sick pay, and the paid time that isn't spent cleaning — travel between sites, briefings, waiting for a caretaker with a key. In most European markets those additions push the real cost of an hour a long way above the wage.
Then add the costs the job carries: consumables and materials, machine wear, mileage, and the share of your admin, insurance and software that every hour has to fund. Only once all of that is in the number can you add margin and call the result a price.
How long does the job really take?
Estimating from a walk-round is a habit worth breaking. Two offices of the same size differ by a factor of two depending on floor type, desk clutter, kitchen use and how many bins there are — and the difference is invisible until the third week, when your cleaner is finishing forty minutes late every visit.
Measure a few visits before you commit to a long contract, and keep measuring afterwards. A job quoted at 90 minutes that consistently takes 115 isn't a scheduling problem, it's a pricing problem — and you only ever see it if the check-in and check-out times are there to look at.
Should you quote per hour or per visit?
Customers overwhelmingly prefer a price per visit or per month: it's predictable, it's comparable, and it doesn't invite them to watch the clock. Quote it that way — but build it from your hourly cost and your measured time, so the fixed price you offer is the honest one.
For household work, always show the price after RUT as well as before. Halving the visible cost is the strongest argument you have, and a quote that makes the customer work it out themselves is a quote that loses to one that doesn't.
When should you raise a price?
Wages and materials rise every year, so a contract without an indexation clause quietly loses margin every year. Put the adjustment in the agreement from the start — an annual review on a stated date is far easier than an apologetic email in year three.
Raise early and small rather than late and large. Customers accept a modest annual adjustment as normal; the ones who leave are the ones handed a fifteen per cent correction after four years of silence.
The short version
- Build an hourly cost from wage, employer costs, unproductive time and overhead
- Measure real visit times before committing to a long contract
- Quote a fixed price per visit, but build it from measured hours
- Agree an annual price adjustment up front, and apply it every year
FAQ
Should you show your hourly rate to customers?
Usually not. A price per visit is easier to compare and easier to accept, and it keeps the conversation on the result rather than the clock. Keep the hourly cost as the thing you build the quote from.
How do you handle a job that turns out to be bigger than quoted?
Go back with the measured times as soon as the pattern is clear, not at the end of the year. Customers rarely argue with check-in data, and a re-quote in month two costs you far less than a contract carried at a loss for twelve.
What margin should a cleaning contract carry?
Enough to survive a sick week, a lost key and a price rise you didn't budget for. That is a business judgement rather than a formula, but a contract priced with no room for the unexpected will find the unexpected.
SweepOS quotes from your price list, shows the price after RUT, and puts real check-in times next to what you charged — so the contracts you renew are the ones that earn, and you can see which ones don't.