Learn exactly how to price cleaning jobs in 2026. Covers residential, commercial, deep clean, move-out, and Airbnb jobs — with real rate tables, formulas, and pro tips to stop undercharging.
Pricing cleaning jobs correctly is the single most important skill a cleaning business owner can develop. Charge too little and you're trading hours for poverty — burning out your team and slowly going broke. Charge too much without knowing your market and you lose bids. Get it right and you build a profitable, growing business with happy clients and a team that stays.
This guide covers every major cleaning job type — residential maintenance, deep cleans, move-out cleans, Airbnb turnovers, and commercial office cleaning — with the pricing method, rate ranges, and formulas that working cleaning business owners actually use in 2026.
Use the house cleaning cost calculator to instantly price any residential job by bedrooms and zip code, or the cleaning estimate calculator to build a full line-item quote.
Every cleaning job is priced using one of two approaches: hourly pricing or flat-rate pricing. Understanding which method to use — and when — is the foundation of a well-run pricing strategy.
Hourly pricing means charging a set rate per cleaner per hour. It's honest and easy to explain, but it creates problems: clients start timing your team, slow days hurt your revenue, and fast efficient teams get paid less than slow ones. Hourly works fine for new business owners who don't yet know how long jobs take.
Flat-rate pricing means quoting a fixed price for the job, regardless of how long it takes. This is what profitable cleaning businesses use. Your team's efficiency becomes profit margin, not a penalty. Clients know exactly what they'll pay. You build better quote systems. The entire QuotePro platform is built around flat-rate quoting.
Most experienced cleaning business owners start with hourly and transition to flat-rate once they understand their time benchmarks per job type. The sections below give you the flat-rate ranges and the hourly backstop to verify your quotes are profitable.
Residential maintenance cleaning is the backbone of most cleaning businesses. These are recurring customers — bi-weekly, weekly, or monthly — keeping a lived-in home at a maintained standard.
2026 national rate ranges for standard residential cleaning:
- Studio / 1BR apartment: $85–$130 - 2BR / 1BA home: $120–$175 - 3BR / 2BA home: $150–$220 - 4BR / 2.5BA home: $195–$280 - 5BR+ large home: $250–$400+
These are bi-weekly maintenance rates. Adjust by frequency: weekly clients get a 10–15% discount (homes are easier to maintain). Monthly clients get a 10–20% premium (more buildup, longer visits). One-time clients pay a first-time or one-time premium of 30–50% above your maintenance rate.
The bedroom formula is the fastest way to quote residential jobs: Start with a base rate for a 2BR home in your market. Add $25–$45 per additional bedroom. Add $15–$30 per additional full bathroom. Add $10–$20 per half bath.
Market adjusters: If you're in a high cost-of-living city (San Francisco, New York, Boston, Seattle), multiply your base rate by 1.3–1.6. Mid-tier markets (Austin, Denver, Nashville) multiply by 1.1–1.3. Lower cost markets multiply by 0.85–0.95. Use the house cleaning cost calculator to see your local market rates instantly.
Deep cleaning is a first-time or periodic intensive clean that takes 2–3× longer than a standard maintenance visit. It includes tasks skipped in routine cleaning: baseboards, inside appliances, window sills, light fixtures, inside cabinets, grout scrubbing, and more.
2026 deep cleaning rate ranges:
- Studio / 1BR: $150–$225 - 2BR home: $220–$320 - 3BR home: $290–$420 - 4BR home: $380–$545 - 5BR+ large home: $500–$800+
Deep cleaning is always quoted as a flat rate — never hourly for a deep clean, because scope varies too much. Build your rate from your estimated labor hours × your hourly revenue target, then add 20% for the extra supplies, wear, and effort involved.
The deep clean formula: Estimate hours for the job (e.g., 4 hours × 2 cleaners = 8 labor hours). Multiply by your fully-loaded hourly rate (labor cost + overhead + profit — typically $35–$55/labor hour for profitable cleaning businesses). Add 20–25% for supplies and difficulty. Round to the nearest $5.
Deep cleans are your best client acquisition tool. Many businesses discount the first deep clean by 10–15% to win the recurring contract. A $350 deep clean that converts to a $175 bi-weekly client is worth $15,000+ in lifetime revenue. Price strategically, not just profitably.
Move-out cleaning (also called move-in cleaning when done for the new occupant) is the most intensive residential cleaning job. The home is empty, clients expect perfection, and the stakes are high — often tied to a security deposit. Expect 3–5 hours of labor for a 2BR apartment.
2026 move-out cleaning rate ranges:
- Studio / 1BR apartment: $200–$290 - 2BR apartment: $270–$380 - 3BR home: $350–$500 - 4BR home: $445–$640 - 5BR+ large home: $600–$950+
Move-out cleans always carry a premium — typically 50–80% above your standard maintenance rate for the same home. The reasons: more intensive labor, one-time clients (no recurring relationship risk), higher expectations, and longer job duration.
Add-on pricing for move-out jobs: Inside oven +$45–$75. Inside refrigerator +$30–$55. Interior windows (per window) +$5–$15. Garage +$75–$150. Carpet cleaning (if you offer it) +$100–$350. Blinds dusting +$25–$50. Always quote add-ons explicitly and separately — never bundle them into your base rate where clients can't see the value.
Move-out clients are often price-sensitive and will get multiple quotes. Win the job with professional communication, clear scope, and a written quote — not by undercutting your rate. A well-written quote at $350 beats a verbal quote at $300 every time.
Airbnb and VRBO cleaning (also called turnover cleaning) is a lucrative niche. Volume is high, properties are relatively clean (guests are motivated to leave them decent), and turnover cleans happen on tight deadlines. The downside: short notice, inconsistent timing, and the expectation that you also handle laundry and restocking.
2026 Airbnb cleaning rate ranges (per turnover):
- Studio / efficiency: $75–$120 - 1BR unit: $90–$145 - 2BR unit: $130–$195 - 3BR home: $175–$265 - 4BR+ vacation home: $240–$400+
Airbnb cleaning is priced per turnover, not by the hour. Most hosts pay between $100–$200 per turnover depending on size and market. The Airbnb platform allows hosts to set a cleaning fee — the cleaner's rate is separate from what guests see.
The Airbnb premium: Charge a minimum $25–$50 rush fee for same-day or next-day turnover requests. Charge separately for laundry service (+$15–$30 per load), restocking supplies (+$10–$25 per kit), and linen changes. Don't absorb these costs into your base rate.
The best Airbnb clients give you a predictable weekly schedule. A host with 2 units, averaging 3 turnovers per week at $150 each, generates $1,800/month from a single client. Treat Airbnb relationships like commercial contracts — agree on a monthly schedule and auto-invoice.
Commercial cleaning — offices, retail stores, medical facilities, schools — is typically priced per square foot per visit or per month. It's a different world from residential: lower per-square-foot rates but higher total contract values and greater volume.
2026 commercial cleaning rate ranges:
- Standard office cleaning: $0.08–$0.18 per sq ft per visit - Medical / healthcare: $0.14–$0.25 per sq ft per visit - Retail / showroom: $0.07–$0.15 per sq ft per visit - Industrial / warehouse: $0.05–$0.10 per sq ft per visit
A 2,000 sq ft office cleaned 3× per week at $0.12/sq ft/visit generates: 2,000 × $0.12 × 12 visits/month = $2,880/month. Commercial contracts typically run 6–12 months with auto-renewal.
How to bid commercial jobs: Visit the site. Count restrooms, conference rooms, and high-traffic areas — these take disproportionate time. Calculate total labor hours per visit × number of visits per month × your labor cost per hour. Add supplies (typically 8–12% of labor cost). Add overhead and profit margin (20–35%). Divide by square footage to double-check your rate is in market range.
Commercial cleaning is won through proposals, not phone quotes. Use the cleaning estimate calculator to build a professional line-item proposal that shows scope, frequency, rate per sq ft, and monthly total.
Before you quote any job, you need to know your minimum profitable rate — the floor below which you cannot go without losing money. This is different from your target rate or your market rate. It's your break-even point.
Calculate your minimum rate: Add up your monthly fixed costs (insurance, vehicle, supplies, software, phone). Add your monthly variable costs per job (labor, cleaning supplies per visit, mileage). Divide by the number of jobs you need to run per month to cover those costs. Add your desired profit margin (20–35% is the target for a healthy cleaning business).
Most cleaning businesses running a solo or 1-team operation need to generate at least $35–$55 in revenue per labor hour to be profitable after all expenses. If you're quoting a job that pays less than that — even if the client is nice and convenient — you're subsidizing their cleaning with your own labor.
Use the cleaning profit calculator to enter your actual costs and calculate your minimum profitable rate, your target rate, and your projected margin at different pricing levels.
The single most effective pricing strategy for cleaning businesses in 2026 is Good-Better-Best (also called tiered or 3-option) pricing. Instead of sending one quote, you send three tiers — a basic option, your recommended option, and a premium option.
Example for a 3BR home:
- Good (Basic Maintenance): $175 — standard bi-weekly clean, main living areas, bathrooms, kitchen surfaces - Better (Full-Home Bi-Weekly): $215 — everything in Good + baseboards, inside microwave, window sills, all bedrooms - Best (Premium Recurring): $265 — everything in Better + inside oven and refrigerator monthly, detail vacuuming, same-day flexibility
Research consistently shows that when customers see three options, the majority choose the middle tier and a significant minority upgrade to the top. Very few choose the bottom. Without tiers, most customers default to negotiating your single price down.
QuotePro automates Good-Better-Best quoting — building all three tiers from a single intake form and sending a professional proposal the client can accept with one click. Start your free trial and send your first 3-tier quote in 60 seconds.