How to price cleaning jobs and what to charge

Whatever you call it on the invoice, every cleaning price comes down to time. So:

1. 1Work out an hourly rate from your yearly costs, the pay you want and the hours you can bill.
2. 2Estimate how long each clean takes. Time your first few cleans of each type and keep a note.
3. 3Multiply, add any specialist products or equipment, and round to a clear price.
4. 4Check the result against what the market charges for that type of clean.

Regular cleans are usually sold by the hour or by the visit. Deep, end of tenancy, oven and carpet cleans are usually sold at a flat price, which rewards you for getting faster.

Use the last 12 months of bank statements. Typical costs for a solo cleaner or small team:

• Travel between clients: car or van costs, fuel and parking.
• Supplies and equipment: products, cloths, mops, vacuums and their replacement.
• Insurance: public liability, and employers' liability once you employ anyone.
• Checks and training, such as a DBS check if clients ask for one.
• Phone, booking software and your accountant.
• Marketing: website, listings and leaflets.
• Staff costs, if you have a team. These are usually the biggest line, so they get their own section below.

Unpaid gaps matter as much as costs. Thirty minutes between two clients across town is time you can't bill, so price your rate on the hours you actually clean.

A cleaner's hourly wage is only part of what they cost you. For 2026 to 2027:

• Wages: at least £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over, £10.85 for 18 to 20 year olds.
• Holiday: at least 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, including part-timers on a pro rata basis.
• Employer's National Insurance: 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year. Eligible employers can claim Employment Allowance of up to £10,500 a year to reduce it.
• Pension: under automatic enrolment, employers pay at least 3% of qualifying earnings between £6,240 and £50,270.

Worked through with example figures, a cleaner on £12.71 for 25 hours a week, paid all 52 weeks including holiday:

That £16 is before supplies, travel, insurance, your own time running the business and any profit. If you charge £20 an hour for that cleaner's time, there's very little left. If Employment Allowance covers your National Insurance, the cost per hour drops to about £14.51.

Some cleaning firms use self-employed cleaners instead. Employment status depends on how the work is really done, not what the contract says. GOV.UK's tests for who counts as self-employed include putting in bids or giving quotes for work, not working under direct supervision and sending invoices. Get it wrong and you could owe holiday pay and minimum wage.

For a self-employed cleaner in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2026 to 2027:

• Income Tax: 0% on the first £12,570, 20% up to £50,270, then 40%. Scotland has its own bands.
• Class 4 National Insurance: 6% on profits between £12,570 and £50,270, then 2%.
• VAT: registration is compulsory once taxable turnover goes over £90,000 in the last 12 months. A growing team can pass that quickly, and adding 20% to domestic prices is hard, so plan for it before you reach it.
• Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: from April 2026 for qualifying income over £50,000, April 2027 over £30,000 and April 2028 over £20,000.

These figures are examples to show the sum. They aren't averages for cleaners and they aren't Ringzel customer data.

1. 1Working time: 46 weeks × 5 days × 7 hours = 1,610 hours.
2. 2Billable time: 75% of that, after travel and gaps between clients, so 1,207.5 hours.
3. 3Break-even rate: £31,500 ÷ 1,207.5 = £26.09 an hour.
4. 4Add a 10% margin: about £28.70 an hour.

On £24,000 of profit, 2026 to 2027 rates give Income Tax of £2,286 and Class 4 National Insurance of £685.80.

This example comes out above Checkatrade's £25 for an independent cleaner. That's common: many solo cleaners set their rate from what others charge and never count the gaps between clients. Cutting travel, by grouping clients by area, is often a better fix than charging less.

Homeowner and business cost guides show what customers expect to pay:

Sources: Checkatrade's guides to house cleaning, deep cleaning, end of tenancy cleaning, oven cleaning and carpet cleaning, and MyJobQuote's guides to end of tenancy cleaning and office cleaning.

Compare the agency rates with the £16 an hour an employed cleaner costs in the example above. The gap has to pay for supplies, travel, insurance, the office and your profit.

Flat prices work best for one-off cleans, because the customer wants a number, not an hourly estimate. Build each one from time:

1. 1Estimate the hours for each property size from your own past jobs.
2. 2Multiply by your hourly rate, using a higher rate if the work is harder or the deadline is tight.
3. 3Add extras as separate prices: ovens, carpets, inside windows, fridges.
4. 4Say what's included and what's not, such as heavy limescale or rubbish removal.

Checkatrade's end of tenancy prices rise by property size, from £180 for a studio to £300 for a 3-bed, with London higher. A price list by bedrooms is easy for customers and letting agents to compare, as long as your own timings sit behind it.

Yes. A one-hour clean across town can cost you more in travel than you earn. Many cleaners set a minimum visit of two or three hours for regular cleans. Specialist cleaners do the same: Checkatrade's carpet cleaning guide shows a minimum charge of £85.

Put your prices and minimum in writing before the first clean. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, what you tell a customer about the price can become part of the contract, and if no price is agreed, they only have to pay a reasonable price.

1. 1Review prices every April, when the National Living Wage changes, even if you work alone.
2. 2Give regular clients a month's notice in writing.
3. 3Raise prices for new clients first, and keep a waiting list if you're full.
4. 4Drop or reprice the clients furthest away or with the shortest visits.

A rate that hasn't moved while wages, fuel and supplies have gone up is a pay cut. Most regular clients accept a fair, well-explained rise more readily than a change of cleaner.

Ready to grow? Our guide on how to get cleaning contracts covers tenders, facilities managers and TUPE.

New clients often ring two or three cleaners and book the first one who answers. While you're mid-clean, that's rarely you. The cost of a missed call is the job's value multiplied by the chance they'd have booked.

A weekly 3-hour client at the example rate of £28.70 is worth about £4,477 a year over 52 weeks. If one missed enquiry in three would have become a regular client, each missed call costs about £1,492 in a year's work. Put your own figures into our missed call calculator, and see whether a missed call text back is enough.