Cleaning Business Pricing Guide Australia

How to price a cleaning job

Use one repeatable sequence for every enquiry:

1. Count bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, living areas, laundries and other spaces.
2. Assign standard minutes to each room type.
3. Add separately priced tasks such as ovens, fridges, windows or blinds.
4. Adjust the time for the clean type and condition.
5. Convert total minutes into person-hours.
6. Multiply person-hours by the wage or target pay rate.
7. Add supplies, travel and other direct job costs.
8. Add the target margin and check the result against your minimum job price.

This guide uses person-hours so the same calculation works for solo cleaners and teams. For example, two cleaners working for three hours equal six person-hours, even though the elapsed time on site is three hours.

For a margin measured as a share of the final price, use:

Price ex GST = total job cost ÷ (1 − target margin)

Keep recurring-frequency discounts inside the same calculation. First establish the full cost and margin, then test whether the discounted price still covers the job.

What to include in a cleaning quote

As a recommended starting point, record the scope and the inputs behind the price:

• Room count and the minutes assigned to each room type.
• Clean type: standard, deep, end-of-lease, turnover or post-work clean.
• Property condition and any access constraint included in your estimate.
• Extras outside the room allowance.
• Total person-hours, team size and expected time on site.
• Labour cost at the rate you set for yourself or the team.
• Supplies cost, preferably linked to person-hours.
• Return travel or a consistent travel charge.
• Target margin and minimum job price.
• Frequency and the exact recurring discount, if one applies.
• GST treatment and whether the customer-facing total is ex GST or incl GST.

This guide recommends defining “standard clean” before quoting and listing excluded tasks and chargeable extras beside the scope. That makes the price traceable to a written scope.

If employees will do the work, use the applicable minimum pay rates, penalties and allowances rather than treating a target labour rate as a substitute for workplace entitlements. For a consumer-facing quote, show the total price including any GST that applies and any unavoidable fees as a single prominent figure. Business-only pricing can be displayed excluding GST.

Worked example: deep clean quote

Hypothetical example only. The amounts, timings, rates and adjustments are invented for the calculation. All figures are ex GST unless stated.

A cleaning business quotes a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home. Its example settings produce 205 base minutes from the rooms. A deep-clean factor increases this to 276.75 minutes, and the stated condition factor increases it to 318.26 minutes. An oven adds 45 minutes.

Total quoted labour is 363.26 minutes, rounded here to 6.05 person-hours.

• Labour: 6.05 person-hours × A$38 = A$229.90
• Supplies: 6.05 person-hours × A$4.50 = A$27.23
• Return travel charge: A$18.00
• Total job cost: A$229.90 + A$27.23 + A$18.00 = A$275.13
• Target margin: 25% of the final ex-GST price

The quote is:

A$275.13 ÷ 0.75 = A$366.84 ex GST

For this hypothetical arithmetic, applying Australia’s 10% GST rate gives:

A$366.84 × 1.10 = A$403.52 incl GST

If two cleaners take the job, the expected time on site is about 3.03 hours while the labour requirement remains 6.05 person-hours. After completion, record the actual person-hours. An actual result of 7.10 person-hours is 1.05 hours over quote and points directly to the room times, clean-type factor, condition factor or extra-task allowance that needs revision.

Common cleaning pricing mistakes

Quoting from bedrooms alone

A bedroom count alone leaves these inputs out of this guide’s calculation. Count bathrooms, kitchens, condition and extras as part of the scope.

Confusing hours on site with person-hours

Multiply the time on site by the number of cleaners. Cost the resulting person-hours, not the clock time seen by the customer.

Copying a discount onto every recurring job

Calculate the full price first. Apply a frequency discount only after checking the discounted result against cost, margin and the minimum charge.

Absorbing extras into the base clean

List ovens, internal windows, blinds, carpet work and other extras separately. Give each one a time or price rule.

Ignoring unpaid owner labour

Enter a target value for your own cleaning time. In this guide’s job-margin measure, owner labour is a cost even when no employee wage leaves the bank account.

Mixing GST bases

Do the operating calculation on ex-GST figures, then add GST for an incl-GST customer view. Do not compare an incl-GST sale directly with ex-GST costs.

Use the free cleaning quote calculator

Use the cleaning quote calculator to build one room-based quote. Enter the scope, labour, supplies, travel and margin, then review the ex-GST result or switch to an incl-GST customer price. Use it to test a new quote before sending it.

When to use a cleaning spreadsheet

Move from a one-off calculator to a spreadsheet when you need to remember what happened after the quote. A working file should hold:

• one set of room times, clean types, condition factors and extras;
• consistent quotes for solo work and teams;
• agreed price and quoted person-hours for each client;
• actual person-hours and direct costs for each completed clean;
• profit per person-hour by client and clean type;
• unpaid work and business expenses; and
• a year view for revenue, wages, profit and tax collected.

This guide recommends reviewing the client record before changing every price. If one recurring property repeatedly runs over quote, test a scope or price change for that job first.

FAQ

What hourly rate should I use in a cleaning quote?

Use the wage or target pay rate your business has chosen for each person-hour. Add supplies, travel and profit separately instead of forcing every cost into one hourly number.

How do I quote with two cleaners?

Calculate total person-hours first. Divide by two to estimate time on site, but keep the full person-hours in the labour cost.

Should recurring clients receive a discount?

Set the full profitable price, enter the proposed discount, and inspect the result. Keep the discount only when the final price still clears your cost, margin and minimum.

How should GST appear on the quote?

Use one basis throughout the internal calculation. For a consumer-facing quote, show the total payable amount, including any GST that applies and unavoidable charges, as a single prominent figure. The worked example applies the current 10% Australian GST rate for arithmetic only; whether a sale is taxable depends on the business and transaction.