Residential Prices

[gideon]

Hello! I'm Melody of Gideon Cleaning, Mays Landing, NJ......For those of you who are cleaning houses, how much would you charge for the following:

1) 3 Bed 2 Full Baths, Kitchen, Dining Area, Living Room, Family Room, Stairs, Wood and carpet flooring

2) 4 Bed 2 Full & 1/2 Baths, Living Room, Dining Room, Family Room, Breakfast Area, Kitchen, Foyer, Wood and Carpet flooring, Stairs, Laundry Room.

Don't have idea of square footage of each house....can anybody guestimate these???.... I used to clean these houses when I was pregnant with my first child.... stopped cleaning for them on my 8th month pregnancy.... I only charged them $10.00/hour before coz I was not licensed yet (they were my mom in law's friends).... I was slower then coz of pregnancy -- 1st house - 4-5 hours, 2nd house - 6-7 hours but frequency was like monthly or every 2 weeks.

Melody

[Kevin]

We would charge roughly
1st House $130.00
2nd House $170.00

[jruner]

3300 square foot home with private access to golf course, two stories lots of windows and furniture. They want estimate for move in clean and biweekly cleaning? Any price suggestions. I was thinking $250 but as I am just starting out I don't want to over bid!


JR Cleaning
Chubbuck, Idaho

Thanks!!!
John Runer

[Crowz]

jruner said:

3300 square foot home with private access to golf course, two stories lots of windows and furniture. They want estimate for move in clean and biweekly cleaning? Any price suggestions. I was thinking $250 but as I am just starting out I don't want to over bid!


JR Cleaning
Chubbuck, Idaho

Thanks!!!
John Runer

Too low in my opinion John. We do a weekly that size for $90., one story, no pets, very clean clients. Takes 2 people 3 hours to clean and they are thrilled with our work. We would charge $300 easily considering furniture and stairs alone. Have you given it a look-see? We always do a visual on move out. Don't forget to take a close look at the toilets, range, and fridge!

Good luck! Hope you get the job!

Natalie

[jruner]

I also am trying to rough out prices for smaller homes, my home is 1200 square feet 1 dinining room/kitchen living room 2 bedrooms 1 and 1/2 bath been bid at $65, $75 and $100 dollars for one time light cleaning. Any these seem good I think anything over $75 is high.


Thanks!!!
John Runer

[proshine]

Just my opinion but, I believe it is important to work smart not hard. Do your marketing!
High prices are not always bad, check the price of all your competition, then go a little higher,
offer something they don't, make yourself look more professional,
with your price higher you can offer specials, 25 dollars off first cleaning and we do ________,
then you got em!
I think sometimes cleaners set their prices too low and end up with the dirty work. Think big and get the easy work. Go to cleaners websites and you can come up with ideas that others in your area are not doing.
Maybe I am wrong, but it is working so far. Marketing is a mind game, but it is part of the business world. And what I am offering the builders here is really a very nice thing to do for them. It makes me feel proud to be doing it. They love it and it makes a big difference in their properties.
So we both win, I guess thats good marketing. LOL

[sootsy]

admin said:

We would charge roughly
1st House $130.00
2nd House $170.00

Is that a monthly price or an each cleaning price?

[littlelady]

My first post here. I am working for College Professors and started charging way too low I think for the size of their homes. Trouble was the first one referred me and told the people what I charged, then they referred me etc etc.so Ive had trouble raising my price.
The most I have charged anyone is $100 for a home with a den, living room, dining room, kitchen, and 3 bedrooms with 2full baths and one half bath PLUS a fourth bedroom I change the sheets and make maybe once a month. They also have a gameroom downstairs that I clean for them on occasion but it isnt extra money. Yea, way too much for the money. I was even doing their laundry LOL taking out the garbage etc.
Most of the homes I do average about 5 hours.
Now a woman has asked me what Id charge to clean her house which is a 2700 sq ft home with 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths, living room, dining room, kitchen and kids play room. They also have a dog and two small children ages 3 and 1
Im going to see the place tomorrow but when she asked for a ball park figure I had no clue and said probably $10-$11 a room. HELP
Average price around here is maybe $15 an hour but on several occasions I have gotten $130 to clean a 4 rm apt and $130 to clean an empty ranch house someone was moving into when I first started. .
.

[logan5127]

Little Lady; Just tell the new referrals that you had a cost of living increase. Chemicals have went up, gas has went up, labor has went up, equipment has went up, insurance has went up, everything has went up. Why should we not also go up. There is no law that says cleaning services must remain at the same price. Yet many in the cleaning industry are still charging what they charged years ago. A lot feel like if they go up on prices they will loose accounts. If you go up 10% and loose a couple of jobs you still could make the same amount of money only you are doing less work. 10 years ago I charged .18 square foot for stripping and finishing a floor. Now I charge .35 square foot and have a lot more than I did 10 years ago. Prices are still going up on chemicals and I will try to stay up with them. Do quality work and stay on top of the price range and cost.

[protime]

Here is the method we use as a starting point; 5 cent, 10 cents, 15 cents per square foot. These prices apply to regular (at least monthly), initial cleanings and move-in/out cleanings respectively. Post construction is higher.

So a 2000sf house is $100 for maintenance, $200 first time and $300 for move out.

With this basic price structure, I manipulate the price according to what I see in the home. Pets, children, clutter and most importantly the home owners willingness to help maintain their home between visits. I usually add or deduct $10 to $20 depending on what I see.

Big lesson for me, always go and see the home before proposing!

[kev]

Hello all! This is my first post so thanks in advance for any help u can give. I am just starting out and have my first client. She is the mother to an acquaintance. I am having a difficult time coming up with a price list. This will be an initial cleaning and I am not sure if it will be recurring. I have seen avgs. between $150 to $200 for an initial clean. Does anyone have any input or advice they could share? It would be greatly appreciated!

[Linda]

Hi Kev,

You will need to be a little more specific about this home How many bedrooms, baths, size of home, clutter level, kids, inside pets. Can you tell us anything about it and maybe we can help

Thanks,
Linda

[freddie2]

my wife and i are also starting out and have very few clients any help anyone can give us is great

[bishop]

hello my name is kevin I have a question I am cleaning a building with 14 offices a huge breakroom and 8 restrooms to including locker rooms I need to know about how much to charge I do not know the sqaure footage.

Thanks
Serenity

[executive1]

I would Charge

1.$150.00 for weekly-bi weekly service
2.$190.00 for weekly or bi weekly service
Don't forget a home have lots corner you to clean
first house should take between 3 to 3.5 hours
house 2 should take 3.5 to 4 hours a team of two .
Good luck Melody