Frequency of Cleaning Schedule

Percentage of Clients

Weekly

12.07%

Biweekly

70.35%

Monthly

12.17%

Other (one time, periodically, etc.)

5.41%

Average Cleaning Price:  The price for house cleaning varies, depending on a number of factors.

• The entity doing the cleaning.  There is generally a wide gap between what individual house cleaners can charge for their service versus what a full-fledged, professional residential cleaning company can command. 

• The amount of work involved:  No two homes are identical when it comes to cleaning them, even if they are identical in size and layout.  Obviously, the more work the higher the price.

• The geographic location:  The price for cleaning a home that requires "X" amount of time and labor in a large urban center is generally higher than it is for a house with the same amount of time and labor in a small town.  The difference is in the cost of labor and other operating expenses.

• The value-added features and benefits:  A professional cleaning service offers far more than just doing a satisfactory job of house cleaning.  ""Real" cleaning companies carry liability insurance, third-party fidelity bonding, and Workers' Compensation Insurance.  They pre-screen their employees, including legal eligibility to work in the United States, conduct criminal background and reference checks, look after their employees' social security and Medicare taxes, and provide professional training and supervision of their employees.  The average cleaning price we've experienced around the country has ranged between $80 and $150 in recent years for routine weekly and biweekly cleaning visits.

• First time or onetime versus repeat cleaning visits:  It can take as long to clean the bathrooms alone on a first time cleaning visit as it will to do the entire home on subsequent regular weekly or biweekly visits.  It is not unusual for a first time cleaning to take two to four times as long as routine light house cleaning thereafter.  We have seen first time/onetime cleaning charges ranging from as low as what is charged on repeat visits (for homes in pristine condition) to as much as several hundred dollars.

The Value of the "Average" Client:

In many businesses the owner is challenged with spending a lot of time, money and effort to find and sell a customer one time, or only infrequently after the first sale.  One of the benefits of this industry is that you get to sell the client every week or two.  A client who pays you $120 every other week represents over $3,000 per year in revenues.  A weekly client at the same cleaning price can be worth double that amount annually.  Get your calculator out and do the math!  A couple hundred repeat clients can represent substantial annual sales revenues.

The Number of Existing House Cleaning Companies:

With all the individuals who clean houses on their own or with one or two helpers -- many of them operating in the underground economy and under the radar of the IRS and the INS, no one knows for sure how many of these small independents there are throughout the country.  However, we do know that there were over 11,000 house cleaners listed in the telephone directories across America in 2008.  The breakdown by state is as follows:

Seem like a lot?  Not when you consider there are almost 1,500 times the number of potential residential cleaning clients then there are home cleaning services across America!  

© 2003 - 2011 WorkEnders, Inc.