What you're pricing in domestic and oven cleaning
Domestic cleaning covers regular cleans in people's homes, usually weekly or fortnightly, along with one-off jobs like oven cleans, end-of-tenancy and deep cleans. One job means cleaning a home for an agreed number of hours. How often a customer comes back: every week or fortnight for a regular clean, and one-off for oven and deep cleans. That pattern decides how you should think about price.
The method is the same as for any round (see how to price a round): work out what your time has to earn, find out how long a job takes, and add what it costs you. This page shows it with numbers for domestic and oven cleaning.
What moves the price
- Size of the home and number of bedrooms and bathrooms
- How many hours you'll spend, which is how most customers think about it
- Whether you bring your own products and equipment
- How often: a weekly clean needs less work than a monthly one
- Extras: ovens, inside windows, ironing and fridge cleaning
Example: pricing one clean
- 150 minutes on site + 15 minutes getting there and setting up = 165 minutes
- 165 minutes at £18 an hour = £49.50
- Add £4 for materials and fuel = £53.50
Price: £54 per clean
Set a minimum
Set a minimum visit length, such as two hours, so travel to a short job still pays. If a customer won't pay it, they're costing you more in time than they pay you, and the round is better without them.
How many jobs that means
With that example price, here is what earning £2,000 a month looks like once you've covered the costs of running the business.
| Monthly cost (example) | Amount |
|---|---|
| Public liability insurance | £12 |
| Car, fuel and servicing | £120 |
| Rounds software | £35 |
| Phone | £15 |
| Advertising | £30 |
| Total running costs | £212 |
- Income wanted: £2,000 + running costs £212 = £2,212 a month
- At £54 a job: 41 jobs a month
If a regular customer comes about 26 times a year, that's about 19 customers on the books
Customers come back often, so a regular book of a few hundred cleans can fill a working week. A tight, well-priced round matters more than any single job.
Raising your prices
Review your prices at least once a year. Tell customers in writing, give them a few weeks' notice and name the new price and the date it starts. The message to copy is in how to price a round.
Run your domestic and oven cleaning in WorkWise
A repeat diary: Weekly and fortnightly slots that repeat themselves, with one-offs added around them.