Labor is the price
A recurring house clean is mostly people-hours: two or three cleaners for a couple of hours each, plus the time they spend driving between homes. Supplies and fuel matter, but a one-dollar raise per hour moves your costs far more than a jump in gas prices. Minimum-wage increases in your state or city affect you even if you already pay above them, because they push the whole wage scale up.
A worked example
A bi-weekly clean takes two cleaners 2.5 hours on site (5 people-hours) plus 0.4 hours of driving each (0.8 people-hours): 5.8 paid hours. If loaded labor rose from $24 to $25 an hour, that’s $5.80 more per clean. The car gets 22 mpg on a 12-mile round trip (0.55 gallons), so a $1.25 gas increase adds about $0.68. Supplies up about 50 cents adds $0.50.
That’s roughly $7 per clean on a $220 price — about 3% — or about $182 a year for a bi-weekly customer, before protecting your margin.
Drive time between homes
Paid time in the car between clients is real labor cost. Customers far from the rest of your schedule cost more; group them, or price them for the extra time.
Supplies and equipment
Cleaning chemicals, microfiber, vacuum bags and replacement vacuums are a modest share of each clean, but they add up and they rarely get repriced. Track a simple “supplies per clean” number — what you spent last quarter divided by cleans — and compare it with a year ago. If clients supply their own products, note it; their price should reflect it.
One-time and move-out cleans
These are quoted fresh each time, so update your pricing sheet or hourly rate. Customer letters are for recurring clients.
Commercial cleaning contracts
Office and commercial contracts often specify notice periods and sometimes allow annual adjustments. Read the contract, give written notice on time, and show the specific wage and supply changes.
Find underpriced clients
Homes that were quoted years ago, that take longer than the original estimate, or that sit far from your other clients are often below a sustainable margin. A minimum margin floor brings them up to a price that works.
How to tell your clients
- A personal note 30 days before the change works best for recurring clients.
- Lead with your team: “to keep paying our cleaners fairly.”
- Give the exact new price per clean and the start date.
- Thank them — many have been with you for years.
Fuel figures are U.S. Energy Information Administration monthly averages (regular gasoline $3.06 → $4.31 and on-highway diesel $3.68 → $6.25 a gallon, October 2025 → October 2026). Inflation is BLS CPI-U, up about 4.0% over the same year. Worked examples use illustrative costs — use your own.