- Get started by charging an hourly rate. This makes it easy to find customers, and as you build up a clientele you will be able to break down your services and charge accordingly. The hourly rate you charge should depend on two things: the economy in your area and how much you need to make to support your family. For example, if you live in a relatively poor area, homeowners cannot afford to pay $30 an hour. If you lived in an upscale neighborhood, however, $30 an hour would only be pocket change.
- Charge each client by the size of their home. It makes a lot of sense to charge per room. The more rooms you have to clean, the more money you make. You may want to charge a flat rate of $20 for each bedroom the house has, or you may want to charge $15 for each room in the home. In the first instance you would make $80 for cleaning a four-bedroom home. In the second instance you would add up all of the rooms in the home, including the bathrooms, and multiply that by $15.
- Create three base prices and then wait to see the house before giving the homeowner an estimate. You will need one estimate for a house that contains a normal amount of dirt. You will need another estimate for someone who is extremely messy, and of course one for a family that is already quite clean. You can then adjust those base prices based on the size of the home. For example, if your base price for a normal three-bedroom home is $100 and the house ends up containing an extra bathroom or family room, you can increase the price to $120 to account for the extra room.
- Create a list of extras that are not included in everyday cleaning. You would normally vacuum carpets, for instance, but if the client wants the carpets shampooed, that should incur an extra fee of at least $20. Spring cleaning all of the home's windows is also something extra that should add to the overall cost of cleaning the home. In fact, any type of spring cleaning should cost extra because the more thorough work involved in spring cleaning will take more time.
