The average cost for a house cleaning in the U.S. is $160, but the typical range is between $115- $227. Of course, the amount varies depending on your location and size of your home. Other factors that play into the overall cost of hiring a cleaning service are whether you hire a company or an individual and the quality of the service they provide.
When you’re shopping for a cleaning service, keep in mind that there is a wide range of costs and quality. High-end housecleaning can be as pricey as $340 per visit, while you can get a low-end clean for as little as $60.
Professional cleaning agencies typically charge more per hour than individual housekeepers. A maid service’s hourly rate is $25-$45 on average while individuals can charge anywhere from $9-$25 an hour depending on the location.
The average biweekly cleaning cost for a two bedroom, 900 square-foot apartment ranges from $60 to $120. A 1,300 square-foot home would run your anywhere from $80 to $150 every two weeks. As the house size grows, the cost goes up: a 2,200 square-foot home will typically cost anywhere from $100 to $180 twice a month.
These costs cover the basic services, so you should keep in mind that most cleaners and agencies will charge additional fees to do move-out cleans and cleaning windows, refrigerators, and ovens. These are add-on costs that you should ask about if they apply to your situation.
So where do you start? First things first, decide if you want to hire an individual or a larger company.
Individual housekeepers
An individual house cleaner offers basic cleaning services like dusting, vacuuming, mopping, wiping down counters, and tidying the main living areas. While this costs less than hiring a professional company, a private house cleaner may not be bonded and insured. And if you need additional services, you’d have to look elsewhere for your specific needs.
Small, locally-owned cleaning businesses
A service in between individual help and hiring a large agency would be a small, locally-owned cleaning business. Small businesses are normally bonded and insured, which covers you for any accidents on the job. This is a great question to ask when you’re scouting out services—ask if they are bonded and insured. Because of this and the deeper breadth of services they offer, the overall rate will probably cost more than an individual housecleaner but less than a large corporate agency.
Large cleaning companies
If you’re in the market for a specialized clean, professional companies offer deep cleaning like cleaning floors and upholstery, vacuuming underneath furniture and hard-to-reach spaces, wiping baseboards, flipping mattresses, dusting surfaces, sanitizing bathrooms, cleaning ovens, and more. They are also a good bet if you’re looking for interior and exterior window cleaning.
Prices based on experience
When an individual house cleaner is just starting out and building up a list of clients, you’ll probably pay less because they are learning to clean on the job. When a cleaner comes highly recommended by dozens of references and with tons of cleaning experience, it will cost you more to take advantage of their expertise.
If you’re looking to save a few dollars, hiring someone who is just getting started could work, especially if you only need a bit of light cleaning. However, if you have a more complicated situation like one with children and pets, it’s worth spending the extra money to hire a house cleaner who has the experience to give your home a thorough cleaning. Ask your potential cleaner for a resume so you can analyze their experience and get a better understanding of how they can help your situation.
Big jobs that require multiple people are generally handled by professional companies at an hourly rate of $25-$45 on average. Of course this is based on where you live, so major cities will cost more while smaller areas typically run less.
How big is your home?
The size of your home is the biggest factor in determining how much your cleaning will cost. As you’re calling for quotes, be sure to know how many bedrooms, bathrooms, and other rooms are in your home. Square footage is a useful metric to have handy as well. In general, you can expect your house cleaning to take a few hours, but having exact measurements will help the companies give you a quote for their services.
Bigger homes cost more to clean than smaller apartments because they take more time. A good rule of thumb is that you can expect to pay $7-$10 per 100 square feet (or $0.07-$0.10 per square foot). In other words, a 1000 square foot home should cost around $100 to clean, depending on where you are located.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to have your cleaning service clean your entire house if you’d like to save on costs. Make a list of which rooms you’d like cleaned and estimate how long it takes you to clean those rooms. This should give you a good estimate of what to expect from the pricing proposal you receive.
How often do you want cleaning service?
It’s actually more cost-effective to have a housekeeper or cleaning service come to your home on a recurring basis. Because you’re giving them consistent work, they’ll probably be willing to charge an overall price cheaper than their hourly rate. Typical savings are between $5 to $10 for each visit which adds up over the year. One-time cleaning rates will be higher than signing up for ongoing cleaning. Normally this is between $200 to $300, depending on how big your space is, where you live, and other factors.
Hopefully this information helps you figure out how much to expect to pay for your house cleaning. There’s not exact formula to determine how much you’ll be charged since rates vary across the country and based on size of your home. Good luck!
Leave A Comment