The itemized list
Typical annual numbers for a small residential company running two teams. Yours will differ; zeros are rarely honest:
| Cost | Typical annual | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll taxes & workers' comp | 15 – 30% of wages | The burden that turns $16/hr into $19–20 |
| Liability insurance & bonding | $700 – 2,500 | The thing customers are actually paying the premium for |
| Supplies & equipment | $2,500 – 6,000 | Chemicals, vacuums on 1–2 yr cycles, cloths, PPE |
| Vehicles & fuel | $4,000 – 10,000 | Short-trip city driving is the hardest duty there is |
| Drive time | 15 – 30% of paid hours | Paid like cleaning, billed like nothing — unless priced in |
| Cancellations & lockouts | 3 – 8% of visits | A crew standing on a porch is payroll with no revenue |
| Empty schedule slots | varies | Churned clients leave holes; refilling them costs ad spend |
| Scheduling software & ads | $1,500 – 6,000 | How the calendar stays full enough to matter |
| Quality callbacks | 1 – 3% of visits | Free re-cleans are the price of reviews; budget them |
The two that hurt the most
Cancellations are pure loss: the slot was reserved, the crew was scheduled, and the revenue vanished with a text message. The fix is a policy with teeth — 24-hour notice or 50% fee, in writing at signup — enforced kindly and without exceptions. Businesses that "don't want to be difficult" about it are, mathematically, running a free-rescheduling charity on top of a cleaning company.
Churn is the quieter one. Losing a $150 biweekly client is $3,900 a year of revenue that ad spend has to replace. This is why pricing slightly under the top of the market and being ruthlessly reliable beats maximum-price churn every time — retention is the highest-margin activity in the industry.
What to do with the list
- Total your real numbers and divide by annual visits — that's your true overhead per visit.
- Feed it into the calculator's overhead percentage.
- Re-quote your five lowest-priced recurring clients. At least one is below break-even; they're the reason busy months feel poor.
Turn the list into prices
The free calculator folds burden, supplies, drive, and overhead into every quote. The $29 workbook keeps it all tunable — team costing, add-on menus, commercial bids, and a client book with income tracking.
Free Pricing Calculator Full Workbook — $29