Cleaning hourly rate & profit calculator
Most cleaning businesses price off what the competition charges, then wonder where the money went. Put your real hours and real costs in below and see the rate you need to charge to cover everything, pay yourself and still make a profit. Nothing is saved — it all runs in your browser.
Below this you are paying to work. It already includes your own pay of £28,000 a year.
Your year, in numbers
- Paid hours you can actually bill
- 1175 hrs
- Unpaid hours (travel, admin)
- 376 hrs
- Fixed costs
- £2,640
- Materials, fuel and laundry
- £2,938
- Staff wages
- £0
- Your own pay
- £28,000
- Everything the business must cover
- £33,578
- Turnover at the recommended rate
- £39,503
- Profit on top of your pay
- £5,925
- Real pay per hour worked (incl. unpaid time)
- £21.87
What a price change is worth
| Hourly rate | Turnover / year | Profit / year |
|---|---|---|
| £31.62 | £37,153 | £3,575 |
| £33.62 | £39,503 | £5,925 |
| £35.62 | £41,853 | £8,275 |
| £38.62 | £45,378 | £11,800 |
Based on the same number of paid hours. A £2 rise usually costs you far fewer customers than you expect.
How the calculation works
Your break-even rate is everything the business has to pay for in a year — fixed costs, materials, staff wages and the pay you want for yourself — divided by the hours you can genuinely invoice. The recommended rate then adds your target margin on top, so profit is priced in rather than hoped for.
The single biggest mistake is assuming a 40-hour week is 40 billable hours. Travel between jobs, quoting, invoicing and buying materials are real hours that no customer pays for, which is why they sit in a separate box above and push your rate up.
Frequently asked questions
What should I include in my costs?
Everything the business pays for, not just cleaning products: public liability insurance, phone, fuel and vehicle costs, laundry, accountancy, software subscriptions, replacement equipment, and any wages including employer National Insurance and pension contributions.
How many paid hours can I realistically clean in a week?
Most solo cleaners bill between 20 and 30 hours a week, not 40. Travel between jobs, quoting, invoicing, shopping for materials and chasing payments all take unpaid time, so build your rate on the hours you can actually charge for.
Should I charge for travel time?
Usually not as a separate line — customers resist it. Instead, treat travel as unpaid time in this calculator so it is absorbed into your hourly rate, and consider a small minimum charge or a wider first-visit fee for jobs outside your usual area.
When do I need to charge VAT?
You must register for VAT once your taxable turnover passes the HMRC registration threshold in any rolling 12-month period, and you can register voluntarily before that. Once registered you add VAT on top of your net rate, which matters most when your customers are households and cannot reclaim it.
Is anything I type here saved?
No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server, stored, or shared, and closing the tab discards it.