Cleaning Estimate Template

Download the Cleaning Estimate Template

Fill the cleaning estimate in above, then export it in whichever format the customer asked for. Nothing is uploaded and there is no account to create.

• Word (.docx)
• PDF
• Google Docs
• Excel (.xlsx)

What to Include in a Cleaning Estimate

Business name, insurance and bonding (required)

You are asking for keys and alarm codes to a home or an office suite. Liability coverage and a bond are what make that a normal request instead of a leap of faith, and property managers will not put you on a building without both on file. Put the carrier and limits on the estimate so nobody has to ask.

Square footage, bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens (required)

Square footage alone will underprice you. Bathrooms and kitchens are where the hours go — a 1,400 sq ft house with three bathrooms takes longer than a 2,000 sq ft house with one. Capture both numbers, because the total is what the customer quotes you and the fixture count is what the crew actually cleans.

Type of clean: standard, deep, move-out or post-construction (required)

These are not variations on one service. A standard clean of a maintained home might be three labor hours; the same house as a deep or move-out clean is six to nine; post-construction is drywall dust in every track and on every surface, needs different equipment and often two passes. Naming the type is what keeps the hour estimate honest.

Condition, occupancy, clutter and pets (required)

Vacant and empty cleans faster than occupied and full. Note clutter level, pet hair, smoking, and whether children or a home office will be in the way. If the first visit is heavier than the ongoing standard, price it as a separate first-clean line instead of quietly absorbing three extra hours.

Frequency and the recurring rate (required)

Show the one-time price and the weekly, biweekly and monthly rates on the same sheet. The recurring rate is lower because the soil load is lower, not because you are discounting, and showing all four side by side is the single most effective way to turn a one-time customer into a route stop.

Room-by-room task list (required)

Write what gets done in each room: surfaces dusted, floors vacuumed and mopped, fixtures wiped, mirrors, sinks, toilets, tubs, exterior of appliances. The complaint you will get is never about a room you cleaned badly, it is about a task the customer assumed was included. The checklist is the answer to that complaint.

Add-on services priced separately (required)

Inside the refrigerator, inside the oven, interior windows, blinds, baseboards by hand, wall spot-washing, laundry, garage sweep-out and dish washing are each their own line with their own price. Every one of them is something a customer may expect for free, and every one is a real block of crew time.

Crew size, labor hours and rate basis (required)

State it as cleaners times hours — two cleaners for three and a half hours is seven labor hours — and then show the flat price. Customers who see only a flat number compare it to an hourly cleaner and conclude you are expensive. Customers who see the labor hours understand what they are buying.

Supplies and equipment (required)

Say who provides products, vacuums and mop heads. If the customer insists on their own products, note that you will use them but cannot promise a result with a product you did not choose. Fragrance-free, pet-safe and no-bleach requests belong here too, in writing, before someone's granite gets etched.

Access, keys, codes and parking (required)

Lockbox, key handoff, alarm code, gate code, elevator booking and where the crew parks. In a condo or an office building, a missed elevator reservation or a full visitor lot can cost forty-five minutes of paid time before anyone touches a surface, so it gets settled at the estimate, not on the first morning.

Exclusions and safety limits (required)

Put in writing what your crew does not do: biohazard and bodily fluid cleanup, mold remediation, pest droppings, hoarding conditions, exterior windows above the ground floor, moving heavy furniture, and anything requiring a ladder beyond the height your insurance and your training allow. These refusals are much easier before the deposit than during the job.

Estimate validity, deposit and cancellation policy (required)

State how long the price holds, whether you take a deposit on large one-time cleans, and your lockout and late-cancellation fee. A crew that shows up to a door nobody answers is a paid drive and a lost slot, and the only time you can set that expectation is now.

Cleaning Estimate Example

Estimate total: $843.00. Valid 21 days. Based on a walkthrough on the date above with the property vacant and empty. If furniture, appliances or personal items remain on the service date, hours will increase and the change will be confirmed in writing before the crew starts. Excludes carpet cleaning, exterior windows, wall painting or patching, and any pest or biohazard condition. Access by lockbox; alarm code required 24 hours in advance. Lockout or cancellation inside 24 hours is billed at $95.

How to Write a Cleaning Estimate

1. Walk the space and count fixtures, not just rooms

   Count toilets, showers, tubs, sinks and appliances, and note floor types. Photograph the kitchen, every bathroom and any problem area. On residential work you can do this in ten minutes; on a first commercial walk, count restroom fixtures and measure the cleanable floor area rather than the leased square footage.

2. Name the type of clean before you name a price

   Decide with the customer whether this is a standard, deep, move-out or post-construction clean, and write it at the top. Every hour figure below depends on that word, and it is the fastest way to explain why your number is different from the one they got over the phone.

3. Estimate labor hours, then convert to a price

   Work out how many cleaners for how many hours, add your travel and setup time, then multiply by your hourly cost and add margin. Price the job, present the flat number, but keep the hour math on the sheet. A free cleaning estimate template that only shows a total teaches you nothing about which jobs are actually profitable.

4. Put every add-on on its own line

   Inside the oven, inside the fridge, interior windows, blinds, baseboards. List them with prices even when the customer has not asked, marked as optional. Roughly half will add at least one, and the ones who do not now know exactly what your base price does and does not cover.

5. Show the one-time price next to the recurring rates

   Put the one-time, weekly, biweekly and monthly prices in a small block together. This is the single highest-value thing on a cleaning estimate, because the customer converting themselves to a recurring schedule is worth more than the job you are quoting.

6. Write the exclusions and the access details

   List what you do not do and what you need to get in — keys, codes, parking, elevator. Add your lockout and cancellation fee. These lines are short and they prevent the two most common ways a residential cleaning job loses money.

7. Send it in a format the customer will actually open

   Homeowners want a PDF or a printed page. Property managers and office tenants usually want a cleaning estimate template in Excel so they can compare bidders in a sheet, or Word so they can paste the scope into a service agreement. Send the version they asked for and keep a PDF for your own records.

Blank Printable Version

Need something to fill in by hand on site? Leave the fields empty and export — you get a blank printable cleaning estimate form on US Letter with the line-item grid, totals box and signature line already ruled off.

Print a blank cleaning estimate form

Turn This Estimate Into an Invoice

Once the job is approved, the estimate should become an invoice without you retyping a single line. That is the next thing we are building. Leave your email and we will tell you when it works.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I estimate cleaning by the hour or by square foot?

Estimate in hours, present a flat price. Square footage sets a starting point, but the hours come from bathroom and kitchen counts, floor types, clutter and condition — which is why two 2,000 sq ft houses can be three hours apart. Customers dislike open-ended hourly billing on residential work, so do the hour math on your side and quote the total.

What is the difference between a cleaning estimate and a cleaning quote?

An estimate is a price based on a walkthrough or a description, with room to adjust if the property is not in the condition you were told. A quote is a firm price for a defined task list, which is what commercial and recurring contracts run on. One-time residential cleans are usually estimated; janitorial contracts are quoted.

Should the first clean cost more than the recurring rate?

Almost always. A first clean on a home that has not had professional service is a deep clean, and the recurring rate assumes you are maintaining a standard you already set. Show it as a separate first-visit line rather than averaging it into the ongoing price, or you will spend the first three visits losing money and the customer will never understand why the price went down.

What do I do when the property is much dirtier than the estimate assumed?

Stop before you start, photograph it, call the customer, and get written approval for the added hours. That is why the condition and occupancy fields exist on the sheet — they establish what the price was based on. Crews that quietly absorb the extra time train customers to under-describe their homes.

Should I charge for a cleaning walkthrough?

No for standard residential work, where a ten-minute walk or a few photos is enough. Consider a fee for post-construction and hoarding assessments, and for large commercial buildings where a proper scope takes hours and includes fixture counts and a task matrix. If you do charge commercially, credit it against the first invoice.

Do I have to charge sales tax on cleaning services?

It depends on where you work. Some states tax residential and commercial cleaning, some tax only commercial, and some do not tax the service at all, with local rates layered on top. Leave a tax line on the template, confirm the treatment with your state's revenue department or your accountant, and set it once rather than deciding per job.