House Cleaning · business planning

House Cleaning Business Profit Calculator

Estimate house cleaning revenue, operating costs, owner earnings, profit after owner time, break-even volume and startup recovery. Standard maintenance cleaning, not deep cleaning, move-outs or post-construction work.

Where the defaults come from

Price references checked September 16, 2026. A published price in one market does not establish a national average. The operating costs, workload and startup budget below are explicit examples you can replace.

Input	Default	Basis and scope
Service price	$180 / cleaning	Its 2025 guide lists $150–$230 for standard cleaning of a two-bedroom, two-bathroom home in San Diego. The $180 default falls within that published range. Sparkly Maid San Diego
Work volume	24 / month	Illustrative workload, not a demand forecast. Start with your actual bookings.
Owner time	3.5 hours / cleaning	3 hours cleaning plus 30 minutes travel, setup and administration per visit.
Supplies and reserves	$12 supplies; $10 travel; $3 reserve	Sample operating allowances. All three amounts are per cleaning. Replace with your purchase and route records.
Overhead	$350 / month	Sample combined insurance, software, marketing and miscellaneous budget. Add costs your operation needs.
Owner-time value	$25 / hour	Editable opportunity-cost assumption, not a local wage survey. Owner earnings are shown before subtracting this allowance.
Startup budget	$1,500	The $1,500 startup example allows $700 for cleaning equipment and supplies, $300 for launch setup and $500 in reserve. It assumes you already have transport.

How the calculation works

Monthly revenue = jobs or stops × average price. Monthly cash costs = volume × (supplies + travel + equipment reserve) + paid labor + overhead.

Owner earnings = revenue − cash costs and equipment reserve. Owner-time allowance = owner hours × hourly value. Profit after owner time = owner earnings − that allowance.

Break-even volume = fixed monthly costs ÷ contribution per job or customer after owner time, rounded up. Startup recovery = cash startup investment ÷ monthly profit after owner time. N/A means the available contribution or profit is not positive.

Worked example

With the original defaults, monthly revenue is $4,320 and cash costs plus equipment reserve are $950. That leaves $3,370 for the owner before tax.

The scenario uses about 84.0 owner hours per month. Valuing those hours at $25 leaves $1,270 in monthly profit after owner time. This illustrates the formula; it is not an earnings forecast.

Make the estimate fit your work

Use total person-hours: two cleaners working two hours use four labor-hours. The owner-hours field is for your time only; add employee wages and payroll burden to paid labor. Include laundry and key pickup in time estimates.

Common questions

Is owner earnings the same as business profit?

For a solo operator, owner earnings include payment for doing the work. The separate owner-time allowance makes it possible to see the remaining business margin without hiding the cash the owner retains. Paid helpers are a separate cash cost.

What does startup recovery exclude?

It is a simple steady-month estimate, not a loan schedule. Ramp-up time, taxes, financing, changing demand and unentered expenses are excluded. Startup cash may include reserves that are still on hand. Enter your actual cash invested and avoid counting equipment purchase principal twice.

What should I change first?

Enter actual local quotes or your own average ticket, booked work, route time and expenses. Then test fewer jobs and longer hours. For pools, change visits per month to the actual schedule if estimating a specific month.