What a cleaning proposal should include
Describe the first visit separately. A deep clean resets the house so the recurring visits can be priced for maintenance, and pricing it as its own line explains why visit one costs double. Then the recurring visit: frequency, rooms, and a checklist the client can read. The checklist is the proposal's real content; it prevents the "I thought you did windows" conversation.
State who comes, what you bring, and what happens when a visit needs to move. Same cleaner each time is worth writing down because it is the thing clients ask about most. Say how you get in, where the key lives, and whether pets should be put away.
Add insurance and bonding in a single sentence. It reassures more than a paragraph of policy. A short line about what you do not do, such as biohazards, exterior windows, or moving heavy furniture, saves an awkward text on the first morning.
How to price house cleaning
Most cleaning companies quote a flat price per visit for a defined home, built from an hourly rate they never show. In 2026 that internal rate runs about $40 to $65 per cleaner hour in most markets, which puts a biweekly visit on a three bedroom, two bath home between $130 and $220. Weekly visits run ten to fifteen percent less per visit because the house never gets far from clean; monthly visits run twenty to thirty percent more because each one is closer to a deep clean. The sample prices the biweekly visit at $160.
The first deep clean is priced at one and a half to two and a half times the recurring rate, so $250 to $500 on a normal home and more where the house has not been professionally cleaned in a year. The sample uses $320 and lists what is included: inside appliances, baseboards, and the inside of windows. Move-in and move-out cleans sit higher again, $300 to $600, because the house is empty and every surface is in scope.
Add-ons carry their own prices: inside the oven and fridge $30 to $50 each, laundry $25 to $40 for a wash and fold of up to two loads, interior windows $4 to $8 each, and an extra bathroom or bedroom $15 to $30 per visit. Homes with pets, heavy shedding, or a lot of glass and stainless steel earn a surcharge of ten to twenty percent. Dense metro areas run higher than these ranges and rural areas lower, so check them against the companies your clients already price.
How to price the optional items
Inside the oven and fridge, laundry, and windows are the natural add-ons. Leave them off by default: cleaning clients are price sensitive on the recurring number, and an optional line they turn on themselves feels like their choice rather than an upsell. A $35 laundry add-on on a biweekly plan is $900 a year per client.
Keep the recurring visit itself fixed and put every variable on an optional line. The client sees the total move as they toggle and picks the plan they can live with, and you never have the conversation about why this month's invoice was different.
Mistakes that lose cleaning clients
Quoting an hourly rate. Clients hear a ticking meter and wonder whether the cleaner is working fast or slow. Quote per visit for a defined scope. Skipping the deep clean. Maintenance pricing on a neglected house means a bad first visit and a cancellation, and the cleaner who did it will not want to go back.
No cancellation terms. Two days notice, in writing, prevents the same-morning cancel that costs you a slot you cannot fill. Leaving the checklist out. If the page does not say baseboards, the client assumes baseboards, and the first complaint is the last visit.
Deposit and payment
Take the deep clean as a fifty percent deposit at signing so a no-show does not cost you the day, then bill recurring visits after each one. The template collects the deposit by card when the client signs, and the balance of the first visit can be requested from the same page when it is done. Recurring billing can run through your existing invoicing until it moves into YesPage.
Sending it and following up
Send the proposal within an hour of the walkthrough or the video call, while the client is still thinking about the house. Fourteen days is plenty for a cleaning decision; most sign inside two. A reminder goes out on day three and day seven if they have not, and you can see whether they opened it and which section they read longest. If they lingered on the checklist, that is your opening on the follow-up.
Questions
- Should I charge more for the first cleaning?
- Yes, usually about double the recurring rate, or $250 to $500 on a normal home. Say why in the proposal: the first visit brings the house to the standard the recurring visits maintain, and it takes twice the hours. Clients accept it when the reason is written down.
- How do I handle add-ons?
- As optional lines the client toggles on the proposal before signing. They see the price update live and choose, so the extras feel like their decision instead of an upsell. Leave them off by default on a recurring plan and turn one on for clients who asked about it during the walkthrough.
- Can the client cancel any time?
- Set the notice period in the terms and it becomes part of what they sign. Two days for a single visit and thirty days for the plan are common and fair, and a late cancel fee of half the visit price is easy to enforce once it is in writing rather than a text.
- Weekly or biweekly: which should I recommend?
- Biweekly for most homes, since it is the plan most clients can afford for years. Offer weekly at ten to fifteen percent less per visit for busy households with kids or pets, and monthly at a premium, and make the visit line the one they pick so the total updates as they choose.
- Do I need a signed agreement for recurring cleaning?
- You do, even for a friendly client, because the checklist and the cancellation terms are what prevent the two most common disputes. A signed proposal takes the client a minute on their phone, records the scope and the deposit, and gives you something to point to when a visit is cancelled the same morning.
- How do I raise prices on existing clients?
- Send a change order for the new visit price rather than a new proposal. It adds one signed line to the plan they already agreed to, so the record stays in one place. Give thirty days notice and pair the increase with something visible, such as a fresh deep clean or an added room.
