What goes on a cleaning estimate
A cleaning estimate is really a statement about hours. The customer hears a price; what you are selling is two cleaners for three hours, and the gap between those two readings is where almost every cleaning dispute begins. Put the hours and the headcount on the paper and the price stops being a mystery number.
- The property: bedrooms, bathrooms, and anything else that changes the time
- The hours and the number of cleaners the price is actually built on
- What one visit includes, room by room where it is a first clean
- The extras priced separately — oven, fridge, windows, inside cupboards
- Whether you supply the products and the machine, or the customer does
- Access: keys, codes, parking, and whether anybody will be home
- How long the price holds, and what would mean re-quoting
The sample line items and example prices this sheet opens with are on the cleaning invoice template — the same table, which is about the trade rather than about this paper, so it lives in one place rather than on all six. Working out the price itself? The markup calculator turns your cost and markup into the figure to put on the estimate, and shows the margin it leaves.
What you get
A PDF, and a link your customer can open in any browser. Word and Excel versions are not available yet — if a spreadsheet is what you need, this is not yet the tool for it, and saying so is cheaper for both of us than you finding out after typing everything in.
Pick how it looks
Six looks, from a plain classic sheet through a bold top band to a shop ticket, and your initials go on automatically until you upload a logo. See all six.
How to send it
Most customers want the paper on their phone, so the estimate goes out by WhatsApp, text or email, or as a link that needs no app and no account on their side. Or download the PDF to print it or keep it for your own records.
Questions
Should I price by the hour or by the job?
Quote the job and show the hours. Customers compare prices per job and get nervous about open-ended hourly work, but the hours are what justifies the figure when they ask why a three-bed costs what it does. Both on one paper and there is nothing left to argue about.
What do I do about a first clean that takes twice as long?
Price it as its own line, apart from the regular visits, and say on the estimate that the first one is longer. A house that has not been done properly in a year is not the same job as the every two weeks one after it, and a customer told that in advance accepts it without complaint.