Free Cleaning Estimate Template (PDF Generator)

How to write a cleaning estimate

1. Add your business details

   Company details, logo and the bonded-and-insured statement.

2. Enter the client and the home

   Name, contact details and the address; put square feet, bedrooms, baths and pets in the job line.

3. Number and date it, and set the valid-until date

   The number is prefilled; set a validity window.

4. Price the initial deep clean and the recurring rate separately

   The deep clean as the first row with its full scope in the details; the recurring per-visit rate as a row ticked Optional, so it prints for reference outside the total the client signs.

5. Add the room-by-room scope and priced add-ons

   Exclusions in the notes; oven, fridge, interior windows, laundry and inside cabinets as Optional rows the client can tick.

6. Write the terms: cancellation, lockout, re-clean, supplies

   The notice window and fee, the re-clean guarantee, whose supplies, pets and access, and how recurring visits are paid.

7. Set the deposit, download, and convert when accepted

   A deposit that holds the first date, then text or email the PDF. On approval, untick Optional on any accepted add-on and press Convert to invoice.

What to include on a cleaning estimate

What should a cleaning estimate include?

Two prices and a checklist. The first price is the initial visit — a deep clean, because a house that has not been professionally cleaned takes twice as long the first time. The second is the recurring per-visit rate at the client's frequency. The checklist is the room-by-room scope both prices buy, plus the extras that cost more. Clients who see all three on one page book; clients who get one number and a promise ask for another quote. One convention to know: the generator adds every included line into the total, so mark the recurring per-visit rate Optional — it prints priced in the add-ons table, outside the total and the deposit, which is exactly right for a rate that is billed after each visit.

• The house, in numbers. Square feet, bedrooms, bathrooms, levels, pets, whether anyone works from home — in the job line, so the client can correct a wrong assumption before it becomes a wrong price.
• Scope by room, including what is excluded. "Inside cabinets, exterior windows and post-construction dust are not included" saves a difficult first visit.
• Add-ons as optional lines — oven, fridge, interior windows, laundry, inside cabinets — each with a price, so "can you also do the oven" is a checkbox, not a negotiation.
• Supplies, included or not, and whether you will use the client's products on request.
• Terms: cancellation and lockout policy, the re-clean guarantee, bonded-and-insured statement, deposit, how recurring visits are paid, and a valid-until date.

A short walkthrough — in person or on video — before you price beats any formula. The client learns what a standard clean is and is not; you learn about the three dogs and the glass-top stove. The general method in how to write an estimate applies, scaled down.

How do you price a cleaning job: per visit, hourly, or per square foot?

Flat per visit for recurring residential work, hourly per cleaner for jobs you cannot scope from the doorway, and per square foot only as a check. A flat rate is what clients want to hear and lets a fast crew earn more; an hourly rate protects you on the cleanout and the move-out nobody has seen since the tenant left.

Those figures come from Housecall Pro's pricing guide, which also notes a typical 10%–15% discount for weekly or biweekly clients. Whichever model you use, build the number from your real costs — wages, drive time, supplies, insurance, the bond, the hours you cannot bill — and check it with the hourly rate calculator before you print a rate you will live with every other Wednesday for years.

Should the first cleaning be priced as a deep clean?

Almost always. The first visit resets the house to the standard your recurring rate maintains: baseboards, door frames, light fixtures, cabinet fronts, grout, behind and under the furniture that moves. That is two to three times the labor of a maintenance clean; price it at the recurring rate and you either lose money on day one or leave the house at a standard you have to defend on visit two.

On the estimate, make it explicit: "Initial deep clean — $385" as its own line with the deep-clean scope in the details, then "Biweekly standard clean — $175 per visit, begins with visit two." Clients accept the logic when they see it written; they resent a first invoice bigger than the number they remember. If a client pushes back, note on the estimate that the first standard visit is time-capped and will not reach the deep-clean items. Most choose the deep clean.

What terms belong on a cleaning estimate?

The ones you will need to point to later. Cleaning is a relationship business, and the terms on the estimate are why a fee three months from now feels fair instead of petty. Keep them short and read the important half aloud on the walkthrough.

• Cancellation and lockout. "24 hours' notice to reschedule; lockouts and cancellations inside 24 hours are billed at half the visit rate." Pick your own numbers, but write them down.
• Re-clean guarantee. "Tell us within 24 hours and we come back at no charge." It sells the estimate and sets the bar for complaints: specific, prompt, fixable.
• Supplies and products. Included, or the client's own on request; mention unscented options if you offer them.
• Pets and access. Where the dog will be, and whether you hold a key or use a lockbox.
• Bonded and insured. Say what you carry — general liability, and a bond if you have one — and offer the certificate on request. The words mean different things to different clients; the certificate does not.
• Payment. Deposit for the first visit or a move-out; card on file charged after each recurring visit; sales tax where the state requires it.

On deposits: recurring residential clients rarely pay one, and asking for a deposit on a $175 visit costs more goodwill than it protects. Deep cleans, move-outs and post-party or post-construction jobs are different — a quarter to a third down holds the date and filters out the night-before cancellations. The deposit guide covers the state caps on larger contracts; at cleaning prices they rarely bite, but checking your state's rule costs nothing.

How do you turn a cleaning estimate into a recurring client?

Make the yes easy and the first date immediate. Text the estimate PDF within an hour of the walkthrough with the first available deep-clean date in the notes and the deposit payable from the phone. If they go quiet, the follow-up is a two-line text about the date, not the price — "the 12th is still open for your first clean, want me to hold it?" The cadence in why customers ghost after an estimate works for a cleaning quote as well as a roof.

After the deep clean, the estimate becomes the invoice: Convert to invoice carries the accepted lines and the deposit into the invoice generator with the balance worked out. From visit two, the recurring rate and the card on file do the rest. The general version of this tool is the free estimate template.

FAQ

• Housecall Pro — How much to charge for house cleaning: 2026 prices (updated August 5, 2026)