Maid service cost
/ 8 min read
The recurring rate and the first-visit rate are two different prices, and blending them is the commonest way a residential round starts out losing money.
Before you quote
- Establish the frequency before the price
- Ask when the home was last cleaned properly
- Confirm the same-cleaner expectation
Before you leave
- Put the recurring rate in writing separately
- Re-time visit two
- Review the rate every twelve months
Frequency changes the work, not just the schedule
A weekly home genuinely takes less time than a monthly one: less has accumulated, and the crew knows the property. Our own model applies roughly an eight per cent reduction for weekly and a fifteen per cent uplift for monthly against a fortnightly baseline.
| Frequency | Time factor | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| First visit | 1.45× | Nothing has been maintained; nothing is known |
| Monthly | 1.15× | A month of build-up every visit |
| Fortnightly | 1.00× | The baseline most rounds are built on |
| Weekly | 0.92× | Fast, predictable, and the best margin per hour |
Those factors are ours, from timing our own checklist. The direction is not controversial; the size is worth measuring yourself.
Why the first visit is a separate price
The first visit is a catch-up. It carries the work a maintained home never accumulates, and it carries the cost of learning a property. Charging the recurring rate for it means paying for the client's backlog out of your own margin.
Quote the first visit as a one-off with its own fixed price, then state the recurring rate underneath. A client who is told this up front almost never objects; a client who discovers it on invoice two often leaves.
What a month of service costs
At a fortnightly baseline the arithmetic is simple: two visits a month at the per-visit price, plus the one-off first visit at roughly a 45 per cent uplift. Weekly service costs more per month and less per visit, which is worth showing the client as a table rather than explaining.
Where a client is genuinely price-driven, drop frequency before you drop the rate. A monthly clean at your proper rate is a better business than a weekly clean at a discount.
The same-cleaner premium
Clients pay for continuity more reliably than they pay for speed. A round built on the same cleaner every visit holds its price better, cancels less, and refers more — and it costs you scheduling flexibility, which is a real trade.
If you promise it, staff for it. A broken same-cleaner promise is the complaint that ends recurring work.