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Cleaning pricing guide

Cleaning profit margin and markup calculator

Check a cleaning quote using your own costs and selling price. See the profit on those costs, margin and markup.

Margin and markup answer different questions

Profit margin tells you what share of the selling price remains after the costs included in your estimate. Markup tells you how much profit you added compared with cost. The percentages are not interchangeable.

Margin = profit ÷ selling price
Markup = profit ÷ cost

This matters when pricing recurring cleaning work because adding 30% to cost does not create a 30% margin.

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Check the margin on your quote

Use the total cost and customer price for the same visit, before tax. Include the costs you want counted, using the same currency for both amounts.

Your entries stay on this page. Nothing is saved or sent.

Cost and price for one visit

Include the labour, supplies, travel and overhead you want counted.

Use the price you plan to charge for the same visit.

Changing currency relabels your amounts. It does not convert them.

Enter amounts without commas or currency symbols.

The same $140 cost priced two ways

Fictional cleaning visitLabour, supplies, travel, and allocated overhead total $140 before tax.

Using a 30% markup

$140 cost × 1.30 = $182 selling price

Profit is $42. That $42 is 30% of the $140 cost, but only about 23.08% of the $182 selling price.

Using a 30% target margin

$140 cost ÷ (1 − 0.30) = $200 selling price

Profit is $60. That $60 is 30% of the $200 selling price, so this is the price that achieves a 30% margin on the costs entered.

Convert between markup and margin

Margin = markup ÷ (1 + markup)
Markup = margin ÷ (1 − margin)

A 30% markup is about a 23.08% margin. A 30% margin requires about a 42.86% markup on cost. The conversion does not tell you which target is right for a particular job; it only keeps the arithmetic consistent.

Use one definition across the team

Write down whether estimates, reports, and pricing discussions use margin or markup. If an owner, estimator, and bookkeeper use the same word for different formulas, a quote can look profitable while missing the intended target.

  • Label the target field clearly as margin or markup.
  • Show the formula beside spreadsheets and calculators.
  • Keep the same cost categories in the estimate and later job review.
  • Compare estimated labour and cost with actual results after service begins.

What this calculation does not decide

A margin formula does not set a market price, predict the actual hours, or guarantee profit. The result depends on the scope and costs entered. Confirm the work, facility conditions, service frequency, exclusions, and operational risk before sending a bid.

Commercial cleaning bid calculatorApply a target margin to your own labour and job costs.How to calculate a commercial cleaning bidWork from scope and crew time through to a final price check.