“Really? For a wipe-down?”
Why am I trying to get rich quick charging so much? It’s crazy to me we let ourselves be convinced a contractor showing up in Walmart shoes is rich. That we let ourselves listen to out of touch people convince us that a liveable wage isn’t deserved by everybody that works or that it’s selfish to want.
But that’s a whole different story for another time.
I don’t blame you. I’d raise an eyebrow too—if that’s all it was. But it’s not. Just what exactly goes into that number, and why I can’t always “do it for $50” even when I want to.
Time Isn’t Just Time on Site and it’s wild to me that so many people have gotten used to working off the clock for so long they no longer calculate it as work time.
You see 1–2 hours of cleaning. But here’s the full timeline:
30–60 min: Packing supplies (even basic cleans take time to make sure i have everything and a little extra just in case.)
30–60 min: Driving (because Vegas has no concept of “nearby”)
15–30 min: Unloading, navigating elevators, finding the actual door.
15–30 min: Sanitizing my equipment after (because every home gets a fresh clean—not someone else’s germs)
Your 2-hour clean just became a 4+ hour commitment.
The Airbnb Blackout Window
Most short-term rentals want the same check-out/check-in window: 11 AM to 3 PM.
It sounds simple until you realize that window swallows the whole workday. No morning jobs. No evening cleans. Just that one single job… and I’m done for the day.
Imagine a wedding DJ hired to play one song at noon. Guess what? He’s not booking anything else that day either.
The $40/hour Myth
“$80? But that’s $40/hour!”
I can see how simplistically it may seem that way. That’s $40/hour for 2 hours… But if I’ve spent 4–5 hours total on your clean, including setup, travel, and teardown, now it’s $16–$20/hour. And that’s before expenses like gas, supply restocks, license fees, insurance, taxes (yes we pay them and alot of them-roughly 30%) or back pain.
“But I Provided Supplies!”
You did. And I appreciate that. But here’s the honest truth: many provided supplies take longer to use.
Manual Mops that leave streaks when my usual equipment is an electric mop that saves time and back pain.
Vacuums owner by somebody who had no clue a filter needs to be regularly cleaned in order to be efficient
Cleaners that need twice the scrubbing because somebody who’s not a cleaner thinks all cleaning chemicals are the same and has no clue what the difference is between toilet bowel cleaners. Bleach and hydrochloric acid. One of those is practically a magician with lime and hard water damage and rust and even minor clogged sinks. The other one is an allergen and irritating to most people and kind of outdated honestly.
Dirty rags that slow me down (or worse—get tossed because I can’t wash mystery lint off).
If I use my pro tools, I clean faster and better. But that’s gear I invest in, haul, and sanitize after every job. Efficiency isn’t a discount—it’s part of the service. It’s why I charge flat rate. Why should I be paid less (less hours worked) for being mote efficient, knowledgeable, and fast so you can get back to your day faster. Why should an employee who doesn’t know her job as well, doesn’t care, and takes her time get more pay because she spent more hours on it and got less done? It makes no sense to reward inept employees.
It’s Not About Greed. The cleaner that quoted you didn’t drive off in a 2025 Tesla and go off to her mansion.
I’m not trying to milk you for an Airbnb clean. But I am trying to run a business that’s sustainable, fair, and able to offer reliable service without burnout or breakdowns (emotional or mechanical). And I don’t care what a billionaire on TV says. It’s not greedy to want to be paid a liveable wage. That’s literally the whole point of a job. A liveable wage is deserved by everybody who works. If a job isn’t valuable or profitable then why does it exist? Every job that exists is there for somebody’s benefit and if somebody benefits, then every job is respectable and deserving of being paid fairly.
I’ve cleaned in 18-floor towers. I’ve walked 20 minutes just to find the only entrance. I’ve hauled vacuums up stairwells, dodged lost tourists, and deep-cleaned in record time to meet check-in and left with a pulse of 125 from the stress and speed I worked at.
So yes, I quote based on more than just what gets wiped down.
If your budget’s tight, just tell me. Seriously. I can work with clients if there’s a mutual respect and things are tight.
I will negotiate with a client if the conversation is a two way street.
What I won’t do though is be told what I should be charging adamantly by somebody who doesn’t even clean privately much less professionally.
If you want to tell a cleaner what they should charge, I’m assuming you also tell the pest control guy what he should charge, question your mechanic, and every other contractor? Or is it only cleaners that you tell what to charge because you devalue them? Or you think you know what they need to charge to pay their licensing fees, taxes (we pay A LOT of taxes-busines taxes, income tax, self employment tax, sales tax, etc), insurance, plus our personal bills-the main reason we all work-supplies, equipmemt repairs and replacement, fees to the apps we use to find you (almost all charge monthly/percentage), etc.
I’ve done car detailing, mechanics, gig work as a coder/programmer, and a lot of other gig jobs and what I find most interesting is-most of those jobs were actually easier and cheaper to start. Yet I’ve never been told what to charge as a mechanic or care detailer or coder.
But I haven’t gone an entire week in 3 years as a licensed cleaner without somebody telling me what I should charge. Not that I’m out of budget. I understand that. But to actually tell me what they think I should charge is insanely devaluing especially since in the same breathe, you’re asking for my help with what you can’t or won’t do yourself.
Blows my mind to be honest. Mechanic work was way easier Seriously, most mechanics I worked with watched YouTube right before taking a job to see how to do it and they were paid $100-$200 /hour. Had no clue what they were doing half the time. I’ve never seen a Housecleaner watch a YouTube video before cleaning marble to make sure they didn’t etch it.
I’ve worked with clients who said, “Here’s what I can afford. Is there a way to work with that?” We made it work. We rotated rooms. We simplified tasks. We prioritized what mattered most.
What I can’t always do is match the price of someone who doesn’t value what I do but is also asking for my help.
I can be honest about a custom quote for you.
And hey, if it’s not the right fit? No worries. This is a big world. You probably will find somebody better.
I’d rather explain my price than apologize for my work.
— Erin