20/08/2026
🚨 CLEANERS 🚨
LET’S TALK ABOUT HOURLY RATES, BECAUSE THIS NEEDS TO BE SAID.
I keep seeing conversations where people say:
“£18/£25hour is GREAT money for cleaning!”
Or…
I’ve had cleaners charge less than that and they did an amazing job!”
And I think we need to clear up one BIG misconception:
💥 WHAT A CLEANING BUSINESS CHARGES PER HOUR IS NOT WHAT THE OWNER TAKES HOME PER HOUR.
If an employee earns £18/hour, that’s their wage.
If a self-employed cleaner charges a client £25/hour that’s GROSS BUSINESS REVENUE.
Those are two completely different numbers.
Before that cleaner ever pays themselves, that £25 may need to help cover:
-Cleaning products & supplies
-Fuel, mileage & vehicle expenses
-Business insurance
-Laundry
-Scheduling/software
-Phone & business expenses
-Advertising & marketing
-Payment processing/banking fees
-Bookkeeping/accounting
-Equipment, repairs & replacements
-Unpaid quoting, scheduling & admin time
-Unpaid travel between clients
-Cancellations and gaps in the schedule
-Holiday/sick days with no employer paying you
And THEN there’s taxes
So when someone says:
£25/hour × 5 hours a day is excellent money!”
No. That’s £125 in gross revenue, not £125 in take-home pay.
And 5 billable cleaning hours doesn’t necessarily mean a 5-hour workday. Add driving, loading equipment, messages, quotes, laundry, buying supplies, invoicing and administration and suddenly that 5 hours of paid cleaning took up most of your day.
Now let’s address something else:
But I’ve had a cleaner who only charged £18/hour and she was amazing!”
She very well may have been!
Being an AMAZING cleaner and being properly priced for profitability are two different things.
Someone charging £15/hour doesn’t prove £15/hour is a sustainable business rate. It proves someone was willing to provide the service for £15/hour.
And yes , professional house cleaning isn’t affordable for every business /household. I genuinely understand that.
But affordability cannot come at the expense of the cleaner being unable to make a sustainable living.
We can offer senior discounts.
We can donate cleans.
We can help families going through hardship.
We can give back to our communities.
But cleaners shouldn’t have to underprice their businesses in order to make professional cleaning affordable for everyone
When you hear someone charging £25/hour, please stop thinking:
Wow, that cleaner makes £25/hour!”
Think:
“That business generates £25/hour gross revenue for one billable labour hour.”
BIG difference.
And for those of us with employees, the maths becomes even more important because our rates also have to support payroll, payroll burden, training, management, supplies, insurance, equipment, non-billable time, overhead AND enough profit to keep the company healthy.
👏 REVENUE IS NOT PROFIT.
👏 YOUR BILLABLE RATE IS NOT YOUR WAGE.
👏 BEING BUSY DOESN’T AUTOMATICALLY MEAN BEING PROFITABLE.
