Flat rate or hourly: how cleaning companies price the same job
Two companies can quote the same apartment and produce invoices a hundred dollars apart without either of them doing anything dishonest. The difference is usually structural rather than a matter of value, and it is worth understanding before you compare anyone.
What hourly actually means
An hourly rate is a price for time, not for a result. You are told a number per hour and, if you are lucky, an estimate of how many. The estimate is not a commitment.
It works well when the job is genuinely unknowable in advance, which is true more often than cleaning companies admit. It works badly for the customer when the home turns out to take longer, because the cost of that discovery lands on you.
What flat rate actually means
A flat rate is a price for a defined job. Our card sets the rate by bedrooms and bathrooms, and each rate covers a maximum number of hours: $110 and up to 2.5 hours for a studio, $130 and up to 3 for a one bedroom, and so on up the card.
The risk sits with us. If the visit takes longer than expected within that window, that is our problem rather than a line on your invoice. If it genuinely exceeds the included hours, we stop, tell you what the extra will cost at $45 an hour, and wait for a yes.
The trade you are actually making
Flat rate buys certainty and asks for honest answers in return. If you describe a home that has been cleaned recently and it has not, the scope was wrong and the visit runs out of time. That is not a penalty clause, it is just the arithmetic catching up.
Hourly buys flexibility and asks you to carry the uncertainty. Neither is a scam. The problem is comparing them as if they were the same kind of number.
How to compare two quotes properly
Ask each company the same four questions and the comparison becomes possible.
- How many hours is this booked for?
- What happens if it takes longer, and do you tell me before or after?
- What is excluded, specifically?
- Is parking or tax inside or outside this number?
The number nobody publishes
Our estimate form shows a price before asking for contact details. You can compare it with the included work and decide whether to request a visit.
Our rate card is published in full, including the add-ons and the overage rate, and the estimate form shows your figure before it asks for a name. You can compare us against anyone without talking to us, which is rather the point.
See your price before you talk to anyone.
The whole rate card is published, and the estimate form shows your flat rate before it asks for a name, a number or an address. Nothing is booked when you submit it.
See my price ↗