How to price an end-of-tenancy clean

Know what you're actually pricing

An end-of-tenancy clean is not a big regular clean. It's a checklist job, marked against a letting agent's inventory standard, and the deposit rides on it. That means insides of cupboards and appliances, skirting boards, doors and frames, limescale off taps and shower screens, windows inside, and every surface the check-out clerk will run a finger along. Price it as the specification it is, not as 'a day's cleaning'.

Start from a base rate by property size

Size is the one thing you can price sight-unseen, so anchor on it: a rate for a one-bed flat, stepping up per bedroom and again for extra bathrooms, because bathrooms and kitchens carry most of the hours, bedrooms comparatively few. Work your base out from your hourly target: estimate honest hours for a well-kept property of each size, multiply by what you need to earn, and you have a floor that protects you before any adjustments.

Adjust for condition, after evidence and not hope

The same two-bed flat can be a six-hour job or a twelve-hour job, and the difference is the tenant. Never confirm a price on the tenant's own description ('it's pretty clean really'). Ask for photos or a short video of the kitchen and bathroom, the two rooms that never lie, or visit if it's local. Heavy grease, mould, or years of limescale justify an uplift on the base, and it's far easier to state that before you start than to renegotiate rubber-gloved at 6pm.

Whatever you quote, add one protective sentence: the price assumes the property is emptied of belongings and reflects the condition shown. If you arrive to a furnished flat or a surprise, the line does the arguing for you.

Itemise the add-ons, because they're where the margin lives

The jobs inside the job deserve their own lines, both because they're priced work and because an itemised quote is what agents expect to see:

• Oven deep clean: the single most labour-dense item in the property; never bury it in the base price.
• Carpet cleaning, per room, if you offer it (it needs its own kit and its own time).
• Windows outside, balconies and garages: outside the standard checklist, so priced separately.
• Blinds, and mould treatment beyond a wipe-down, as conditional extras.

Quote it like a company, not a favour

Letting agents put work through the cleaners who make their life easy: an itemised PDF quote they can forward to the landlord unedited, an invoice the same day the job's done, and a receipt for their file when it's paid. A one-person operation that produces agency-grade paperwork gets the repeat bookings. The tools to do it are cheap now, and some (SoloDesks among them) let the agent accept the quote online, which is one less phone call for everyone.

One more professional touch that costs little: a re-clean promise. Agents' check-outs happen days after you leave; offering to return within a stated window for anything the clerk flags is often what separates 'a cleaner they tried once' from 'their cleaner'.

Chase the invoice like it's part of the job

The uncomfortable truth of end-of-tenancy work: the cleaning takes a day, and the payment can take a month, because it's often waiting on a landlord behind an agent behind a deposit release. Invoice the day you finish, with clear payment terms on it, and run reminders on a schedule rather than when you happen to remember. The polite, punctual chaser gets paid first.

Common questions

How much should I charge for an end-of-tenancy clean?

Build it, don't guess it: a base rate by number of bedrooms and bathrooms (worked back from your hourly target and honest hours), a condition adjustment after seeing photos of the kitchen and bathroom, and itemised add-ons for oven, carpets and outside windows. Rates vary too much by area for a universal number, so the method is what stops you underpricing.

Do I need to see the property before quoting?

You need evidence, not necessarily a visit. Photos or a quick video of the kitchen and bathroom reveal most of the risk. If you quote from photos, state on the quote that the price reflects the condition shown and an empty property. That sentence protects you from surprises.

Should oven cleaning be included or priced separately?

Separately, always. It's the most labour-intensive single item in the property, some properties won't need it, and as its own line it's visible value rather than invisible cost. Agents are used to seeing it itemised.

What if the letting agent's check-out flags something after I've left?

Offer a defined re-clean window, returning within, say, a stated number of hours or days for anything reasonably flagged against the checklist. It's rarely invoked, it's the industry-standard reassurance agents look for, and it wins the relationship, which is worth more than any single job.

How do I get letting agents to pay faster?

Invoice the same day, put payment terms on the invoice, address it exactly as the agent instructs (they process paperwork, not favours), and send polite reminders on a fixed schedule. Automatic receipts on payment also mark you as someone whose paperwork never needs chasing, which is exactly who agents rebook.

Do the maths

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More on pricing and rates

• How to write a quote that wins the jobWhat a trade quote needs, why itemising parts and labour wins more work, and how fast you have to send it. A practical guide for sole traders.
• How to work out your hourly rate when you're self-employedA simple method to set your hourly or day rate: start from what you need to earn, count only the hours you can actually bill, and add the hidden costs.
• How much deposit should you take on a job?When to ask for a deposit, how much to take so it covers your materials rather than your profit, and how to put it in writing without scaring the customer off.
• How to price materials: markup and margin, explainedWhy you mark up materials, the costly difference between markup and margin, and what to add so parts don't quietly eat the profit on every job you do.

All of it, in the order you need it, on the pricing and rates hub.

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