CarpetBossPro Blog — Running a Carpet Cleaning Business

Setting Your Carpet Cleaning Prices: Per Room, Per Square Foot or Whole House

Pricing is the decision carpet cleaning owners second-guess the most. Charge too little and you work hard for nothing. Charge too much and the phone goes quiet. There is no number that is right for every area, and nobody can hand you one. What you can do is pick a method that fits your work, apply it consistently, and adjust as you learn.

Pricing Is an Office Decision

When you hand the phone to someone else, as described in Hiring an Office Person for Your Carpet Cleaning Business: What They Do and How to Hand It Over, your prices need to be written down. An office person cannot quote from your gut.

Even as an owner-operator, a written price list keeps you honest. Without one, the same three-bedroom job can be quoted differently on a busy Monday and a slow Thursday, and neighbors compare notes.

Per Room

Per-room pricing is the easiest for customers to understand. “$189 for three rooms” is clear over the phone. The trouble is that rooms are not the same size. A small bedroom and a big open living room count the same. Most per-room shops solve this with a size limit, where any room past a certain size counts as two, and by pricing hallways and stairs separately.

Per room works well for residential homes with ordinary room sizes and for customers who want a quick number without an in-home visit.

Per Square Foot

Square-foot pricing is fairer on large and open spaces and is common for commercial work, basements and big homes. It does require a measurement, either from the customer, from a past job or from a visit. It is harder to quote over the phone without one.

In CarpetBossPro, services can be priced off the property's measurements, such as square feet, linear feet or rooms. Once a home is measured, the number stays on the property, so the next estimate at that address starts from it.

Whole House

Whole-house pricing is a flat number for the whole home, such as “$349 whole house.” It is simple to sell and easy to put on a yearly plan. The risk is homes that are bigger than you expected. Define what “whole house” covers: how many bedrooms, whether stairs and hallways are included, whether a finished basement counts.

Many shops use a mix: per room for small jobs, whole house for full homes, and square feet for commercial and basements.

Stairs, Upholstery, Rugs and Add-Ons

The items around the rooms matter as much as the rooms:

• Stairs and hallways. Usually priced on their own. Stairs take time.
• Upholstery. Sofa, loveseat, chair and sectional, each priced separately, such as a $129 sofa.
• Area rugs. Per rug or by size, such as an $89 area rug.
• Mattresses and tile & grout. Separate line items.
• Add-ons. Pet odor treatment, stain protector, deodorizer and spot removal, often per room, such as $25 a room for pet odor treatment.
• Move-out cleanings and office maintenance. Their own line items with their own rules.

Put all of these in your service list. In CarpetBossPro, estimates are built from that service list, so whoever builds the quote is using your prices. Estimate templates help with common combinations. The service list itself is covered in Building a Carpet Cleaning Service List: Rooms, Stairs, Upholstery, Rugs and Tile.

Working Out Your Own Numbers

Instead of copying someone else's prices, start from your own costs. Add up what it costs to run the van for a day: fuel, wages, equipment upkeep, cleaning supplies, insurance, software and your own pay. Then think about how many jobs you can realistically do in that day, including drive time and setup. That tells you what an average job has to bring in. From there, set prices that get you there on a normal day, not only on a perfect one.

Look at your area too. Call around if you want, but do not race to the bottom. Customers who want the cheapest price rarely become yearly customers, and the ones who value careful work are the ones who refer their neighbors.

Raise prices when the calendar is full far ahead. Raise them for new customers first if you are nervous, and give repeat customers notice.

Don't Forget the Minimum

Whatever method you choose, a minimum keeps small jobs from costing you money. That is the subject of the next guide, Room Minimums and Trip Charges: Keeping Small Carpet Cleaning Jobs Worth the Drive. For every guide on the business side, go back to the carpet cleaning business software page.