Post
Hey everyone, for the other owners in here, here's what I wish I knew about house cleaning charges when I started my little cleaning service. You can't just copy a competitor's price list. My area is different, my costs are different. Hourly is safer until you're good at estimating. Flat rates crushed me on the first few houses, because I just didn't know how long things would actually take. "Extras" add up fast, so list them clearly. Deep cleaning ovens, inside windows, laundry, these are not standard. Travel time is part of your cost, not just drive time. Factor in loading up, checking supplies, getting to the next job. Know your minimum viable hourly rate. Before I opened, I figured out what I had to make an hour to cover everything. No job below that. Subscription pricing can smooth out income. Offering weekly/bi-weekly discounts helped keep clients coming back regularly. I send out reminders and confirm via text through fixyflow.com. Raise your rates gradually, not all at once. I lost a few clients trying to jump my house cleaning charges too much in one go. Slow and steady. For me, knowing my minimum viable hourly rate was the biggest thing. It stopped me from taking jobs that were actually losing me money.
Intent Score
2
Intent
99
Confidence
Summary
The post is about pricing a house cleaning business and does not relate to window problems or replacement intent.
Reasoning
This is a business advice post for a cleaning service. The only window mention is 'inside windows' as an extra cleaning task, which is unrelated to home window repair or replacement intent.
Extracted Signals
- unrelated business topic
“here's what I wish I knew about house cleaning charges when I started my little cleaning service”
- passing window mention
“Deep cleaning ovens, inside windows, laundry, these are not standard.”
Model: gpt-5.4-mini · Prompt: v3 · 6/11/2026, 9:03:00 AM