Almost every call starts with some version of “what do you charge,” and the honest answer is always a question back: how many bedrooms, how many bathrooms, how often. That is not a dodge — it is genuinely what determines the number, more than anything else about the house.
The real drivers
- Bedrooms and bathrooms — the base of any real quote
- Service type — regular upkeep costs differently than a deep clean or a move-out
- Frequency — weekly and bi-weekly price lower per visit than monthly or one-time
- Condition — a house that has gone a long time without a professional clean takes longer the first visit, regardless of size
Square footage gets asked about constantly and matters less than people assume. A 2,400-square-foot open-concept single level and a 2,400-square-foot house full of small rooms and extra bathrooms take meaningfully different amounts of time, even though a per-square-foot rate would price them identically.
Why a flat rate is usually a bad sign
A company willing to quote a firm number over the phone with no questions asked is either guessing or planning to renegotiate once someone actually sees the house. Neither is a great outcome. A short set of questions up front is what lets a quote hold once the crew is standing in your kitchen.
Getting a real number
Our cleaning cost guide walks through this in more detail, or skip straight to the instant estimator for a real range in under a minute, built from your actual bedrooms, bathrooms, service type and frequency instead of a stranger’s square footage.