Is a Cleaning Business Profitable? 5 Factors That Boost Profits for Your Company

The short answer is yes, you can make good money with a cleaning business. But profitability isn’t guaranteed. Your cleaning business profit depends on your business model, pricing strategy, and how well you manage costs.

In this guide, we’ll break down exactly what healthy profit margins look like when you’re starting a cleaning business, how to track your earnings, and the factors that will help you turn a healthy profit.

Cleaning Business Profit Margins: How Much Do Companies Make?

When we talk about cleaning business profit, we mean net profit margin. This is the percentage of revenue you get to keep after all expenses are paid.

For example, let’s say you charge a client $500 for a deep clean. Here’s how the money breaks down:

Your net profit margin is: $175 ÷ $500 = 35%

For every $500 job with this cost structure, you pocket $175.

What are realistic net profit margins for a cleaning business?

Not all cleaning businesses work the same way, so profit margins vary. I analyzed data from industry-specific platforms, insights from established cleaning business consultants, and real financial statements shared by business owners to find these typical net profit margins:

As you can see, a cleaning business’s typical net profit margin isn’t a fixed industry number. Instead, it’s closely tied to the business model.

These figures are valuable benchmarks, but they’re just averages. The only way to know exactly where your business stands and how you can improve it is to know your own numbers. 

How To Track Your Cleaning Company’s Profits

Getting a handle on your profitability requires seeing exactly where your money comes from and, more importantly, where it goes. Here’s how to build a clear financial picture, month by month.

Start with a monthly profit & loss statement

Your best friend is the profit and loss (P&L) statement. Don’t let the name scare you; it’s just a monthly scorecard for your cleaning business. It tracks your total revenue and subtracts your costs to show your actual profit.

A great way to start is by splitting expenses into 2 main buckets: direct costs (the labor and supplies needed to do the job) and overhead (everything else it takes to run the business). You might end up with something like this:

This statement provides clarity. Beyond the profit margin, you can see exactly what funds are coming in and where cash is being spent. You can use this to help answer important questions like, “When can I afford new vacuum cleaners?” or “Is my marketing budget delivering a good return?”

It’s best to run a P&L statement monthly so you can catch any problems like overspending sooner rather than later.

Track these key numbers

That’s just the beginning. Consider keeping track of other profitability metrics that’ll help guide your future decisions.

• Profit by service type: Not all jobs make the same money. Your $300 house clean might net you 20%, while a $300 carpet cleaning job might net you 45%. By tracking based on service type, you can figure out which services are most profitable and think about focusing your efforts there.
• Lifetime Value (LTV): This answers how much a typical customer spends with you in total. If they stay 3 years at $200/month, that’s $7,200. Tracking this will help you understand how much you can afford to spend on marketing per customer.
• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Add up monthly marketing spend and divide by the number of new customers. This will tell you how much it’s costing you, on average, to find a new customer. Repeat clients don’t have this cost, making them much more profitable in the long run.
• Labor percentage: Track the total cost of labor as a percentage of your total revenue. If you see labor consistently eats more than 50% of revenue, you need to raise prices or get more efficient (more on this below).

5 Factors That Drive Cleaning Business Profits (And How To Improve Them)

Now, let’s look at how to profit from a cleaning business and what actually moves the needle on your cleaning business profit margins.

“Competing on price is a race to the bottom,” warned Vance Morris, owner of Eastern Shore Carpet Cleaning in Maryland. “There is no competitive advantage to being 2nd cheapest.”

Top earners “don’t sell ‘cleaning,'” he explained. “They sell healthier homes, safer schools, [and] stress-free offices.” 

The research confirms this. Cleaning in Motion’s State of the Market: Commercial Cleaning Edition 2024 report states 71% of clients will pay more for specialized services.

Calculate your true costs and add a 20%-30% margin. If you’re booked solid and turning down work, it could indicate your prices are too low.

“Many new owners underbid contracts to win business, only to find the work isn’t profitable once labor, supplies, and overhead are factored in,” said Tim Conn, president and co-founder of Image One USA, said. “The solution is to price accurately from the start. Use a structured system to assess each facility’s true needs, invest in training for efficiency, and track costs closely. It’s better to win fewer profitable contracts than to take on work that drains resources.”

One-time jobs mean constantly hunting for customers. Recurring contracts provide predictable income. According to Cleaning in Motion, 78% of clients renew contracts for consistent quality. Top companies hit 92% retention.

Focus on landing recurring contracts such as weekly office cleaning or bi-weekly home service. When you do one-time jobs, always offer ongoing maintenance afterward, and consider creating packages with small discounts (5%-10%) for recurring service. The lifetime value more than covers it.

Turnover is the real killer. Cleaning in Motion found a 200% employee turnover in commercial cleaning in 2024. Every person who quits costs you money in recruiting, training, and dealing with mistakes.

To combat this churn, pay competitively from the start. Trying to save $2 per hour will cost more in turnover. Provide clear training with documented processes and create career paths. This way, you can show cleaners that they can become team leaders and managers.

Track your labor percentage by job. As mentioned, if you consistently spend over 50% on labor for a job type, raise prices or improve efficiency.

Generic house cleaning is competitive. On the other hand, specialty services like carpet cleaning, post-construction cleanup, and Airbnb turnovers can command higher margins.

Consider adding these high-margin services to your lineup. This means that if you’re already in a client’s home, you can offer carpet cleaning or window washing as an upsell. Each add-on increases revenue per client with zero marketing cost.

Pick specialties that match your market. For instance, residential clients need move-out cleaning, commercial clients need floor stripping and waxing, and healthcare facilities pay premium rates for medical-grade sanitization. Track your margins by service type and market the profitable ones harder.

Small inefficiencies compound fast. Cleaning in Motion found that companies using scheduling software saw a 20% increase in efficiency. Do the following:

• Document everything. Create checklists for every service. New employees learn faster, quality stays consistent, and mistakes drop. For instance, Connecteam’s Magic File-to-Form can be used to convert paper checklists to digital ones in seconds. 
• Track locations. Use GPS and time clocks to see where employees are. A GPS time clock allows employees to use an app on their phone to automatically track where they are and what they’re working on.
• Group jobs smartly. Schedule multiple jobs in the same area on the same day. An employee scheduling app makes this easy to manage.