How to Use Our Free House Cleaning Time Calculator

Step 1: Choose Your Unit of Measurement

At the top of the calculator, select your preferred measurement unit: square feet or square meters.

Step 2: Enter Your Room Details

Enter the size of each room you need to clean. If there are multiple types of the same room, just click “Add Room” and enter its size. If you don’t know the exact measurements of each room, you can use the following estimates:

• Living room: 200 – 400 sq. ft. (18 – 37 sq. m.)
• Kitchen: 100 – 250 sq. ft. (9 – 23 sq. m.)
• Bedroom: 150 – 300 sq. ft. (14 – 28 sq. m.)
• Bathroom: 40-80 sq. ft. (4 – 7 sq. m.)

Step 3: Select the Room Condition

For each room, use the dropdown menu to determine the level of dirtiness:

• Clean
• Moderately Dirty
• Very Dirty

Step 4: Add Additional Rooms

In some cases, clients may ask for other rooms, like the basement, attic, garage, or porch. For these spaces, add the size and level of cleanliness.

Step 5: View Your Results

Once you have entered each room’s details and clicked “Calculate Total Time,” you will get a breakdown of approximately how long each room should take to clean. At the bottom, you can see the estimated cleaning time for the entire house.

Why Should I Know the House Cleaning Time?

Knowing how long a job will take your team is essential to your bottom line as a business owner. Without an accurate house cleaning time estimate, you can run into scheduling challenges, like overbooking or understaffing.

By going into a job with a clear time estimate, you can make sure your cleaners have enough time to clean each room thoroughly without rushing or running overtime.

This also makes pricing easier because instead of guessing how long a job will take, you can charge for actual labor hours.

How to Calculate House Cleaning Time

Now, let’s learn how to calculate house cleaning time with an easy formula. Remember: you know your work better than anyone, so adjust these time estimates to fit your team.

If bedrooms are a breeze, take that into consideration when you calculate your house cleaning times.

Let’s start with the basics: house type, room size, and the dirtiness multiplier.

House type is important because cleaning an apartment or condo is very different from cleaning a large home.

Add a base time for the type of house to account for in-between areas, like hallways, stairs, or front entrances.

For our formula, let’s use the following base times:

• Apartment/Condo = 0.5 hours
• Townhouse = 0.5 hours
• Single-Family Home (Small) = 1 hour
• Single-Family Home (Medium) = 1.5 hours
• Single-Family Home (Large) = 2 hours
• Luxury Home: 2.5 hours

For the room size, either pick a standard time estimate per square foot or adjust it depending on the type of room. To make things easy, let’s use 0.004 hours per sq. ft. and use a room type multiplier:

• Kitchen = 1.5x
• Living Room = 1.0x
• Bedroom = 1.2x
• Bathroom = 1.8x
• Basement = 2.0x
• Attic = 2.0x
• Garage = 2.0x
• Porch = 1.0x

Here are some sample dirtiness multipliers we can use:

• Clean = 1.0x
• Moderately Dirty = 1.2x
• Very Dirty = 1.5x

To calculate the cleaning time for one room, using these assumptions, we can use the following formula:

Room Type Multiplier x Room Size × 0.004 × Dirtiness Multiplier 

Repeat and adjust the above formula for each room. Add up the total sum of all the rooms, and then add the base time for the type of house you are cleaning. That should give you a good estimate of how long it will take to clean the house.

Since there are so many different variables, let’s use a table to make things clear in the following example:

Patty runs Clearview Cleaning and just finished a house visit with Julie, a new client. Julie lives in a small single-family home with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room.

In addition to the main spaces, Julie wants Patty’s crew to also clean the basement, which is a converted playroom for her kids.

After viewing the house, Patty can make a time estimate based on the following:

Based on Patty’s estimate, it should take about 14 hours to clean Julie’s house. If Patty sends 4 cleaners, they can get the job done in 3.5 hours.

Keep Your Business Tidy With Connecteam

Once you’ve figured out how long each job takes, the next step is making sure your team sticks to the plan. That’s where Connecteam’s all-in-one cleaning business management app comes in.

Designed with deskless teams in mind, Connecteam gives you all the tools you need to stay organized, efficient, and in control—right from your phone.

Here’s how Connecteam helps you run a cleaner operation:

Time Clock with GPS Tracking
Use Connecteam’s Time Clock to track employee hours down to the minute, including real-time GPS location. This way, you know exactly how much time was spent on each cleaning job—making billing and payroll a breeze.

Employee Scheduler
Create and dispatch detailed cleaning schedules with the Job Scheduler. Add job instructions, attach photos or checklists, and assign the right team members in just a few taps. Need to make a last-minute change? Update it instantly and notify everyone in real-time.

Custom Checklists & Forms
Use digital checklists to make sure no detail gets overlooked—from sanitizing surfaces to deep-cleaning basements. Cleaners can check off tasks, upload photos, and submit forms directly through the app, keeping you informed without the back-and-forth.

Real-Time Reporting & Automation
All data—from hours worked to job completion—is stored in one place. Automate payroll, track job costs, and gain insights to better estimate future jobs using real-time reports from Connecteam’s Operations Hub.

Whether you’re managing five cleaners or fifty, Connecteam helps you stay on top of every shift, checklist, and customer expectation—without the stress.