Professional cleaning services can be life-changers — you get a neat and tidy home without having to stress about chores.
When booking a house clean, you’re usually asked to choose between two pricing models:
The type of pricing and service you choose will depend on your budget and cleaning needs.
Each service has its pros and cons, so understanding these will help you make a more informed choice.
How House Cleaning Prices Work
Actual house cleaning rates will vary between individual cleaners and professional cleaning companies.
The cost is usually estimated by the size of your home (including bedrooms and bathrooms) or your specific cleaning requirements. Certain tasks (such as oven or fridge cleaning) may have additional fees.
Your cleaning services are then charged in one of two ways: flat rate or hourly rate.
The main differences between flat rate and hourly rate are time and services included.
Hourly rate services are charged per hour, and you provide the tasks to focus on. On the other hand, flat rate services have the cleaner work on a checklist until they’re done, for a fixed cost.
Many companies offer discounts to regular clients, which makes for easier budgeting!
Flat Rate Pricing for House Cleaning
Flat rate pricing models have fixed costs based on the size of your home, including the number of bedrooms and bathrooms.
The cost may also vary depending on whether you’re getting a one-off or regular service. Additional services (such as oven cleaning) can be added at a predetermined cost.
The cleaner will then follow a comprehensive cleaning checklist from their company. If your home hasn’t been professionally cleaned in a while, a deep clean will be recommended.
| BEST FOR: | NOT FOR: |
| Full house cleans and deep cleans | Partial house cleans, e.g. only bathrooms |
| Those who want clear expectations and a consistent, efficient cleaning experience | Those who regularly want to rotate cleaning tasks or priorities |
Benefits of flat rate pricing
Flat rate cleaning services are popular because they’re so straightforward!
The price remains consistent (especially for routinely-cleaned homes), and the cleaner works until all the tasks are finished.
Since the cleaner is following a checklist, they can work efficiently while managing their time. On your part, the checklist helps set clear expectations about included tasks and quality of service.
The predetermined price also means less stress for homeowners — no need to worry about added time, extra fees, or incomplete services. As the cleaner learns the ins and outs of your home, they’ll get more efficient, too.
If you need a thorough home cleaning, flat rate is the way to go!
Disadvantages of flat rate pricing
Flat rate services may be less flexible since there’s a predetermined checklist of tasks. Any additional services must be added beforehand with a fixed cost.
If you prefer to rotate extra tasks — like fridge cleaning or interior windows — without additional costs, an hourly rate is more suitable!
Examples of our customers with flat rate cleaning services
Here are a few examples of our customers with fixed rate cleaning services.
A regular customer gets a monthly cleaning service for their 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom home for when their adult children visit on occasion.
A busy family maintains their 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom home with a weekly service — plus housekeeping tasks added on for laundry help!
A customer booked a one-time deep clean for his 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment that hadn’t been cleaned in a while. He added oven cleaning, interior cabinets, and interior window cleaning.
Hourly Rate Pricing for House Cleaning
It’s all in the name — an hourly pricing model means the cleaner will work on your home for a set number of hours.
The average hourly rate for house cleaning in Australia is $55.37.
Many cleaning services will have a minimum required time (usually 2 hours). Extra time depends on the cleaner’s availability and will be charged per additional hour.
Before your service date, the cleaning service will usually ask for a list of priorities or rooms that the cleaner should focus on.
When the cleaner arrives at your home, they can perform a walkthrough and advise you if they need more or less time to complete their tasks.
| BEST FOR: | NOT FOR: |
| Cleaning specific areas of the home | Cleaning all areas of the home comprehensively |
| Those who want a flexible cleaning service where they control the priorities each time | Those who want a hands-off cleaning experience |
Benefits of hourly rate pricing
One of the biggest advantages of hourly rate pricing is the flexibility!
Since you provide the list of tasks, you can choose which areas of your home to prioritise. The cleaner can then focus on these tasks and manage their time accordingly.
This allows a more customised approach to home cleaning, and you can add, remove, or change tasks at the last minute — within reason, of course.
It can also be most cost-effective, since you’re only paying for the services and hours worked. That makes hourly-rate services a better value for partial cleaning jobs (such as if you only want the bathrooms cleaned).
Disadvantages of hourly rate pricing
Due to the time restrictions, hourly cleaning services are not ideal for deep cleaning or full house cleans.
There’s a risk that the cleaner may need more time than initially estimated, or may not finish all the tasks in the set time.
Moreover, a lack of communication or a misunderstanding about tasks could cause the cleaner to prioritise the wrong areas.
Examples of our customers with hourly rate cleaning services
Here are a few examples of our customers who chose hourly cleaning services.
One of our customers has a large character home that needs dusting twice a week, to keep the different rooms tidy.
A customer owns a holiday unit a few hours away from them, so they get a monthly two-hour clean to tackle the bathrooms and floors.
A big, busy family owns a home with 5 bedrooms, 3 toilets, and 2 living spaces — for more flexibility, they request a different cleaning focus each week.
Hourly Rate vs. Fixed Rate: Which Should You Choose?
For house cleaning, there’s no “best” choice — every home is unique, and there’s a right fit for your cleaning needs.
When choosing a house cleaning service, some factors you should consider include:
- Size of home
- Personal budget
- Frequency of services
- Schedule and availability
- Scope of cleaning required
If you aren’t sure whether to choose hourly or flat rate cleaning, our Sales Team is happy to assist you! And don’t worry, you won’t be locked into one service — we can adjust your services depending on what your home needs.
You can also check out our Pricing Page for more information on our flat rate and hourly rate cleaning services.
