What sets the price of a house cleaning
- Size. More rooms and more floors mean more time. A home on three floors takes longer than a one-floor home of the same size, because of the stairs.
- Bedrooms and bathrooms. Bathrooms have tile, glass and fixtures to clean, so each one adds more time than a bedroom.
- Condition. How long since the last thorough cleaning, and how much build-up there is on tile, glass, stovetops and floors.
- Type of cleaning. Regular, deep, move-in or move-out, and after-construction cleaning each cover a different amount of ground.
- How often. A home cleaned every week or two has less to catch up on at each visit than one cleaned once.
- Add-ons. Inside the fridge, inside the oven, inside cabinets, laundry and windows each add time. See add-ons.
- Pets. Hair on floors, rugs and upholstery adds vacuuming time. Tell us about pets when you ask for a quote.
- Access. Walk-up stairs, elevators, parking, building rules and how we get in all change how a visit runs.
The more of this you put in the quote form, the closer the first quote will be.
Recurring or one-time cleaning
A one-time cleaning starts from wherever the home is today, so it usually takes longer. A recurring plan, weekly, every two weeks or monthly, keeps the home from falling far behind, so each visit has less to catch up on. You can begin with a deep cleaning and then move to weekly or biweekly cleaning.
If you are weighing schedules, ask us to quote more than one. A monthly total is simply the visit price times the number of visits: a weekly plan has four or five visits in a month, depending on the calendar, and an every-two-week plan has two or three.
Why deep and move-out cleanings take longer
A regular visit maintains surfaces that were cleaned recently. A deep cleaning goes after what has built up over months: baseboards, door frames, light switches, vent covers, window sills, soap scum on tile and glass, and grease on range hoods and cabinet fronts. Each of those is slow, careful work.
A move-in or move-out cleaning adds the places furniture and belongings used to hide: inside every cabinet, drawer and closet, inside appliances, behind where the fridge and stove stood, and the marks on walls and floors that show once a room is empty. An empty home is easier to move around in, but there is more to clean in it.
Hourly rates versus a quote for the visit
The usual starting point is a search for the average price per hour to clean a house. Hourly figures online are hard to use: they mix one cleaner with teams, national averages with local ones, and they leave out sales tax. An hourly rate also leaves the total open, because you do not know how many hours your home will take.
We quote the visit. You see the total, with the tax on its own line, before you book, and the quote says what kind of cleaning it covers. If something about the home changes, such as a new pet or a renovation, tell us and we will look at the quote again.
Sales tax on house cleaning in New York and Connecticut
Both states tax house cleaning, at different rates, and they treat carpet and upholstery cleaning differently.
| Where the home is | House cleaning | Carpet, rug and upholstery cleaning |
|---|---|---|
| Westchester County, NY, except Yonkers | 8.375% | Exempt |
| Yonkers, NY | 8.875% | Exempt |
| Putnam County, NY | 8.375% | Exempt |
| Dutchess County, NY | 8.125% | Exempt |
| Fairfield County, CT | 6.35% | 6.35% |
| New Haven County, CT | 6.35% | 6.35% |
New York taxes interior cleaning and maintenance services, whether the cleaning is a one-time visit or a regular contract (Technical Services Bureau Memorandum TSB-M-91(4)S; Publication 750). The combined state and local rates above are from Publication 718, effective March 1, 2025; Mount Vernon, New Rochelle and White Plains share the Westchester rate, and Yonkers is higher. New York exempts carpet, rug, drapery and upholstery cleaning (Quick Reference Guide for Taxable and Exempt Property and Services, Tax Bulletin ST-740).
Connecticut taxes janitorial services at 6.35% (Conn. Gen. Stat. section 12-408). Its regulation defines them as cleaning the inside or outside of buildings, structures or dwellings, and names carpet and upholstery cleaning in the definition (Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies section 12-407(2)(i)(Y)-1). So in Connecticut, carpet cleaning is taxed along with the rest of the visit.
Every quote we send shows the sales tax as its own line, at the rate for the town where your home is. All sources above were read on September 19, 2026.
How to get a quote
- Fill in the quote form: town or ZIP code, bedrooms, bathrooms, the service and how often.
- Add anything that changes the job: pets, stairs, parking, the rooms that matter most, add-ons.
- We reply by text or email with a free quote, usually the same day, with the sales tax on its own line.
Common questions about house cleaning prices
What is the average price per hour to clean a house?
We do not sell cleaning by the hour, so we do not publish an hourly rate. The hourly averages you find online blend one cleaner with teams and one region with another, and they leave out sales tax, which runs from 6.35% to 8.875% across our five counties (see the sales tax table on this page). What you need to know is the total for your home. Send the quote form and we will give you that total, free, usually the same day.
How much gets done in a one-hour or three-hour clean?
It depends on the home: how many bathrooms, how much build-up, and whether it is a regular or a deep cleaning. A few hours can go a long way in a small home that is cleaned often, and not far in a large one that has gone months. That is why we quote the job rather than a block of hours: you know what will be cleaned and what it will cost before we arrive. Tell us what matters most and we will build the quote around it.
How much do house cleaners charge in Connecticut?
Prices vary with the home and the job, so we quote each one. What is fixed in Connecticut is the tax: the state taxes janitorial services, including cleaning homes, at 6.35% (Conn. Gen. Stat. section 12-408; Regulations section 12-407(2)(i)(Y)-1). Unlike New York, Connecticut also taxes carpet and upholstery cleaning. For a quote in Fairfield County or New Haven County, use the quote form.
Why does a deep cleaning cost more than a regular cleaning?
Because it takes longer. A deep cleaning works on build-up that a regular visit leaves alone: baseboards, door frames, vents, switches, soap scum on tile and glass, and grease on range hoods and cabinet fronts. The first deep cleaning in a home that has gone a long time takes the most time of all. After that, regular visits keep the build-up from coming back, so each one is shorter. See deep cleaning.
How much does a cleaning service cost per month?
A monthly cost is the price of one visit times the number of visits. A weekly plan has four or five visits in a month, depending on the calendar; every two weeks has two or three; monthly has one. A weekly visit usually has less to catch up on than a monthly one, so it takes less time each time. Ask us to quote the schedules you are weighing and compare the totals. More on recurring cleaning.
Do you have a price list or a cost calculator?
No. A price list would be wrong for most homes, because two houses with the same number of bedrooms can take very different amounts of time. The quote form works as the calculator: tell us the town, bedrooms, bathrooms, the service, how often and anything unusual, and we reply with a price for your home, usually the same day. The quote is free and shows the sales tax on its own line.
