How do you price cleaning jobs in Ireland? Most independent cleaners charge either by the hour or as a fixed price for the whole job, and the right choice depends on the property, how dirty it is, whether you bring your own products, and whether it is a one-off visit or a recurring booking. There is no official rate to follow. Cleaning work carried out as a self-employed sole trader falls outside the National Minimum Wage Act, so the number is yours to set, test and adjust once you have a clearer sense of what different jobs actually take.
How to price cleaning jobs in Ireland: hourly rate or a fixed price
Both approaches work, and many cleaners use each one for a different type of job. An hourly rate suits work where the scope is hard to predict, a first visit to an unfamiliar property, or a job where the client keeps adding small extras as you go. A fixed price suits work you can size up accurately in advance, a standard weekly clean of a home you already know, or a turnover clean that follows a set checklist. Ireland's Competition and Consumer Protection Commission draws a useful line between the two terms: a quote is a fixed price for agreed work, while an estimate is a rough guide that can still move once the job is under way. Telling a client plainly which one you are giving them, a firm quote or a rough estimate, heads off arguments over the final bill.
What changes the price of a job
A handful of factors should move your price up or down before you agree a number:
- The size of the property and the number of rooms, not just the square footage.
- How dirty or neglected the space is. A first clean after months of no cleaning takes far longer than a routine top-up.
- Whether you supply your own products and equipment or the client provides them.
- Access: parking, stairs, a lift, or a key collection that adds time before you can even start.
- Extras such as inside ovens, windows or upholstery that sit outside a standard clean.
- Whether the job is a one-off or a recurring booking. Regular clients are usually worth a slightly lower per-visit rate in exchange for steadier income.
None of these need to be guessed. Walking the property with the client, or asking detailed questions if you are quoting from a description, turns most of this list into a five-minute conversation rather than a surprise on the day. A property that looks straightforward from a couple of photos can still hide an unusually grimy oven or a bathroom that has not been properly cleaned in a long time, so leave room in your quote to ask follow-up questions before you commit to a final number.
Where minimum wage and VAT fit in
Two rules are worth knowing before you settle on a rate. Citizens Information confirms that the National Minimum Wage Act applies to employees, not to genuinely self-employed contractors, so there is no statutory floor under what you can charge as a sole trader. The real floor is whatever covers your time, fuel, supplies and eventual tax bill. Separately, Revenue's VAT thresholds set the registration limit for services at €42,500 of turnover in any rolling twelve-month period. Below that figure you do not have to register for VAT, though you can choose to. Cross it, and registration becomes compulsory, meaning VAT then has to be added to what you charge. Most cleaners starting out are well under this threshold, but it is worth tracking your turnover once bookings become regular, since crossing it partway through the year still triggers the obligation to register. A simple running total of what each client pays you, kept alongside your receipts for supplies and travel, makes this easy to check and makes your annual tax return far less stressful when it is due.
Pricing one-off jobs differently from recurring work
A single Airbnb turnover or an end of tenancy clean usually carries a higher one-off price than a weekly or fortnightly visit to the same home, because there is no ongoing relationship to build on and every job has to be assessed from scratch. Our guide on getting Airbnb cleaning clients covers how turnover work is usually priced per visit rather than per hour. End of tenancy jobs carry their own risk of disputed scope once you are on site, so it is worth reading what to clarify before an end of tenancy job before you quote one. If pricing is only one part of building steady work, our wider guide on finding cleaning jobs in Ireland covers where the bookings themselves come from.
Agreeing a price before you start
Working out a fair price is only half the job. Getting it agreed clearly before you start cleaning is what actually prevents disputes later.
- Ask what rooms and areas are included, and roughly how big the property is.
- Ask how recently it was last cleaned, since a neglected property takes longer than routine maintenance.
- Confirm who is supplying products and equipment.
- Confirm whether it is a one-off job or a recurring booking, and how often if it is recurring.
- Give a firm quote rather than a vague estimate wherever you can, and say clearly what would change it, for example a property that turns out significantly dirtier than described.
- Agree what happens if the client cancels or reschedules at short notice, before the first visit, not after.
Once a rate is working for you, it is worth revisiting it every so often rather than leaving it fixed for years. Fuel, products and your own time all cost more over time, and a rate that felt fair when you started can quietly stop covering your costs. Giving existing clients a bit of notice before a price change, rather than springing it on them at the next visit, keeps the relationship on good terms and gives them time to ask questions if they have any.