How much to charge for carpet cleaning
Carpet cleaning prices at $45 to $90 per room up to about 250 sq ft, or $0.25 to $0.60 per square foot. Stairs are $30 to $75 per flight, and a sensible job minimum is $125 to $200.
The formula
(Rooms × rate) + stairs + upsells = your price, floored at your minimum.
A three-bedroom job with a hall, landing and one flight of stairs:
- 3 rooms × $60 = $180
- Hall and landing counted as one room: $60
- Stairs, one flight: $50
- Protector on two rooms at $25: $50
- $340
That is about 100 minutes on site including setup. Roughly $200/hr against the machine, which is why carpet cleaning survives at these ticket sizes — but only if you charge for the stairs and sell the protector.
Price a carpet cleaning job
Your numbers, the formula above. Nothing is sent anywhere — this runs in your browser.
$180 base (3 rooms × $60)
This is a starting number, not a bid. Walk the property before you send it.
Define what a room is
An undefined “room” is a liability. A 500 sq ft open-plan living and dining area is not a bedroom, and a customer who booked “four rooms” over the phone will expect it counted as one.
Rooms up to 250 sq ft. Larger areas counted as two rooms or priced by square foot.
One sentence, on the quote, and the conversation never happens.
Stairs are a room
A flight of stairs takes as long as a bedroom, involves more bending and awkward handling, and uses more of the hose. Price it separately, always, and price it properly.
The upsells carry the margin
Protector, deodoriser, pet treatment, spot treatment. Each takes minutes with the machine already running and the hose already in.
The trap is doing them without charging — a technician who applies protector because it seems helpful has given away the most profitable ten minutes of the visit. Put them on the quote as priced options and offer them at the door.
What changes the price
Soiling level. A first clean in five years takes multiple passes and pre-treatment.
Pet contamination. Urine treatment is a different service, priced separately, and sometimes requires subfloor treatment.
Furniture. Moving and replacing furniture is time. Say whether it is included.
Carpet type. Wool and delicate fibres need different chemistry and more care.
Access and parking. Apartment buildings with long hose runs are slower.
The mistakes
Bundling stairs. The most common underpricing error in this trade.
No room size limit. Great rooms priced as bedrooms.
No minimum. A one-room job across town is a loss.
Silent upsells. Applying protector without invoicing it.
No rebooking reminder. The highest-margin job you will ever do is a repeat customer who called you back, and most cleaners never ask.
Booking, quoting and rebooking
Jobber at $49/mo adds online booking — which matters here because most enquiries arrive in the evening — and automated annual rebooking reminders on Connect, which is the single highest-return feature for this trade. QuoteIQ at $29.99/mo is the cheapest way to quote and take a card at the door. Housecall Pro includes five seats at $189/mo once you run several vans.
Questions operators actually ask
How much should I charge for carpet cleaning?
$45 to $90 per room up to about 250 sq ft, or $0.25 to $0.60 per square foot. Stairs are $30 to $75 per flight and should always be separate. Set a job minimum of $125 to $200 — below that the setup and drive time eat the job.
Should I price per room or per square foot?
Per room for standard residential, because customers understand it and it quotes fast. Per square foot for open-plan homes and commercial work, where room counts stop meaning anything. Define your room size limit either way — an unlimited 'room' is how you end up cleaning a 500 sq ft great room for the price of a bedroom.
How do I price stairs?
Per flight or per step, never as part of a room count. A flight of stairs takes as long as a bedroom and is harder work, and cleaners who bundle it are underpricing every job with stairs in it.
What upsells are worth offering?
Fabric protector, deodoriser and pet treatment, and spot treatment for specific stains. These take minutes, carry high margin, and are bought readily when offered at the door — but only if they appear on the quote rather than being applied silently.
How do I get repeat business?
Set a reminder for twelve months and send it. Carpet cleaning has one of the highest natural repeat rates of any trade on this site and one of the worst capture rates, because customers simply forget who cleaned last time.