Pricing guide
How to price apartment and condo cleaning
Apartments look like easy money — smaller spaces, faster cleans. The catch is that the unpaid minutes around the job (parking, access, elevators) are the same as for a house, so bad apartment pricing fails at the bottom, not the top. Size bands plus a firm minimum solve it.
Size bands
Studio, 1BR, 2BR, 3BR — four rates cover nearly every unit and make quoting instant.
Firm minimum
The floor that keeps studios profitable after parking and access time are counted.
Route density
Multiple units in one building is the most profitable schedule in residential cleaning.
Set the four size-band rates
Build each band the same way you’d build any estimate: baseline hours for the size, plus bathrooms, plus condition. What changes in apartments is the shape of the work:
- Studios and 1BRs are kitchen-and-bathroom jobs — the two slowest rooms are most of the visit, which is why the price can’t scale down linearly with square footage.
- 2BRs and 3BRs behave like small houses; a second bathroom moves the price more than a second bedroom does.
- Condition still rules — a first-time clean of a lived-in unit is a different job from maintenance on a biweekly schedule. Use a first-visit rate, then the recurring band rate.
The apartment-specific line items
Access & parking time
Doorman check-ins, freight elevators, walk-ups, and paid parking are real minutes on every single visit. Ask about them before quoting, and price slow buildings accordingly — a flat access adjustment is easier to explain than a surprise rate increase after month one.
Move-out turnovers
Empty-unit deposit cleans are a separate service with a separate price: appliance interiors, cabinets, baseboards, and inside windows are all expected. Quote them from the move-out playbook, not your recurring apartment band.
FAQ
Why do small apartments need a minimum job price?
Because the fixed costs don’t shrink with the unit. Parking, building access, elevator waits, setup, and travel take the same time for a studio as for a house. A minimum job price keeps the smallest units from costing you money once those fixed minutes are counted.
Should apartment rates be lower than house rates?
Per visit, usually yes — there’s simply less floor area and often one bathroom. Per hour of real effort, no. Quote from a size band (studio, 1BR, 2BR, 3BR) with your minimum underneath, rather than discounting a house rate by feel.
How should I handle building access and parking?
Ask up front: doorman or lockbox, elevator or walk-up, loading zone or paid parking. A fourth-floor walk-up with street parking can add half an hour of unpaid time per visit. Either build a small access fee into buildings that are slow to work in, or fold it into your travel fee.
Are apartment buildings a volume opportunity?
Yes — several clients in one building is the best schedule in residential cleaning: zero drive time between jobs. It’s reasonable to pass some of that saving back as a small same-building discount to win the second and third unit; the route density still leaves you ahead.
Keep reading
House cleaning price list
A worked example price list — hourly rate, minimums, multipliers, and add-ons — you can adapt to your market.
How to quote a cleaning job
The five-step quoting process: qualify, scope, price, present, and follow up without discounting.
Post-construction cleaning pricing
Price dust-heavy construction cleanup in phases, with the labor buffers and exclusions that protect you.
Ready to put a number on a job? Open the free calculator.