The first thing a client asks a new independent cleaner is “what do you charge?” The honest answer depends on a number most pricing guides skip: what you earn per hour once the drive is counted. This guide gives you a worksheet for that number, five worked examples at the IRS’s current mileage rate, and a plain look at hourly versus flat pricing, minimums and trip charges, plus the Philadelphia details that change the hours. It is a method, not a rate card. We do not tell you what to charge.
We are a cleaning marketplace, not an accountant or a lawyer. The examples are our own arithmetic from the inputs stated in each row, and they are illustrations, not market prices or Hometress rates. We read every outside source below on October 25, 2026, and these pages change, so check them.
The short answer
- Quote the job by the hours it takes on site plus the drive you are not paid for, not by the headline hourly number.
- A short job far away is where a normal hourly rate loses money. A minimum or a trip charge is how cleaners fix that.
- Hourly fits a house you have not seen. A flat price fits a house you have cleaned before. Write the scope down either way.
Hourly or flat
Jobber, a software company for service businesses, publishes a pricing guide for cleaners (How Much to Charge for House Cleaning). Its comparison table lists hourly as best for “First-time or unpredictable jobs and new staff members” and not ideal for “Fast jobs or clients who want fixed pricing.” It lists a flat rate as best for “Standard jobs and recurring work, like weekly cleaning, as well as experienced cleaners” and not ideal for “Unpredictable or time-intensive jobs or new cleaners.”
Put plainly: when you have not seen the home, an hourly rate with an estimated range protects you from a house that turns out heavier than described. Once you have cleaned a home a few times and know how long it takes, a flat price per visit is easier for the client to say yes to, and it rewards you for working efficiently. The risk of hourly is a client who balks at an open-ended bill. The risk of flat is a home that turns out heavier than you priced. Both are solved the same way: agree on the scope before the day.
The worksheet: what an hour is worth after the drive
For any job, work out this:
(your price − round-trip miles × mileage rate) ÷ (hours on site + round-trip drive hours)
For the mileage rate we use the IRS standard mileage rate for business use: 76 cents a mile for July 1 through December 31, 2026 (IRS, standard mileage rates; it was 72.5 cents for January 1 through June 30). The IRS page does not say what the rate is made of, so treat it as a stand-in for what running a car costs you, not as your actual cost. Whether you may deduct mileage is a question for a tax professional. Here it is only a yardstick.
| Job | You quote | Distance (each way) | Mileage at 76 cents | Unpaid drive | Per hour after the drive | With 15.3% taken off |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3-hour clean, near | $120 | 2 miles, 10 min each way | $3.04 | 20 min | $35.09 | $29.72 |
| 3-hour clean, far | $120 | 9 miles, 25 min each way | $13.68 | 50 min | $27.74 | $23.49 |
| Same far 3-hour clean, $20 trip charge | $140 | 9 miles, 25 min each way | $13.68 | 50 min | $32.95 | $27.91 |
| 1.5-hour clean, far, $40 an hour | $60 | 9 miles, 25 min each way | $13.68 | 50 min | $19.85 | $16.81 |
| 1.5-hour clean, far, 2-hour minimum | $80 | 9 miles, 25 min each way | $13.68 | 50 min | $28.42 | $24.07 |
Read the first two rows together. It is the same $120 job and the same three hours on site, which is $40 an hour on the quote. With 2 miles each way it works out to $35.09 an hour after the drive. With nine miles each way it is $27.74. Adding a $20 trip charge to the far job lifts it to $32.95. The short far job is the weak one: 1.5 hours at $40 an hour comes to $19.85 an hour after the drive, and a 2-hour minimum brings it to $28.42, because the client pays for two hours while you spend 1.5 on site.
The last column takes 15.3% off the hourly figure. That is the rate the IRS gives for self-employment tax, 12.4% for social security and 2.9% for Medicare, on net earnings from self-employment (IRS, self-employment tax). The page says you owe it when those net earnings reach $400 or more, and that you can deduct the employer-equivalent portion when figuring income tax. The column is a rough lens, not a tax calculation, and it leaves out income tax. Ask a tax professional how it applies to you.
The worksheet also leaves out supplies, your phone and the time you spend replying to clients. Cleaners on Hometress bring their own supplies and equipment, so put your per-visit cost for those into your own version.
A wage to compare against
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes wages for maids and housekeeping cleaners (occupation 37-2012) in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington area. For May 2025 the median was $17.09 an hour and the 90th percentile was $21.76 an hour (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, read through the BLS public data API on October 25, 2026). Those are employee wages, not what a contractor charges, and an employee’s employer carries costs a contractor carries alone. Use them as a reference point for your own numbers, not as a target.
Minimums and trip charges
Jobber’s guide warns against having no minimum: “if your hourly rate is $50 and a job only takes you 30 minutes, you won’t make much profit after driving time, fuel costs, and overhead are factored in.” It adds that “some cleaners calculate it based on a 2- or 3-hour minimum, while others have a flat rate minimum, like $100.”
The table shows why. A minimum protects the short job, and a trip charge protects the far one. Fill in your own version with three blanks: your cost per mile, the smallest visit you will drive to, and the distance beyond which you add a trip charge. Tell the client the minimum and any trip charge before they book. A minimum you mention after arriving turns into a dispute.
Philadelphia details that change the hours
Parking
Circling a block is unpaid time. The Philadelphia Parking Authority’s contractor permit lists, among its requirements, that “Vehicles must bear truck/commercial license plates” and that the business holds the City licenses it needs and has no unpaid taxes or fees due to the City; the permit costs $300 and comes with 900 hours of credit (PPA, contractor parking permit). If you drive an ordinary passenger car, that permit is not for you as written. For a residential permit zone, the PPA’s FAQ says a resident’s guests “may park for the duration of the posted time limit. For longer stays, you can obtain a temporary parking permit” (PPA, frequently asked questions). The resident arranges that, so ask your client about parking before you quote, not on the morning of the job.
On Hometress, the booking form asks the household “Where should your cleaner park?” with four choices: Street (free), Driveway / spot, Building lot and Paid parking. Our access guide for households shows that step from the customer’s side.
Floors, stairs and the rowhome
A narrow rowhome with three floors and a steep staircase means more carrying and more walking than the same square footage on one level. Ask how many floors and whether there is a basement to clean before you name a number, and add the time to your estimate.
Batch your days by neighborhood
The table’s first two rows are the same job. The only difference is the drive, and it is worth about $7 an hour. Two jobs on the same block in one day cost you one trip’s worth of unpaid time, not two.
What to put in writing
- The rooms and tasks included, and what is not (inside the oven, windows, laundry).
- Access: who lets you in, key or code, stairs, pets.
- Parking: where you will park, and who pays if it is metered.
- The price, or the hourly rate with an estimated range, and what happens if the job runs over.
- The minimum and any trip charge.
- What happens if either of you cancels.
If you are also working out whether to carry insurance, our guide to whether independent house cleaners need insurance in Pennsylvania separates what the law requires from what a client may ask for.
Where a platform fits
Quoting from scratch for every client is a lot of work. Hometress is a cleaning marketplace in Philadelphia. It is free to join, and cleaners carry their own insurance. The cleaner page says your pay for a visit is shown before you accept it, so on that work you are comparing a posted number with your own drive math instead of building a quote. Top cleaners can reach $40+ an hour. That is an upper-end gross earning claim, not typical pay or a promise for every working hour.
This guide does not say how Hometress treats travel time. If the drive matters to your decision, ask us through the contact page before you rely on it. The pay page lists what visits pay from the published catalog. If you want to see the work near you, the application takes about five minutes.