How to price a service job from your own costs
Build a price from labor, supplies, travel, and overhead, then check whether it leaves enough profit.
Estimate what it costs you to deliver the job before you quote a price. Then divide that cost by one minus your target margin. A job with $110 in estimated costs and a 25% target margin needs a price of about $147 before any applicable tax.
1. Estimate all the time the job takes
Include time on site, travel, setup, cleanup, and job-specific quoting or scheduling. Multiply those hours by your labor cost per hour. For an owner doing the work, use a realistic rate for your own time.
2. Add direct costs and a share of overhead
List supplies, materials, subcontractors, and vehicle costs for the job. Allocate a share of overhead such as insurance, software, and equipment replacement. One way to allocate overhead is to divide a month’s overhead by expected billable hours and assign that hourly amount to jobs. Keep a cost in one category so it gets counted once.
3. Convert cost to price
Price = estimated job cost ÷ (1 − target margin). A 25% margin means 25 cents of each dollar of revenue is left after the costs you included. Adding 25% to the job cost calculates markup, which produces a different margin.
Worked example for a recurring cleaning visit
These figures are illustrative. Substitute your own times, rates, and costs.
| Cost | Amount |
|---|---|
| 2.5 hours including travel and admin at $30 per hour | $75 |
| Supplies | $9 |
| Vehicle costs | $12 |
| Allocated overhead | $14 |
| Total estimated job cost | $110 |
At a 25% target margin, $110 ÷ 0.75 = $146.67. A $147 quote leaves $37 after the estimated costs, or about 25% of the price.
4. Check the quote against the actual job
Put the scope and any approved extras in writing. After the first visits, compare actual time and costs against the estimate. Separate a one-time deep clean from the regular visit when the workload differs. If the recurring visit consistently takes longer, revisit the scope, route, or price with the customer.
Use the cleaning invoice template to document the visit and approved extras, or see the Cleaning Business collection for related resources.